New Zealand in evolution, industrial, economic and political; . llscontained much easily negotiated ground. On his reporta colonial firm undertook the work. The drills werequite unequal to the hardness of the rock, and when oneof the principals was in England searching for hardersteel he met a representative of the Mont Cenis tunnelconstructors in the same quest. At length the tunnelwas completed, i mile 55 chains in length, at a cost of;^2oo,ooo. The Roman tunnel by which the Alban Lakewas drained was at that time the only other case onrecord of the piercing of a crateral wall. The chief cont
New Zealand in evolution, industrial, economic and political; . llscontained much easily negotiated ground. On his reporta colonial firm undertook the work. The drills werequite unequal to the hardness of the rock, and when oneof the principals was in England searching for hardersteel he met a representative of the Mont Cenis tunnelconstructors in the same quest. At length the tunnelwas completed, i mile 55 chains in length, at a cost of;^2oo,ooo. The Roman tunnel by which the Alban Lakewas drained was at that time the only other case onrecord of the piercing of a crateral wall. The chief contractor of the Lyttelton tunnel was theHon. E. Richardson, a gentleman trained in railwayconstruction in England and Ireland. A few years laterhe was Minister of Public Works in the General Govern-ment, and in that position he was responsible for givingeffect to much of the engineering programme which wasembodied in the great devslopmental scheme of SirJulius Vogel. The bold and elaborate railway policy ofthe next twenty years was more remarkable for the skill. A COUNTRY OF ENGINEERING 275 and courage with which tremendous engineering diffi-culties were overcome than for the wisdom with whichthey were courted, Mr. Richardson was responsible forthe execution, not always for the design. There was, forexample, the remarkable railway across the Rimutakamountains to bring the rich plains of the Wairarapawithin reach of the city of Wellington. Long years wereabsorbed in exploration and trial surveys, and eventually,to avoid the construction of an expensive tunnel, a routewas decided on which takes the railway over a summiton a gradient which requires the use of special engines ofthe Fell design and the central grip rail. The policy ofthis route has frequently been criticised : the executionnever. The chief drawback of the Rimutaka incline,which is the only distinguishing feature of the journey of208 miles to Napier, is the expensive haulage and thedelay caused by the steep gradient. B
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