The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-15 00:00:00

-BRIDGE.

NEW WE

The works in connection with this new bridge
continue to progress, and though, undoubtedly, they
advance much more quickly if the Govern-
ment held the contractors for the ironwork more

strictly to their terms as to the time of delivery ;
still, in spite of unexpected delays in this portion
of the undertaking, Mr. Page has contrived within
the last two months to get all the cast-ironwork of
the arches fixed and bolted together, with the ex-
ception of the arch from No. 1 pier, which, how-
ever, will be completed with the rest in the course
of a fortnight more. Fixing the cast-ironwork
means that the greatest difficulties of each arch are
overcome. In fact, as cast-iron constitutes more
than four-fifths of every arch, very little, compara-
tively speaking, now remains to do to complete the
western half of the new structure. We have be-
fore described how each arch is of great span,
though of slight rise ; in form, therefore, elliptical.
The crowns of the arches are thus almost fiat. In
order to meet this peculiar form of construction, it
was found necessary to make the ribs partly of cast
and partly of wrought iron. The cast-iron parts
consist of the whole of the piers and up to above
the springing of the arch, where the fiat crown
commences.. The middle flat portion is com-
posed of ribs of wrought-iron, of immense
strength, and calculated to resist the violence of
concussion and oscillation caused by the incessant
passage of carriage traffic. With the exception of
the No. 1 pier we have mentioned, all the cast-
ironwork is complete, and only the short wrought-
iron ribs in the crown of each remain to be lowered
into their places to complete the bridge for the
formation of the roadway, Two of the Surrey-side
arches are now quite finished, and have their
wrought-iron portions bolted in, and over all other
arches the roadway has begun to be formed on the
cast-iron portions. The roadway is formed in the
first instance by laying down a sheetino•6 of wrought-
iron " buckle" plates as they are termed, which are
exactly in the form of an immense square and
I slightly concave tea-tray, seven feet long by four
I broad, and rather less than half an inch thick. The
peculiar form of these plates gives them immense
strength on their convex sides. One was tested
with a block of granite weighing no less than 17
tons, and after remaining under the ponderous mass
for nearly a week there was not the least sign of
permanent compression. The ribs of each are
placed at a distance of five feet apart. except in the
two footways for passengers, where the weight
being trifling, they are fixed at intervals of seven
feet. Over these ribs the buckle plates are bolted
down, the channels covered by the slopes between
each being filled up with blocks of wood and
asphalt, till the whole way is a perfect level. Over
the asphalt, when firm, will be placed concrete to
the depth of a foot or so, and over this again a stone
paving known as granite " pitching," or a paving
of the same kind as is now being laid down on Lon-
don-bridge. Mr. Page has managed to cut away the
abutments of the old bridge in such a manner as to
allow the fixing of another rib, and by this
means there will be a gain of six feet in width to the
public on the opening of the western half, which
will then be some two or three feet wider than the
present bridge. In the same spirit, and to give
the utmose facilities for traffic which his means
allow, he proposes when the first half is opened,
and the old bridge sufficiently pulled down to per-
mit the extension, to carry out a wooden footway,
about 12 feet wide, on the east side of the bridge,
and thus leave almost the whole of the permanent
road free for carriage traffic. By the adoption of
such a plan the roadway of the western half of the
bridge alone would be wider than the whole of the
old structure, footways and all put together. Such
a plan has been proposed over and over again for
the passenger traffic of London-bridge, in order to
make the whole of the roadway and footpaths en-
tirely available for the immense carriage traffic,which
for the last two or three years has almost rendered
this great avenue to the city impassable. Why a
plan so feasible, and one which would afford im-
mediate relief and at so small a cost, has not been
carried out it is difficult to say. The time at pre-
sent fixed for the opening of the first half of the
new Westminster-bridge is still stated to be next
autumn, but, from one cause or other, it is likely
to be Christmas, if not later, before the public will
have access to it. One most fertile cause of delay
has been the non-delivery of the ironwork in timb,
and unless this matter is looked into at once this
drawback in the progress of the structure is
likely to continue with the eastern half. Another
cause of delay will be the want of proper ap-
proaches to the bridge. The whole block of
houses on the Surrey side, from Stangate-
street to the foot of the structure, is intended to be
removed, with the greater portion of the block be-
neath the Clock-tower on the Middlesex side. It
is true that a bill is now passing through the House
of Commons to acquire these buildings‘ but after
the bill is passed and the houses are pulled clown it
will take some time to make the approaches. Mr.
Page has, however, so arranged his plans that by
lowering the road% ay at each end of the old bridge,
and making a sharp turn in the road, he can ma-
nage to open the new bridge even before the re•
moval of the houses we have mentioned. But even
to carry out this expedient properly, must delay
the opening, and at the best be but an inconvenient
method of avoiding an obstacle where no obstacle
should exist if all did their duty. When the first
half is fairly opened the' completion of the second
half will occupy but a comparatively short space of
time—probably not more than from 12 to 15 months
at the outside. All the piers except two for the
east half are entirely finished, and ready, if the
old structure was removed, for the reception of the
bed-plates and iron arches to-morrow. All these
piers have been carried through the openings of
the arches of the old bridge. One has even been
carried under the centre and most defective
arch, and now serves as a massive foundation for
the timber shores which support the old arch above
it. This was a work of no ordinary difficulty, and
even danger; but once accomplished it has, of
course, made the old and defective piers stronger
than ever. The eastern halves of two of the piers
are not completed, and cannot be till the old bridge
is pulled down, as the present piers occupy the
ground where the new ones must pass. Where they
are carried through, all these piers will be of the
greatest utility in taking down the old arches, and
by this means a considerable amount of time and
money will be saved. The pattern of the stone
parapets for the new structure has been decided on.
It is of granite, bold and highly ornamented in its
proportions. The timber supports for the " travel-
ling" cranes, &c., to be used in the second half are
already fixed, so that no delay may be experienced
in getting this portion forward as soon as it can be
commenced upon. The amount of timber used in
the bearing piles of the bridge is 45,700 cubic feet ;
of cast iron in the foundation, 1,600 tons ; and in
the superstructure, 2,600 tons. The wrought iron
in the superstructure is 1,300 tons, and in the foun-
dation 70 tons for tie rods. In the other parts there
are used no less than 165,000 cubic feet of granite,
21,000 cubic yards of brickwork and Portland
cement, and 30,000 cubic yards of concrete. These
seem large proportions, though, for its size, New
Westminster-bridge will be one of the lightest and
cheapest bridges over the Thames, and, beyond all
question, the strongest and handsomest.

MASSACRE OF EUROPEANS IN

BORNEO.

A correspondent at Batavia has forwarded to
Messrs. James Finlay and Co., of Glasgow, the fol-
lowing intelligence :
" We have the greatest regret in informing you
that we have, by the arrival of the Dutch Govern-
ment steamer Ardjceno, from Banjermassing, on the
21st inst., received the most disastrous tidings re-
garding the coal mine establishment of Kalungair,
which has by some accounts been entirely, by others
only partly, destroyed by an insurrection among
the native subjects of the Sultan of Banjermassing;
but, saddest of all, the whole of the European em-
ployes have been brutally murdered, without leav-
ing one to tell the tale. The tragedy was enacted
on the 18th of the month, and attend-. 11 with horrors
not exceeded by anything which occurred even at
Cawnpore. The particulars you will find described
in a circular addressed to the shareholders by the
directors of the company. Reinforcements of troops
are being sentin all haste from this and Samarang,
with three or four steamers, which will no doubt
be sufficient to restore peace and order in the coun-
try., and we trust may arrive in time to save the re-
maining Europeans at Banjermassing and neigh-
bourhood. The cause of the insurrection proceeds
in no way from dislike to the mines, where the
greatest peace and contentment have always pre-
vailed, but to a long-brooding disaffection of the
natives of Banjermassing to their new Sultan, who
had been maintained on his throne mainly by the
protection of our Government, contrary to the will
of the people, and as it -would appear, in disregard
of the legitimate right of succession of another
prince named Hidayal, who was at the same time
the favourite of the people. This disaffection among
the people, excited to revolt and murder by some
Mahommedan priests lately returned from Mecca,
is supposed to have been the cause which has led to
the sacrifice of so many precious lives, already
amounting, so far as known, to 50 or 51 in number.
Among these four Germ an missionaries) three of
their wives, and 19 children are stated to have
fallen victims to the knives of the assassins,"