In the following address, delivered to the Napier Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Trevor Smith (acting resident Engineer of the Public Works Department, Napier) reviews the progress of construction work on the East Coast Railway.

In giving a most interesting address on the progress of the work on the East Coast railway to members of the Napier Chamber of Commerce recently, Mr. Trevor Smith, acting-resident engineer of the Public Works Department, said that it was not generally realised by Hawkes Bay people what was going on in the construction of that great undertaking (says the “Hawkes Bay Tribune”).

The Department, said Mr. Smith, had taken on an enormous job in the Napier and Gisborne

Drowning Parliament!
The great Mohaka Viaduct now under construction on the North Island East Coast Railway, is 913ft long × 315ft high. It will be the largest on the New Zealand Railway System. Drawn to scale it is seen to overpeer by more than 260ft the Parliamentary Buildings (shown in the drawing) in Wellington. The viaduct will require 1850 tons of steel besides many tons of cement for its construction.

railway; most of the work at present was in progress between Napier and Wairoa. Mr. Smith then proceeded to outline the work being done between Eskdale and Wairoa. He briefly referred to the line through the Esk Valley—one of the heaviest stretches along the route—and to Waipunga, a section which had been completed for some time. At Waikoau the station had been well located for the settlers and he felt that it would be most convenient to page 33 them in railing stock and produce and receiving manure.

Just beyond the station was the Waikoau viaduct. This structure, which is 483 feet long and 240 feet high, was completed at the beginning of the present year. One of the features of the construction was the trestle work that had first to be erected. It somewhat resembles a Meccano work, he said. The four miles of round timber, thousands of feet of sawn timber, and 16 tons of bolts used for the trestle work had now been dismantled, and were being reassembled for use at the Matahoura viaduct some distance further on.