The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, AUGUST 5, 1912.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3593, 5 August 1912, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, AUGUST 5, 1912.

Among all the hard problems which confront the

The Biggest Problem Of All.

borough none, avo venture to suggest, sho-

suggest, suuuld bo tackled with more vigor than that of the' metal supply. It will be fresh in the minds of our readers that when we raised this very important matter last week, wo quoted figures to show that the full cost of landing Gentle Annie stone in town is really much heavier than was anticipated, or was generally understood to ho the case. But wo also went on a great deal further and emphasised the keen disappointment that prevails as to the quality of much of tho motal that is coining to hand. Now it seems to us in this connection that if the “City Fathers” do not as early

as possible institute a searching investigation into these matters, they will be failing in their duty to the ratepayers. It is of course a wellestablished fact that really good metal is a very scarce commodity in this district. What the ratepayers are, however, entitled to know is whether the Gentle Annie venture is ever likely to be anything like the success that ( was promised would be the case. II further investigation would go to show that the borough has' made a bad bargain-in the matter, surely now is the time when a halt should he called in order to seo whether something better can bo done ? For our own part we feel that the matter is of such great importance to the borough that it should form the subject of a calm, dispassionate inquiry. In view of the large amount that is at stake, so far as the ratepayers are concerned it is clearly the case that it should bo dealt with quite irrespective of what stand anybody might or might not have adopted towards the project in the past. Boiled down, the position should simply lie this: If, as a result of the work that has been done at the quarry and further investigations there are indisputable grounds for believing that good stone exists in quantities that ean he profitably quarried, efforts should be made to see whether the cost of haulage can be reduced. On the other hand, if it is now clear, that a much larger proportion of the stone than was anticipated is of inferior quality, the question of course arises as to whether the output as a whole can be considered, under all circumstances, to be worth the expenditure. Like most of the ratepayers, we should lie sorry if it were found that the quarry had to he finally condemned, but then it must he borne in mind that the possibility of the tramway having to be diverted to the Pututahi quarry was at the outset not considered a remote contingency. As to the quarry itself, we consider that what Cr Collins had to say as the result of the recent official visit to Gentle Annie (although it was intended to assist in “boosting” the scheme) alone warrants the holding of the inquiry which we urge should take place. With reference to the metal itself, we feel that the discussion which, took place at the meeting of the Cook County Council on Friday will only go to accentuate the feeling of grave doubt that we have voiced on the subject. Mr Fraser, the County Engineer, like Mr Metcalfe, has apparently a poor opinion of the stone. He said the quality was not even; that it was little or no use for patching ; hut if it was put down to a fair depth it would wear much better on ordinary roads. Is it any wonder then that the County Council has now in view the possibility cf running a branch off the Gentle Annie tramway to the Patutahi quarry? We should imagine that this additional testimony to the doubtful value of much of the metal with which the town is at present being supplied will fall as a bombshell in municipal circles. Now, what the ratepayers would, we think, like to see first of all is a full and complete expression of opinion on the quarry and the metal by the Borough Engineer. If there has been no time to compile such a report we sincerely trust that the Mayor and Council will arrange for this to be done without delay. •