SEA WALL JOB

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 11324, 30 September 1930, Page 3

SEA WALL JOB

MR'. MARSHALL SMITH’S REPLY

. - ty y .*7; ;. . :. PERSONALITIES REPREOATEJJ

ALLEGED “CAMPAIGN OF BE- . LITTLEMENT”. . i.

1 On tho same matter, the resident engineer, Mr; C. F. Marshall Smith, reported in the following terms: — ‘‘l liave before rue the 'special to-' port obtained from Mr. L...H. Reynolds regarding' the sea wall contract, and, at the chairman’s request, should like, to comment on it as follows: • ■ ! ;

“In the first place I object- most, emphatically to the general tone 01 tho report and am sorry -that an engineer of AI r.• Reynolds’' experience arid standing should demean himself by descending .to personalities and recriminations of this nature, ir [ followed ray own inclinations in the mat ter' I should preferto , ignore those insinuations, hut as ; they aro merely a- part of the campaign oi ifiisrepresen laT.ion • and ‘belittlemeiir that Mr; Reynolds has waged against me ever since my appointment ns j’our engineer, I feel it' is now' neccssarv for me to take- definite steps to vindicate myself m the eyes of the board and of the general pubic. If in the course of doing so 1 may also offend against the canons ot good taste', • l submit that Mir, Reynolds only has himself to blame. “Mr. Reynolds had been appointed consulting engineer to the board miring the period .'of disorganisation' prior to my appointment, and bis services were retained.. subsequently, so that I naturally expected that 1 Would have the benefit of .his wide experience 'and detailed- knowledge- of lima l conditions; Instead of-which i found him at all tunes 'antagonistic, so that I very soon decided that it was of no advantage to the board or to nivself to -attempt .to collaborate with him, and 1 think I have made this perfectly clear to tho board at different times. "

“Mr Reynolds’’ one and only objection to me is that- 1 am considerablv younger than lie is. One of frequent remarks to me, illustrating his mental attityde towards me,, is as follows —‘An old dog, for. the hard road and a pup for the puddles.'. While not seeking m any way to uetract from Mr. Reynolds’ wide experience. and great achievements in his vounger days. I venture to assert that my professional qualifications and services during the . last ten years have been of iar more value to the community than have Mr. Reynolds’ oyer the same peav *°u'To proceed, I would point out that in his report Mr. Reynolds has even gone so- far as- misrepresentation in bis efforts to create an atmosphere inimical to me. . One example mill suffice. Take the paragraph beginning ‘I-have before me a report,* ©t-o. v and • you will .notire thatM.r Reynolds goes- out of his w ay to remark'that I wrote that report the da-v after our combined examination. Tim facts are that- my report was written on. August 12, and by the chairman’s instructions released to the Press on that date.- and came up for discussion at the hoard meethm on August 2d. It was c-t this meeting that .the.motion was passed .calline- on Mr Reynolds to submit r, special report, and it was not unSi Frita.' September 13 innt t ,e mil as stated by Air. Reynolds) that w'e made our combined exaimn-. at’on. • 1 have rather labored tin.: ooint- but- I think I have made it clear ’ that it typifies the atmosphere of the report. shall now proceed to deal vn the actual subject, matter of the report Mr. Reynolds’ main criticisms p-m he grouped under the following headings, which, however are mPrallv "more or less 'interdependent: \\ of the wall; (2) Metnou o' workiim.' namely tho point at Ivlii-li the" work should have neen started etc.; (3) Method of handling rubble; (4) Efficiency of pile driviim; (5) Accretion of sand in wave trap: (6) bolting «T> of work, p+c • (7) Time tor completion. “Design of Wall.-Mr. Reynolds mkes e-verv credit for the design o. f,e wnl , is particularly arrnou " tify his design m face of all eventualities. In the first place T he Se h StS%y myf ■ ' «r a.,ybrain I? iH perfectly standardised t be ir outer a section 1 o^the^S r .o>™ S.- S “s f =ay= notlvhi" n intricate about the . design nor in- the ly at fault. , •“Method of Working, eto.—Doubt: lecm members of the board ydl - member before the contract was advertised that the specifications -were considered in detail at a meeting June 2d, 1928. (Thisjas betore ™y appointment as Engineer) Mr. no Ids was present Jl nd . v }^ mis questions were put to -mm by members. There was a good ileal of discussion as to the best ere at which io commence the work, and Mr Revnolds waa asked for Ins opinion. His words, as shown 'thepracretarv’s original notes of the p readings, were ("It d 06 5- 11/him where the contractor starts, let him please himself-”) . Homer, after further discussion in -which. Mr. Rey holds took part, it was agreed that it be stipulated that the work should commence at the old,« -royne el d. This was supposed to - have been m corporated in the specification, but was apparently omitted, f° r , 1T ? the contract as actually let no restriction was placed on the contractor, and it was left entirely to his discretion, bo much for Mr. Reynolds’ -heffited tention that tho work should have been commenced at the shoreward end and continued seawards towards tho groyne. It is a. case of being very wise after the event, for it is evident that when .the contract was let Mr. Reynolds-saw no particular difficulty in carrying out the work no matter where it was started. ‘’This also explains why he so readily adopted the suggestion - of the hoard’s engineer (Mr. Fulton) that the sea wall contract, should terminate approximately ICO feet from the river diversion breakwater, and that this portion could be completed subsequently- It was only after tho .sea wall contract was well under way that the - difficulties were; apparent, and it was then that Mr. Reynolds saw them and pointed out the advisability of completing this portion at once by which time. I was also fully alive to the necessity of doing so. However I should like to point > out that had- the sea wall contract been prosecuted as Mr. Reynolds originally. intended', namely from the groyne towards, the shore, _it would, have proved infpossible to complete the final portion'(connecting the sea wall S' thf diverkipn breakwater , without undue trouble" and expense. - : ‘ ‘Method of Hrfrulling Rubble.—-Mr. Reynolds . lias-been to ■ great to search the.: specification - io '-find something to support his contention £Vnt the method ofi handling the' stone is sf'dously at fault. Unfortunately for his' <ll£' urne fi t fi o has only found OHuse 3 flo -dating to the loan of snfficient.raUs + <md eieewrs-toHorm 2500 - feet of track.' Not know in what Mr, had the contractor'and myself.naturallv worked from' the and

considered the rails were for the purpose, of handling the stone and conveying it to the jetty at Tuamotu Island. The natural method of handling the stone at' the ,sea wall’ was to lay'the punts alongside the wall, whereas Mr. Reynolds now maintains that-it would have,been more economical and expeditious to have discharged the stone’at .the slipway entailing, an .extra handling and nearly jialf a mile, of haulage. When it is also remembered that lie asserts that the work - should' have been carried on from the shoreward, end and that the commencement of the job would Have been-' out' in the blue entailing neatly three • hundred feet .of. strong trostie-work to. bear the. heavy stone trucks, the argument is reduced to an absurdity. If tlio - work proceeded from- tho groyne end Mr -Reyolds contention might be tenable to some extent but .again this is negatived by bis statement before the board on June 25, 1928. thatrtho groyne might bo removed after 75 per cent of the s’ea wall was completed. In fact there is absolutely no. justification for Air. Reynolds’ attempt to discredit the contractor’s method, of handling the stone. . . • • ' “Efficiency of Pile Driving.— Mr f ; Reynolds makes a verj r general statement .wbel-o lie again attempts to create an atmosphere of dissatisfaction, but- ho in no wav refutes the very definite figures I put forward regarding the stresses to which .the piles, wore subjected. Hardwood timber will stand considerably higher stresses than I have given, as elementary calculations show. In view of my previous report in this .connection-, there is. ’no need for mo. to pursue the matter - further. Regarding • the flexibility of the structure as commented on by Mr; Reynolds, I would- point out that when fully bolted up and braced the structure, even without stone filling, is notparticularly flexible, ; in fact the portion of. the wall above the water is a rigid framed and braced .structure,, and "the only flexibility .is in the length of unbraced pile from, the lower waling to the bottom of the sen; This is the. part where the stone filling does provide rigidity. I would again point out that the portion of the . wall which was damaged during the gale was fully bolted up but not filled with stone. The weight of the seas on. the. structure, of tho superimposed gantry and gear caused the stresses in the . wall as; previously stated and naturally this stress was distributed through the firmly bolted structure to adjacent portions of-the wall, causing distortion beyond the actual break' in the wall: '“Accretion of .sand in Wave Trap. —Much of Mr. Reynolds’ argument in this connection is bound up with the question of the proper end at which the work should have been: started, and . I have already dealt with this phase of the subject. 1 desiro. however, to draw attention to g statement made by Air. . Reynolds in bis report to the board on March 20, 1<?28, dealing with this very point- He gives on estimate of the cost of building the wall and wave trap, 'together'with the removal of sand, which will inevitably enter during construction.’ Apparently he was then quite sure that sand would enter during contraction of tlie wall, even though as stated previously -he affirmed that it did hot matter at which end the wall was commenced. How he can therefore blame the contractor or myself - for what he foresaw as inevitable passes my comprehension. The only point that is tenable is that the completion of the work is taking longer than was anticipated, and consequently the influx of sand has continued for a longer period and as the weather is such a factor in works of this descript-ion I doubt very much whether Mr. Reynolds would ■ have completed it in,, a reasonably shorter period, no matter how ho went about it. Air. Reynolds does, however, admit a compensating action is taking place by removing the shoal at the harbour entrants and thus reducing the expense ot dredging there. “Bolting up of work, etc.—The neglect of the contractor to fully bolt up the work as he proceeded is about the only feature of the work to which reasonable excuse might be. taken, apart from the general delay in completing the work. Here again it is debatable whether the deferring ot some of the bolting by the contractor to a later period created any undue risk to that part of the structure. What is _ evident is that no part of the partially bolted structure suffered any damage during the gale or rather series of gales, nor is the ultimate completion of the work impaired in any way. Such method of .working may have been inadvisable and possibly more costly to-the contractor, hut it is never considered incumbent on an engineer to teach a contractor, his work, and, as long as no work is completed in a faulty manner, or so carried out that completion is rendered impossible, the actual stages of the work aa-e left to the contractor’s judgment. For example no one would allow a builder to start papering the interior walls of a house unless he had the roof on, hut if tho roof were on it wouldn’t make any difference whether he first completed tho kitchen or the drawingroom, provided at the finish the whole house was completed according to the plans and specifications. • “And so in this case, tho method of carrying out the work, and to a large, extent the sequence of operations was a matter purely, for the discretion of the contractor. If lie adopted extravagant methods or his organisation was faulty ho wonld naturally lose money, as many contractors have done in The past. That is .one reason why the contractor has had to abandon the job, and the board is protected from liability in this respect by the; guarantors, who Accept the risk of such default,by the contractor.

i “One or two other points mentioned by Air. Reynolds come under t-liis heading, namely sheeting timbers out of place, only partially bolted, and bolt ■ threads only half engaged on the nuts. It is obvious that. Mr! Reynolds saw The work in a transition stage. Since taking over the work from the contractor, the board’s staff has been engaged, inter alia, in completing tho bolting up. Timbers have been straightened tm a comparatively simple matter, tno remainder of the bolts inserted and tie rods put in. Mr. Reynolds undoubtedly saw some of the latter which had only just been placed, and jwhich had not been finally tightened Yip. It is not every day that it is possible to stand on a raft on. Uio seaward side of the wall in. order to -wield the heavy spanner necessary to lighten these iarge nuts. “Time for completion—AD Reynolds estimates the time now necessary to complete the work upon a satisfactory . basis, as , eight to nine months. If he is correct in this, w r hen ,fully three-quarters of "the work is -finished, how can 'he reconcile it .with his statement before tho board that twelve months would be a' reasonable , time to carry out the contract from the commencement. Either he is now grossly misrepresenting the position, or else he was distinctly unfair to any contractor in stipulating that the work should ho carried out .in twelve months. I leave it to your unbiassed judgment to decide which is the truth. ,

j “I will now briefly sum up the position. Tho hoard accepted a very low tender for an - admittedly difficult work, from an unknown contractor, who though perfectly sound, only hud moderate means at his disposal..He encountered _ difficulties at the onto set in" obtaining his timber, owing to the timber workers strike in Australia, ,and : in addition experienced broken and unseasonable weather during the summer of 1928-29. when he; nftjjprpUj’ : to rnahe, tho

most progress. . /He ■ finally; got into tho position where ho could not properly finance the job. The board therefore, with full knowledge of the circumstancesj <very- wisely -decided , to grant him every possible assistance, in other words, to nurse him along, in an endeavor to have the work completed.. .At-the samo time they were lirging him to .push on as quickly as possible? and individual - members even suggested that ho should drive the remaining' sheetingy sb as to enclose The. wave trap.-without, waiting to consolidate the work with stono. I at once- vetoed this suggestion, quite, wisely, as subsequent., events proved, but I pointed out to tlio contractor, the possibility, of pushing on. with- the sheeting provided sufficient stone , was . placed in .tho wall to stiffen it and. that the balance of the Stone .ooqld . be placed subsequently. This was the course that the contractor adopted and in his anxiety tip' ’got ahead, and close the gap only did sufficient bolting to hold the structure together in the meantime. I venture to assort; that the work is now a, good deal, further ahead than if tho contractor-had been compelled to complete oacK bay in its entirety. Better organisation would no doubt, have enabled him to keep up with (ho: bolting instead of letting it lag behind,' but that again is only a loss to tho contractor and . not to the hoard. ••••»■•

i “This work has not proved such a big hurdle, .as in tho comparatively short time that the board has been carrying on the work fully two thirds of it has been cleaned up and the balance is well in hand. The completion of tho whole job as now organised should not take" m.uch over three months, except possibly for portion of - the stone . filling, which will take :i little longer., but can be -carried on with a very small gang. I fully expect that the work will not cost the hoard anything above the contract price, and that the loss to tho contractor will lie covered . by the amount of his bond. In view of the extremely low contract price the board , has reason to congratulate itself on the outcome. “I trust that the' foregoing remarks, though necessarily on the long side, in order to give an accurate. picture of the position, will show the board that I have in all matters studied their interests, and that the confidence they have bestowed on me and my staff has not been misplaced.”

AIEAIBERS’ DISCUSSION

TONE OF AIR. REYNOLDS’ REPORT OBJECTED TO. REPORTS MERELY TO LIE -ON .- TABLE, : Dr. ,T. C. Collins moved that the reports be considered together ana then submitted to a special committee of tlie board. This was seconded pro i'ornnr l \ Mr. Steele. Proceeding, Dr. Collins stated that lie wished to protest strongly against the tone of Air. Reynolds’ report which aimed , at creating distrust MU tho minds of the board. The speaker had objected t-o the suggestion oi bringing these two engineers together and they had gained nothing by it. He considered tlie chairman huu no right to allow such a report- to com© before the board and ere. te chaos. Air. Reynolds’ report- imu given notlr'ng and had merely opened tho way for the hoard to be accused of employing an incompetent- engineering staff. The only' part of either report which -was worth anything was that in Air. Alarshall Smith s beginning: “l will now briefly sum ..p7” Air. Reynolds’ report was nothing but a criticism of a younger man'. Mr. J. IE Broadliurst rose to a noint. of order, pointing out tnat the board had asked for the report and that the chairman had had no right to withhold it from members. The chairman (Mr. Tpmbloson) expressed pleasure that Air.-Reynolds had submitted ■ no recommendations for alterations to the job. Actually the whole thing simply appeared a spectacle of two engineers attack-ng one another and the sooner it was disposed of the better. He considered that Mr Reynolds simply should be thanked for his report and the matter dropped. Alessrs. G. Smith and A. C. Steele both expressed objections to the tone of Air. Reynolds’ report and added that it contained nothing of great value. “Our engineer has made- out a good case in reply,' . said Air. Steele. , Air T Todd stated, that, in conversation with the consulting engineer, Air. Reynolds had suggested that tests of the drawing power ot the piles should he made by taking out one or two. That suggestion should have boon embodied in tlie report which, as it stood, contained little to guide tho board. Air. A. AVade commenced that he was in the unique position of being n member who had criticised toe work from the commencement, r-t alleged that lack of supervision of the job had brought about toe necessity for a report lrom -Mr. Reynolds. That- was tile whole crux ot the position To his mind Air. Revnolds’ report was a true and honest one. actually , representing the position of things there to-day. Lett- im it 'was the job would be a monument of follv. Tho wall would collapse like a pack of cards in a lew ; years, unless-many things m the nail we e remedied. , . , There were several interruption . members contending that Mr. . Made was talking away from the subject. Dr. -Collins then- withdrew huv motion and the meeting agreed that- the reports should lie on the- table. PRESENT FOREMAN RETAINED BOARD REVERSES DECISION. By a decision at a previous meetiugr’the hoard resolved to call for ap_plications tor the position of foreman 'of the sea wall job: Yesterday, however, they decided, a*ter some keen discussion, to retain the present in introducing the matter, stated that the work on toe sea wall apnea-red to he making g progress. There were three caissons Mt to fill and the men were engaged on the first of these that atternoom ft was probable that, the . , work would be finished by l n night The guarantors tor the contractors had inspected the work aim they now recommended that the P- 0 sent foreman he retained until the job WK completed. In thu recommendation and the g . gre-ss - made, he believed they shouia make no change fw\ aoeordingrt rnovcd that the present foreman he tained. The/needed aw experienced m Mr f o. t SmiS n conSded that the chairmen was out of order in ,niakir>p* *noVi a proposal and tnav board should adhere to its original decision to appoint a f ? To his -mind the need , for a moro experienced _ man to constructing the staging an pile driving, not ‘ for the concreting work which could be carried out bv anyone. Thev required somebody there who would, consolidate the work, as it proceeded, thus lessening the risk of. further damage. He believed a foreman should he appointed in terms of the previous resolution. A good man would exued'to the construction and j keep everything. up-to-The chairman explained that the previous, resolution of tlie board was simply to call for applications for the position of foreman and not neoopsftrily to appoint one The board jhnd adomted a recopimaudntion ol the Trorliig cojpniit'to^.

Mr. A.. Wade also considered they should appoint a new foreman, hut Mr. T. Todd supported the chairman’s motion.

: After some further discussion, it was decided to hear the names nt the applicants, of which there were 18: T" - o amendments to the chairman's motion, that certain apnlicnnts he arwionted. wore .negatived by eight votes to:five.

"Von can take mv name off tho comm it ton.” stated Mr. W-ado. “T. cengrntulnto '>’oti Mr. Todd, fchnirmon of H»o oon ir ”dtool; ootn--771 pilled Tlt C'pllins nmhl 1 rinrrfi 1 or.

• ''Ct. Pmdh stated tint it appeared to h*m Micro was oo need Tor n v: wl ' ! corniviiH w, ■■ as rone ef. ilnir nr com. nieTirlntio.ns 'wore fl/lnotod I'V the Kn" —l. TTp rite n-iphod tor h’° rnnio t<» tn removed from Iho committee. <‘To,lre me imwo off also" said Mr A. .T. Micel. <“[ cannot net pnder a r .l,nN. mnr , wl|A so vs one * h'llg ”1 C* m - v : tpn' and then anotlier’ in open heel'd.’'

vro.de' r e!n/ir» nnrm further rr’. <ie5 R ni- of Him hoe-.Pc mlinn O'-n O*' Jhe peniili-v memliew.’ fdlogod I.°CX O interest in the works. ; Mr.. Todd stated that lie was willing to retire from the chairmanship of the committee. llis change m opinion was due to tiie fad that, in the interim, he had discovered he had been blaming the wrong mail h>r tliei delay on the joh. : Mr. A. Steele objected to Air. Wade’s criticism of the country members and stated that this was actuated by his (Mr Wade’s) disapproval of tho" man in charge of the job. Dr. Collins stated that there was no more conscientious member than Air. Todd He considered that ’there was no greater mark of weakness than to resign because it was impossible to' get one’s own way. There was 'a. lack of .unison in the works committed and that factor absolutely negatived any chance of the committee’s successful: working. The chairman expressed regret that tho members of the works committee had taken it so much to Heart- as to -resign and added the. hope that they would reconsider their decisions. The chairman’s motion was then carried by eight votes to five.

PROGRESS OF THE WORK. ENGINEER’S MONTHLY REPORT. In his monthly report, the resident engineer, Air. -Marshall Smith, included tiie following in relation 10 me sea wall—‘‘Since the board took oven Jus contract on August 29. the work has been pushed on by the hoard’s stall'. While an endeavor has been made to co-ordinate all portions of the work, special efforts have been made during periods of favorable weather to complete the uoncrete portion. I am pleased to report that- this portion in now withm measurable distance ol completion. There now remains only a length of about 30 feet- out of i> total length of 150 feet, of which only 30 feet was eomnleted when wo took over the job. The completion of this portion will enable the driving of the sheeting on the timber sections to be recommenced. Simultaneously with the above the final bolting up of the tiuiberwork, commencing from tho. groyne end of the job. has been proceeded with. This has entailed the- handling of a good deal of stone, but nevertheless the whole of the bolting of tho seaward side of the wall is now completed and most of the inner sido is also done. Some of the main tie rods have yet to be inserted. Stone from Tuamotu is being placed in the completed jK>rtion. 1 would point out in this connection that it wilL not be advisable to fill the wall completely with stone in the portions where the sea will break over the wall and dislodge the stone, unless arrangements are made to provide- the concrete capping simultaneously. Ar.v idea is to fill the wall to within three feet of the top in the exposed portions, and after settlement has stopped to fill in the remainder and concrete the surface at the same time. This work could be carried out towards the end of the summer. The concreting of the surface is not a part of the present contract-, but a sum is included in my total estimates for this purpose.” The report was adopted without discussion.