BARROWS USED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 283, 29 November 1937, Page 5

BARROWS USED.

AIRPORT APPROACHES.» ______ > SYMBOLIC ACT RECALLED. I t HON. R. SEMPLE'S GESTURE. ' (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) 1 CHRISTCHURCH, this day. * When the Minister of Public Works. v the Hon. R. Semple, turned the first sod j at the Harewood Airport, he carried out a symbolic gesture by crushing a wheelbarrow beneath the treads of a giant tractor. Within a stone's throw of this historic spot men are working to-day with wheelbarrows, says the I "Star-Sun." These men, who are employed by the City Council under the Government's full-time employment scheme, are engaged on the formation of the approaches to the air port. There arc between 30 and 40 on the job, and they ( are making excellent progress, although not a tithe of the progress that would ' be made if the grading were carried out by mechanical means. ( On the other side of the fence from where the men are trundling their bar- , rows, the big tractor with its enormous scoop has been at work levelling the flying field. This machinery, similar to that used by Mr. Semple at the "first sod" ceremony, would make short work of what one expert described as "levelling the knobs and filling up the hollows" In the new road. Not Repaired. The council, however, is absolved from the supreme slight to Mr. Semple. The famous wheelbarrow which was offered up as a sacrifice to the great god machinery has not been repaired for use on the scene of the ceremony. To repair this wheelbarrow would be impossible, and for a very good reason. An integral part of it disappeared after the ceremony. It was "souvenired" by a member of the City Council, who, after getting the Minister to autograph it, took it home as a treasured relic

When the fact that these men were working with wheelbarrows was referred to the city engineer, Mr. A. R. Galbraith, he said that, as the council had done its best to oblige the Government by providing work for as many men as possible under the new employment scheme, a considerable strain had been placed on the council's motor transport. It had not been possible to supply a truck for use on the job at present, although, as a matter of fact, most of the work would have been done with barrows, even if a truck had been available. Mr. Galbraith added that the men were working well and making excellent progress.