TENDERS FOR DEEP STREAM.

Evening Star, Issue 21715, 9 May 1934, Page 11

TENDERS FOR DEEP STREAM.

TO THE EDITOR. Sirl have just received a detailed letter of the prevailing conditions of the Deep Stream undertaking, tor which the council is calling tor tenders. The letter states that the country is of the most difficult kind to handle. The first mile from the intake is indiscribable rocks and cliffs which would be difficult for men to negotiate, every inch needing gelignite and necessary gear to go on with the work, such as block and tacklo for tlio handling for pipe brackets. It would be necessary to go back in places a distance of oOtt to clear the line, which in some places is 60ft above the pipe line. Rock is of a very hard nature, broken quartz running through it. The corporation employees used seven drills to sink one 10ft hole. Four men inspected the proposed pipe line on Sunday last, starting from the caravan, and put in three hours looking over the gorge section These men are skilled iu tins class of work. After complete inspection it was agreed that the first 200 ft would frighten anyone. The strata of rodk lies on edge, and would mean an enormous use of gelignite. After a careful inspection it was agreed that it is not a suitable job for any group of unemployed to submit a tender for, it being impossible to estimate what would be a reasonable price. We_ suggest that the only way to do the job is by day labour. The men already employed by the council at the intake were working last Sunday at the rate of 12s 8d a day, plus their camp allowance, to trv and make up for time lost. . The intake dam has taken three times the material estimated' by the surveyors, and is yet unfinished. One man had two years at Waipori, and states that the worst of Waipori was good going in comparison to the best portion of the No. 1 contract (a) Deep Stream.— I am, etc., ' R. Harrison. May 9.