TRAMWAY CONSTRUCTION

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1797, 15 August 1906, Page 14

TRAMWAY CONSTRUCTION

RAPID PROGRESS ON THE KILBIRNIE SECTION. The almost feverish activity manifest in the construction of public works in and about Wellington is remarkable. A visitor may go to a suburb, and the state of works being prosecuted there may elicit the exclamation—“ They’re making changes here!” But if after a few weeks or months another visit is paid, to the sarno the whole aspect of things aro changed. A few months ago Kilbirnie was a peaceful suburban valley cut off entirely from the noisy city / a few years ago it was a favourite place for boys from the city schools to mako for when holidays were on (and sometimes when they were not), and build bush whares among the luxuriant clumps of manuka. To-day all is changed. Drowsy citizens will find it difficult to realise the metamorphosis of Wellington’s suburbs if they fail to peruse the, at times dull and tedious, reports of City and Borough Councils. Take Kilbirnie, for instance. Given fine weather, the Jine construction will be completed in from six weeks to two months from the present date. The track formation commenced at Krlbirnie South—at the head of Evans Bay—and the plate-laying are non* completed as far north as the Kilbirnie Hotel. Then a start was made to work down the valley from the Kilbirnie end of the tunnel, and tlris has reached the upper end of Moxham avenuo (where there is a loop)—the main street through the valley—and just on the border of Kilbirnie proper and tho Hataitai estate, through property the tramway will travel up to that point. All that needs to be done now is to traverse Moxham avenue and a portion of its continuation (Charles street), then strike southwest at an oblique angle across the Chinamen’s gardens and below the church to Hamilton road, where the construction is within a lew chains of tho hotel —the present end of tho other working section. Without rain, tho work could bo got through if “rushed” in a month. But there is no need to hurry tho work forward, as tho tunnel contract is not proceeding as rapidly as was initially anticipated. It will bo remembered by those who keep in touch with such matters that tho boro through the hiDl was for nearly three-quarters the distance through hard, close-grained rook, and daylight did not appear as early as expected. Then tho opening-out of the tunnel was proceeded with, and this could not be carried out as smartly as if the work was of a looser texture. For these reasons the work is behind time at tho Victoria tunnel, though the contract time is up about mid-October, and it is now doubtful if it will bo completed much before the end of the year. The obstacle encountered in the heavy rock bore was not without its blessings, for the excellent metal produced has meant an enormous saving to the city. Even now it is being trucked to the Kilbirnie side from the opening-out operations in the bowels of the mountain, and utilised for track formation, but at the southern end the metal had to be brought per steam-motor waggon from Maranui quarry —which meant money. To revert to the changes in general that are proceeding round Wellington none is more striking than that at Kelburne. The sections overlooking tho city are almost all closely built upon with, a diverse, but superior class of dwellings. There is great activity on the western side of the ridge, to the north-west of the road from the tram terminus to the viaduct. , Here section-making is proceeding steadily by the simple process of chopping hiris away and emptying them into the gullies below, and as month succeeds month familiar landmarks disappear to make way for ‘The man who wants to build.” Hard upon his tracks come the good shepherds, for whom churches are being erected for the dispensation of spiritual comfort; the roads are being widened at the expense of abrupt hillsides; and man has conspired to change the appearance of a somewhat rugged corner of nature’s domains. Below in the canyon known as the old

Karori road gangs of men are burrowI ing and scraping a pathway for tho j olcQtric car, and away at Northland t he ' badly-needed work of widening the ! main road is proceeding apace. ! Miramar is also agog with big things. Its road-widening work is proceeding ' rapidly, and the Seatoun tunnel is already" bored for a distance of 150 ft from the western hillside.