BOROUGH METAL SUPPLY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2506, 20 May 1909, Page 4

BOROUGH METAL SUPPLY.

SUGGESTED LINE AT AYAIHIRERE

At the meeting of the Borough Council on Tuesday night considerable discussion took place on the question of the metal supply for the borough. Advocating the claims of AYaihirere. the Alayor said that he thought the Government were disposed to construct a line from the quarry to the AA'ailurere station, provided that the borough would undertake to pay the interest cn the cost of construction.

C'r. Clayton said .that he had gone into the question, and laid on the table a statement as to the cost of the proposition. He explained that he had based his figures on the extremely low estimate of £1750 per mile, which was a very much lower amount per mile than any Government line had yet been constructed for. On this low estimate thev would have to pay interest on £3500. and on the Mayor's figures he claimed that they would he paying 34 d per yard more for haulage than the price stipulated ni the proposed Patu- ) tahi tramway scheme, and the stone was inferior. The following is the table submitted bv C’r. Clayton: £ £ Line quarry to Waihirero station, 2 miles __ 3500 Interest at 5 per cent. ... 175 Cost of plant, crusher, etc. _ 1000 Interest at 5 per cent. ... 50 Depreciation, 15 per cent. 1-50 Annual charges £375 Cost of carriage of, say, SOOO yards—■S. d. Quarry to Waihirere station, say 9d per yard 0 9 Waihirere station to town, say Is 7d per yard 1 > Total carriage ... 2 4 Add interest and depreciation as above £375, which on >OOO , yards would be 0 fH Total cost per yard ... 3 34 If less than 8000 yards is required, of course the cost per yard would proportionately increase. GENTLE ANNIE QUARRY. A further statement was laid on the table by Cr. Clayton to show that if the proposed quarry at Gentle Annie was acquired it would cost £4650 in addition to the Patutahi scheme. The amount was made up as lollows:—Two miles of gradient, extra £800: additional distance of 14 miles further than Patutahi quarry, £2250: plant, crusher and hoppers, say £1000; and aerial tramwav, say £-500. The statement also referred' to the fact that the loss in revenue would have to be considered, as the County Council would still certainly use their own quarry, and there was considerable doubt as to the title of the section. Also, it had been generally agreed that the quality of _ the Gentle Annie metal was probably inferior to that of the Patutahi stone. uSTRAKER WAGGON v. TRAMWAY. Still further figures were laid on the table by Cr. Clayton relating to the St t aker waggon, and the comparative .cost of obtaining metal supplies by this means, by carting, or by the proposed tramway. He claimed that the cost of running the Strakor for six months .according to the Strakor catalogue, was o:U0. while on the Overseer’s estimate, including miming charges, depreciation. interest, etc., the cost would be £378 19s 2d. If the waggon (with trailer, which it seemed unable to use) hauled the full amount possible during that period—viz., 960 yards, the cost- of carriage would be 7s Id per vard; but on the actual cost and the actual amount carried (600 yards) it amounted to £378 18s 9d., or 12s <4d per yard. Stone conveyed by the Fait utahi tramway would cost 9s lOd per yard, including quarrying. breaking, royalty, tallyman and spreading 6s lOd. and 3s per y'd haulage, making a total of £3933 for the 8000 yards. Three thousand yards carted at 8s 10d per yard •would'cost £1325, and for this amount they could obtain 8833 1-3 yards by the trainway at 1 the haulage of 3s per yard. •Three thousand yards brought in by the -Strakor waggon, if several Strikers were used, at 7s Id per yard would eost £1062, and for this amount 7083 1-3 yards could be brought by the tramway.' With quarrying added to the amount per yard by carting or by Strakor, 3000-vards by carts atlosM .would cost £2350, for which sum 47G) yards eou’.d be brought by the tramway and 3000 yards by Strakor at 13s lid 'would cost £2078; whereas by tramwav, for this amount, 4245 yards could be* obtained.