WELLINGTON HARBOUR BOARD'S DRY DOCK.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 457, 16 March 1909, Page 6

WELLINGTON HARBOUR BOARD'S DRY DOCK.

The bjggest contract work now in progress in Wellington is the Harbour Board's new dry dock which is being erected. at To Aro by Messrs. Jno. M'Lean and Sons. Tho dock is situated immediately at tho rear of the Te Aro railway station, and the basin, 683 feet in length from tho entranco to tho top of the dock, runs due north and south. The outer line of trestle work in tho picture shows tho line of the face wall of tho dock (really tho harbour front). This wall, being erected in solid concrete, will bo 54ft. in

■height, 23ft. in thickness at the base, narrowing to_3ft. 7 inches at tho top. Part of this wall is already erected, and may bo seen showing a little above the surface at dead low water. Tho work, indeed, is now concentrated on this wall, and somo little delay is being caused owing to the amount of slush and mud to be pumped away from within the diver-placed boxes on the bed of the harbour in order to get a solid foundation. Four divers aro engaged on tho dock, and their work is not tho least arduous.

A PROGRESS PICTURE. DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK.

On the right-hand sido of tho picture is the trestlo work outlining the western wall of the dock, and when viewed from an elevation the trestlo work now in position outlinos the shape of the dock itself perfectly. Tho basin, as lias been stated, is 683 ft. long. It will have an entrance 8-1 ft. iu width, but the distance between the walls will be 106 ft. wide at the top and 86ft. wide at tho bot-. tom,_ which measurements should meet the requirements of vessels visiting theso waters for some time to come. The water in the

foreground lias yet to be reclaimed. The oontract price for the dock is £196,000. Tlio above picture takes in (011 the rif-it-hand side) tlio furnace-houses and stacks of the old and new destructors. In the ease of the latter, the furnaces wero supplied by Messrs. Hcenan and Froude, of Manchester. 'Ibo chimney-stack is the tallest ferroconcrete structure in the Dominion. Beyond that again can be seen the new Church of St. Gerard, erected by the Redeniptorist Order, or. the hill above Fitzgerald's l'oint— the western horn of Oriental Bay.