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, / L 'STRALASIA ILL USTRA TED. 



wind blew in from the sea, and, as a consequence, landing under such circumstances 

 was a perilous feat, while shipping was exposed to great danger. In fact, two English 

 ships were wrecked on the beach with loss of life so recently as 1882. Since then a 

 powerful breakwater has been constructed at a cost of something like two hundred 



thousand pounds. Immense 

 wooden tanks were formed 

 on the beach, and filled with 

 cement and shingle which 

 solidified into Titanic blocks 

 of concrete, some of them 

 weighing as much as thirty 

 tons each. These were then 

 carried seaward by a 

 gigantic travelling crane, and 

 placed in their required 

 positions, until they united 

 to form a solid breakwater 

 of concrete blocks thirty- 

 six feet wide, reaching to 

 half-tide in height, and cap- 

 P ped with a monolithic con- 

 f; crete block of about five 

 H hundred tons in weight. 

 < This wall has been pushed 

 seaward some sixteen hun- 

 dred feet, and at that dis- 

 tance takes a cant to the 

 north and extends four hun- 

 dred feet farther. It is also 

 proposed to build a mole 

 from the shore on the north, 

 towards the extremity of the 

 cant, so as to produce a near 

 approximation to a perfectly 

 enclosed harbour. At pre- 

 sent vessels of a thousand 

 tons can anchor in safety 

 under the lee of the break- 

 water, and even with a 

 heavy sea running can come 

 alongside the wharf to load 

 or unload. The buildings of 

 Timaru are substantial, if not 

 strikingly handsome, and 



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