Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1911. THE METAL QUESTION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12528, 9 August 1911, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1911. THE METAL QUESTION.

It should be satisfactory to the great majority of Borough ratepayers to knoMthat as the result of exhaustive enquiry and lengthy deliberations m committee there is a strong solid body on the Council determined to work the Gentle Annie quarry proposition for all it is -worth. The question at issue, as was explained last night, has been one of gravel v. metal, and after the plain object lessons that have been afforded of the use of Kaitaratahi shingle on our rkads it needed no midnight sittings ot any body of practical men to determine that the original idea of forming our streets with this Shingle, with "a top dressing of Gentle Annie stone, must be cast to tlie winds. The Kaitaratahi shingle, even if it is screened and washed and the hardest nuggets amongst it only applied to the roads, will not stand the weight and the wear and tear of the traffic, and to merely coat the surface of our roads with a few inches of the good nietal from Patutahi would be to load tlie ratepayers a few years hence with heavy maintenance charges. Gisborne, for all the bright schemes that may evolve themselves m the minds of its .amateur engineers, cannot escape the necessity of constructing its roads, as is done elsewhere, with a good solid layer of the best metal procurable, and if the t-xpenditure of our road loan is to give satisfactory and permanent result.-* the Council must go fov the good metal and spread it with no mean hand. Fortunately it is now clearly demonstrated that there is an abundance of metal of good quality at Gentle Annie, <tnd upon the Engineer's showing this is being delivered m town, at 7s per cubic yard, which is a tremendous saving on the cost of the Patutahi stone that was Formerly used for road construction and repairs." When the duplicate crushing plant that the Council last evening decided to order is installed there is reason to believe the metal will be obtained at a lower price, even, than 7s, and m quantities that should enable road making to proceed at a satisfactory rate. Meantime it is ' reassuring to have the declaration that the Council has arrived at the determination that the' placing ol Kaitaratahi metal on the roads should stop. We trust this determination, with the decision to push on the develop ment of the Gentle Annie quarry, Will now enable a fixed and forward policy of road construction to be embarked upon and estimates arrived at as to the actual amount that will require to be made up over and above the loan allocation to put our streets m good order. It is to be hoped the Council will now settle down to the consideration of this important branch of the subject. There should be no need for much further talk. What our streets are crying out for is metal, and wordy recriminations such as the Council has so long been indulging m do not help to the supply of that necessary material. Moreover, road construction is the work of a specialist, and the Council would do well to rely upon the competent advice of its Engineer as to the quantities of metal required and how it should be spread. It is highly to the interests of the community and all concerned that the unfair policy of issuing constant carping criticism of the Engineer, whose official position precludes him from publicly replying to his detractors, should be dropped. • -

'■„ -(