BRIDGE, By far and away the most noteworthy engineering contract of the present centary, says a correspondent in the "Newcastle Chronicle," is the rebuilding of the ill-fated bridge over the River St. Lawrence, which collapsed during course of erection in September, 1907. A special commission appointed by the Canadian Gorerament have daring the past two years been engaged in preparing designs and specifications for an entirely new bridge on the site of the old work. In Decemler last the contract for the substructure, that is ai|the sloking of the masonry piers, was awarded to a firm of Ottawa engineers at " price of £488,000, and tenders for supply and erection of the steel superatractare are to be submitted to the Canadian Department of Railways and Cat before October 1. Not only are numerous engineering difficalt ties expected to arise in the execution of the work, bat no usually severe financial stipulations are set forth in the Canadian Government's specification, and therefore ficial circles it is expected that the list of tenders will be thoo s dozen. These hail from Germany, United States, Canada, and Great Britain. the principal German en meeting com-It ig understood that two or three of
panies will unite in submitting a joint tender, whilst three of the leading American and two of the Oansdian bridge-bauding firms are also intending to compete, So far as is at present known, the only tender from Great Britain will be one submitted by the Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company, of Darlington, on association with the Metropolitan Amalgamated Railway Carriage and Wagon Company of Birmingham. In connexion therewith these two companies pro-the establishment of large bridge and engineering works in Canada, and they have recently formed a now syndicate, which has jast been registered at Montreal onder the ti the British Empire Bridge Ca, having ® share capital of one million sterling, The new Quebec Bridge intended to carry loads nearly three times as heavy as pat on the Forth Bridge, and the estimated weight of the steel to be used is 66,000 tons, distributed over a length of 2,800 fect, or about twenty-four tons per lineal foot, as against ten tons per foot in the Forth Bridge. The Cleveland Bridge Company have already established offices in Montreal, and recently Mr, Charles Dixon, the managing director and other officers of the Cleveland Bridge Ca., have visited Canada. and entered into negotiations for acquiring a site in close proximity to Montreal, having frontage on the Bt. Lawrence, It is understood that in the event of the British tender being successful, the Cleveland Bridge Company's staff will take sole charge of the work at the site, and the responsibility for the erection
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.