Asbestos Roofing

Progress, Volume XIII, Issue 6, 1 February 1918, Page 136

Asbestos Roofing

Importation Stopped If ever an opportunity existed for the development of our local industries that opportunity exists now. With the shortage that is evident in our imported building materials no effort should be spared to encourage local efforts. It is gratifying to note that quite a number of local building materials are being made in New Zealand, notably tiles. This being so the recent English embargo on asbestos roofing materials should not effect us as it otherwise might. All asbestos roofing slates that are being turned out by the English factories have been commandeered by the Government, who use them largely in the construction of aerodromes, hutments, and other military structures in England, France, and elsewhere. The main constituents of roofing slates are Portland cement and asbestos, both of which the (Dominion can furnish in sufficient quantities. In fact, in the Nelson district, asbestos is obtained as well as cement manufactured. Corrugated iron is fetching such a high price on account of its scarcity that to strip old roofs of this material and ship it to distant parts of the Dominion is now a paying proposition. To meet the scarcty of tiles caused by suspension of imports, renewed efforts are being made to produce a local article in quantities that will meet the case. The requisite qualities a. good tile should possess are many, and they are not always appreciable by the inexpert. Experience is now being gained and collated of tiles made from New Zealand clays. In time to come this should be very valuable. The best test of any tile is in the roof, and observation must therefore necessarily stretch over some years. Various compositions in the form of roofing felts are now more in use than formerly, through the shortage of iron and similar hard materials. These also are being tested by time and local weather conditions for more or less permanent roofings of buildings of importance, and particularly

villa dwellings. The shingle-roofed house is to be found in Wellingtona survival of early days—but it is rare. Tasmanian stringy bark was found to be the most suitable timber for the purpose, but shingles rarely come here now (although in common use in America) together with other Tasmanian timbers that were brought to New Zealand by Hobart sailing ships. Fire insurance companies are not enamoured by shingle roofs, nevertheless premiums for house insurance in Tasmania, where the shingle was in general Use, were very moderate. Only £5 worth of shingles were imported from Australia in 1916.