CORRESPONDENCE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 7117, 15 July 1886, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

♦ THE PROPOSED HARBOUR JETTY. TO THE EDITOR. gin ii — I hear that the Harbour Board intend to insert the piles for the pier in five ton blocks of concrete set on bag work, as the reef is too hard for driving and screwing the piles in. May I venture to suggest an easier and cheaper process, as follows : — Having szttled upon a line of piles for the pier, bore with a large 3-inch augur, and where a boulder or rock is tnet, use a drill until you reach a depth of, say, four feet or more. Then put in a charge of powder, tamp well, and fire. The explosion will blow out a conical hole, or at all events loosen the earth or rock, so that a hole would bo left about 5 feet in diameter by 4 feet deep. Clear this out, insert the pile, stay it, and fill in with well rammed concrete. This system should be followed to ]o>v water mark; after that the boring and blasting operations could be carried on bya diver, the only difference being that a saiall caisson should be let down over the pile and around the hole, to prevent the stuff thrown out by the diver cleaning the hole for the pile, drifting back. These holes would bo filled up with small bags of concrete and well rammed around the pile, and when set the caisbon could be removed. This system could be carried out to the end of the pier. I will now point out what I think are the weak points in the block and bag work proposed by the Board : First, they will use a much greater quantity of concrete, and will have to carry on this heavy work from the pier. There is also to bo borne in mind that the deposit of all these blocks set along the line of the pier must prevent the material scouring, and therefore it is very probable a bank of sand drift will iorm under the pier. One other thin?, securing will take place at the edge of the blocks and batjwork, and if the leef happens to be soft, there it will go, and the block or bagwork sink or take a cant, thereby straining the pile. Jn the system I advocate about a yard or a yard and a-half is quite sufficient, and it this is well rammed it will be firmer than the foundation itself, or if the piles were screwed or driven to that depth. AgaiDj the concrete being filled in the reef, there is no obstruction to the currents carrying nway sand, &c, and they will have a free flow under the pier. There are many more things I could advocate in favour of this scheme, but I think I have said fculli'eient for a practical person to grasp my idea, and consider it as against the one proposed by the Harbour Beard. — 1 am, &c, Concrete. The Town Band will play in Powder-ham-street, near Brougham-street, thia evening, at 7.30. Ibe Key. Mr. Saddler, of tho Methodist connexioo, has been ill lately, but wo are glad to hear id getting convalesent. Captain Edwin telegraphed at 2.12 p.m. — "Glass further riso, with very cold weather, and strong southerly winds." Mr. Arnold, who was struck down by a tree on the Frankley road hist Wednesday, and who sustained a fracture of tho skull, is now feeling so well that ho desires to get up. Dr. Gibbes, who is attending him, expects Mr. Arnold to be about very shortly. The Auckland Herald thus writes of the advantage of trade with New youth Wales to this colony. Oao week recentty 30.309 buL'i', parcels, &c, of our produce were 1 ind<ri in Sydney, wliilo during the same period we received absolutely nothing from that colony. The police forco I eing so inpidly concentrated at tho ecene of the recent aggressions by the natives, ha 1 the desired effectof ov<r-awing the disaffected Maoris; nnd the eight men which comprised it have therefore been recalled and distributed again throughout the dibtiict to the various towns which they in moro peaceful times are biippoted to garriaon. There was, however, out- exception totliogener.il recall, Constable Hoche, of New Plymouth, having been commissioned to proceed us a. vigilance corpß to Paten, whither tho native procfcßaion proceeded. All is now reported quiet, and peoplo cun again draw breath freely. The steamer Ilinemoa is now duo at the brbakwater fiom Wellington, with a quantity of material for the railway workshops at Wanganui. It ban been found to be more convient to use this port than that of Wangnnui for consigning railway material from Wellington lo the centiul ■workshop of the New Plymouth-Foxton HaLUvuy. .It is obyioua that tho Grovorn-

ment would bo further studying the interest of this department by shifting tho workshops from their present central and inaccessible position, and establishing them at New Plymouth. The only infected flocks of sheep now in the colony are thoso of D. Keer. Motupiko, Nelson, 4250 ; W. Gibson, Warden and Tytler runs, Knikoura, 26,700; nnd F. and It. F. Bullon, Greeuhills, Knikoura, 40,700.