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187.. NEW ZEALAND.
AMERICAN DREDGING SYSTEM (CORRESPONDENCE AND PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE).
Laid upon the Table by the Hon. Mr. Larnach, with the leave of the House.
No. 1. Mr. A. Mobbis to the Hon. the Minister for Public Wobks. Sic, — 92, Liverpool Street, Sydney, 3rd September, 1877. I have the honor to submit for your consideration the enclosed report on American dredges, which was published in the Sydney Morning Herald. That report confirms the strong impression which all the Colonial Commissioners at the Philadelphia Exhibition entertained as to the superiority of the American type of dredge. It costs very much less than the endless-chain style ; fewer hands are required to work it; its expenses for repairs do not exceed one-third of those of the other; and it can be used in heavy sea-ways and other places, where the dredge in ordinary use in these colonies can either not be employed at all, or cannot be worked advantageously. The hulls of the American dredges can be readily and cheaply built in New Zealand, either of wood or iron, and, if your Government approve, I would venture to suggest that an order be sent to the American Dredging Company (whose address is 10, South Delaware Avenue, Philadelphia, Perm.), for such portions of the machinery as cannot be so well made in New Zealand; as also, in the first instance, such other parts as can, in order that your workmen may have the patterns to guide them. I can promise that the American Dredging Company will furnish your Government with the working drawings and specifications of a dredge of whatever capacity you may require, and will send to your order all its machinery of the best construction. If my proposition be received with favour, I would recommend that you should communicate direct with the Company, to avoid commissions and other charges, which swell the cost, and I can guarantee that there shall not be a single overcharge. If, too, there are any improvements in American scows upon those made in Europe, they will be made known to you. Should you wish it, I will urge upon the Company any points that you may deem desirable, or you can forward a copy of this letter. I have, &c, The Hon. the Minister for Public Works, Augustus Moeeis. Wellington, New Zealand.
Enclosure in No. 1. Amebican System or Dredging. [From the Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday, Ist September, 1877.] We are indebted to the Hon. the Premier (Sir John Eobertson, K.C.M.G.), for the subjoined correspondence : — " Sydney, August, 1877. " Sib, —I have the honor to draw your attention to a valuable and important paper which I have received from the American Dredging Company, relative to the comparative merits of the English and American dredging systems. " Although I am no longer Executive Commissioner, I should, I think, be wanting in my duty to the Government and to the colony, if I did not furnish all information of public interest which may come to me in consequence of the position at Philadelphia with which I was honored. "As you are aware, from my official reports, I gave a good deal of attention to the dredging operations at Philadelphia and New York ; but I always felt that professional men would require more exact data than I could convey from any unassisted observations of my own, and therefore 1 sought for help in what appeared to me to be the most reliable quarter. I—E. 6.