OTIRA TUNNEL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17703, 1 February 1918, Page 4

OTIRA TUNNEL.

THE DELEGATES' OPINIONS.

PROGRESS OF WORK SHOULD

BE ACCELERATED.

The Canterbury delegates who took? part in the visit of inspection to the Otira tunnel returned to ObristchuToh yesterday. At the conclusion of the in* spection .of the work at Otira on Wed-| nesday morning the West Coast dele-; gates returned to their respective towna by motor, and all save three of the! Canterbury visitors went by motor to Hdkitika, the remaining three going to Greymouth, also by motor. The Christ-' church visitors to Hokitika were warmly received. They were first entertained at afternoon tea at a garden fcete which was in progress at the municipal recreation grounds, and were then taken in motor-cars to Lake Kanieri, a picturesquely situated sheet of water, which is also a source of electrical energy. In the evening tho Mayor of Christchurch, who was a. member of tho party, attended a meeting held at the Town Hall in connection with Y.M.C.A. work, and gave a shorii address on the work of the Lady Liverpool Fund, at the same time thanking the people of Hokitika for. their liberal support of the fund. The smaller party, which visited!* Graymouthj was also hospiteJjly received, and was shown the.many points of interest which the port possesses. Both parties returned to Otira bytrain yesterday morning, and came back to Christchurch by coach and train after a most enjoyable time. Before the train party separated a hearty vote of thanks, on the motion of thai Mayor of Christchurch, was accorded to Mr H. J. Marriner, who very capably supervised the party's travelling arrangements. THE VISITORS' IMPRESSIONS.

Interviewed after the journey, Mr H. J. Marriner, chairman of the Railway Committee of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, to whose initiative tho tour of inspection was largely due, said that he thought every member of tho party had been impressed with the magnitude of the work. Personally, no must confess that he had no idea that the tunnel was such a gigantic under* taking. r JJhe party, through the courtesy of the Minister of Public Works, who gave special facilities, and of Messrs Alexander Dinnie and J. R. Cowing, engineers, were shown over the • whole of tho workings. The whole trouble at the tunnel seemed to be that the engineers were unablo to obtain labour of the right sort. The men needed liad to be specially skilled, and the very best men were required. In view of the' fact that there was a loss- of £IOOO in: interest during every week the railway connection between east and west coasts remained uncompleted, it was a question for the Government to consider whether special inducements should not be offered to attract workers of the right sort from all parts of the country, with a view to pushing, tho work to a conclusion as rapidly as possible. Owing to lack of labour the work of lining and cutting the upper heading at the Otira end was lagging to a considerable degree behind the cutting of the bottom heading, and though thoa bottom heading might be cut right though the hill in six months, it appeared certain that at the present rata of progress at least two years must elapse before any train could run through the tunnel. Added to this, there was no information which would lead one to suppose that the Government had taken steps to obtain a supply of electrical power for the operation of the tunnel after it was opened. In conclusion Mr Marriner expressed the appreciation of all members of the party of the hospitality displayed by West Coast friends, and also of the arrangements made by Mill. Hall, of the Otira Terminus Hotel, for the accommodation of an unusually large influx of visitors. The trip had been a most enjoyable one in every respect. Special credit was due to Mr D. J. Evans; of Hokitika, who had made tho arrangements for the visit of West CV..-..i delegates to Arthur's Pass and Otira.

The Mayor of Christchurch (Mr H. Holland) in the course of an interview, said that this had been his first visits to the West Coast, and he had now seen for himself the urgent and paramount importance of pushing on the railway between the two provinces to x completion, in the interests of both. Each province could supply many things that the other needed. The Wes& Coast was very largely undeveloped, and was capable of producing muck that would find a ready market in Canterbury, particularly in the matter of coal, timber and dairy produce. Railway connection would also add considerably to tho volume of goods passing; over the wharves at Lyttelton. Tha tunnel undertaking was a much greater and more difficult one than hearsay accounts had led him to believe, and ha was much impressed by the scientific and efficient methods employed in tho work. Modern labour saving . machinery was employed wherever possible and at the Otira works .tho speaker picked up some points aboub the disposal and utilisation of refujo which ho hoped to see adopted in Christchurch shortly. Inexpensive, elec-1 trically . driven machines were used which speedily and cheaply converted refuse into first-class artificial manureThe City Council should consider tho installation of a number of these ma-i chines, the use of which would obviato tho necessity for carting refuse to thci city Destructor, and would produce a by-product which was sWre of a goodi market. Speaking generally of the future of th o West Coast, the Mayor said that/ he thought the possibilities opened up by the completion of railway connection were tremendous. The saving on coal sent into Canterbury alone would amount to thousands of pounds a year, owing ito tho fact that the coal wctfildi be less broken up in transit. From a scenic point of view the West Coast bad many charms unsurpassed in the Dominion, and he would heartily recommend the Coast as a desirable place for the holiday visitor who wished to travel amid beautiful scenery. THE WORLD'S BIG TUNNELS.. The following comparative statement, compiled from 'the latest available! sources by Mr J. B. Cowing, shows the Otira tunnel to be the seventh longest,

in the world:— Name of Length Alti. Tunnel. Country. miles yds. Ft. Simnlon Switzerland-Italy . 12 '458 2313 St Gothard Switzerland-Italy 9 584 3788 Loitschberg Switzerland . . 9 55 4077 Mont Cenis France-Italy . . 7'1730 4248 Arlberg Austria . 8 404 4300 Eicken Switzerland . 5 610 650 Otira New Zealand . 6 554 &35 Taueru Austria . 5 548 4020 Ronoo Italy . 6 277 Tenda Italy t . . 5 56 3260 WORLD’S HIGHEST TUNNELS.

Caldera. Peru 1 1320 15,774 Tran's-Andine Chile-Argentine 1 551 10,500