The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1912-06-11
SURE DRYD0CE
WORKERS. RIGHT



Hotel with biz brother, 4. G. Wills Of
Pahala. whom be- has not seen for
twenty.fouf years, is greatly interested
Ia the trouble now being experienced
with springs beneath the bed of the
drydock. Most Of his own work has
been With docks. canals and water.
works aud he has confronted the same
and even worse problems than those
which are puzzling the engineers at
Pearl IIaTbOr. Among the contracts
which he has handled have been the
Manchester Ship Canal, for twelve
miles of which he was the contractor;
for the Amsterdam water works, and
many other dredging and dock Jobs.
Zone of the worst jobs have ever
handled in regard to water troubles, -
he said last night, "was the Manches.
ter Ship Canal which constructed
from Manchester to Warburton. There
were two rivers to be crossed. These
curved in innumerable bends and the
canal was constructed straight as an
arrow so we crossed dozens of times.
When the canal was completed the
river practically dried up, the water
flowing into the canal, but it was u
deuced interesting job while it lasted.
His Hardest Job.
"The worst, however, though not the
largest, job l have handled where un-
expected water troubles cropped up,
was in regard to part of the Ainster-
dam water system, for which | was the
contractor. Included in the works
constructed was n tower three hundred
and twenty feet high, to the top of
which it was necessary to pump the
water in order to get the necessary
elevation to flow the water into Am
sterdam. This tower was 20 be built
on Foundation of solid twenty four
feet of concrete. In the excavation
for this we went through several feet
of soil and then peat and then, within
three or four feet of the necessary
depth, we struck sand charged with
water. We got little lower when the
whole thing practically blew up.
"As fast as we pumped it out the
water bubbled up with more sand and
it looked almost hopeless. Finally I
brought down great quantity of
gravel which we got from the Rhine
and spread it a foot thick over the sur
face. then sent men over it with
long iron poles with blades on them
| and the gravel was tamped down into
| the sand, the water, bubbling up into
| 1T, carrying sand into it also until the
surface was perfectly hard. We could
| have built or this but unfortunately
we had decreased our depth, even had
| it been deep enough in the first place.
I'VE then eXcavated the gravel and
found that we had gained a few inches
So we repeated the process, excavated
| again, repeated it again, getting down
by inches until we were at last deep
enough. a hard floor was then secur
ed, the foundation built and work
started on the tower Forty feet up
there was big ornamental level of
stone weighing several hundred tons
and before this was put in we stopped
work for month to let the tower set
tie. 1t settled only three quarters OF
an inch.
Job at Port Said.
| "We have big contract now under
way at Port Said and have just com.
pleted dredging at Alden. AT Bombay
from which | have Just come, we are
constructing on reclaimed land great
wet dock and beside it drydock
! lDO0-feet long. At the time the con
tract was let that was the largest in
the world but / think there is now 8
larger one at Southampton.
"They are doing great work al
Bombay. Originally the city was but
a lot of little islands. They have now
reclaimed most of the land between anC
are adding land to the city continually
They were retaining 1000 acres wher
! left. The city does not direct any o.
this work. They have what they cal
the Bombay Improvement Trust which
is intrusted with the work of improve
ing it and it secures its funds by ;
demand on the municipality. When i
makes the demand the municipality
pays. There is no other way out. Late
ly they have been receiving consider
able money from the sale of lands
They have torn out miles of dirty ma
tive shacks and are erecting grea
buildings.
Capital Moved.
"The capital has now been moved t.
Delhi as you know. l visited the cit,
before left and looked over the pro
posed site. 1t is not to be on the sit
of the Dufbar as at first planned, a
there was too much water. but furthe
back on rising ground. Mr.. Brodie,
civil engineer of Liverpool has been ap
pointed to the commission that is t.
plan the city, and also member o
the London City Council and another
They will plan the whole city, tram
and parks, sewers and everything els
and then they will proceed to build il
They will spend five million dollar
in that place within the next fey
years.
Il Mr.. Wills win go to Hawaii where h
will spend week at the Volcano. H
will not leave the Islands until Jun
! % and will proceed from here to Mon
treal via San Francisco, having larg
, contract under way in the forme
place.
thy IcCEcCOR nm