ANNUAL ADDRESS. III. 



The plates from which the pipes are made are of the length 

 required for each pipe, and of the width nearly equal to the 

 circumference for small pipes, the larger ones being made with 

 two or more plates. In the first place they are bolted down in 

 the bed of a heavy planing machine and planed to the exact 

 width, the two longitudinal edges are, at the same time, pressed 

 together or upset, as it is termed, so as to make them of a 

 dovetail section; the plate is then a flat one with thickened 

 edges. It is now put into a press which bends a short distance 

 from the edges to the radius of the pipe — as in rolling it is found 

 that the rolls will not properly bend close up to the edge — and 

 after this preliminary bending the plate is ready for rolling into 

 the circular form. It is now necessary to join the two edges ; 

 this is done by inserting between them a bar of soft steel of a 

 X section, the sides of this X section are then pressed in towards 

 each other under a heavy vertical pressure, and thus grip the 

 thickened edges of the plate, forming a water-tight joint which 

 has, I understand, withstood all the tests required. Time alone 

 can prove whether this system of making steel pipes is more 

 satisfactory than that of riveting them, which has been brought 

 to such excellence in this city. 



The scheme for an Outer Harbour at Largs Bay is again being 

 brought forward by influential people, and if carried out will 

 mean the expenditure of a large sum of money. Electric lighting 

 has not made much advance in South Australia, but recently 

 large concessions have been granted to an English syndicate for 

 supplying light and power. 



One of the most important Engineering works in South 

 Australia, of recent years, has been the erection at Port Pirie of 

 the smelting furnaces removed from the Broken Hill Mines, so as 

 to be at the sea board, thus insuring, for many years to come, 

 constant employment for a large population. 



Coming eastward to Victoria there is little to record, the 

 construction of the Melbourne Sewerage Works being the most 

 important of any works in progress ; they are approaching 



