XII. T. H. HOUGHTON. 



timber piles, each span being 29ft. 6in. in length ; they are now 

 being replaced by steel trestles on concrete foundations, and steel 

 plate girders under each rail. Viaducts 3 and 4, consisting of 

 76 spans and 500 tons of steel, have been completed, and the 

 foundations for a large portion of No. 2 are also finished ; these 

 have been put in place without in any way interfering with the 

 ordinary traffic. 



Considerable progress has been made in reducing the heavy 

 gradients on the western and southern lines from 1 in 40 to 1 in 

 75 or 1 in 80, the expenditure for the past year being about 

 ,£100,000, and the increased loading thereby equals on an average 

 about 75 per cent., which shows that the money laid out is a good 

 investment. 



The harbour works referred to by Mr. Burge last year are 

 still in progress under the direction of that branch of the Public 

 Works Department. In Sydney itself, two new bridges, viz., 

 Glebe Island and Pyrmont bridges, are to be built and the 

 contract has been let for duplicating the 6ft. pipe conveying the 

 water from the pipe head to Potts Hill Reservoir. 



The large 18-million gallon service reservoir at Centennial 

 Park, into which water will be pumped from Crown-street, has 

 several features in its construction which are worthy of our atten- 

 tion, the large use of ashes for the concrete of the groined arches 

 forming the roof being, I believe, new for such a large structure. 



I am not able to record the initiation of any large 

 works of irrigation, the work of that department having been 

 mostly confined to the collection of information of a valuable 

 character for the formulation of future schemes. The report of 

 Colonel Home on this subject is mostly a confirmation of the 

 schemes recommended by the engineer to the department, but it 

 does not appear from a careful perusal of it that he considers 

 that any large scheme will be a financial success for many years 

 to come, the flow of the rivers being at times too small to allow 

 of any water being taken from them for the supply of irrigation 

 canals, so that the water in times of excessive flow would have to 

 be stored to make up the deficiency. 



