THE HARBOUR LIGHTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 221, 18 September 1934, Page 4

THE HARBOUR LIGHTS

NEED FOR CONSOLIDATION e s DISCUSSION AT BOARD TAKLE t a BUILDING OF THE MOLES o t f Nautical and engineering viewpoint! - were inclined to conflict at jasterday’» o meeting of the Wanganui Harbour Board, when a formal intimation was s made in the report of the foreman 1 (Air. K. C. Coss) that the recent very t severe storms had caused the beams at the outer end of the south mole to e break adrift. y “Something permanent will have to n be done at the extreme ends of the t moles,’' said Air. J. Patterson to , emphasise his concern for the safety - of the lights at tha entrance to the T port. “We must get big blocks made e or, say, 10 tons weight.’’ > Air. Donald Boss: Thirty tons. Nott--0 ing under 30 tons will do any good, s Air. W. Alorriaon (chairman); That ' may be necessary work, but is there • something winch is more necessary? Inat is what the board wants to know. ' “As I said before, we mustcontinue the work on the moles outward from ' the shore and bolster the structure up as we go,” replied the engineer (Mr ’ li. B. Dawson). ‘“lf we go out lo - the extreme ends and dump the stone there it will be a waste of money. We can go on dumping it there as long as wo like and it will be useless so t long as there is nothing behind it to prevent the seas coming in from be- ' hind.” Air. Ross suggested increasing the ) size of the blocks to 30 tons wetghu , Air. Dawson; Wo can’t manage that i as the staging won’t carry the weight. t Air. Dawson also said that with the . money available it would not be pos- ! sible to utilise a barge for the work. . “You can put 6000 tons of rock out over the end of the moles and in a , short time there will be nothing to show for it,” he continued. “You must build the moles up and console date them as you go. Then you can build up each end when you get there. The staging is not strong enough to carry a rfrane capable of lifting very big blocks. If we have enough stone to reach the groyne, we can temporarily strengthen the lights at the end.’’ Air. Patterson: Your theory is all wrong. There are lighthouses built, aren’t there? They stand in given spots and are strong enough to stand all sorts of weather. Air. Dawson; How can you do that with the funds you have? Mr. Patterson: It has got to be done. Air. Dawson: You haven’t got the funds. Aly object is to continue outwards. Surely that is the logical th>ng to do? If you tip a whole lot of stone over the ends of the moles without something behind it you will lose it. It is better to let the'staging g 0 than put the stone over the ends and Jose it. Air. Patterson maintained that a break was due to develop in the staging at any time- He argued that it was imperative to build up the ends c lno ' es al “l so protect the lights, “lire lights mark the entrance to the harbour,” he said, “and we get our revenue from it.” Mr. Dawson: You are putting the cart before the horse. {Surely you can see that the only logical way tu tackle the job is to consolidate as you gof Mr. Patt«rson: Mr. Deem and Mr. 1 urkert said that we .should protect tiie ends. Mr. Dawson: 1 Uave never heard that and 1 would be surprised if it was so. When you lift the stone at tile eutiance up eight or ten feet you expose it to the sea, and it must have something solid behind it. Mr. Dawson said he wits iu favour of putting in extra piles where necessary to temporarily protect the staging. But X do J eel strongly that to put stone out at the entrance would be a waste of money until we build up something behind it/’ he added. Mr. Patterson: X take the alternative view- The mole is alive. Mr. Dawson: Therefore, it is wrong to build a structure on. top of it. Mr. X’attertoon: We should key th® blocks in. Mr. Ro.ss: And what will that cost? Mr. Patterson: It has got to b< done. Mr. Ross: It can’t be done. We have no money. Mr. Patterson: Then the only’alternative is to do as Mr. Dawson suggests and put in piles. 1 think reinforced concrete piles would be best. Captains Naylor, Mclntyre and White all wanted the lights made secure. Mr- Ross: We all decided here, as a board, that the engineer should g» ahead and build outwards. Air. Patterson; What I am speaking of is extra. Mr. Roas: Then wait until we hav® finished what v>e are doing. I think we should back the engineer to de what wo told him to do—work outwards and strengthen the moles as h® goes. Mr. R. Farley: Hear, hear. Mr. J. Morrison: I. have always said that. Mr. Dawson should hav< full control. The chairman: He has. Mr. Dawson: It is just as well have these things out. I appreciate the criticism. After all, it is only a question. of applying commonsense. The first impression I got when I took the job over was that the engineers had tried to grab too much of the ocean in one hit, instead of going at il steadily and consolidating as they went. Those lights at the entrance are really too far out. The staging must be watched carefully. We all know that. Obviously it is not right that we should build a solid structure on top of an unstable foundation. If the staging was stronger we could make a much better job, but it is a case of doing the best we can with the material available.” The discussion lapsed, the board recognising that the engineer wan carrying out his work in terms of the board’s own resolution. Engineering opinion had won the day!