ENGINEERING PROBLEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18316, 5 February 1923, Page 9

ENGINEERING PROBLEMS.

DISCUSSION BY EXPERTS.

The quarterly meeting of "the Auckland branch ;of the' New .Zealand Society of Civil Engineers was held on Friday ing. ■■;: The -1921 report of; the Auckland Canals and Inland Waterways Commission was discussed as regards the suggested Waitemata Bridge, and the proposal to lower Lake Waikare and drain the adjoining swamp land by shutting off the Onetea outlet and digging a canal to the Whangamarino stream. ' :;;;/;; Mr. A. J.; Hunter, who was a.member of the commission, described with the aid of diagrams the \ type, of bridge! proposed for crossing the Waitemata, the ; various sites considered, ; and the method adopted for ascertaining the amount of steelwork and other material and for. estimating its cost. .He also outlined the basis .of calculation which had been adopted to determine what increased flooding ' would ; resuit along ; the lower reaches of the Waikatp River were the relief afforded by storage in -Lake' Waikare to be shut off. This had finally led the commission to report against the proposal. In the discussion which followed, reference was made to the need of the. study of river proposals as a whole, and to the state of the law in New Zealand, : which permits', of ? the formation' of .small/local drainage and- river boards .and the carrying ;but of sectional works : which; may benefit, an isolated L district, '; but : act •.-, to the detriment ■ of a much larger area/;;.,