PAVING PLANTS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 63, 11 September 1924, Page 6

PAVING PLANTS

READY FOR ROADING

BUT NO MARKED PROGRESS

PLANS FOR THE NEW MIXER.

The roading programme is much as it was a week . ago, . still considerably in doubt as to several important points, more in doubt, in fact, as awkward qomplications have arisen through the action of the Hutt County Council'in notifying the Hutt Road Board of Control and the City Council: of its intention to withdraw'from the Hutt road extension scheme. That 'difficulty is to fie further discussed at a meeting of representatives of interested .bodies next Monday afternoon. . ;.-.-■■ The position as to plant remains as ■ ust week, the small Ransome mixer at Ciydo quay is doing its best, but in tho face of a very large programme it is a small best; the Cummer', mixer at NgahauKUiga sits quietly.in' the sun, ready for, immediate action, .but nevertheless turning ' out not one yard" of material for- Thorndon quay or the work proposed to be done on, the Ngahauranga Gorge road;-the second Cummer plant is still on the water, due to arrive in a tew days, or a few weeks, according to the movements'of-shipping. • The pay- j ing programme is still ahead. ! '■-So far,'. apparenSly,-the position in regard to the Ngahauranga plant is that the month's notice required by the Mulicipal Corporations Act as a preliminary j for the taking of an action for an injunction has still about ten days to run, and that during those ten. days the council and the complainants will, presumably, continue to regard each other from a due distance.: ■ ■'■ It is more than merely unfortuante that the deadlock means that a thousand or so square yards of paving are lost to Wellington and the Wellington district with' each fine day that the plant stands idle. ."■■-.'■■•.-. ' There is. of course, ample work for the Ngahauranga plant further- up the Hutt \ alley, and, accordingly, the mixer might be moved to its ultimate site straight awa y but for the rather awkward" fact, that there is no certainty as to a Bill being passed until it is passed. Moreover, the cost of 'hauling mixed, material from somewhere up. the Hutt Valley to Thorndoir quay and the Ngahauranga -Gorcr e road would be very great indeed, and would assuredly mean that those lengths of roading would not figure oA as eco i nonucally as the Hutt road job. I PLIANT NO. 2. '.'''■ •pil *o. ™modiate relief ■ can be given~by ■ Want JNo. ,2, for it is not yet upon the wharves, and when it .has 'arrived it must still be set up on the site chosen for it to tho south of. tho Rongotai waiting shed,- Coutts street. Work has now commenced on the construction of the roadway to .the site,, and as far as - possible everything will be made ready for ' the reception of the new mixer. It was at first intended to place this second mixer at tho Maranui quarry, in order; that advantage might be taken of the existing storage bins and also for the reason that the plant would there offer a minimum of annoyance to anyone. That decision has now been'altered, and' tho .new plant will—apparently quite -late'-in the paving season—take up its position in the sandhill area about 300 yards on the seaward side of Coutts street. .. :... • .- ■ ■. : -..-■ ■■■ " - ;

Sand cartage enters, largely into thn cost of turning out paving material, but with the plant in.the very heart of the sand supply this cost will fall to bedrock. /Blue stone will, of course, still ::have to be hauled to the plant, but the run. from the council's new quarry just past the cutting in the Miramar valley," will be short./ /- ■

■ _ A somewhat different mix will be utilised; this year, .the paving being more, of the sheet asphaltic type (which is very largely used in America), in which more sand and. less metal' will be used, as was. done in the laying of the second' course of the Hutt road. -

It is claimed that no nuisance will be. caused by the new mixer, since it will be well away from houses, and as the ..prevailing wind, north-westerly,' will simply carry what grit there may be further away from residences. The use ol electrical driving power will reduce smoke output to nil, as far as the power unit is concerned, while the drying drum will be ■heated chiefly with coke. ■•