THE ARTHUR'S PASS TUNNEL CONTRACT.

Colonist, Volume L, Issue 12159, 6 February 1908, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE ARTHUR'S PASS TUNNEL CONTRACT.

Greymouth, Jan 14. Messrs McLean and Sons, the contractors for the Midland railway tun Del. put on a gang of men to-day for the iirst time to clear away debris from the site of the tunnel mouth. The operation, though equivalent in a sense to turning the first sod, did nofe invoice any ceremony. Although a good deal of preparatory work has been performed, there is necessarily a great deal still to be done, specially in connection with the supply of hydraulic power. The huts for the workmen are practically finished and ready for occupation. A few visitors who happened to be passing the tunnel entrance torday, can boast of having seen the actual commencement at the western mouth of tha Midland railway tunnel, a work which is destined to greatly figure in fcho future history of New Zealand.

Mr Neil M'Lean, one of the contractors for the Arthur's Pasg tunnel on the Midland Railway, speaking to a repmseuafcive of tne ■ Ohrisfcehurch "Press"' regarding the progress of tne work, stated that be had just received word from his brother, Mr Murdoch M'Lean, that be had purchased an "lngersollKanri air drill, which would be used in the boring operations at the tunnel. While in Switzerland Mr M'Lean made a visit to the Loot* schberg tunnel (eight and a half miles) which is being constructed between Bngue and Berne, and in which the air drill is being used with satisfactory results. The contraotors were driving the drills with electric motors, the power being generated by water and supplied free. Mr M'Lean estimates that. 2000 h.p. will ba required at each end of the tunnel to drive the drills. At the Bealey end the Punchbowl Falls will be harnessed, and it is estimated that 750 h.p. will be generated. At the Otira end one of the streams will be utilised and 500 h.p. will be available. In both oases the power will be generated at the source of supply, and conveyed by wires to the tunnel workings. . In regard to the ventilation of the workings, where the headings are advanced sufficiently to necessitate a plant being put in, the system of exhaust will be adopted in preference to air being forced in from the tunnel's mouth. The exhaust 3ystenj is generally favoured on the Continent, as it draws out the* foul air, and fresh air rushes iri, nature abhorring a vacuum. It has been found that to force in fresh air only removes the foul atmosphere from the face, and that tho work cannot be properly ventilated in the deeper recesses of the headings. * At the Otira end, Mr M'Lean says about 50 huts have been erected, and carpenters are now buildf ing the workshops, while labourers are doing bush clearing at the tunnel mouth. He expects to start with the cuttings r>exfc week. So far nothing has been done at the Bealey end, and probably a start will not be made until Mr Murdoch M'Lean returns. Mr M'Lean is finding no difficulty ■ in getting all the labour he requires at present. He receives numbrous applications for work. "Of course I don't know what it will be like later on, " he said, "but I think that with a good long job offering at 10s a day and no lost time, there should be plenty of apr. lications. "