BRITISH ENGINEERING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21976, 10 June 1933, Page 14

BRITISH ENGINEERING

Tangible evidence of the British civil engineer’s ability is to be found everywhere, and the parG he has played in the maintenance of British prestige abroad cannot be exaggerated (says The Times in an article on, the new Southampton Docks). Though it is true that the physical features and contours- of this country provide him with less opportunity for spectacular achievements on the grand scale, his work here is none the less impressive to those capable of appreciating, its significance. The present extension of the Southampton Docks is a splendid illustration alike of the genius of British engineers and of the spirit of enterprise that has enabled this country to take full advantage of its insular position. Southampton is naturally well served by the tide, but the rapid extension of its passenger traffic necessitated the provision of additional quayage, and how the Southern Railway has reclaimed a vast area of mud and constructed a deep-water quay and graving dock is told in detail in the Supplement. Here it is sufficient to say that the work has entailed such operations as sinking over a mile of square concrete pillars each as high as many a church steeple and superficially large enough (o contain a house and garden, the provision of berths for eight of the largest ships afloat, and the construction of a graving dock capable of taking a vessel of 100,000 tons. Equally impressive have been some of the other works—the laying of culverts almost as large in diameter ns a tunnel of London s underground railways, the driving of steel piling into the ground to great depths for a distance of more than a mile, and the installation of a huge and complex pumping system controlled by one man from a desk in a distant room.