(Vice-President), in opening the discussion, said that he had been invited to speak by the Authors, whom he had known for many years. One was on each side of the fence and, in the words of the Psalmist, 'How blessed it is, brethren, to dwell together in unity'.142. This was a most exciting Paper, and the caisson itself had strong traces in its design of a 'Rendel Palmer' or even a 'Cuerelian' touch, whereas the method of execution, including the use of segments, looked very much 'Nuttallian'. Perhaps something could be said by the Authors on this conjecture. 143. The Paper sprang, he thought, from a suggestion made in the Publications Committee of having a symposium on all the various different intakes of cooling water for atomic power stations. The problem was the same whether it was a refinery or power station or any other means of getting water out of the sea. With all the many different types which were in use and going to be used, and with the conditions varying so much with so many things-whether the ground was rocky or soft, the range of tide and buoyancy-all of which could make violent differences in design, it was obvious that a book could be written on the whole question.144. Mr Harding had done a little work at sea in the past and was qualified to make two comments. In working in the sea there was no such thing as temporary works. They were either permanent or transitory! Secondly, there was the importance of moorings. A paper on this question would be of value. If there were serious mooring problems, it was as well to have a nautical man on the job and not to try to invent ways to do it oneself.145. In the description of the landing pads it was stated that a tank landing craft was used for lifting and lowering, and apparently it stood by to do the grouting and other operations.146. These tank landing craft had been a most useful form of war-time surplus equipment. Mr Harding recalled buying one, together with a 304011 crane ship, for €12 000 each, in full working order. But to buy a new one would cost about €120 000.147. A lot of work of this sort in the sea could be done more easily if there were expensive self-propelled lifting craft and other craft available which might entirely alter a lot of the methods used; but such craft did not exist and in any single intake there was not enough money to spend on plant of such magnitude which. if it existed, could go from intake to intake and spread the cost over all. If there were some speculative millionaire who would build some such craft to a civil engineer's specification, it would be a great help and might eventually pay for itself.

UNRWA was set up in 1950 by the UN General Assembly to look after the three quarters of a million Arabs who left Israel and moved into the neighbouring Arab states: Syria, Jordon, the West Bank, Gaza and the Lebanon. The Agency now caters for about 2 million. It does not provide or police the refugee camps but it provides the services, which are basically health and education. It operates 650 schools, eight teacher training colleges, family clinics, ration distribution centres and so on. There are 61 refugee camps within the area of operation.44. The camps are semi-permanent and have electricity, piped water supplies and some sewerage. The people no longer have tents; they have built themselves blockwork shelters.45. In 1982 the camps in south Lebanon suffered heavy damage to housing, buildings and services at the hands of invading military forces and the Agency had to do something quickly as the refugees had nowhere to live, there were no schools in operation and the Red Crescent network of clinics was no longer available. Mrs M. A. Beauclair, Rendel Palrner & TrittonIt was good that the engineers managed to improve the situation so much in so short a time, given the political conditions and the troubles of the people at the time. How did they cope with the structural repairs and how did the contractors manage to get materials to build things, apart from the huts that the refugees built for themselves? Mr R. L. Triggs, FellowThe Authors say that bills of quantities were prepared. That seems rather a grand title, considering the time they had available and the numbers of people they had available.48. At the finish, was the contractor paid a reasonable price for the work he had to do?

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The Ballard Pier extension was constructed at the same time as the Bombay Dock expansion scheme, which was started in 1964 and finished around 1970.58. Possibly the most interesting part of the Paper is that concerned with the design and construction of the quay. Although there are certain standard approaches to the design of quays, the optimum solution for a given set of conditions may not be easy to find. Horizontal loading differs considerably from one quay to another, and with the introduction of containers vertical loading has considerably increased in the last few years. Quay heights also vary greatly, not only to accommodate different vessel sizes but also to take account of tidal ranges. Other factors affecting the design are the condition and level of the sea bed and the exposure of the berth, but the most important one is undoubtedly the soil properties, both of the foundations and of the back-up material. The question as to whether the quay is to be constructed under water or in the dry has to be decided and the use of monoliths, caissons, cofferdams, cylinders, sheet piles and suspended deck construction must all be considered. 59. The design described in the Paper, which involves a method of construction which has not been frequently used, might be developed with advantage for other locations besides Bombay. The idea of a buttress wall with arches from buttress to buttress has seldom been adopted in recent quay design, which is surprising in view of its many advantages: a block work wall or a mass concrete quay built in a cofferdam would have entailed much more concrete and in consequence would have been considerably more expensive. The method adopted requires little heavy plant, an important point when the length of quay is limited and its cost cannot be spread over a long length of wall.60. The customs hall roof was originally designed to be of self-supporting aluminium curved segments which would have made a very economical form of construction. Unfortunately, the Indian aluminium companies refused to roll curved segments, and conventional trusses had to be substituted.61. The Architects for the central concourse and customs sheds were Mathew Ryan and Partners. Their names should be added to the Acknowledgements in the Paper. Mr D. Jones, Chief Engineer, British Transport Docks BoardThe Paper makes little reference to the additional trade needed to justify the extension of Ballard Pier, and perhaps the Authors can give some information on this point. In particular I should like to know whether the revenue from such additional trade was regarded as being sufficient to support the investment, or whether there is an element of subsidy in the investment in the facilities of the Port of Bombay.63. I was very interested in comparing the design of the dock walls with that in the extension of the Alexandra Dock (now Indira Dock), described in earlier papers.1*2