THE STEAM NAVVY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1798, 22 August 1906, Page 63

THE STEAM NAVVY.

The labour-saving device known as the steam navvy lias been mentioned as the proper thing for the City Council to secure as an economic aid in the formation of file recreation grounds. This machine is a stranger to Wellington. To those acquainted with engineering works in other parts of the colonies this fact is remarkable, for probably in no other large city in Australasia lias there been so much need of a steam navvy as in Wellington, where miles of harbour have been converted into business thoroughfares by throwing hillsides into the bay, and where a large percentage of the hill dwellings stand on sites that have been eked out of mountain slopes. People living in Wellington get accustomed to the curious physical features of the city —which now spreads beyond the encircling crescent of hills —but the peculiarities of many of our airy suburbs creates a feeling akin to wonderment in the visitor, particularly if that person belongs to a town or city standing on a reasonably level site. Such a person would perhaps go as far a*s to doubt Wellington's sanity on seeing the si!e for the Thorndon recreation .ground, where Cemetery Hill and its adjacent gully are to be transformed into a level sward. But 'Wellington cannot help itself to level areas except by such means as are afforded by pick and shovel, or steam navvy, as the case may be. Wellington is a city of hills. There are truly some fearful and wonderful, if picturesque and comfortable, homes at Kelburne, Brooklyn, Roseneath, and even on Wellington terrace, that must fill the stranger with amazement at the architectural tricks that have had to be resorted to. The hills are scarred with old and new excavations, and yet that giant aid. the steam navvy, has never been introduced until hinted at by the City Engineer. The “navvy’s’’ mission is to shift loosened earth —it docs not excavate itself—but having tlie loose earth to play with, it can do the work of ten or twenty men, according to its capacity. It consists of an engine and boiler, which manipulates a powerful steel arm, to which is attached a large steel bucket, fitted with diggers or teeth, after the style of a clutch dredge. The size of the bucket is in accordance with the power, but it

is understood they can bo supplied up to a five-yard capacity. The device iff brought to bear on a mass of loose earth; it lifts, perhaps, a couple of yards at a time, empties it into the attached hopper, or trucks, and returns for another ‘'shovel-fiil.” With a smart blastinggang and a good steam navvy at work, it is said that one can "see the country changing form.” It is certain that where there is much material to shift it is wonderfully effective, and is used extensively in canal works at Home, on the Continent, and in America. It has been suggested to us that there is money to be made in Wellington by the person or syndicate who would import a steam navvy, and hire it out for the many earth-shifting works that crop up from time to time.