OTAGO DAILY TIMES/OTAGO IMAGESThe making of Otago Harbour: the Aramoana mole pictured in 1886. Construction began in September 1884 from the spit to a point 4088 feet outside the heads, the total cost of the superstructure being £22,000. The object was to deflect the ebb tide against the sand bank, and so scour the channel, and the mole accomplished its purpose. Photo: <i>Otago Witness</i>, issue 3764, May 4 1926, page 50 The Aramoana mole and wall that were built over 40 years ago have been so effective that no dredging has been required since. Before those works were built there were only 20 feet to 22ft of depth on the bar. Mr O.W. Barr (engineer of the board) made a close study of the entrance channel to our harbour, and he designed and carried out those works. So confident was Mr Barr of complete success that he stated “that when the works were finished and the scouring action had time to clear the channel Otago Harbour would have one of the finest entering channels of any harbour in Australasia.” The result in a few years amply verified the wisdom of this splendid scheme. A truly magnificent channel 40ft deep and over 700ft in width was scoured out, and for decades maintained its width and depth. Mr Barr, civil engineer, deserves a very high niche in the history of our harbour entrance. — by John Smaill Infant welfare paramount The existing provisions in the Infants Act for the guardianship of infants are supplemented, and in part superseded, by a new measure which has been introduced into Parliament. The basic principle is laid down that in all court proceedings relating to the custody or upbringing of an infant, or to the administration of property held in trust for an infant, the welfare of the infant is to be the first and paramount consideration. The court shall not take into consideration whether, from any other point of view, the claim of the father or the mother is superior, or whether the father has an advantage under any right at common law possessed by him. Both parents are placed on an equality in respect to applications to a court. On the death of either parent, the other, if surviving, shall, subject to the provisions of the Bill, be guardian of the infant, either alone or jointly with any guardian appointed by the deceased parent by deed or will. Olympic delegate It was decided at a meeting of sports bodies in Wellington yesterday that Mr H. Harris (Otago) who was going to the International Rugby Conference as New Zealand’s representative should go as New Zealand’s representative to the British Olympic Association. Russian women turn to crime Statistics show that the percentage of crime among Russian women is increasing greatly. This is attributed to the influence of the Women's Battalions of Death, organised during Kerensky’s rule. Those who have not been able to adjust themselves to the new social order of things in the prescribed way have found other paths of life. Women bandits compete with their desperate brothers for the poor spoils offered by present-day Russia. They go heavily armed, stalk dark streets in search of lonely persons to hold up, and conduct themselves generally more fearlessly than men. Kauri peat and swamp oil The oils obtainable from the kauri peat and kauri swamp timber somewhat resemble in composition the crude oil obtainable by low temperature distillation of coal, except as regards the high proportion of aromatic hydrocarbons present, which are probably derived largely from the kauri gum occurring in the peat. Kauri peat oil becomes very viscous when cooled, and it shows a tendency to thicken after standing at 15deg C for half an hour, whilst at 10deg C it partially solidifies. Oil of this character could be used in heavy oil engines, but it would not comply with the British Admiralty or many other marine specifications for fuel oil, which require that the oil shall be fluid at 0deg C. It is probable that the crude peat oil could be adapted for use as a motor fuel oil in Diesel or similar engines consuming heavy oils. The peats and swamp timber, when distilled in steam in an externally heated horizontal retort, give their maximum yield of crude oil at 650deg C, any large variation above or below this temperature causing a marked decrease in the yield. — ODT, 23.7.1926
