HUTT RAILWAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 49, 27 February 1908, Page 2

HUTT RAILWAY.

THE DUPLICATION WORKS. PROGRESS TO DATE.

. ALLEGED DELAYS AND DIFFL CULTIES ENCOUNTERED. A good deal of criticism has of late been levelled at tho slow progress which is being made with the work oi duplicating the Hutt Railway lino. Most of the criticism has been based purely on observation ; most of it has been made with tho best of good intentions. Those public men who have seen fit , to criticise tho department that has the work in hand, have been actuated by a wholesome desiro to see the work completed at the earliest possible date, and not by a spirit of fault-finding. At the same time, in justice to the department, it must be admitted that the man who views tho progress made from the window of a passing railway train is liable to miscontruo cause and effect, and, obviously too, he is hardly in. a position to, properly and fully appreciate the difficulties the department had had to contend with to date. On the face, of things it would appear that the work is progressing slowly ; but a littlo enquiry in official quarters serves to show that all has not been easy work for tho department. VISIT OP INSPECTION. Yesterday a Post reporter armed with authoiity from the general manager (Mr. Ronayne) went over the works, and obtained from the engineer some details of the progress made up to the present time. The actual work ot duplication and straightening was commenced on 23rd May, 1904, and extends from a point a littlo north of the Hutt railwnj station to Wellington At the outset tho new railway stations had to be erected at Lowor Hutt and Petone, and the work also involved the removal to a site of the railway workshops at Petone as well as the making of now railway yards. This was a contract of considerable magnitude, and had to be completed before the work of duplicating the lino along the waterfront, south of Petone, was commenced. At the present time 204 men are employed in connection with the work. They aro distributed as follows :—: — On the works 166 At Pencarrow ;w; w .'.. 30 At Paekakariki 8 Total 204 DIFFIGTJTIES ENCOUNTERED. No less than thirty-two drays aro being used for carting spoil, and no account is taken of the thirty-two men employed as drivers in tho figures given above. The drays are worked on a contract basis. It has been urged that tho use of trucks for transferring spoil would bo more expeditious and less costly than drays. Tho department does not find it so. In tho first place tho engineer in charge (Mr. Koch) says it would bo quite impossible to use trucks on a large scale. Tho railway line and the road must be kept clear for traffic. •Drays can bo moved about without unduly hampering traffic, and it is stated that the actual cost per cubic yard of moving the spoil compares moro than favourably with the reclamation work done by the Manawatu Railway Company by trucks and ballast engines at Thorndon some years ago when labour was much cheaper than it is to-day. During tho last few months Mr. Koch states that great difficulty has been experienced in getting a sufficient number of suitable labourers. Many people apply for employment at the works, but the great majority aro unsuitable. If any confirmation 13 required for this statement it is to bo found in Mr. Koch's .monthly roports to his department. /In ono month eighty-four men either left the work 6or were discharged os unsuitable. In the following month eighty-eight men were engaged, and the services of forty-four had to be dispensed with. Yot another month sixty-five men were engaged, andtwenty-one left or had to bo discharged as unsuitable. It has been practically the same story all through. In the unloading of scows curying etono arid rubble from Peicarrciw to tho brea&twork delay frequently takes place. One oi the scows nas to be unloaded at high tide^ and at other times when a' southerly is blowing the sea is too rough to allow unloading operations to proceed. WORK ACCOMPLISHED. Altogether three and a-half miles of the double track are now in daily use. A further section of one and a-half miles to Ngahauranga will be opened in about three months. The earth works have been completed for this stretch, and platelaying will be commenced in a few days. Up to date the following quantities of stone have been used in the construction of the breastwork :—: — Tons. From hillside 46,177 From Pencarrow ... 41,347 From Paekakariki ... 14,447 From Horo Kiwi ... 1200 From Lower Hutt ... 200 From Mungaroa ... 700 Total 104,071 Tho total quantity of spoil transferred from the hillsides along the water front to the breastwork Bince the work commenced is set down at 567,979 cubic yards, which would probably average a ton and a-half to the yard— in other words over 800,000 tons. MORE APPLIANCES . The department, Mr. Koch says, h alivo to tha necessity of getting the whole work completed at the earliest possible .date. .Four cranes aie now in use on the job for lifting hea-vy boulders, but two more will shortly be added to the list. Twenty more waggons for carting the stone along the track of the new railway will ailso be available in a fow days, and' the number of drays in use will be still further increased. Passing by in a train one would inmcine that little work had been done ir> laying- down the sea, wall near Kaiwnrra. As a matter of fact, 6500 tons of rnbblo has been dumped in the sea here, and tho line of the outer wall, that is to bo, is now only beginning to show above the waterline. The actual length of tho entire sea wall, when completed, will be five miles thirty chains/ Three, miles have already been completed, and a considerable quantity of work has been done on a further section of one and three-quaiter miles. A bare sixty chains have not yet been touched. Ail the heavier work is now out of hand, and the remainder will be comparatively easy. Mr. Fletcher is reported to be well up to contract requirements in the work of carrying the rubble for the sea, wall from Pencarrow to tho works. WHAT REMAINS TO BE DONE. Work will shortly be commenced on the new railway station at Ngahauranga. In all proba,bility the Kaiwarra railway station will simply be transferred to its new site. A now roadway from Petono to Wellington is to go hand in hand with the work of duplicating the railway line. A good deal of work in laying the formation for the road h?<s already been carried out. The thoroughfa/o will'be 80ft wide — 60ft roadway, 12ft, bicycle, track, and an Bft footpath. Stone is now coming to hand for metalling tho roud, and bow telegraph poles are being erected in line. Whan completed this will be a splendid highPi-*