FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14,1896. NEW PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 3241, 14 February 1896, Page 2

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1896. NEW PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER.

Many of our readers are so much interested in the New Plymouth breakwater that they will be glad to hear something of the present condition of the structure. Mr Marchant, C.E., of Timaru, who was engaged by the Board last winter to strengthen the work, has just returned and made another inspection, the results of which are given in the Herald. Under the contract entered into several months ago about 460 feet of the breakwater has been protected by apron work and some splendid stone has been tipped oyer, masses of 10, 12, and 14 tons weight being brought down from the quarries and cast over. This settles down until it finds its angle of repose, an angle of eighteen degrees, but at the present time for almost the whole length of 400 feet the apron work is level with the top blocks of the breakwater. For about 40 or 50 feet at the extreme end the apron work had only reached to about the level of the second row of blocks when the storm of January 4th came, the severest storm, according to some people, experienced for nine years. This storm proved that the protective work had been undertaken not too soon, for in the unprotected portion at the end, a gap of some 86 feet in length was made, the seas carrying the top blocks right over into the harbor, leaving only the two extreme outer blocks of the top tier in their places. To account for the condition of the mole, which has, since the commencement of the contract, been rapidly subsiding in the outer portion, Mr Marchant explains that the concrete was of too porous a nature, and allowed the magnesia in the sea water to gradually permeate the concrete, and set free the lime in tho cement, so that a large quantity has crumbled away. In order to provide against similar misfortune in the future, he is experimenting with the various sand and materials at hand in concrete making. In the meantime the contract is being proceeded with and the gap will soon be filled up. This being done, and the work settled down, it is Mr Marohant's intention to finish off the gap with blocks to make it uniform with the rest of tho structure, and also to place largo blocks on tho top of tho apron work to make all secure. He will afterwards extend tho apron work some distance further inshore, and by that time the breakwater may bo considered safe against the heaviest seas. Should the apron work still further settle down, it will always be a simple matter to tip more stone over. A drawback is the want of a crane which will economically lift largo stones, say of 20 or 25 tons, instead of having them split before they can bo moved. The Westport Harbour Board have such a crane, which it is probable (tho Herald says) tho Board will endeavor to obtain on some terms. " There is a vast quantity of stone in sight at the quarry, which only requires more powerful appliances to

make use of, and with which the breakwater can not only be made perfectly secure but may be extended when required." After stating that Mr Hales, Government engineer, from some misobservation exaggerated the damage done by the last storm, the Herald a dds : — " Finally, our impression from what we saw was that it was extremely fortunate that the protective work was not delayed longer than it was ; but that whatever might have been the state of the breakwater six months ago, it is now, thanks to good engineering and faithful work, practically secure against further damage." Is it not odd that the country-member Board which was so much feared by the townspeople, and whose mission it was supposed to be to stop all expenditure and generally play the part of an iconoclast, is the body to give the breakwater a strength it has never enjoyed before?