Why Waste Time With "Taranaki" Gates?

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 63, Issue 4, 15 October 1941, Page 307

Why Waste Time With "Taranaki" Gates?

■■■iiT/ie Question iWn

By

N. E. BRITTON

Okaihau, Auckland.

WHY a district of such bounteous production as Taranaki’ should be nominally fathered, or should one say mothered, with one of man’s most wasteful and slovenly devices — “Taranaki” gate— hard to understand. Surely the first wire gate was used and sworn at in an older world long before Taranaki found a home for our early pioneers. In any case, these hardy forefathers of ours under Egmont’s shadow probably had no wire which might suggest . the invention of this contrivance of the- devil. The worst they could do with the means at their disposal was to put slip-rails across the gateways; no very satisfactory method, in truth, but at least many degrees better than the abomination previously mentioned.

And, lest it be thought that such forceful language is unjustified, let us consider what a wire gate costs in point of time without allowing, for wasted energy, torn flesh, lacerated feelings, and exploded temper. Wire Gates Waste Time The average time occupied in opening and closing a wire gate is perhaps not less than ten seconds, and if the gate is used half a dozen times a day an expert mathematician, with his slide rule and logarithmic tables, will prove that in the course of a year about six hours of working time, or, for a dairy farmer, one full day between milkings, is spent in opening and shutting that one gate. If there are several such gates on a farm, the drag on economic operation is really serious.

In addition to this waste of time when passing through wire gates there is also to be considered the time spent on repairs, for these gates are particularly susceptible to disintegration, and their average life is undoubtedly very short. •' j Why, then, are they so popular?. Or perhaps it would be more accurate, to ask why they are so commonly made use of, for it is hardly to be supposed that they are popular even with their creators. ' The answer, of course, is twofold, “apparent low cost and apparent rapid construction”; but these impressions are and can be shown to be entirely mistaken. Wire Gates Are Expensive The first cost of these so-called gates may be small, but when a price is

put on the time wasted in manipulating and repairing them, 'as mentioned previously, their cost is remarkably high, and the time taken to make one is actually no less than that required to make a good, permanent, fivebarred hinged gate if the system of building gates in a frame is adopted. The making of a suitable frame is comparatively simple, but it necessarily and fortunately involves standardising the size and pattern of all gates on the farm. The first step, therefore, is to decide what width the gates shall be made, and as a wide gate costs only sightly more than a narrow one and is much more convenient for the passage of lorries and large implements, nothing less than a 10ft. gate should be made, and a still wider one of 12ft. is recommended. * Construction Of Gate The detailed measurements of such a gate are shown in the accompanying illustration, while the frame in which the gates are made is shown as it appears from two different angles, and requires very little explanation. - The length of the legs of the frame is such that the frame is of a convenient height for sawing, say about 18in. above the ground, and every part of the frame should be made not less than a quarter of an inch “full” so that there .is sufficient play to allow the finished gate to, drop freely from the frame. The frame is placed alongside the stack of timber to be used, and three stiles and one diagonal are then cut to length and placed in their appropriate

slots. These are followed by the five rails, and finally by the three remaining stiles and one diagonal. A Holes are then bored at all intersections, and bolts which have been well greased inserted. The whole thing is then turned up on its side, washers put on,, and nuts screwed up hand-tight. Another turn over and the gate drops out on to the ground completed except for tightening up the nuts with a spanner. The hinges can be attached while the gate is in the frame, and a first-class job is assured if all timber is painted at intersections before being placed in the frame. If this is done the final painting of the whole gate is not necessary and remains a matter, for individual taste by those who like a neat appearance.

List of Creameries

BECAUSE of the shortage of paper supplies, the “Annual List of Creameries, Factories, Private Dairies, and. Packing Houses” will not be printed for 1941, but a schedule of amendments necessary to bring the 1940 list up to date to March 31, 1941, has been prepared and is available free of charge on application. Copies of the 1940 list are still available, and will be supplied with the amendment schedule at 2/- per copy. Applications should be addressed to the Publisher, Department of Agriculture, Wellington. _