GRAVEL SUPPLY

Evening Post, Volume XCIX, Issue 8, 9 January 1920, Page 7

GRAVEL SUPPLY

HUTT RIVER BOARD PROJECT

PROPOSED £9000 LOAN

The Hutt .River Board proposes to lay before a public meeting on Tuesday evening the following scheme, which it is its intention to put into operation within a few months if the ratepayers 'on Thursday sanction the proposal to borrow £9000.

"Concrete is the building material of the future, and the Kntt River Board proposes to prepare for the demand for fresh-water gravel which, must inevitably ensue. In view of this large anticipated demand for gravel the board contemplates undertaking the work of supplying such demand in a practical businesslike manner, and has decided to place before the ratepayers a proposal to procure a proper bucket dredge', similar to those used for gold-dredging, and erect proper works for dealing with the gravel in a large way. To that end the chairman (Mr. H. Baldwin), accompanied by Mr. G. Bovvers (a niember of the board) and the overseer (Mr. Kershaw), were deputed by the board to proceed to Christchurch and the West Coast to make inquiries and obtain information regarding the necessary machinery that would bo required and its cost. After-in-specting numerous dredges and relative machinery, and gathering most useful information, the delegation on its return reported to the board, and the board has been able to obtain an option over what is considered a most suitable dredge' and pontoons, for the board's purposes, at a very low .price. The dredge and machinery is certified by the Government Inspector of Machinery as being in firstclass order..

"With the above information before it, the board has gone thoroughly into the cost of transporting the dredge and pontoons to the site where it is proposed to erect the works, also cost of re-erection and purchase of supplementary machinery that will be required to carry on the work efficiently,. a n d is satisfied that the gravel can be raised from the river beaches and marketed at a price that will give a handsome income to the board, whilst it will be enabled to supply it at sifSh a price as will ensure a good demand. It is well known that the supply of gravel . available is not at present nearly equal to the demand. From the information obtained by the board it is quite satisfied that a first-class plant can be placed on the ground and in working order for a maximum cost of £9000. The board's estimates in this connection and its scheme generally have been submitted to its consulting engineer Mr G. Laing-Meason, M.1.C.E., of Wellington, who inaugurated and carried out the first river protective works undertaken by the board, which have proved such a great success and practically saved the Hutt River district, from the disastrous floods that used to frequently visit it. Under the board's scheme it is proposed to use land transit to supoly Wellington and other places, but the 'board antiei-i pates that, in the near future it will be able to send the gravel to Wellington by barges down the river and across the' harbour, which will be quite feasible and will reduce the costTqf transit very considerably. Information obtained from Auckland, where the sea transit is being largely used, encourages the board to feel sure that there is a great future for the Hutt gravel. , "The board confidently anticipates that ni the very, near future the revtnue from its gravel beaches will enable the present'rates to be materially reduced. "In order to enable the board to undertake the scheme for marketing its gravel indicated above, it is proposed to take a, poll of ratepayers on .Thursday, 15th January, to authorise the hoard to raisea loan of £9,000, provision being made for payment of the first year's interest and cost of raising the loan out of the loan.

"If authority is given for raising the loan the board expects to be able to commence marketing the gravel within six months; the returns for which will provide for interest and other charges before the second year's interest i s payable! It will therefore not be necessary for any rates to be collected to provide for these charges."

ENGINEER'S APPROVAL.

_ The following is the opinion of Mr. Laing Meason oh the proposal: —

Ihe clerk furnished me '•with a, copy of the board's circular addressed to the ratepayers, which outlined the proposed scheme. Mr. Kershaw, your overseer, has explained to me very clearly your board's intentions. Briefly, the board's proposals are to establish a shingle-dredging and lifting plant on the right bank of the Hutfc Eiver, near the north-western end of tile Melling settlemen^ and to sell the material thus obtained direct to the public. The project provides for the purchase of a, bucket ■dredge of the gold-dredging type and two pontoons. The latter will be fitted with skips, which will receive the shingle as it is dredged up from the river bed, and will convey it to the' riverbank, where it will be lifted up by crane to the screens, through which at will be graded into one or other of three binns, when it would pass to the railway tracks or lorries for transport to Wellington or elsewhere as required. "I am not asked at present to enter into the question of the design and details of the plant, but to state my opinion as to the feasibility of the scheme, and its prospects of success. (Mr. Laing Mason here .mentions haying reported to the board on a somewhat •similar scheme some years ago), I fully realised then, and my opinion has not changed, the great prospective importance of. the sale of the shingle by the board itself; and the probability of its growing into a very; considerable source of income to the board. . . I have no doubt whatever that a wellconsidered and properly-designed scheme on the general lines indicated, and faithfully carried out, -would be -wholly successful, and would prove highly remunerative. ... I neqd scarcely say that the more shingle artificially removed from the riverbed, up-stream, the _ greater will be the security and efficiency of the board's river protective .works; and the longer will be delayed the-riecessitj for training walls and such ;otnoK:Avpyks at the delta of the river. 7:' T^npderstand great care has been take^n compiling the estimates shown to mo" by the clerk. On the face of them they appear reasonable; but, of course, I cannot verify them, because I have not gone into them."