A TOUR OF INSPECTION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11872, 9 June 1909, Page 2

A TOUR OF INSPECTION.

At the last meeting of the Borough. Council the question was raised as to whether there had been a sufficient .teat of the motor, crane at the shingle pit tit Kadtaratahi, and it was agreed, that art inspection jshouldi be made by Councillore, Accordingly it was arranged to pay a visit yesterday, and also to make, a call at Waihirere to inspect the source of metal supply from that quarter. The party left town, about 9.30 a.m., hi Messrs Redstone - and Sons' brake, tliti. number including his Worship the Mayor (Mr W. D; Lysnar), and CrsG. Smithy G. Parton, J. Somervell, J. Maynard, and W. Petitie (the latter having gone on 'first to Kaitaratahi), the Town Clerk (Mr R. D. B. Robiuso/iJ, Borough Overseer (Mir .-AT. , Morgan); Mr F. J. Lysnar (County Goiuicilloi-), jMir W. F. CraWford .!(president of the. Progressive League)^ andi Mr Gardiner^, O.K. The 'morning was beautiful for an outing, m the country, and although it grew cold and threatening, during the day, the, programme was carried out thoroughly, and the return: to town- was made shortly, before 5. ■'.■■.' ■ ■■■ , ; .On reaching Kaitaratahi it , Was found that ■; Or Petti© had put m an hour or more m inspecting the work, and that he. had timed: the loading of the trucks and their "removal to the point at which they are left. in waiting for haulage along t(h© Government line to town. Further j testa were made, and it, was foundi that a, truck could be loaded 'in, from 8 to 10 mimites- L -load i ed so full that the solidity, of tHie burdlen gave the railway officials the idea that t^e. most was being made of the capacity of the;trucks and iii 'the matter of weight. It was at once freeiy, acknowledged ;by all that the motor crarijp was a^n. admirable piece of machinery, and ,tlie work done by it was considered highly satisfactory. The grab' Was a. feature that was admired; The point -that Or JDarton relied ort m «tating | tbfct the ; . crane had hot been tested to <lo w;hat it was guaranteed to do was that it was not taken up to the hoppers, instead of a Jiorse being used, for that 'pui-pose, bub this, it was pointed: out, would, be unnecessary expense, entailing the cost of a new line, and Cr Dartoliy after seeing the test tihat was made, said he quite believed the' motor would, do all they; hadi been assured" it would. To slioaV the motive power two! truck loads were driven along. The weight was aaid to be- ,2X) ; tqhfr, While the weight guaranteed was 15 tons, and it was stated that another oould have been- pushed' along at the same time. The trucks have a slight down grade for the T«turn journey to the gravel pit. The, only debatable point left; appeared k> be m- regard; to the .weight of the line attached to the Government line. -When the rails wei«© ordered, ;it rieeriisj the Qnty class available were 301 b rails, andir- it was considered that these -would.. %beweighty enough for the purpose. The line yesterday appeared quite ■satisfactory to 'most of the Councillors,, but those m favor of, heavier rails contended, that m time tine, light line would be foiuid'.jnsuflicien.t to. carry the weight of the craaie , and the trucks. The Mayor said he was quite satisfied that the 3,01 b.. rails would meet . .their purpose, and would' be easier to shift when, necessary than heavier rails j but m any case the old Council had had! no choice m. the, matter wlieix ordering the rails, and, lf an alteration was deemed necessary the cost would not be great. Ors Smith, Pettie, and Darton expressed! the opinion that it Would be better to try and .obtain the heavier rails and to have squared sleepers, and Cr : Smith considered that for the preservation of the machinery and* tHe protection 1 of, ihe driver it. would be advisable to have- a cover for; the } crane, the : driver being, under present conditions, exposed .to.the rain. Irt; regard' to - the , use of :■• o, horse, the Mayor pointed-out that that was an economical feature, as the , number of truck -lo^ds, that could be sent by the. railway was limited, and the spare time could be utilised m the accumulation of a supply: in the hoppers. TO WAIHIRERE. , The party then set off for Waihii'ore, where lunch was partaken of before tfio quarrying work! wasi jnspected. Cr Harris, who is absent from the jplifitrict, had} not been \ unmindful of the occasion, for he ha 4 sent -'a- turkey and duck to help to replenish" .the larder. When travelling' on .the main road, an: inspection was 'made of the Wailiirero atone laid .down nearly 30 veins ngo, when the old. tramway was running, and it was acknowledged that for foundation purposesvthe Waihirere metal had considerable value. The. road; .m to the valley was found to bo heavy, as might be expected at this time-, of the year, but evidently the carting out of stolid ca n etUl be carried! on. A quarry near the' entrance to the valley iwaa being opened, and. huge bounders were being picked out &ndl sent bumping down the hill, at the foot, of which a fair; amount of metal had been accumulated" ready for transport to the borough. . The general opinion was that this metal was better than that obtained some distance further up/ 1 , where Mr Harvey Gibloft .hud had a> quarry face opened out'/ Some of the metal was very hard 1 , and some would crumble away easily,' but j ust. how. this j -would wear when -placed on a road m a consolidated form "vvhs a question for discussion, m connection with which the practical test on the, main road wqs effectively cited. If, Government assist-. ance could' be obtained m the matlej^oj securing a branch ' lino to tap tlicse sources it would menu a groat deal to the borough. The party proceeded to the site above tho 'waterfall, and also from a distance viewed the steep faco from wb,ich MV Merchant proposed that stone should hcobtaifned'' for harbor' purposes. Altogether satisf action, wto exprossecl at wh*it was being done to give the Waihirere metiil a fair test, anil the Inforhia. tion gainod during the day should be very useful to Councillors m the future.