CIVIL ENGINEERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16359, 23 February 1921, Page 8

CIVIL ENGINEERS.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE. SECOND DAY. The annual Conference of the New Zealand Society of Civil Engineers was continued in the large lecture room of the School of Engineering at Canterbury College, to-day. _ Mr Cyrus Williams, president, presided over an attendance of about eighty members. AN IMPORTANT DUPLICATION. Mr W. It- Davidson (Dunedin), read a paper on the duplication and reconstruction of the Dunedin-Mosgiel railway, a work which he described, on account of the variety and extent of the engineering problems involved, as probably the most interesting of all the duplication works on the New Zealand railways. He said that extremely wet and heavy ground was met with at one point, where fifty feet of tunnel 1 was constructed, at a cost of £2IOO, or £126 per lineal yard. At another point, the floor of the tunnel rose lOin, and it was necessary to build 72ft of concrete invert, 2ft thick. The construction of one tunnel involved the excavation of about 62,500 cubic yards of rock, and placing two millions and a half of bricks and 5700 cubic yards of concrete. He mentioned that in excavating for the Chain Hill Tunnel, in Wingatui Valley, in detritis, large quantities of rnoa bones were found. Mr F. W. Mac Lean (Chief Engineer of the New Zealand Railways) said that the work showed that in laying out what was originally a light railway provision should have been made for extensive improvements later on and for developments. MISCELLANEOUS. A special meeting was held at 10 a.m. to further consider proposed Rule No- 77 (Section XVIII.), dealing with recognition of district committees. Mr S. I. Crookes (Auckland), moved that the words “ district sections ” should be substituted for “district committees.” Several members said that the danger of disintegrating tlie society should be avoided, and it was decided, on the motion of Mr R. W. Holmes (Wellington) to defer further consideration of tho question for six months. Jn yesterday’s report it was stated that Mr Toogood had said that the Public Works Department employed some incompetent men, and that "injury was being done to the profes- | sion. His reference was to some men employed by lpcal bodies. He said that under political influence the Department was forced to bolster them up.