•62 WALTER SHELLSHEAR. 



engineers constructing the lines, but the nature of country cannot 

 be judged at sight by the best of men, and the fact of slips taking 

 place by no means proves that anything has been neglected by 

 those who originally carried out the work of constructing the lines. 



Discussion. 

 Mr. Moorb — To those who have had any experience in earth- 

 work the steps taken for curing the slips referred to in the paper 

 appear to be the very best. Ditch drains have been found of 

 great importance because underground drainage will only catch 

 water found in the soil. I have had experience with them myself. 

 Centennial Park had not been put down more than two or three 

 weeks before a tremendous storm came on, and I found ditch 

 drains of great use on that occasion. 



Mr. H. Deane — Having had some experience of earthwork in 

 the colony I should like to say a few words. I think Mr. Shell- 

 shear is to be congratulated upon the effective manner in which 

 he tackled these slips, and also for the manner in which he is 

 dealing with another place further along the line. When this 

 line was constructed the difficulty and the danger of these slips 

 was fully recognised ; and since the line was opened the weather 

 has been of an exceptional character. The rainfall of last year, 

 which Mr. Shellshear mentions, was of a character unprecedented 

 in the neighbourhood of Sydney, and since then we have had most 

 remarkable rains. This part was looked upon as specially deserv- 

 ing attention, and some deep drains were cut and tilled with 

 rubble stone. It is quite evident they were not sufficient, for in 

 spite of that when the heavy rain came of May last year the line 

 began to slip as he has described. I have been over that plac« 

 and had the benefit of Mr. Shellshear's company, and he has shewn 

 me what he has done, and it seems to me to be most satisfactory; 

 and I think the steps he is taking to get rid of the further slips 

 on the other side — Coalclin 1 ' — will also meet with success. This 

 particular method of dealing with slips is not of course a new one. 

 I remember a good many years ago several slips in the railway 

 line in Eastern Hungary and Pennsylvania. They came under 

 my notice and were on a very large scale indeed, and steps had to 

 be taken to obviate them. It was found that the whole hillside 

 was moving, and the bed on which the elip took place had to be 

 drained. There is a description of the method adopted in a paper- 

 read before the Society of Austrian Engineers, and there are some 

 abstracts of this paper in the Proceedings of the Institute of 

 Engineers of 1874 or 1875. 



Mr. Shellshear — in reply said that the surface drainage had 

 been attended to — that every provision had been made to get rid 

 of the surface water. 



