DUST PREVENTION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 980, 22 November 1910, Page 4

DUST PREVENTION.

STREET-TABBING TEST IN WELLINGTON. A few weeks ago a full, description was given in these columns of a patent streettarring machine which: had been imported by the City'.Council from Melbourne on the recommendation of the City Engineer (Mr. W. H. Morton), who was early in tho present year afforded an opportunity .of seeing the work the machine had done in Melbourne, whero it was looked upon as going a good-way in the direction of dust prevention. Manythought that the wood-blocking of the main streets would greatly check the dust nuisance in Wellington, but there,, always seems to be any amount of dust flying, even along the wood-blocked streets when a ground wind is blowing. . In the old times—t«n, twenty, thirty years ago—the. reclamation works were looked, upon a's the chief cause of Wellington's dust-storms, but there is next to no reclamation work proceeding at present, except tho bit at Kaiwarra. in connection with the straightening of the Hutt railway line. The real causo of tho trouble is the quality of the macadam used on our unblocked streets. This powders gradually, and the result is a hard, gritty dust. . ' Eecognising this, Mr. Morton looked round for a preventative, and during holiday saw the tar machine which yesterday operated on Featherston Street. It is not unlike a water-cart in appear.anee and .construction. The tar, which is kept in a heated boiler, -is led out at tho back to a cylinder, from whence it is fed into the sprinkler, a perforated pipe about five feet, in length, running athwart the tar oart at tlie hack, which is controlled by a lover. The machinedid its work very well yesterday, and if tarred streets are jiot. a success in Wellington it is not the fault of the maohine. After the road was thoroughly swept by a. road sweeper, the tar. cart operated over a eection, leaving a fairly thick deposit of warm tar. It was followed by sand-carts, the contents o? which were scattered evenly ov«r the tarred surface, as was also tho dust swept from tho 6treet.. Tho result was a tarred surface, but whether the surface will cake hard enough to stand the traffic is another question. One point that seemed to be overlooked was that at no time was the ordinary traffic suspended from any section of tho street, and as soon as the sand was.strewn over the liquid tar tho ordinary traffic of tho street was allowed to pass over tho fresh-ly-treated section.

' If the process turns out to be offective, Victoria Street, Upper Willis, Taranaki, and Tory Streets, Clyde Quay and Cambridge Terrace, Thorndon aud Customhouso Quays, Molcswbrth Street, and Tinakori Road could be treated similarly within a month or two. Practically the whole ..of Foathcrstoii Street was tarred yesterday.