A BUSY CENTRE

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 98, 19 January 1933, Page 17 (Supplement)

A BUSY CENTRE

Sidelights on Big Task HUM OF INDUSTRY Modern building tools and machines of every conceivable type contribute to the racket which, for the past six mouths, has accompanied the work of reconstructing the business area «t Napier. The whine and rattle of eonerete mixers is a ceaseless sound between 8 a.m. and noon, then in the afternoon until 5 p.m. Competing with it is the pounding of hammers, the elang of steel, the scrape of spade and trowel, rhe rasp of saws, and the ear-splittitng din of the pneumatic drill and rivetting tools.

Occasionally the rush of concrete falling into the boxing drowns the smaller sounds—the creaking of pulleys, the scrunch of lorry wheels, the chugging and purrings of scores of stationary engines and motors, and the panting of blowers keeping alive the furnaces for the bending of steel bars. Countless miles of steel bars of all shapes and sizes are forming the cores of the earthquake-proofed buildings of the New Napier. A sizeable drayload goes to the making of one or two of these columns, and there are scores of them, let alone beams, slabs, and buttresses, in each of the new buildings. Special gangs under the various contractors work on the cutting, bending, .and shaping of the steel, which is lifted into position, made secure, and then laced and interwoven with more steel. One unusual plant in use at the time of writing is a motor-ear chassis on which has been placed a large electric dynamo. When the vehicle has been driven into position the engine is freed from the car’s transmission and connected with the dynamo, which it then drives, supplying power for machines used in the a f ml building work. Many of Napier’s flat-roofed buildings not only are built on shingle and partly of shingle, but are topped with shingle. As a finishing touch to the roofs a hot bitumen mix is laid, this being spread over with a generous layer of shingle. Finally, the surface' is brushed down, leaving the little pebbles that have adhered to the bitumen and formed a solid, rugged mass. UNIQUE SOUVENIR In many a Napier home one of the first things shown to visitors is the earthquake poker,” a novel souvenir ■ of the disaster, replicas of which were sold rapidly after someone had ordered their manufacture. The pokers are made from the thick copper wire which formerly formed the overhead cable of Napier’s tramway system. Fully a quarter of an inch in diameter, the wire made ideal pokers after being cut <ito suitable lengths, sharpened at one end. looped at the other to form handles, and twisted near the middle into a sort of spiral decoration. Each poker is inscribed and dated. If the pokers are not by now “out of stock/* there is no doubt they will provide further revenue during the carnival week.

unanimous, though they are expressed with characteristic individuality "The improvements to Marine Parade will be a good investment, worth every penny of the money expended on them,” says Mr. J. S. Barton, Civic Commissioner. “Marine Parade is going to be worth thousands of pounds to the borough, for visitors will be attracted from all parts of the country and residents of Hawke’s Bay will make it their playground. New Zealanders always go toward the sea, and with good roads into Napier and all the attractions that Marine Parade will offer, they will come here in greater numbers than ever.” Mr. M. S. Spence, chairman of the Reconstruction Committee, said: “The improvements to Marine Parade which have been made possible since February, 1931, serve to prove that the earthquake has done much good to Napier. From the viewpoint of such beautifying works as the Parade and the streets in the business area one might even say that, but for the suffering and loss of life, the earthquake would have been the finest thing that ever happened to ns.”