AUCKLAND GAS COMPANY'S WORKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume III, Issue 720, 6 March 1866, Page 6

AUCKLAND GAS COMPANY'S WORKS.

DEEP WM BINKISO. Tothe Editor of tho New Zealand Hebam>. Sir, —It may not be known to most of your Readers that the plan described by Mr. McLeod, as practised in Pennsylvania, happens to be similar to om that I adopted in sinking a well for the. Gas Company here, which is quite close on the beach, •n sinking this well I anticipated getting as much •water as would suit the purposes of the Company, at a depth, not exceeding 40 feet. Meeting with little -water at this depth, sinking a regular shaft S feet diameter, I still kept on, and when at a depth of jaearly 90 feot, the supply had increased to about 2000 gallons in 21 hours. At this depth I com rmenced boring. I obtained a rod 12 feot long, l j diameter, faced it ■with steel at one end 3 inches -broad, to the other end I welded a piece of one-inch "wrought iron tubing. When the first length wa* •down, another 10 or 12 feet length of tub ng, wn» coupled in the usual way, and bo continued addi- ; length after length, till a dopth of over 70 foot v. :3 ireached by this method. A rope was fastened end •of the tube or "jumper," at the bottom of the well 8 feet diameter, whioh passed over a wheel on the Burrface, and worked by two men. At the downward •stroke the "jumper" was gui'led and received additional impetus by a band at the moutli of the bore. There does not seem to bo any difficulty in adop-•-ting this new method of boring, if the rod were -sufficiently heavy to penetrate the different stratil it might encounter. The resistance T r.jUiul at times to be considerable. The objection that the ropo might be cut passing through the sandstone, could be met by substituting a chain. When I finished boring the furthest down coupling on the rod burst, and it was thought at the time the rod would inevitably be left in the bore, but I caused the tube to be slightly compressed, when it was again screwed into the coupling and brought up. The threo-inch bore yielded as much water at its depth as the forty feet of eight feet diameter, which immediately proceeded it. The watsr was found to be very good— sot salt. I am, yours obediently, J. H. Wabc. "STONE BLASTING- AT NEWMARKET. 'To the Editor of the New Zealand Hebald. Sik,—l am glad to see, by reading yonr issue of •'Saturday, that Mr. Choeseman, the member for .'Parnell, has made a move in doing away with that ■ dangeous nuisance blasting stone by the road at Newmarket. It is high time it was stopped, as it is unsafe for passers by and children, and necessarily •causes stoppage in the traffic of the road, sometimes • six or seven times a day. There is another evil in it. - Every person living around is shaken by each successive blast, as though an earthquake had occurred, and brick houses are shaken to their foundation. I "was really surprised that when Mr. Cheesoman "brought on the subject, Mr. Carleton should stand np to reply, and actually state that no commuinication had been received by the Government re- • specting this nuisance- I hope the Provincial Secrertary will prove the words which he stated in the •Council, for he was at the same table and close by me when I made the complaint on behalf of several of the inhabitants at Newmarket, and the answer Mr. Whitaker made was that the pooplo ■should get up a petition ; so neither the Provincial Secretary or the Superintendent could huvo been ignorant of the dangerous nuisance carried on close by tho houses of scores of families, .Snowing, sir, that your paper is open to the public for the pointing out of public grievances, you will oblige me by publishing this letter. Ant i-Blast. Newmarket, March sth, 1866.