RIVER DRAGLINES

Kaikoura Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 11, 6 February 1947, Page 4

RIVER DRAGLINES

MODERN MACHINES IN OPERATION.

When the opening ceremony for the super dragline erected on the Otaki river was performed by the Minister of Works (the Hon. R. Semple), it was intimated that it was one of three such modern machines which were in New Zealand, and that there was plenty of work for them to .do.

The Americans had offered to send trained men with the machines, but he had been confident that men could be tound and trained to operate them in Isew Zealand, said Mr Semple. New Zealand, being a young country was faced with many geographical problems, said the Deputy-Commission-er of Works, Mr J. Beck. River erosion was one of the problems which faced Mr Semple when he took over the portfolio of Minister of Works. He had tackled the problem immediately, realising the danger ahead. He had called his engineers together on many occasions in order to discuss ways and means of combating the problem. Engineers had been sent to Canada and America to study the methods being used there, and this equipment ha J been the result of that mission.

The main feature of the equipment was its capability of reaching out over 1000 feet, thus preventing the possibility of danger from flood waters. Equipment of other types used in rivers in the past had been swept out to sea by floods, and thousands of pounds had thus been ]os£. The equipment could clear an enormous yardage at a low cost, and could also be used to clear willows from the centre of rivers. The Otaki river project was only one of many. Other rivers such as the Clutha were badly in need of attention. The control and tail towers of the machine were both capable of selfpropulsion. There were no guy-wires .necessary. Visual signals would be used to communicate -with the other bank, though it was hoped that “walkie- talkies” would be introduced, as in America. The main cable was one and a-half inches in diameter, and the bucket could, be either drawn acrons the bed of the river, or dipped and carried through the air. The machine would work downstream, gradually widening the channel till it reached the sea, when it would cross over to the other bank and work back.

Taking as a basis the figures supplied by the United States’ authorities, it was estimated, said Mr Beck, that the project would involve only half the cost of previous work of the same nature, where other machinery had been used. It was expected that the machinery would clear over 1,000,000 cubic yards a year. ■ Referring to the capacity of the 'drag-line machines, Mr Semple said that one operating on a canal in the > United States was shifting 1,000,000 cubic yards of material in six months. In shingle rivers in New Zealand, it was estimated that the machines, working three shifts a day, would each be capable of handling 10,000,000 cubic yards a year.