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place; and instead of H. M. Ships being considered as the largest class of vessels to be accommodated, the large steamers plying to Japan, China and Australia would have to be provided for, and it is simply for their accommodation that an additional length of dock will be required.

When discussing the question of greater length with Sir Michael Culme Seymour, the Admiral Commanding the Pacific Squadron, the writer was assured, that for all the purposes of H. M. vessels the dock as it stands was long enough, but that for the merchant steamers of the present day it was too short, and that such is the fact is proved by the dimensions of the steamers proposed by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.

For want of room an inner dock could not be built, and a further length of 100 feet, as suggested, is all that is required, and the question of a double dock need not be discussed.

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Mr. Bennett.

In reply to Mr. Henshaw, the author is of opinion that had the coffer dam been of less solid construction than it was, it would have gone to pieces long before the dock was completed. This would have been due principally to the ravages of the sea worms, which in those waters are most destructive, and also to natural decay.

When the coffer-dam was commenced it was confidently hoped that the dock would have been opened within four years, but as a matter of fact, from various causes, it was not opened until the expiration of eleven years. The wonder is that the dam remained effective for so

long a period.

As regards the foundation, the entrance works and first portion of the dock were founded on clay, the remainder and the head on rock. The harbor quay walls at the entrance were founded on clay with their shore ends on rock.

The author is not aware of any settlement of the dock side walls to any appreciable extent, but there is a small amount of leakage in the floor of the dock at its upper end, which leak developed itself after the removal of the coffer-dam. The water, it is supposed, finds its way through some fissure in the rock, which is of trap formation, and very seamy, under the western quay wall, following such seam up the dock some 300 feet before finding its egress. The floor of the dock is in no way flooded by the leak as when the dock is pumped out the water runs down the side gutters which convey it to the sump hole.

NOTE.-Mr. Perley's remarks have been abridged where shewn by asterisks.

The author deplores with Mr. Mohun that an extra hundred feet was not added to the length of the dock before the circular head, timber slides and stairways were commenced. The extension would scarcely have delayed the opening of the dock at all, but to extend the dock at a future date will be an expensive work, and will involve the extra cost of pulling down and rebuilding about 80 or 90 feet of the upper end.

The author is sorry in having to join issue with Mr. Perley in his statement that the progress of the work was delayed for the want of cement during the time McNamee & Co. were contractors for the dock. Want of this material had nothing whatever to do with the stoppage of the works then or at any other time.

The dock as designed by Messrs. Kinipple & Morris, 380 ft. in length on the blocks, met with the entire approval of the Admiralty. The second entrance at head was introduced, the writer is informed, at the express wish of the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works of British Columbia in case a future extension might be decided upon.

It would have been very desirable to have had the pump wells and culverts built of stone, if expense had been no object, the best of bricks as manufactured in the Province being hardly what one could call first rate in quality.

The 12-inch centrifugal pump referred to was part of the contractor's plant, and was taken over by the government on completion of the works and erected so as to act as an auxiliary and be available in case of an accident to the main pumps, steam for the same being supplied by the main boilers.

The author is gratified to hear from Mr. Perley and from Mr. Summerfield that the dock is in such request that ships have to wait their turn to be docked, as this verifies the opinion the author always held that the Province in selling the dock to the Dominion Government was getting rid of a most valuable asset.

The author regrets that he seems to have understated the total cost of the docks. As far as he knew when he left Esquimalt, the outlay had been about £180,000 sterling, which is to say in round numbers nine hundred thousand dollars and not $800,000, as mentioned in Mr. Perley's remarks, but even this latter sum would, in the author's opinion, have been amply sufficient to have brought the work to a successful issue had it been finished outright from the start, and this notwithstanding the notoriously high rates paid for all class of labor and the heavy Customs' charges on all European and American material.

The author regrets the unintentional omission, so kindly and justly pointed out by Mr. Perley, of any reference to Sir Joseph W. Trutch,

K.C.M.G., in his connection with the Esquimalt Graving Dock as agent of the Dominion Government in British Columbia, to whose good advice and judgment the author wishes here to state he has often been indebted in overcoming many difficulties that arose from time to time during construction, and who was ready and willing at any time to give his personal attendance on the works whenever the occasion demanded.

For another sin of omission the author wishes further to apologize for neglecting to mention the names of the Honorables G. A. Walkem, A. de Cosmos, A. C. Eliot, F. G. Vernon, R. Beaven and W. Smithe, who one and all in their places as Ministers of the Crown in the Province of British Columbia, at various times up to August, 1883, did their utmost to further the progress of the dock.

Mr. Irwin seems to have failed to notice that the caisson was ballasted with upwards of 180 tons of cement concrete, which fact, however, Mr. Whited was good enough to point out.

With reference to Mr. Brown's remarks the author would merely mention that the pumps were designed for the dock as long ago as 1875, and in fact sent to British Columbia in 1876, and that since that date vast improvements in pumping machinery have been effected.

Thursday, 23rd May.

E. P. HANNAFORD, Vice-President, in the Chair.

The following candidates having been balloted for were declared duly elected as

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The following has been tranferred from the class of Associates to that of Associate Members.

JAMES WHITE.

The discussion on the paper on the Esquimalt Graving Dock Works, British Columbia, by W. Bennett, occupied the evening.

Thursday, 24th January.

F. R. F. BROWN, Member of Council, in the Chair.

Students Paper No. 2.

LOCOMOTIVE CONSTRUCTION.

BY J. P. TUPLIN. STUD.CAN.SOC.C.E.

Though locomotive building has long ceased to be considered an art, yet it requires the utmost attention in respect to general design, construction, and the selection of the materials; and for this reason all the principal parts should be made according to accurate drawings, templates and gauges, in their respective departments, before being taken to the erecting shop and there united. To persons who have never been engaged in locomotive building, it may seem to be a comparatively easy matter to construct an engine, when all the parts have been forged and machined; but experience teaches that a considerable amount of chipping, etc., is required. A great deal of work, such as drilling, for instance, is also needed, and this cannot be performed until the part is placed in its proper position, and consequently has to be performed by the hand ratchet.

Since the frame is the foundation of the locomotive, it will be considered first. It is generally made of wrought iron, being forged under the steam hammer and finished by the smith. The pedestals are welded to the top bar of the frame by what is termed a Split Scarf," and when the braces are welded between the pedestals, a process called "V"-ing is employed. After these processes the frame is straightened and made to fit the template as accurately as possible. It is then taken to the machine shop, there machined and drilled, and then removed to the erecting shop.

The boiler is the most important part of the locomotive, and the useful effects of the machine depend to a large extent on its strength and efficiency. The essential features of locomotive boilers are dictated by the duties which they have to perform under peculiar conditions. The size and weight are limited by the facts that the boiler has to be transported rapidly from place to place, and also that it has to fit in between

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