Notes of the Day

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3637, 25 September 1912, Page 4

Notes of the Day

A AI ORE OPTIMISTIC REPORT.

Among recent arrivals in Gisborne are two gentlemen from Lancashire, Messrs Ormerod and Brown, who, it is interesting to note, claim to be expert road makers. Coming as they do from a county famed for its hard roads,, they are naturally very much taken aback at the conditions of affairs in this regard which obtain locally. To a “Gisborne Times” reporter yesterday they had some very important remarks to make with reference to how best to provide better roads here with the material available. After all the hard things that have been said about-' the product ''of the Gentle Annie quarry, it was refreshing to find that they hold that poor as it undoubtedly is in quality, yet it need not at all be given up as a bad job. But—and here c-omes the rub—they declare that there is onlv one way in which to lay down the" metal, and that way, strangely to them, has not been adopted. According to their way of thinking, the suggestion that a good road can be - made by merely coating the surface with shingle and tar is quite wrong. "What must be done, they sav, is to abandon tar altogether and adopt the “tar macadam” system, in which the metal is treated not with tar but with pitch and creosote oil. They seem to disagree, indeed, with most of the other expert views that have boon obtained locally. As to Gladstone Road, they say unhesitatingly that no satisfactory results will accrue until if. is wood paved, and it would pay to undertake the work straight away. With reference to other streets such as Peel Street, what- it wanted, in thenopinion, is metal to the depth of not less than six inches treated under the “tar macadam” system. In the case, of the wet roads which have no foundation, they recommend draining, brushwood, “pitching,” and on top “tar macadam.” Unfortunately tho visitors liavo not yet had an opportunity to inspect the quarry. Lust. Friday they set out on the Gentle Annie “train,” but a sand-drift- caused the engine to leave the rails after tho.y had gone some distance, and they spent the rest of the afternoon in assisting to put it hack on die rails. Those who are interested in the campaign for better roaus—and who is n ot ?—will be pleased to know that Messrs Brown and Ormerod have made an offer to the civic authorities under which they jit© .to mV down n sl2ul.il piece 01 road on the “tar macadam” system by way of an experiment.