BOROUGH COUNCIL

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2584, 19 August 1909, Page 2

BOROUGH COUNCIL

THE METAL SUPPLY QUESTION..

His Worship tiro Mayor (Mr. W. DLysnar), and Councillors Darton, Harris, Pettie, Coding, Smith, Clayton, Somervell, Maynard and Kirk attended a special meeting of the Borough Council at 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon. The Town Clerk (Mr. 11. D. B. llobrnsoif) and the Borough Overseer ,(Mr.. \V. Morgan) were also in attendance. The Mayor explained that the meeting had been; called in order that Councillors might confer with Mr, Jarrett, of Wellington, who had spent the last two days examining the sources of metal supplies for the borough, m order that they might put any questions desired to him before he prepared Ins report to the Council. His Worship asked Mr. Jarrett to give Councillors a resume of the results of his investigations. . _ , i Mr. Jarrett stated that he had examined the various sources of supply—via., Kaitaratahi, Gentle Annie, Waihirere, and Patutahi: He had taken samples of the stone from each quarry, with a view to testing, and considered the Gentle Annie metal was the best and hardest he had come across in Gisborne, and was superior to that from Patutahi quarry. Witli regard to the Kaitaratahi plant, he declared they could get nothing better or more economical to suit present requirement. The Priestman grab was doing as good work and cost lees to run than many plants lie had inspected in tlio South Island. Ho advised that a saving would be effected by the Council erecting a screening plant for the Kaitaratahi metal in town. Bv installing a [small turbine and utilising water-power they could elevate the shingle _ at the discharging siding and screen it with one handling. He considered the plant should be made semi-portable, so that it could he easily shifted at any tune if it was found necessary to do so. , Branch lines should he laid down at Kaitaratahi in order to ahow of the quality of the gravel required to be obtainod as desired, The AVaihircio stone was only good for pitching, and was next to worthless' for metalling roads. The further they went in the softer the stone would be found as that on the surface was-hardened by expovsure to the atmosphere. On the Hutt duplication, however, they were using even inferior metal than that at Wailiirere for pitching. With regard to Gentle Annie,• he considered it was undoubtedly the Lest quarry, and the ! most' dC. nvcniel)t ’ as .ft could bo ea^, ly worked witllrtau aerpil tramway, J-hc stone this Quarry was better than i that obtainable at Wellington, and j even superior to Napier metal, which was very much honey-combed. _ r*o stripping or blasting would be requn ©C*, which would make handling cheaper. Even the small stuff was quite good metal for roads. He estimated the cost of putting m an aenal tiamway a Gentle Annie at from £/o0 to £BOO- - Council would be quite justified in installing such a plant at the present time, as good stone outciopnlng in such a manner as to give abundant evidence there was an in)hmixed supply available, and the further they went'in the better the stone would be ] n reply to questions by Councillors, Mr. Jarrett estimated that Gentle Annie stone could be quarried, crushed, and placed in the hoppers for 3s per yard. This was a liberal estimate, even if they had to blast solid rock, and covered depreciation and interest. He based this estimate on a supply ol 10 000 yards a year, and could design a plant for a 2000-yard supply at the same rate. Questioned as to the cost of haulage to town, Mr. Javratt, said he was not prepared to give an estimate off-hand. It greatly depended upon the output required. He considered steam waggons would he the cheapest to employ for haulage. The Straker waggon was as good as any that could be used, though there was a newer pattern than that owned by the Council, which did better work. The waggon would bo .able to handle 16 yards "a day, bringing two trailers from the quarry to the Big bridge, and one from there to town, provided that the roads were in good order. Advantage should bo taken of the summer months, and the waggons worked for all they were "worth m fine weather. In Christchurch and Wellington they worked' their men nine, ten, and eleven hours a day in fine weather. Haulage could be done for from 4s Od to os pei yard, which would cover everything. Asked as to how this estimate compared with tile cost of haulage,- Mi. Jarrett stated that the cost at Wellington was from 8s 6d to 9s, anti from 7s ”6d to 8s 6d at Christchurch. Cr. Collins asked Mr. Jarrett to be careful when preparing his report to stato exactly what the waggens could carry per day. I heir experience in the past had proved that the Straker waggon could not do anything like as much as the makers claimed it could perforin. Mr. Jarrett said he would base his report on what the waggons he had been employing had done under his own personal observation. Or. Darton asked if Mr. Jarrett considered the laying down of a light line and the.utilising of cheap willow sleepers at Kaitaratahi had been wise on the Council’s part. Mr. Jarrett replied that light sleepers were better than heavy ones on a rough track, as they gave better, and a light line could be more easily taken up and shifted as required. The Mayor warmly denied that willow sleepers had been used at Kaitaratahi. Some willow had been used, but it was untrue to say that only rubbish had been xised in laying down the line. Cr. Collins referred to the royalty which the County Council proposed to charge the Borough for the damage to the county roads which would be done by the haulage of metal. It was proposed to charge as much as Is a yard. 'Hie Mayor stated that the Council had no power legally to levy such a royalty, and such a proposal had only been made by an irresponsible County Councillor. Cr. Darton asked Mr. Jarrett if the County Council offered to lay down a tramway and supnh- the borough with metal in town for 3s per yard, should

they not be foolish if they did not accept such an offer. Cr. .Clayton. as'ked if Mr. Jarrett did. not consider the Council would not be approaching the insane if they did not jump at such an offer. His Worship warmly remarked that if Councillors were going to put such ridiculous questions it was time they adjourned, and ho terminated the conference by leaving the chair.