OUR AUCKLAND ROADS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 149, 24 June 1908, Page 8

OUR AUCKLAND ROADS.

1 (To the Editor.) , Sir,—Our worthy Mayor, Mr. Arthur 1 Myers, with his far-seeing policy, has i no doubo ilone much for our fair'citv; 1 but if ho desires to have his name lion- r ourably carried down to posterity, let i him gi-appie with the road (or, rather, 1 the mvi) question in real earnest. It p is true that he has spent something like c £45,001) in this direction during the past i year; Lut about .£20,000 worth of this r

has since been thrown into the gullies through using wrong material. It is - not the quantity that is wanted in J the road-metal, but the quality. 1 have ) pretty closely watched the metal they 3 are using, and have in my office a lot of samples taken off the 'carts when on their way to different parts of the city; and fully three-fourths of this is bunitout scoria, full of pin-holes, which crumbles away under the traffic after a few weeks of wear. It is then carefully scraped off the roads in the form of mud. and cither carted away and thrown into the nearest gully, or used to form a binding for new roads. In dry weather jt is blown about in clouds of dust. But I must say it is a crying shame such poor metal should be used, when the Council have thousands oi yards of the very best at their doors, in thi. Xor-manby-road quarry. From this source very fine stone could be obtained, equal to that of the best Yorkshire quarries; for it has apparently escaped the volcanic fires of the past, having in some remote age been pushed up from a lower level; aud there it all stands simply waiting to be used. I visited the Mount Eden quarries, and had the pleasure of escorting Dr. Stopford over fchw workings; which reminded mc of some old gum-diggings. With another gentleman, I walked over to where the men were working, when we were astonished to see the poor stuff they were digging out and carting to the crusher— metal that is only fit to use on side streets where there is no traffic but pedestrian. Last Monday week 1 took a sample of metal off Customs-street West, and found it was mostly composed of burnt-out scoria, which had been quite recently dumped down; but here more especially, where the traffic is very heavy, nothing but the yery best metal should have been used. As for gradi-\£; the stuff, there seems to be no attempt, made in this direction, and the whole management (if it can be called such) fairlj' makes one's blood boil, to think that such a state of tilings can exist. I asked someone in authority why the better class of metal from the Normanby quarries is not used, and was met with the astonishing reply, "that metal is too hard to quarry." Anyone who knows anything about road-metal is aware that good hard stuff is much easier to work than poorer quality, especially to handknap it after it has been spauled out; men would much rather hand-knap good metal at four shillings per yard than poor quality at six shillings. This is because the former breaks clean, while the latter crumbles away under the first blow of the hammer. Some months ago the Citj' Engineer promised to the whole matter-his attention; but so far I have seen no improvement in our roads, nor in tlu , 'in.ulity of the metal used. If the (v> p?nd double the money this yea; they did last, it will at this rate Iwvc very little effect in giving us good roads; but on the contrary we shall have plenty of mud in the winter, and in the summer abundance of dust. I heartily wish that some abler ( pen than mine would rouse the Council to a sense of their duty; make them see that those in authority should grade their metal, and use only the picked stuff for those roads where the traffic is heavy and continuous. On speaking to one of the councillors about this matter, I was somewhat amused at his reply. Said he, "We are , thinking about getting metal from Coromandel." "But how about the Nor- '■ .manby-roitu quarries?" To this I got ■ the reply above referred to—that the j metal was too hard to get out. Meantime people are asking where the large J quantity of mud is coming from, not understanding that it is the burnt-out i rotten scoria which originates the elush. — I am, etc* • - ALBERT SPENCER. '