CONCRETE FOR POSTS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 157, 4 June 1937, Page 2

CONCRETE FOR POSTS.

IN FARMING PRACTICE. With the durable fencing timbers rapidly nearing exhaustion the finding of substitutes for posts had become necessary, and more and more the value of concrete in that direction was being realised, said Mr S. A. R. Mail - , engineer to the Rangitikei County Council, when speaking at the annual gathering of sheep farmers, at Massey College, this week. Professor Peren, principal of the college, said that farmers were steadily turning to the use of concrete, and the sooner they familiarised themselves with it the better.

The development of the lise of reinforced concrete since 1855 was dealt with by the lecturer at the outset. To-day was a concrete age, he said. Pumice could be used in the making of good posts, but c-are had to be exercised in the mixing of the proportions. The aggregates should be clean-washed and grading carried out where possible. There was a rapid hardening cement which, enabled the same moulds to he used each day for a fresh batch of posts, and the water used should be clean, and not containing humic acid. The mixing process had to be thorough so that there would not he any weak portions in the resulting posts, and concrete should on no account he rejuvenated; once mixed it had to be used. The proper covering of the posts for setting was important, and they had to be kept damp. The longer they had in the curing process, the stronger they would be. Electricity was now being brought into play for the setting of concrete, and he thought that in the future' electric shock system woidd he used extensively.