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Otago Witness, Issue 3862, 20 March 1928, Page 37

Some interest attached to tests carried out the other day on piles driven in connection with the Gisborne Kaiti wharf contract, undertaken by Mr F Goodman (says the Poverty Bay Herald). By means of a special and massive instrument for recording heavy strains, the tests were carried out on one of the piles driven on the inside wall of the wharf, the instrument being attached to the pile by means of a strop, the lifting gear of the Harbour Board’s pile-frame being employed to put a strain equal to 21 tons on the pile. Having successfully withstood this test, the pile was subjected to further tests, t!»a lifting gear being attached direct to the strop, and the forepart of the pontoon being pulled down to the level of the water. The strain thus produced likewise failed to budge the pile, and th< experiments must have been satisfactory to those charged with securing permanence in the concrete construction of the harbour. The instrument which registered the lift in the first . instance is probably unique . m the. Dominion, having been secured from England at a cost of £4OO.