TE KAWA QUARRIES

Waikato Times, Volume 99, Issue 16576, 19 August 1925, Page 8

TE KAWA QUARRIES

OFFICIALLY OPENED. AN INTERESTING CEREMONY. The Te Kawa Quarries, Ltd., was en fete at their quarries on Saturday afternoon, when the official opening of the quarries took place. It has been known for some time past that Mr T. G. Martin has been developing the stone deposits on Te Kawa Hill, and for this purpose a company was formed and great work has been going on for some months, with the result that two quarries have been opened with up-to-date machinery for the crushing and grading of the stone to make it marketable for roadmaking and other purposes. The local bodies of the district have for years bp-en unable .to obtain Hie metal required for the foundation of the roads, and it had hitherto been obtained from Mt. Eden, but its cost and unreliability of delivery by the Railway Department had made its use almost prohibitive. For some time the Te Kawa deposits have been known of, and a few years ago both the Waipa County Council and the Te Awamutu Borough Council had ideas of exploiting them, but want of finance forbade either body entering into such an undertaking. The Te Kawa Quarries, Ltd., have been some £lO,000 in machinery, etc., and to-day there is a complete and practical scheme developed for the supply of what is recognised as a first-class material for our roads. The two quarries that have been opened show abundance of a hard granity stone, which is conveyed by light tramways down to the crusher, whence the 'broken metal is elevated up to the grader, and each class, from 2-inch stuff down to sand is deposited into bins from which railway trucks can be filled, and the material is then taken along the Company's siding on to the main line for consignment either north or south.

The inauguration ceremony on Saturday, to which there was a general invitation, was attended by a large number of members of the various local bodies of Hamilton, Waipa County, Te Awamutu, Otorohanga and Waitomo, and they were treated right royally and well. Cr. McGechie, who was the first speaker, said the opening of the quarries was, -he considered, an epoch in the history of the district, and he felt. convinced that the quality of metal required for the streets waa now acquirable. He congratulated Mr Martin on his enterprise, and wished him and his partners every success. Mr Stewart Reid, chairman of the Waipa County Council, said he, as chairman of the Waipa County Council, was pleased to think that his Council had not taken up the enterprise, seeing that such up-to-date men had been in oharge. The undertaking ought to be supported by the local bodies.

Mr J. T. Johnson, chairman of the Te Awamutu Power Board, also congratulated the Company on the promice of success that lay before them. Mr J. W. Warren, architect of Hamilton, said he hoped the proprietary would have a rich return for their enterprise. He thought the metal would prove not good road metal only, but also good building material. ■. 4 Mr C. Lambeth, of Hamilton, also expressed the opinion that the metal should find a good market in building circles.

Mr King, manager of the works, returned thanks for the complimentary things; said.

After the speeches tea provided by Mrs Gunderson, and served by iier assisted by Mrs Floyd, was partaken of and thoroughly appreciated.