TARANAKI ROADS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 226, 18 June 1919, Page 3

TARANAKI ROADS

} MERITS OF" TAR-COMPO " SURFACES

THE MAYOR'S'DEDUCTIONS

The piovisioii ,oi better roads to cope JL-frnni ® Tcr '. lnt,i y as JPßVf nt l H<lmitteiliy uiotor traffic is occupying the attention of most local ' authorities in , Ul l, . a ' al ' c '> sum* of -which hnve been et their wits end almost to kndw how +? n 'nvi ■'T"' s V, lat ' wi " st ™<l the sue-" ' i 8 r } 11( l on the road surfaces, licAmerica, and, England, ]'i u S m eer.(Mr. W. H. Morton) admitted that one of ijie chief subjects tiiat would receive his attention whilst abroad would bo that, of modern road construction, .For somo. time past it has v r °5. n that local bodies'in tho ToranaKx district had experimented with evident success by applying 4 surface of tar-' composition to many-of theiv roads, hut tun inquiry, into the matter, was .postponed until after the war. During the past week-end the Mayor (Mr. J., I>. •Luke), with Councillor,! M'Kenzie, Mr. * -f Person (Assistant. City Engineer), f 1 il r " k Drake (Motor Inspector) took the opportunity of visiting the district. . The Mayor returned yesterday f.f-. ternoon, leaving the remainder of'the 1 party to prosecute further inquiries'and to . collect data which might- be of service to the Wellington' City' Council. 111 the course of an interview, the Mayor informed a Dominion representative that the party had made tho. trip to persotit roads of Triranaki, some of. which had been treated to a surface cf tarred macadam and the otiiers to.a coating of tar composition. As far as he was concerned *the inquiries made were restricted to the operations.of the, Hawera: Borough Council and the Hawera County Council. Tlioy were met at Hawera bv Air. Muggcridge, the County Council engineer,. who took them .to the works wnere the tar composition was prepared.. The first process undergone by the tar ■was to dehydrate it, and at a certain stago in this process a patented composition was introduced, ■ tlvff proportion of the composition to the 'tar being very heavy. This fusion of 'the tar and the composition gave the substance, when * . 0n .,P 18 roa d> <"• pronounced elasticity ' or resilience, and it was said that it did not crack, fold up, groove, or develop the brittle hardhoSs ofßome asphalts. It-was - impervious to tho effects of frost, and did not become slippery when wet, as did many tar surfaces. One. extraordinary feature in connection with tho new surface was that the cost of the prepared composition was not so great as for tar alone, quantity for quantity. . at meant that by adding the. composition the price of tho preparation was actuaJly reduced instead of increased. ■He also inspected the plant,provided,for applying the composition to the road surface, and noted that a good pressure was applied at the nozzle-end to ensure a thorough impregnation of the surface, ihey were shown roads which had been laid down m the tar-compo. for two years, • and had to ' confess . that' they showed, little sign of wear; neither was raere any evidence of curling or' froov-'

, Asked if the traffic was heavy on the county roads inspected, the Mayor explained that outside the town the roads were not tarred for their full width, •lit y lor a central strip 16ft. -in width. Ho was assured that,the trofflo was fairly heavy otang.to continual use "V. heavily-laden, milk-wagonß. Speaking personally," said-the Mayor, J would not advocate the use, of such material by the City Council out of bor-' rowed-money as I do not'think tho life of it warrants it. I mean to say that if we have to build roads out of borrowed money, they should have -surfaces-of proved permanence, such as is the case with concrete or woodblocks, but-if ask--1 ■ a Wellington thoroughfare in wnich the new composition might be' tested, I would 3ay Peatherston Street, from the G.P.O. northwards. The trafii? that street fairly heavy in. the daytime, aud the surface Tvonld lielp to till the dust nuisance, much of . which arises from the macadam portion of that busy street." •, ;

I'iiQ i Mayor- stated that-Mr; A. -J'. Pit-' erson, of the City Engineer's "staff."waa Koing into the matter thoroughly, and 'on re P or ' : to the City' Council later'