PRICE OF REINFORCED CONCRETE POSTS

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXV, Issue 12390, 30 July 1937, Page 3

PRICE OF REINFORCED CONCRETE POSTS

Sir, —I am pleased with the interest that is being displayed in the above. Some doubt seems to exi. t as to my statement that the Labour Department could make and sell these at the works for £5 per hundred. It your readers will bear with me I will explain how I arrive at my estimate. The pott I propose to have made is 6 feet 9 inches long 4 J inches wide and 4 inches deep. That t- SI x 45 x 4, equals 1458 cubic inches. One cubic yard contains 46,656 cubic inches. So one cubic yard of concrete mixture will make 3 2 posts" of the dimensions given; in fact slightly more due to the displacement caused by the reinforcing material. The price of a yard of pumice at Pongakawa, where there are hundreds of thousands of yards between the railway and the road, . c o that delivery can be made by either road or rail with the minimum of expense, should be not more than Is. A mixture of 3 1-3 cwt. of cement to 1G 2-3 cwt. pumice, that is 1 cement to 5 pumice, would absorb a cubic yard and make 3 2 posts. With cement at £5 per ton this mixture would cost 17s 4d per cubic yard, leaving 14s Sd for labour, reinforcing material and wire holding device. Total 32s to make 32 posts. A.? the acting-Minister for Labour is prepared to subsidise up to £4 per week per man to put men into permanent employment, the 14s Sd for labour, etc., is adequate. In the matter of posts breaking off at the ground level —a very serious fault —this can be got over completely by a two foot length of angle iron in the reinforcement one foot above and one foot below ground level. A plant capable of making 5000 posts weekly could be installed with the minimum of cost at the Pongakawa river. I understand Mr B. B. Woods' flaxmill is not running; if so all the men's huts, cook-house, dining room, etc., would be available I should think on easy terms. The making of these posts would be a permanent industry as literally millions of posts are required for replacement. I should like to see not the Farmers' Union only take up this matter but the Chamber of Commerce and the Tauranga County Council. With the consent of the County Council I will leave at the County yard a sample post I have had in the ground for four years. Tlnr, post was made with a mixture of 1 cement to 8 pumice and reinforced with No. 8 wire at each corner only. It will not stand a heavy shock ;o I propose a richer mixture and angle iron reinforcement in future posts. I am indebted to Mr Otto, of Reparoa, for the wire holding device. If tire idea catches on I would like "him to get full credit. CHAS. E, MACMILLAN.