HUTT RIVER SHINGLE

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 189, 8 May 1931, Page 5

HUTT RIVER SHINGLE

Maintaining Quality

An important point was touched on by the Hutt River Shingle Company in a letter which was received by the Hutt River Board at its meeting last night. The company asked if in view of the road formation work in the Taita Gorge "the board would consider the advisability of protecting the interests of all shingle sales by prohibiting the dumping of spoil and rotten rock into the bed of the Hutt River at the point of the scour in the Taita Gorge. "It Is only recently that the river has been clear of rotten rock washed down from the slip that occurred in the Gorge some three years ago,” continued the letter. “At that time a big cut was necessary to clear the road, and all spoil was dumpedin the river bed. The quality of the shingle dropped considerably, duo to the >resence of this rotten rock, and matcrlaly affected sales in the city when in competition with products obtained from the sea beaches.”

The board considered the request a most reasopable one, and decided to forward a copy of the letter to the Main Highways Board and the Hutt County Council.

More important than the' loss of. any royalties from less sales through inferior shingle, said the engineer, would be the fact of having no shingle plants working They are relied upon to keep the channel clear, and deep. ,