The Town Bridge.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXXVII, Issue 11746, 24 September 1902, Page 2

The Town Bridge.

The question of repairs to the Town Bridge was again before the Borough Council la?t evening.

Messrs R. and J. E. Wilson waited on the Council as a deputation Iroin the Wanganui County Council. Mr Neilsou. in explaining the position taken up by his Council, said that since th< conference of local bodies was held additional information had been received. Mr Kendall, who acted as diver when the bridge was built, had stated that the pier!] were 27 fee* deep instead of 8 feet. In a private conversation with Cajpjtain Low, who at one time was harbour master at Wanganui, the speaker was informed that the river at the fifth pier once scoured out 53 feet from high water mark. In face of these statements the Wanganui County Council was of opinion, that full inquiries should be mad© before anything was definitely settled. All recognised that painting and planking were necessary. If abso^ lutely necessary the County Council woincj be willing that the full amount (£4100) should be spent, but if it was not necessary it. was of opinion-that the Borough Council should hesitate. The Mayor read the following reoort re> ceived from the Public Works Department —I am directed by the Minister for Public Works to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 9th instant calling attention to a leading article and local paragraph published in the Wanganui "Herald" of 6th iitst. in regard to the Wanganui Road Bridge, and in reply to state that both the Engineer-in-Chief (Mr W. W. Hales) and the Superintending Engineer (Mr P. S. Hay) have cone carefully into the statements made by Mr Kendall and others, and from a memo, which the officers, referred to have addressed to me, there would seem to be somq local misapprehensions in reference to the matter. Mr Hales, who was the engineer in charge of the construction of the bridge, says that the whole of the .cylinders - m the pier* referred to were placed in the posi tions shown on the contract drawings for the erection of the structure, the ■ cylinders of each of the six piers bains-of the exacr lengths shown as well as figured on drawing No. 9. This drawing seems to have been specially (prepared and included uj the contract documents for tho guidance 0.1 the contractors when placing r^ 1^ the cylinders, and Mr Hales st: ;? that J* was adhered to in carrying out U.o worir All the cylinders were sunk into the ground to the depth shown on the drawing, which was a correct representation of the profile of the river bed at the time of the erection of the bridge. Mr Hales further states that, the only alteration.'., to ™iers made -in executing the work were that the four cylmderf. of the swing span ; p.ier were sunk one foot nine inches lower than shown on sheet Ao. 9 to alow of the roller paths and carriage of the turntable being placed on them at the proper level, also that some shorty rings; i.ona of which exceeded 18 inches in length, wero cast in Wanganui and used forsaking up the heads of three or four of tlie^cylinders to the required height. There were, he advises, no extra, lengths of clmdere received from England with the material for the bridge, nor were any of the intermediate lengths of cylinders omitted .from any pier and used for increasing -the lengths o other ,piiers. Before writing his report My Hay .consulted Mr Hates as to the depth of the cylinders, and had from him the use of all the drawings according- to which tlie brito was constructed.. The depth of cylinders of pier No. 5. shown on sheets Nos. 1 and 9 of these drawings, agrees with r part copy of the plans obtained from _the Wanganui Harbour Board which Mr Willis M.H.R., placed at Mr Hay's disposal so'that Mr Kendall's statement that Mv Hay had used the wrong drawings when writing the report is entirely without foundation and contrary to facts. So also, apparently, is his statement that the cy.anders were to be sunk to a depth of 60 feet below high water level, and that an additional 7 feet was added to the cvnnder in pier No. 5 His recollection is evidently ai fault. Tlie depths of the river bottom a J> the various itfers at the time of Mr Hay? visit are -shown by the short hatched red lines at each pier on the enclosed .copy o. contract, drawing No. 9. These depths, which are generally confirmed by the recent foundings taken by tha Harbour Board. «how so much scour having taken place since the bridge was built as to leave nr doubt in the opinion of both Mr Hales and Mr Hay as to the necessity for placing heavy stone protection' round all the cylinders'at raier No. sas soon as it can possibly be done. The loss of this pier, MiHay considers, would .certainly wreck twe spam\ ajnd perhaps three, as the gjrdeift are continuous over pier 6, and involve r loss of many thousands of pounds, besides causing great inconvenience to traffic. Or course the pier might" stand for years yet but it might easily be wrecked within a weak if an exceptional flood occurred. Although the two cylinders in. each pier a.ro braced, the bracing is not nearly strong enough to rigidly connect them together, and a good support in the ground is neces-sa'-yfor lateral stability. There is a pre* suro of over 40 feet, of water to be provided for in this pier, in addition to possible -wine •pressure also possible water pressure or loas, etc.. which may catch on the pier ir high floods. Mr Hay considers that th«i piers should be made f-eeure before any money is- spent on the other works he ha-r recommended, beginning at nier No. 5.—1 have the honour to be. your obedient ser va-nt. H. J. H. Blow, Under-Secretary. In the course of further discussion it waf suggested that the depth of the cylinder should be ascertained b^ the cylinder being bored. It was ultimately decided that a conference of lineal bodies should bs held on 'V evening of Wednesday, October 2nd.