HUTT RIVER SHINGLE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 21, 20 October 1919, Page 6

HUTT RIVER SHINGLE

AN IMPORTANT PROPOSAL

RIYER BOARD'S SCHEME

Concrete is the building material of tho future in Wellington, and the Hutt, River Board proposes to prepare for tho demand for fresh water shingle which must inevitably ensue. In the course of a chat with a Dominion reporter the chairman of the Hutt Itiver Board (Mr. 11. that up to the present the boarj had contracted with Messrs. l'itcaithly and Co., and Mr. D. Andrews for the sale of shinglo from the bed of the Hutt River, but those contracts were terminable 011 tlireo months* notice, and that notice to determine such rights had been given six weeks ago, so that in another six weeks the board would take over the sole control of the disposal of the shingle., In viow' of the big demand for the slung e, which the ' members deemed inevitable, the board proposed to undertake '.ho work in a practical, business-like mailner, and to that end had decided to put forward n proposal to go in for'a proper bucket dredge similar to those used for gold dredging, and erect proper works for dealing with the shingle in a large way. The intention was that the dredge should bo attended with big punts, that would convey the shingle from the point where the dredge was working-, each of such punts to bo fitted with boxes to hold about. H yards of shingle. When all the boxes on a punt were,filial tno punt would be removed to a lifting station, wliicli would 1)0 fitted with all tho nccessary machinery for screening and breakin-,' the shinglo according to tho class of stuff needed. To that end Mr. - Baldwin, accompanied b> Mr. G. Bowers (a member of tho board) and Mr. I. Kcrshav (the board's foreman), had visited Christchurch, and had obtained there a good deal of information in re-' spect to the machinery that would be required, and afterwards had visited the West Coast and inspected a number of dredges suitable for the work which wero 011 tho market. They had cwered a food deal of ground, and had inspected several dredges which might prove suitable for gravel-dredging on the Hutt River, and had reported to tho board 011 Wednesday evening last 011 their ln| vestigations, when it was decided to call a special meeting to discuss tho whole matter. In the meantime they had gained information as to the coA of erecting the machinery. When everything was quite ready, tho board, proposed to make tho information available to tho' ratepayers for discussion before they took a loan poll for the purpose of raising the money to go on with tho w ; ork.- ... ■ . The board wns of tho'.opinion that if wns going the right way about .the'business. A good deal of the expense entailed in securing the shingle at present was the cost of haulage. It took three horses to drag a load of shingle up from the river-bed to tho road, ana, of course,that had to be paid for, whereas if it were done in a big way with the aid of punts, as described, tho cost was likely to be less. Large bins would tnko tho shingle, after it had been graded at the works, and these bins would be so placed and elevated that the shingle would run into railway trucks 011 the one side or into drays or motor-lorries on the other. ' Mr. Baldwin mentioned several big works 111 prospect in and about Wellington which would lie almost certain tp require largo quantities of, Hutt shingle, notnblyi tho big sea wall across tho Ivaiwarra Bight in connection with the pending reclamation works there by the Harbour Board in association with the Railway Department, the concrete road between Wellington and Petone, and, of course, tho steady demand that always existed for concrete buildings in , Wellington and, fie surrounding district. It was a concreto ago in construction, and there were no other largo deposits of. first-class -fresh water shingle near Wellington such aa existed in tho Hutt River.