“TALK OF THE TOWN”

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 81, 17 March 1933, Page 10

“TALK OF THE TOWN”

PURCHASE OF SAND

ENGINEER'S REPLY TO GOSSIP

BOROUGH COUNCIL DISCUSSION. The hatcheries in which pre-election red herrings arc brought to life arc apparently preparing for a busy season, for the first of the brood made its appearance at last evening’s meeting of the Hustings Borough Council. The occasion was the discussion of a topic which Councillor T. Donovan described us “the talk of the town,’’ and which consisted in a suggestion that the borough engineer, Mr C. E. Evans, was not ueiing fairly in refraining from calling lenders for the sand used in connection with the council’s present restricted programme of putting bitumen surfaces on a part of the borough streets. The view taken by the majority of the council was expressed in a remark made by Councillor Simmons, who brought the discussion to a close by saying: “Let us get on with our business. We arc only wasting our time.” The gist of the engineer’s answer to “the talk of the town” was that there are available only two pits in which the sand is naturally graded to the size require 1 for the work in which it is used, and the price of the material from both pits is exactly the same. If other -sand were used, it would have to be regraded, and the ultimate result would bo that much extra cost and trouble would be added. “In order to maintain the high standard of the hot-mix road,” said Mr Evans in a written report, “it is necessary to have correct materials. The grading of sands plays a most important part in the success of the work. It starts with grains as fine as cement, and continues to grains of one-eighth of an inch in size, the intermediate sizes being proportioned to a definite specification. If anv of the gradings are ab-

sent they must, be added, which would of course considerably increase the cost. “Fortunately we have been able to obtain suitable material direct from the shingle pit without having to add more than one size of grain, and are therefore able to carry out the work at a lower cost than many other places in New Zealand. There are t.wo pits within convenient distance of Hastings, and upon testing the sands it was found that the sand in Fraser’s pit was the most suitable for the work. Another company concerned is unable to supply the sands. Even if they were of the correct grading, they would be much too wet to go through the screens and drier nt tl:e mixing plant. “Prices are always obtained for materias for use in the borough works, and the question of quality also is always considered. We arc carrying out the hot-mix work at a lower cost than any other town in New Zealand, and equal to the high standard that has obtained in the past.” In answer to a question by Councillor Donovan, Mr Evans said that if the council had in hand a scheme for widespread surfacing of roads, it would undoubtedly pay it to buy a suitable pit for itself. At present, however, the surfacing scheme was necessarily lim- ' ited within narrow bounds, and on a rough estimate, to buy a pit to fulfil immediate requirements would entail an annual loss of £23 apart from a capital expenditure of about £6OO. “I don’t work by rule of thumb,” Mr Evans added. “If I have a job to -do I take very good care to know what I am doing. I have the best possible prices at present for sand, shingle and chips, and I consider our bargain is a good one.”

The Mayor, Mr G. F. Roach, said that apparently the man in the street, or at least those who had been discussing the matter, had a notion that the council was spending thousands of pounds of money on sand and shingle, and was not calling for tenders. The answer to the critic was that if the people wanted the, roads to be as well built as they had been in the past, they would have to have faith in their engineer. "‘To my knowledge,” added Mr Roach, “he has never done a job without calling for tenders and getting prices. If you go into public life, you must expect to be talked about, but when you are tackled you should have an "honest answer ready; and the engineer has given that answer.”