THE METAL PROBLEM.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13516, 20 October 1914, Page 5

THE METAL PROBLEM.

As arranged at the last t meeting the •Borough Councillor* visited \. Matajvai yesterday to inspect, the district. All tjie Councillors ■ went ! 'except Cr Hill., • r The Mayor... (Mr- W. G. Sherratt) unformed a, reporter, to-day th£t the party left Gisborne by 'train, and r Mr Arm-' 'strong " took ' them from Otbko to thePubh'c Works •Department's /quarry, at \\latwaai m the .- Public' Works train. There, they inspected the metal, referred to by Mr Armstrong, and 'found that there was a. fair supply. As tho District Engineer had said, the stone was. not as good as Motuhora. Some of 'it had; been used m the Matawai station yard, and it appeared to stand the heavy timber and goods traffic very well. This outcrop of stone was situated about a chain from the Public Works quarry, at the opposite end of the spur. From there, m buggies provided by Mr Armstrong they proceeded to MotUhora. They found that about. 30 or 40 yards of the 100 yards to be brought to town for testing purposes had been got out to the Kowhai crossing, and from there; it would have to be carted about three miles to the. railway. The raclway would not be up to the Kowhai cross-ing - : for at least 12 months, and that meant they could not get stone from "Motuhora m any large quantities for at least a year. A tramway had- to. be laid far about three .miles from the quarry to "the Kowhai crossing, where it would eventually meet the railway. Supposing they laiid tho tramway now, they could not get the metal until the railway had reached the crossing, because the carting between the pointswould necessitate three handlings. Mr Sherratt. said the whole matter would be considered by tho committee to-might. It had been well worth while malkino- the trip, as it gave them an insight as to when they might expect Motuhora stone, and as to what 1 should be done about the other proposition of getting stone m the meantime from near the Public Works quarry. "It is a matter we shall have to consider thoroughly before coming to any decision," he said. The Mayor said Mr Armstrong had been very kind, and they were obliged to him for the trouble he had taken to assist them m the matter of procuring metal. „