SLIP IN GORGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23233, 30 December 1938, Page 8

SLIP IN GORGE

PROGRESS OF REMOVAL J ROAD OPEN to TRAFFIC # - MECHANICAL SHOVEL EMPLOYED OPERATION BY NIGHT AND DAY [BY TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] PALMERSTON NORTH, Thursday Eight days have elapsed since a slip in the Manawatu Gorge brought 4000 cubic yards of material on to the main highway toward the Palmerston North end, and appreciable progress has been made in clearing it. The road was cleared sufficiently for traffic by December 23, and indications are that it will remain open. Beginning work at 10 p.m. on December 21, a mechanical shovel, which was brought from the Milson railway deviation works, continued throughout the night, all day on Thursday and into Friday night, ceasing about 2 a.m. on Saturday. Use ol Floodlights Two floodlights, for which electric power is generated by a crude oil motor, were used to throw a 2000 candle-power light on to the hill face, and each niglit since -then they have been kept on throughout the hours of darkness as a safety measure. The mechanical shovel resumed work yesterday, and has now made a considerable impression on the face of the slip, which was about three chains wide. The machine stands on the outside of the road, swinging the bucket into the debris and turning to drop materia! over the concrete lip of the roadway into the river. Great Boulders Removed Boulders of up to four and five tons can be handled by the shovel, which takes three-quarters of a yard of rubble »nd rock at each movement. This morning attention was being given to breaking up a large boulder of about eight tons. If the shovel cannot actually lift large boulders into the air the bucket is manipulated by the operator so that it pushes the boulder away.

Holiday motorists were prevented from using the main highway only late on the afternoon of December 21, and the night following. A considerable amount of loose material has to be freed from the top portion of the slip, and an investigation of this part may show that other falls are imminent. It is possible also that a secondary slip may develop at the top of the present scar, although it should not be of the large dimensions of the main fall.