NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOUR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6255, 3 December 1881, Page 6

NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOUR.

[FROM OUR OWN REPORTER.] I Tub burning question hero is no doubt the • harbour, and the casual impressions of a ' traveller may interest your readers. ' About three miles to the west of New ' Plymouth are several conspicuous conical rocks called the Sugar-loaves, the largest being about 150 feet high, called Paritutu, a landmark for miles round. The proposed harbour consists simply of a mole thrown out from the shore a little to the eastward of the Sugar-loaves. As yet, this mole is only just begun. The foundation is made of bags of concrete. An enormous box of iron is lined with jute, filled with a wet mixture of cement and crushed stone, and lowered to the bottom. The lower part of the box is made of moveable iron plates, so that they can be opened, and the bag of stuff slips through. It accommodates itself to the irregularities of the bottom, and soon becomes as hard as solid rock. On these | bags two parallel walls of cement are built. Close to the shore they are made of concrete, poured into wooden casings, and allowed to set. Further out solid blocks are lowered into position. Between the two walls of cement is rubble hearting. When the mole has reached a distance of 335 feet from shore, the rubble hearting is to be discontinued, and the rest of the structure, to a total length of 2320 feet, made entirely of cement blocks. The widtli is to be 30 feet. To understand the process of building we must begin a* the beginning. A jetty runß down nearly to low water a little east of the mole ; there are lines on it, so that an engine and trucks can take in cargo at the end, run on shore, and return down the mole. Another branch at the shore end of the mole goes to quarries. The line resembeles in shape a capital Y ; the stem ending in the quarries, the two branches beingthe mole and the jetty. Stone is obtained from thecjuarries by simply blasting the smaller Sugar-loaves. It is of very varying quality. In one place a small patch of rich copper ore, of the peacock variety, with spangles and crusts of metallic copper, was found. The stone is conveyed on a high level line to the second floor of a large house, where there are three of Blake's stonebreaking machines, driven by a large engine. This, and the two locomotives used, burn only wood, of which 1200 cords (tawa and rata) lie ready for use. After going tnrough the stone-crushers, which are so set as to make their own sand, eight parts of crushed metal are mixed with one part of White's Portland cement. This is effected by letting the cement and stone drop through on to the first floor into revolving drums, where water is added, and the wet mass trickles into large skips placed in trucks on the ground floor. These trucks when loaded run away down the incline to the mole.

As yet I have said nothing about the two gigantic cranes employed. Thoir use is to handle the blocks of concrete, weighing about 22 tons each. The blocks are made in moulds in the usual way. The first crane, the Goliath, simply lifts each block out of its casing and places it in a truck. The Goliath is made of plates of iron rivetted together, and mounted on wheels. It runs 011 lines, and moves about to pick up any block required. It seems very odd that it should be imported at a cost of £1200. Anyone would thir.k that a frame of timber would answer such a simple purpose. All it has to doisto march rigbtoverahardenedblock, pick it up, and put it 011 a truck. The Titan, cost jL2oOO, has more to do. It stands at the end of the mole, and it has to pick blocks off the trucks, and hoist them out, and lower them either forward, right, or left, into position. It is a colossal affair; mere measurement would give you no idea of its magnitude. Seen at a distance it resembles a gigantic anteater. Its four legs stand on the mole, while its snout projects over the waves. The snout carries parallel lines of rails, so that a carriage running on them can pick a block off a truck, move out over the water, and drop its burden where it is wanted. There is also a right and left traversing motion, with an overhang of about six feet, which allows of a block ten feet wide being lowered. Divers are used, and in a few months it seems likely that the mole will have made some progress. In his speech to the electors of Taranaki on November 23, Colonel Trimble urged the Board to drop their incessant squabbles and charges of mismanagement, and get on with the work. A stranger can hardly hope to get at the people who pull the wires; the general impression is that much money lias been squandered, and that the present management is not likely to succced. Mr. llhind is in charge. Ke was formerly foreman at £-1 a week. He has now been offered the post of engineer at £S, but has remonstrated, 011 the ground that other engineers get more. Whether you can make an overseer into a marine engineer by doubling his srdary I cannot pretend to decide. If the work goes straight on, all may l>e well. If difficulties arise ; if miners are blown up or crushed, or if divers are drowned, it will be said that no one about the works was acquainted with the principles on which all these delicate and dangerous operations are based. I confess that in handling the Bornhardt battery used to explode several mines simultaneously I felt S' me awe. It was screwed up, and I had 110 chance of examining its construction. There are, I believe, no books available that describe it. Ido not believe a single soul in New Plymouth knows how it works. As far as I could guess, it is a frictional arrangement for charging a leyden jar, but 1 cannot say for certain. The room where it is kept is festooned with detonators, and quantities of dynamite and powder are in stock. Another point worth mentioning is that the Board will eventually come to the end of their money, and no one knows what will happen then. It is hardly probable that the mole will afford safe shelter for the Union boats ; at any rate very few people believe that it will. No one can say what more may be required, nor lias any one any idea how it can bo obtained. The sole use of the mole is to get goods on board more cheaply. Freight to Wellington is now 255. The resnlt of putting £200,000 into the sea will be a reduction of a few shillings. Is it worth it ? Mails come frequently from Auckland by the Waitara; passengers from the south part of the West Coast get up by rail and coach; does a quiet little town like New Plymouth want a harbour? For a subsequent letter I liopo te give you some idea of the atmosphere of New Plymouth, and the curious, old-fashioned stagnation of the people.