TRIP TO THE QUARRY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIV, Issue 14483, 3 July 1911, Page 7

TRIP TO THE QUARRY.

UY HARBOUR BOAB.D MEMBERS. 'A HURRIED RIDE. A dozen members of the Harbour Board, seated in two specially-prepared trucks, journeyed to the Board's quarry at Gle'n-iti, after the meeting last Friday afternoon. The trip was especially arranged for the bonefit of the country and newly-elected meinbeTS. Along the line through the quarry land, the members gained a view _of the worked-out faces, where nothing but clay and small stone rubbish remains. Occasionally, one saw definite indications of suitable stone which, as the engineer explained, it would not pay to work on account of the amount of stripping that would havr* to bo done. Farther along, some six hundred yards from the extreme nor'-west boundary of the quarry, the quarrynion were at work loading into trucks "small stuff" only, to bo used for the filling in of the new road between Nos. 1 and 2 wharves. A ten-ton. crane, looking 6pick-and-span, steamed knowingly as the members passed, and weighty stones were held in iron clutches, and dumped into the trucks near by. The presence of cioy was at once seen to be a nuisance to tho workers, ,who scooped this waste aside with as much energy as that used in moving the stones. Another fifty yards brought the members to the boundary, where the only JVO6 of large stone remains. Some huge blocks, suited for supporting tho extension — twenty to thirty-thousand tons of them —are still available there, tnd should suffice for years to oome. Sauntering about the quarry members gathered much information from this man and from that in the ten minutes of their disposal, and appeared to be well satisfied with the work going on. They learned that there is much idle apparatus at tlie quarry, and that much of it will never be needed there again. There is one 15-ton stationary crane, older than the others, but useful for many purposes yet, quite idle now. This, some said, should be sold. Another 10-tqn movable orane was working merrily at the stone, and further along there rested a substantial 20-tonner, the most serviceable crane on the job. The quarry, it may be mentioned, was leased by tho Board for twenty year on March 9th, 1003. so that it has still about twelve years to run. The price of the lease was a. lump 6um of £SOO. At the end of the term, the Board will have won from the land about as much stone as it will yield. On. the trip home the members broke their journey at the fog-sigaal, whero a test of its sounding powers was given. Town was reached at 3.20 p.m.