THE METAL QUESTION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13427, 8 July 1914, Page 1

THE METAL QUESTION.

•&ENTLE ANNIE QUARRY EX- ~; HAUSTED. With the balance of the indnter season still- staring them m the face the Borough Coij_icil finds itself out of stone for maintenance and repairs, quite apart f rojfl, permanent work. This has come about m consequence of the exhaustion 1 of the supply from Gentle Annie quarry. The Mayor said be had reported to the. Works Committee having inspected Gentle Annie quarry and had found the stono worked out, whilst as far as the outcrop m tlie bush was concerned the indications were that there were only a few boulders, aud that it would not pay to take the tram round. No. 2 face was worksd out excepting two hard pieces, aud at tho back of these was clay. The stone that was being sent down was fro'ii No. 1 face, and this was mixed w.-y.i lidstone and of poOr quality. T:y. would have to get metal from somewhere for the next twelve months, as iit would be that time before they could get Motuhora stone and test it. The Council would have to look- for another source of metal and as they had £20,000 invested m the plant they vouid have to carefully consider if they should "scrap" tliO Gentle Annie' plant? cv what they should do with it. As far •..-*. Gentle Annio was concerned' he ih' nght the 'moral question was finished. IT* vvould like •to'" > hiear what Councillors :iad 'o^say. and 'for them to give their opinion as to the best way out of it. His opinion was that they should call tenders m the four centres for a certain .-•.mount of -metal delivered on the Gisborno' wharf, but he did not want to force his on the Council.

Cr Brown said it was a burning question, and he was quite -in accord with the Mayor if they could get suitable .stone from outside. They had had prices m the past, but theyvhad been too high. To his mind Motuhora would ' be the source of supply. He had seen it, and to his mind it _ was the best, and with tho rail"wtey could be got at a reasonable price. Waihirere had been inspected many times, and had made good foundations if only they could get something to >put on it. But it would cost a lot of money. He suggested the Council might obtain temporary supplies from the Public Works Department's quarry at Matawai. They could obtain some through the District -"Engineer, and see if it was suitable for. requirements. - If they could not get any 'from- outside they, might be able to use. Matawai stone until Mqtuhora was available.

CV Wildish declared 'that 'Gentle Annie had^uot been worth the money expended on ifc, as the 'stone was scraped "off m mud, m a month. He beiieved it would be far better to get a good quality stone, evei; if it was dpuble the cost. He thou, ml they might be able to make some arrangements with the Cook Oounty Gdjiinr : _ to get stone from the Patutahi quarry, . "ana pointed out they could ciirert ihe tram-line to run. the stone m, or they could have it brought m by the Public Works Department. . He thought it would be better to go outside and pay 30s per ton on the wharf for good stone than up to 12s for local stone. He thought that they should' advertise lor outside supplies, and m the meantime they, could consider the various sources mentioned. Or Munns said that it had disgusted hiui.to visit Gentle Annie, and see the large staff of men and the small handful of stone left. Men were actually picking the stones out with their hands and throwing away tvyo and three trucks of mullock to get a truck of stone. JB.e regretted the great waste of money incurred, and went on to point; out that the stone recently put. down m -Roebuck road would not stand, but was mud the same ' night it was rolled m. He commended the Small drive that had been inserted to prospect m the bush, instead of going on, bhndly, and said he was m favor of going outside for metal; declaring that money could be saved. They should get down, to bedrock, call for tenders, get some good metal and some good roads. '

Or Wade said it was a moat, vexed question, and Gisborno Ava3 an unfortunate town m this respect. It was-a great pity they, had not experimented be fore they invested m the plant. He did not think th© Council should tie it.vii down, seeing they were about to fiT-,""iH"it a new engineer. He agreed to i iw- Council- making inquiries, but m the meantimo did not 'think, they should go any further. '' •* - ; ■ ' ■

. Cr Hill said he was against "scrapping" Gentle Annie, but he would be more favorable, before throwing «\yay nublic money, if the}' obtained a 7<?o1 Gin -*•:** 1 surveyor's report. It might be that they were on the. verge of discovering a good supply. He contended 7T : -ot, the .stone had not been properly put down and used with a coating of shingle, but he believed that the, oest supply of stone was at Waihirere. He would agree to leaving Annie if they had a geological surveyor's report to this effect, and if they did, he thought they should give Waihirere a real square deal.

Cr Miller (Said Councillors had missed the point, tliat their supply of metal was exhausted, and something -was required t^ take its plaoe. Cr Lawless said tliat tbe metal* question was the biggest they ha 4to face. He was satisfied that there was never iiny quarry at Gentle Annie, and never would be. The only pity was that the money bad been spent there. To his mind there was one source of supply (Waihirere), used 30 years ago on the roads towards Oirmond. These roads had been put down m large boulders, and he believed that if Gentle' Annie stone had been put down m that way it would have stood better. Proceeding, ho Tegretted they would be unable to obtain any stone from Motuhora until next summer, and he believed that for urgent requirements they should obtain stono from Matawai. • With reference to outside supplies, unless they went. m. for larg-f' .contracts, it was going to be very costly. The Patutahi supply was a diminishing quantity, and they would hfiYe to go to the expense of transferring the plant.

Cr Black said that the metal question and sewerage were the most difficult problems they had to. deal "with. He chaxa < ' i rised the installation of the plant at Gentle Annie as a gross waste of public money, and. for his part he would not get another yard of met»l from that source. The "scrapping" of Gentle Annie would have to come sooner or later, and they would have to stop any mora, of that mullock, being- put on- their a-oads. He would sooner give 30s a yard for granite or some good stone than 12s a. yard for mullock from Gentle Annie. Whilst ib might seem excessive to pay *"eh a high amount, ihey had to consider thp excessive cost of maintenance. He had seen Motuhora stone, and, considered it was the only decent metal they could get for their main arterial roads. Proceding, he declared that if Waihirere metal" was used m a proper way it "would stand the full requirements for secondnry roads. Whilst he agreed, to Waihi rero as a temporary supply, he also approved of the Mayor's suggestion to obtaiii tenders for outside supplies, but that no contract be entered into without the advice of the new engineer.

The Ma vor said he wduld like to call for te.nrl : -s for metal from outside, with samples to be supplied. He would also lil;e inquiries to be obtained from the Public . Works Department and Oook County Council, and the various sources could be examined by the new engineer when he arrived. He would move that tenders for suppliea be invited from Auckland. Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunrrlin, and also that inquiries be nif^e from the Public Works Departin i ti? Matawai stone, and the Cook County Council re Patutahi stone.

CV Pvown suggested vthat they might also ascertain from the Waikohu County Council as to when the Motuhora stone would be available.

His Worship agreed that they oMiin oil the information possible.