THE HARBOUR WORKS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 2888, 13 December 1898, Page 3

THE HARBOUR WORKS.

TO THE EDITOR Off THE TIMARU HERALD. Sir,— l have read your articles and comments on the breakwater, and the Board's proceedings, also the chat with Mr Marchant. You appear to take great ! interest m the harhour, and rightly so, as it has, and will m future affect the pockets of the ratepayers to a serious 1 extent. I visited the breakwater on the 10th inst., and noted the damage done by the action of the sea. I am not surprised at this. The concrete used was not of a quality to resist the action of the sea and shingle combined, I pointed this out m a letter to the Herald about 18 years ago when Mr (ioodall was engineer, and suggested that clean bluestone spalls or clean broken metal should be mixed with the cement and shingle. I also mentioned the . matter to more than one of our representatives on the Harbour Board. Afterwards I noticed that m some of the blocks bluestone spalls were used, but a good deal of it was clay-coated dirty surface stone,, not clean enough to use with cement. This use of stone* was after a time discontinued, I don't know why; possibly on account of expense, and the old method of shingle only resorted to, consequently bad concrete. The only redeeming point m beach shingle is, that it is perfectly clean, but having no angles has no key to hold it together. The breakwater concrete always reminds me of the small round sweeties you see m a glass jar m the sunny face of a confectioner's window, just enough sugar melted to stick them together. A great portion of the blocks are rubbish. I have seen them fall to pieceß m the slings when being lifted by the crane. They, will stand .neither pressure nor wear and tear by the attrition of the shingle on the face of the work. It* j the damage done is to be made good i with the same mixture as formerly used, £ have no hesitation m saying' it will be money thrown into the sea. I am also afraid that if a thorough inspection is made, it will be fouud that the formation blocks are being disintegrated and crushed by the weight of the monolith capping. Should this prove to be the case, fissures will soon appear m the monolith, and the only means to edopt to save the> work will be to tip 1 over large blocks of bluestone to form an apron wave-breaker (the larger the stone the better). The sea will give the stone the proper slope or batter, I advocated this years ago, instead of concrete blocks, and quite agree with Mr Marchant's suggestions (pity they have been so many years m hatching out), as it would have saved a large amount of money had they been adopted at i the time the .suggestions were first made. I also_ note that you are a great advocate of soience. This has certainly hitherto proved a very costly article to the New Zealand taxpayer. I will give a few instances, uamely, Urunner bridge, Bangitata bridge, West Coast road, Lyttelton harbour works, Main. Line railway and bridges, and our own harbour;workß. On all those works, and many more, thousands of pounds have been wasted by scientific men. The scientific doctor, fresh from college, buries hia mistakes out of sight m the cemetery. Unfortunately for the engineer he cannot do this. They are either washed away by his greatest enemy (water) or stand as monuments of science, or have to be reconstructed, etc., etc. I have personal knowledge of our Provincial Government importing more than one scientific engineer; at £1000 per annum salary, who turned out to be rank failures simply because they lacked practical knowledge. I have been associated with engineers for the past fifty years m England , Australia and New Zealand, and my pxperience is that a good engineer must have hot only science but practical knowledge and good judgement as well. The latter is a most important item m all large works. I was pleased to km tyat they tod employed.

i the old doctor to mend the broken arm " of the breakwater, but I am afraid he « will have a difficulty m making a good r job. I may state that I have long had 1 a plan on board for preventing the ■ shingle from closing the entrance to the " harbour, but not being able to add the 1 magic letters M.I.C.Ji. to my name, 1 | am afraid 1 should be classed among ' the many would-be engineers, amateurs, ! cranks, and beach-combers, who also ' have a remedy. As I do not wish to " occupy too much space I will conclude by thanking you m anticipation for the insertion of this long letter. I am, etc., . .-.. 1 W. SHIERB. Geraldine, 12th December, 1898. In a letter to the Dunlop Company a West England cycle maker states 11 That Dunlop tyres have no equal for all round qualities ; they find- that all other tyres ; have faults which are ascribed to the cycle or its makers." _ Buyers should be careful of ambiguously wor ed advertisements which periodically appear m the columns of various papers offering for sale so-called Dunlop tyr^s at ridiculously low prices. Careful inquiries and examination should be made before a purchase is affected, otherwise it may be found that the purchaser has been palmed off with an imitation of the genuine Dunlop tyre. .-.:. . 1 _^ i