186 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 
afterwards. I also forward a third piece taken from an old pile which had 
been driven uncharred about eighteen years ago. This, I think, will show 
that the worm is equally destructive in the Derwent as elsewhere. 
« Tf it is not taxing your time too much, I will give you a short account 
of how I gained my experience with reference to the benefits of charring 
piles, and will make a few general remarks. (I may remark, in passing, 
that my experience was rather dearly bought, as the vessel alluded to was 
uninsured.) About twelve years before the New Wharf was built, I had 
bought an old whaler of about 300 tons, intending to make a sheer hulk of 
her. The necessary alterations were in course of being made, when by 
some means she took fire in the night, and was burnt to the water’s edge. 
The mainmast had been burnt to less than twelve inches in diameter, when 
after being burnt through at the deck it fell overboard. In making up a 
raft of old masts for the men to work upon at ships when hove down, this 
was put in with others. After being about four years in use they became 
so eaten away that the raft was broken up, and, to my surprise, the old 
masts, which had been fully twice its diameter, were eaten away to a less 
size than it, although they had been well coated with hot tar before being 
put together. The charred spar came out as fresh as the day it was 
put in, so that on my undertaking to superintend the building of the wharf 
I considered the process of charring would answer better than the 
coppering, the expense being so trivial. Since that time I have had the 
sole charge of the planning and building of all the piers and wharves 
here. A new pier that was built for the steam-boats about ten years since, 
the piles of which were all charred, are as perfect, to all appearance, as the | 
day they were driven—a standing proof of the utility of this process. I 
will send a sample from one of its piles with the others. The top of this 
pier is watertight without caulking, and is subject to the continual traffic of 
horses, drays, ete. Some of the main planking was removed lately for 
inspection, and the beams and main planking were found to be as sound as 
on the day they were laid. The top is formed with a double thickness of 
planking, and well coated with chunam between. 
** We are just now about completing another new pier about 310 feet in 
length by 52 feet in breadth, with a curved top nearly the same as a ship’s 
deck. It will be watertight, and have scupper-holes to let the water off. 
It is formed on about 300 piles, the outer ones of 75 feet in length. It goes 
into 40 feet of water, and the cost will be about £5,500. By the top being 
made watertight, the top planking beams and pile-heads will last many 
years ; otherwise no wood in the world would stand the weather above ten 
or twelve years. ; 
I have no doubt but that your New Zealand timber would, from the 
