EARLY AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13700, 17 March 1908, Page 6

EARLY AUCKLAND.

SOME REMINISCENCES.

FEATS OF ENGINEERING.

[BY TELEGRAPH. — OWN CORRESrONDKST.]

Christchtjrch, Monday. During the recent sittings here of the Ironmasters' Conference, the proceedings were enlivened by some of the older members of the association giving their experiences of engineering in its early days. Among others, a string of reminiscences was given by Mr. George Eraser, of Auckland. In 1854, Mr. Eraser said, his father took an imported flax-dressing plant, into the interior as ; engineer and manager for the New Zealand Fibre Company, but he found that the machinery was so unsuitable as to injure the fibre so as. to make it. unmarketable, and he set to work to combat the difficulty, The result was a flax scutcher practically identical in principle with that used to-day, and a product, fully equal to that produced by the best machinery. In 1861 Mr. Eraser started his moulding-shop. It must have been a strange sight in the yard. There was a small cupola blown by a fan which was driven from a huge wooden pulley. Crank handles were attached, and relays of men were employed to turn the pulley. There was no lack of labour, for the soldiers of the Albert Barracks, when off duty, were eager to turn to, eight at a time, and earn the shilling an hour that was offered for their labour. In addition to the shilling, they usually took away a. thirst of at least equal value, and in that case the money found a legitimate use in the neighbourhood. That moulding-shop was the beginning of a. works which several of the members present referred to as being one of the most up-to-date in the colony.

The speaker then told anecdotes of several early steamers built in Auckland. First came the unsuccessful Governor Wynyard, which was afterwards sent to Melbourne. The second steamer, the City of Auckland, was built in 1857, and was also a failure. She was built to carry firewood, and had a grate for that fuel, while her smokestack was of brick. On one trip from Coromandel to Auckland she burnt up her whole cargo, and had to put in at an island for some more fuel, turning up several days late. Then there was the Phcenix, a vessel of many adventures. The most notable of these was the weird piece of ingenuity by which her boiler was put in place. There were no appliances capable of lifting it, and the job was a desperate puzzle, but everyone who knows engineers knows also that the more desperate the puzzle they are faced with the greater chances there are that plausible devices will be found to solve them. It was'at last decided to sink the vessel, and float the boiler over her. This was actually done, and she was then raised, none the worse, except that she was coated with mud from stem to stern. The first iron steamer built in New Zealand was the Rotomaharta, which is still running for the Northern Steamship Company. She was built by Fraser and Tinne, and was followed into the water half-an-hour later by j the second iron steamer, the Kama, from the works of the late Mr. Yeoman. There was quite an exciting race for the honour. The Rose Casey and a small dredge were the lastvessels built in Auckland for about 27 years. Then the Putiki of 300 toRS, was constructed for Mr. C. Seager, of.Wellington.

Mr. Eraser described the construction of a seven-stamp quartz-crushing plant at the time of the big gold mining boom. His (father's firm ran it for some time, netting £70 a week. Then the pressure of orders was so great that iUwas sold for £1450. The lucky purchasers took the stamp boxes to pieces to renew them, and recovered enough gold from the amalgam that had leaked into the cracks to repay their outlay on the battery. What Mr. Fraser regarded as a masterpiece of engineering work was the repairing by the firm of the steamer Triumph'. She had been wrecked at Tin Tin Island, and had had the forepart of the hull and the propeller considerably damaged. The only dock available at Auckland was 300 ft long, ami the ship was 340 ft long. She was put into the dock, however, and a special gate made to enclose the projecting end. Then one end having been taken out the boat was reversed and again docked. That the work was well done was testified to by the fact that shelves reclassified ICO Al at Lloyd's.