HARBOUR MOLES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 246, 16 October 1937, Page 8

HARBOUR MOLES

THE CONSTRUCTION WORK USE OF SHELL ROCK SHOULD IT BE CONTINUED? At its meeting next Monday ihe' Wanganui Harbour Board will debate ' whether shell rock, obtained from the ; quarries above Kaiwhaike Pa. on the! Wanganui River, should continue to . form part of the material used in Duilding up the harbour entrance ; moles, or whether the policy should be • altered to provide solely for concrete! blocks. As the question is one wnich ■ involves continuance or discontinu- ! ance of work at the quarries a visit I of inspection was paid to Kaiwhaike I yesterday by members of the board. | It is approximately six years since i the quarries were re-commissioned as | a source of supply of shell rock for, the scheme of mole building at the ; harbour entrance. A firm which I undertook the contract in the begin-; ning was subsequently released from . completion. Prior to the letting of that contract the board debated the! question of whether shell rock or concrete should be used. A preference ' was expressed for rock and tiie north ■ mole has been built up with material from the quarries. Latterly, under, the scheme of development carried out under the direction of Mr. R. R. Dawson, resident consulting engineer to the board, concrete blocks have come into the picture again, material being obtained from the river and blocks of specified mixture made on the wharf at Castlecliff. A portion of the south mole constructed of concrete blocks has been very favourably commented upon by expert and layman alike, and the board is again at the cross-roads, shell rock or concrete, or a mixture of both? Closing of the quarries will throw some 18 to 20 men out of employment, and that aspect of the matter is one which will weigh seriously with some members of the board. On the other hand the convenience with which concrete blocks can be manufactured almost on the spot where they are required, plus the fact that lhe completion of the moles has been dogged by a good deal of ill-luck, will weigh with others. It was noted at yesterday's inspection that although there is a great deal of stripping to be done at the quarries, an enormous amount in fact, there is a solid seam of rock, much of it of big dimensions, available. Workers were engaged quarrying a quantity of it yesterday and delivering it to a punt on the river. Stripping has been a bugbear and an expense in the quarry undertaking.

The party which made the inspection yesterday included the chairman of the board (Mr. W. J. Rogers). Messrs. J. Patterson, J. Siddells and Captain J. White, together with the managing-secretary (Mr. W. J. Gardner). The journey to beyond the pa was made by motor-car and from there to the quarry by launch, the party ascending the incline, inspecting lhe work, enjoying morning tea at the cook-house and then returning on foot to the cars. An interested visitor who accompanied the inspecting party was Captain Sogimoto, of the Japanese vessel Chifuku Maru. He was greatly impressed with the peacefulness of .he river and found plenty of scope tor his camera.