RUBBER USED IN ROADING

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29067, 2 December 1959, Page 19

RUBBER USED IN ROADING

Pavement Life Prolonged

High admiration for the manner in which reading authorities in New Zealand handled their work was expressed in Christchurch yesterday by an Australian who is concerned with the development of rubberised bitumen for roading purposes. He is Mr N. Douglas, manager of the Australian office of the Natural Rubber Development Board, who has been spending the last three weeks in the Dominion discussing recent developments in rubber technology with various rubber manufacturers •nd specialist-users. Mr Douglas said that he was impressed with the way New Zealand manufacturers were keeping

abreast of the latest developments and of their application of new techniques to production programmes. Taking into account the relatively small domestic market, he said that laboratory work and production control were at a high level and the quality of consumer goods could be favourably compared with , the best overseas standards.

In one field, said Mr Douglas, New Zealand factories had established an enviable and useful export market. There was a very keen demand in Australia and in the United States for New Zealand - manufactured milking machine rubberware.

Speaking of the specialised uses of rubber, Mr Douglas said he had spoken to local roading engineers about rubberised bitumen and had inspected several of the roads which had been surfaced with this material in New Zealand over the last five years. In Australia, .it had been found this material had helped prolong pavement life and had successfully reduced maintenance costs under certain conditions. As a result of the early trials in New Zealand over the last five years, Mr Douglas said he believed this country had the same view. It was to be used to a considerable extent in the next few years. Examples he gave included the resurfacing of Queen street, Auckland, this year and Dunedin’s new airport project next year. In Christchurch through the work of Ministry of Works engineers many of the concrete roads had been successfully treated with the material. Mr Douglas said he felt sure that as more opportunities were taken by roading authorities to evaluate the qualities of the rubberised type of roading, the more the process would be extended. Mr Douglas has just completed a second world tour that has included most of the major rubber laboratories in the United Kingdom and some in the United States. While in Malaya, where he spent two weeks at the invitation of Sir George Clay (head of the Malayan rubber industry for the Government) he spoke to many growers and all concerned in its production of the problems brought about by synthetics.

Mr Douglas will leave Christchurch for Dunedin tomorrow.