FORT BRITOMART.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 129, 8 March 1872, Page 3

FORT BRITOMART.

Fort BiutoMART is fast disappearing. The large stone building towards the lower end of the point, has been made comparatively a wreck ; its windows, doors, etc., are all taken away, and a considerable (piantity of tlie stones removed. The stone from these buildings, as well as those in thu facing of the enihrasums, are being conveyed to the embankment in Mechanics’ Bay. The, large stone building in the Fort facing the gate, in which for some time was kept the Industrial School, is now being dismantled also ; the slates are removed from the roof, the windows and doors taken out, and the pieces of timber of which the roof was composed have been repnrated, and little else save the walls is now standing. The stones and brick-work in this building will also lie devoted to protecting the railway embankment in Mechanics’ Bay. The bricks obtained from these buildings, and also those on the inside of the walls enclosing the fort, will he devoted to culvert building. What will lie done with the large wooden and galvaniscd-iron stores in the fort has not yet been decided upon ; we believe it is likejy they will lie used by the Government for stores, sheds, &0., on the Waikato railway. We understand they are reserved at present for this purpose. While the buildings in tbs fort are thus being removed and demolished, no l.ss progress is being made in cutting down the Point. About a hundred workmen are employed, and a substantial mark of their levelling powers is to bo seen all along the seaward face of tho cliff in a considerable embankment of earth and rock, which has been thrown down from the top. The mining operations for blowing up a portion of the bill, to which wo referred in a funner notice, are still being pushed on vigorously. The resolution to drive only something over thirty feet in a straight line, before putting in the T drive and charging thu mine, has been altered, and, we think, wisely. It is as well to throw down a large quantity of iiili as a small, while the work - is being proceeded with, and therefore the straight drive has now been driven considerably over forty feet from its entrance at the Breakwater Hoad, and progress is still being made in the same direction. When a sufficient distance has been reached, and the T drive put in, if tlie mine lie charged with a sufficient quantity of powder, there can be little doubt but an immense quantity of soil and rock would he removed and thrown into the very place it is intended to occupy. Thu whole of the space from the beach along to the Wynyard Pier, and from near to the outer end of that structure in a line to the Ilreak’water, lias to be filled up with material from Biitomart Point. The filling in will be raised about four feet above the highest tides. The material required t i fill this space will remove but a small portion of Point Biitomart, and we understand it is the intention of the Harbour Board to use portions of the material for oilier reclamation purposes. It is time that a definite plan of harbour improvements were agreed upon, so that every work undertaken by that body may form but a section of works which arc to make our future harbour, docks, &e.— Cross.