FIFTY YEARS AGO

Nelson Evening Mail, 22 May 1917, Page 2

FIFTY YEARS AGO

(From the. Mail of 22nd May, 1867.)

_ The past week' has been signalised by the occurrence of an unusual number nf disasters to shipping at Hokitika. the. (hey, and other ports on the West. Coast. Amongst these we may mention the following steamers :—The Tasrmvnian Maid, which went ashore at Hokitika on the 15th insl, and is how beached tor repairs: the Southland. which was ashore at Hokitika, but is now afloat, the Halcyon, 'which is ashore at the. Grey, and the Huntress, which is ashore, at Hokitika. Besides these . casualties the Kennedy was in imminent danger on her last voyage to this port, and onlv escaped destruction by the display oil the part of s Captain Carey, of the 'most able seamansliip. The wrecKs of'?the schooners Isabella Jackson, and Goldseeker, the former of which escaped without any material damage, whilst the latter was entirely lost,. must be added to this catalogue" of disasters. The main sewer in Bridge street is fast approaching completion, ""and the. work will probably be finished by Friday morning, if we except the branch, drains to the grates, constructed for the purpose of carrying off the surface water. The length of the server is 800 feet, and its_ form is egg shaped, that is 3 feet 4 inches in the clear, and 2 feet 4 inches at the springing point, a form which has been adopted in accordance with the last approved fashion of constructing sewers at home. The drainage of house in Bridge street ::is lirovided for by the insertion of pipes in the main sewer, and provision is also made for the dainage of Alma street and the various right-of-ways leading into the street. We understand that it is the intention of the Board ot Works eventually 'to extend this sewer entirely round the block, but the present contract only reaches "to the centre of Colling wood street. The work, which will cost. £513 ,is highly creditable to the Board of works and their surveyor, Mr Thomas Younger, and also to the contractor, Mr Thomas Miles, who has performed his part most ably and conscientiously.