TO THE KAIRANGA RATEPAYERS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 1019, 12 November 1917, Page 8

TO THE KAIRANGA RATEPAYERS.

Having: had the honour to represent you as one ot your councillor- for the last six years, 1 ngain ask your support, provided my views are favourable to you. For some years past public opinion has been that ?ome bettor method mast be adopted in dealing with the upkeep of our roads, in consequence of the increased<traflic. There are various Kind dilFerent opinions as to the. best and cheapest method, so I think it only right ratepayers should know my views on this mo-t imnortant question. They arc as follows:

The Council to raise loans when possible for permanent improvements to our roads, a's it would comes too heavy on the ratepayers to have permanent improvements mad'', from general rates. On the other hand, if done by loan, the younger generation' would help to pay. Life is so short, that we want roads while we live, so why should the present generalion try to do whai i. s impossible by trying to ma.ke permanent improvements from general rates?

The horse is a very useful animal for] hauling metal where machinery cannot be used, but the time lias come now. through the high rato of wages, horse feed, and; the general upkeep of the teams, that machinery should take the place of the old horso and dry in every place where machinery can possibly be used. There are two distinct classes of machinery that could be used in connection with road making,) viz.: Steam driven and motor driven. The. latter, I consider, i.- not suitable for roadmaking purposes. There is a movement on foot now to purchase ;i motor truck, and trailer, and if carried out it will he, in my opinion, one of the greatest mistakes the. Council has ever made. The upkeep of solid rubber tyres alone for a motor truck would cost anything from 1503 io £.700 per year, according to the amount of _ work done, a I,'ible below showing approximately the difference in the cost of limning a steamdriven plant, against a motor diiven plan; will prove conclusively the very great advantage in favour of steam. STEAM-Dill YEN PLANT, to consist of engine of the roller type, with 24-inch plain i tyre* on back wheels. This engiuc is supplied with two sets of front gear, and can be converted into either hauler or roller by a .simple- process in changing the front carriage. This can lie done by disconnecting] either one or the other by means of a few bolts. This type of hauler is used extensively in England, and in one large county there are nine ill use. Two trailer trucks should be used with this cnc;ine:_ with " inch tyres, made to hold six yards i.i ■•;,: li: the bottom ol ihf I ruck.- tap.r.d to cent::', v.iili trap door full width of truck, so metal can be spread <>" toad i>> any thickness required, while the trucks are in motion, thus saving a deal of labour in spreading. Total cost of plant, about £ISOO. Cist of running steam plant per day. worked out on an average of four mile? hauling, four trips of twelve yards each trip, 48 vards per dav delivered: • ' £s. d. Wages for two men 1 5 0 Fuel, oil, woni and tear 1 15 C Depreciation and interest 10 0 3 10 C Tin's works oat at under is 6d per yard. MOTOR-D,RIVEN PLANT, to consist of motor truck'to cany 3 yards, with trn.iler to carry three van!.-. 'Total cost of plant, about £ISOO. Cos) of running motor plain per clay, worked out on an average of four miles hauling, eight trips of six yards each trip, 43 yards per day delivered : £ s. d. Wages foY two men 1 5 0 Find and oil 3 0 0 M .uir tyre renewals and wear 3 5 0 Depreciation and interest 1 0 0 8 10 0 This works out at over 3s 6d per van! delivered. To have metal carted four miles by horse and dray it would cost 8s 6d per yard. .So it is quite plain hoi.-i- and dray carting is quit? out of the running compared with hauling either by motor po.wer or steam. .Steam has the advantage <uer motor of £5 per day'.- work, or £ISOO a year. Bui not only that, motor hauling would cause hundreds of pounds of damage to the roads every .'■ear, and the steam hauler would do hundred- of pounds worth of good io the road--, through the broad, plain wheel- —or. in plain words, the steam hauler is practically a roller at the same time. To arrive at the best and cheapest way of delivering metal on our road-, is of the lirsl importance, and should bo taken in hand at on.v. and the only way possible I" attain the best results is hauling b\ machinery, and before machinery can be worked to the best advantage, the best metal bed.-; should be. chosen and light, onehorse tramways put in leading from the metal to permanent- bins of a. large holding capacity, erected in a. convenient place for storing metal, or if metal is coarse, and a stone crusher i.s used, the metal would be delivered by tramline to the crusher, then elevated from the (.rusher into the bins. The bins should be erected in such a way that the steam-hauling plant, or motor hauling plant could be drawn alongside, or directly underneath, then by opening trap doors on the side of the bins, or underneath, as the case may be. the metal would be transferred from the bins to the trucks in a few minutes by gravity, thus saving- extra, handling, and also saving loss of time through the hauler not having to wait until it has been loaded bv men with shovel--. PERMANENT ROADS.

This is probably the most important ques-

tion L'oiinty Councils will have ro deal with in the near future, and as this class of work ha.s not yet been started in the Kniranga County, the greatest care should be taken before deciding upon the type of road to be' adopted as a standard. There is onh >ine class of road thai can be termed permanent, and that is a concrete mad. For several years, America has been experimenting' extensively with concrete roads, and the last few year-- the amount of concrete put down has increased enormously from year to year, a,-, the following figures will show: Uptotlio year 1909 the total amount of concrete put down in America was GOO,OOO square yanle, and the total in 1915 was over 50,000.000 square yards, and the authorities calculate the amount put down up to the present will amount to 100.0C0.000 square yards. This will show hew the concrete roa.d movement has grown where it has been thoroughly tested, so why should it not do for roads in such a splendid country as the Kaiianga ('.muty ':

Sonic people ran away with the idea thai v.e cannot afford concrete road?, but the question is. can wo afford to go without them, and continue to work our roads on the most costly lines possible? I consider this would be penny wise and pound foolish. Fanners arc all turning 1 their eyes towards motor esu*.<, and arc beginning' n> regard tlicm not only a- a pleas|re to themselves, and family, but as a necessity; and at the present rate of purchases, every farmer, in a few years, will Be running his motor car. That means there will be a great cry for better roads, and concrete toads are no doubt the coming road. They will lessen the cost of haulinfr, wear and tear, and petrol, will lissen the risk of accidents, will increase the pleasure of driving, either by motor or any other vehicle, will increase the vaiue of property, and they are smooth, dnslless, and permanent. Our engineer estimates that a furred macadam road, 16ft wide, will cost £22 per chain. ; There is no reason, if proper machinery was, used, why we should not put down concrete, at somewhere near the same cost. One engineer in America actually put down U million square yards of concrete road, the whole of which was six inches thick', and the average cost per chain worked out at under our engineer'-- estimate for tarred road. If concrete can be put down in America at a reasonable cost, there is no reason that it should not be done hero. Cement is considerably cheaper in America than iii New Zealand, but en the other hand our metal can be got much easier. _ I would strongly urge the Council to put down several blocks of concrete toad without, delay for experimental purposes, each block to be made up in dift'erenl way.--. The main object, of this is to find out. the best and cheapest road to suit our purpose, and ir may bo the means of saving the ratepavers many thousands of pounds in the mil. Having given my views on some of the main questions in dealing with roads. 1 now ask tin.-, ratepayer.- to roll up on Wednesday aird register their vote, either for or against me. Then, if you pur me back. 1 will take it as an indication that my views are favourable to you, and will enter another term feeling I am on the right track, and will bo able to fight for what is right with more determination,—Yours faithfully,