CONCRETE BLOCKS v. QUARRY STONE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 17553, 24 April 1919, Page 7

CONCRETE BLOCKS v. QUARRY STONE.

(To. the Editor.)

Sir, —I have read Mr Blair Mason's report, and "was greatly disappointed. 1 fully expectedto see in his report some quicker method than we have had, but he suggests the same okl slow, expensive method as we have had for the last thirty yeaxs. If you can show me tha* getting the stone from the quarries, losyiins: it on to trucks, railing it to the river, then loading it on to punts, travel it fourteen miles, unload it into trucks at Castlecliff, rail it along the breakwater, and tip it pell-mell into the sea, is a cheaper, quicker and better method than a reinforce*'! hollow-concrete block made after the'box fn.shkm. with a cutting edge at the bottom, then I'll give in. In addition to placing the stone,

the cost of housing the men at the quarries, and extending the staging at tae bre-ainv-ater, the cost of which must be added to the stone, say at a cost of 22/6 per ton; while the hoUow block could be made at a cost of £1 per ton, and eaoh block per ton would be equal to •thre9 tons of stone. For instance, the hollow block when made weighs twenty tons, and lihed with sand would be equal tv sixty tons, aba total cost of, say, £21; while the same amount of stone would cost £67 10s.: a saving of £46 ID*. on every sixty tons, and a quicker and better ciass of wall. This class of ivaU could be built out to the required distance, under an energetic man, in two years, either using a Goliath or a locomotive crane fitted with a suction pump; no staging would be required. Ai'ter the first tew blocks were laid, the crane would be placed on top, and work from its wall oiit to the required distance. rlhe saud removed in sinking from the second block would go to fill up the first, and so on. This wall, when finished, would look like a lot of boxes placed end on, filled up with sand. Before iillin? with sand they could be stayed with 6m. x 6in.' concrete piles, reinforced, one at eatii corner, plp.c©:l vertically from bottom to top. The boxss could be secured, one on the other, Ly dovetailing. These blocks would be filled with concrete on the top, say to a depth of- 18in. The size of the hollow block could be made 12ft. x 10ft. x \2 ft. by 13in., and built up to 6ft. h.w.s. The pressure on this wall is end on, and on the sea side silting wiil quickly accumulate; on the channel side it would be protected by loose stone. If the people of Wanganui decide to continue with the same old slow method, then our dream' of Home liners berthing at Castlecliff is a long time off. But, sir, an engineer one of these days will arise who will show the people of Wanganui that they have only been tickling it, and have not dealt with it in the manner which they should. In conclusion, I recognise'this fact—-that no matter how good one's idea is, it will not he recognised, coming from one who is .NOT AN ENGINEER.