A RISING INDUSTRY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 231, 5 February 1910, Page 2

A RISING INDUSTRY.

Te Kuiti Lime and Metal

Works

"Limestone country, well watered," ** is a frequent phase in the land a gen IV advertisements, and the fact that such country is generally recognised to be among the best in the island leads to the belief that the application of lime, crushed, raw or burnt, in suitable proportions, is likely to benefit many classes of inferior soils. Yesterday afternoon a "Chronicle" representative paid a visit to the Wilson Pioneer Lime and Metal Works, and was moat courteously shown over the various departments by the manager, Mr J. F. Walsh. The limestone quarried at these worlo i 3 of both the blue and white kinds, and one of the first questions asked was: Which is the better for metalling roads? Mr Walsh said that some time ago a small lot of white metal, taken from the surface, had got into use, and was found to be inferior and easily crushed to powder. Now, however, nothing was sent out but perfect metal, with the result that neither was better than the other. Both the white and the blue are equally durable and satisfactory in use. Up to recently the method oC quarrying has been to load the trucks at the "face from an inclined plane, where by natural gravitation they descended and reached the works. Last month, however, a very ingenious plant had been installed which enables the metal to bo worked at any level required. The system may bo described as a tramway with two sets of rails, over which travels a running chain, carried round a revolving drum at the quarry face and at the works. The distance travelled is, roughly, ten chains, but it is capable of indefinite extension, as fast as the working face is cut into. This travelling gear pulls the iron trucks, loaded with, half a ton of metal, from the quarry to the works. Here u man seizes the truck and skilfully turns it to right angles. It then wheels on to an extended leaf, which descends by n hinge and releases the metal, immediately rising again when the truck lmu emptied itself. The metal, In pieces 8 inches by 12 or 1.8 inches, is now in the stone crusher, and is ground and crushed to pieces of various smaller sizes. From the crusher an elevator carries the crushed stone up to a height where an immense revolving, adjustable screen, with different-sized perforations in different parts, sorts the metal out, putting the bigger pieces in one part, the smaller in another, and the powder in another. That portion suitable for road metal goes down a wooden hopper right into the railway waggons, by which it is despatched to all parts of the district for .the use of local authorities. In other parts of the works, the metal is being carried up to the lime kilns, to be converted into lime. Carbonate of limp is used largely by farmers for spreading on the land, and the now famous Dalmeny experiments on Lord Rusobery'u estate in Scotland have proved conclusively the value of lime to soils, It is impossible in the spaco available to do moro than glance at tho numerous labor-saving devices now in use at "Pioneer" works. The !>0 horse-power suction gas engine is a very fine example of modem power production. It works smoothly and economically. The air'compressor baa abolished the old hammer and drill men and a thin pipe leading from the wo'-ks to the face of the quarry supplies a power which drills down six feet in an hour's time at a pressure of 40 or 50 pounds to the square inch. Whatever, indeed, can be done has been done to economise manual effort, and the result is seen in the line of trucks filled each day with metal for road making. Over twenty men artemployed, the wages bill running irjlq very substantial figures each month. It is intended to cut the n/ictaj towards te Kuiti, and provided the local authorities and the railway department, are agreeable, tp carry a road righ(. out in a straight line to Te Kuiti, thin also enabling the railway department ' to straighten the line at that particular point, whore a sharp curve at present exists. Mr Wilson showed the writer a fine 4-inch concrete circular tank they had constructed for holding water. It has a diameter of ten I'eet and holds 4000 gallons. Such a tank lasts for ever, and kocpa the water beautifully cool. Concrete, Mr Wilson firmly believes, is the coming- building material, and he anticipates that in a very short time it will be possible to build at a cost of not more than teii Hc'r/ cenf; over the oteji of wopd..' f " apd a Btplqntf o ( ,' ]ocai enterprise, and deserve all thp encouragement the people and the Sl;ate can give them. They provide ijme for the"cyanide process of exluicj." IPS'' gold' on, 'thp gold fields;' jinie'foj: j,)l'p agriculturist, who heptls j.o im.prove his soil; material for making concrete for building purposes of ail kinds; and metal for our roads, so vitally necessary to country existence. The work is a most interesting one, and any visitor would be welcomed by the manager and shown the system in force.