BOROUGH STREET FORMATION.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 554, 29 March 1913, Page 5

BOROUGH STREET FORMATION.

' THE METAL SUPPLY. DISCUSSED BY COUNCIL. The Te Kuiti Borough Council is passing through an experience with respect to a stone crushing plant which ia not entirely unusual in the case of local authorities. The council is having considerable difficulty in making its plant produce the output which it was supposed to turn out and the position of the borough is somewhat unenviable in consequence. An immense amount of road construction in the tow;; has been planned a:;fi the necessity of getting as mu<*h metal as possible laid before winter sets in is obvious. At several meetings of the council the position has been discussed and various expedients have baen suggestedw ith a view to improving the conditions.

At the council meeting held on Wednesday evening the matter was again brought up for discussion by medium of a report presented by the chairman of the Works Committee, Cr Lusk. During the course of the report Cr Lusk stated that the new rotary crusher ran smoothly and would be capable of producing the amount of broken metal stipulated, but the results from the trial of the Pelton wheel were not sufficiently favourable to warrant a thorough trial of the crusher being made, as the Pelton wheel did not develop sufficient powor. The eagineer had been unable to procure the exact water pressure at the wheel as a guage of the correct tyne was not procurable in New Zealand. Therefore the Works Committee was not in a position to say whether a Pelton wheel would de» velop the brake horse-power guaranteed, from 100 to 1201bs to the square inch. Speaking on the report Cr Jones asked if the council had an engineer. If so he would like to know if the Pelton wheel had been obtained on the engineer's recommendation. The Mayor explained that while at the Thames he had discussed the matter with Mr Price, of Price Bros., the engineers, and had submitted a report on the subject to the council. That report was referred to the Works Committee, and he (the Mayor) was authorised by the committee to obtain the Pelton wheel. Cr Jones moved "That the whole matter of the crushing 1 plant be left in the hands of the borough engineer." Cr Somejville, in seconding the motion, said he deplored the loss of time caused through departing from the original intention of the council, whch was based on the engineer s advice. The engineer hau rscom* mended that a crusher of at least 80 yards capacity should be purchased, and that a portable engine of sufficient power to • run it should be either bought or lea-jed pending the arrival of the motor which was intended to run the plant. This recommendation was adopted by the council. Notwithstanding this at a subsequent meeting it was decided to authorise the Mayor to undertake certain experiments. This, together with the innovation of the Pelton wheel, had practically hung, up the crushing of the metal for the roads. Whereas, had the engineer's proDoaal been carried out the council would now have been in a position to have palced on the roads daily an amount of from 80 to 100 yards of metal. Continuing, Cr Somerville said the position as it appealed to him was that unless the engineer had'to shoulder the responsibilities of his position the council wouid be stultifying itself and placing itself in the invidious position of being unable to criticise the engineer's work. At the conclusion of the discussion the following motion proposed by Cr Somerville and seconded by Cr Jones, was passed: "That the engineer be instructed to bring down a report at the next council meeting on the cost of obtaining spalls from our own quarries."