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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1363, 2 October 1883, Page 3

TO THE EDITOR. Bißj—Th your leading article of Thursday Week’s issue commenting oh the Winding-up of Oxenham's contract for the supply of gravel, and comparing the quality of the ♦natedal delivered, and What w;w requisite for Wear and teiir of good metalled roads, 1 was much pleased nt your calling public attention to the large deposits of material ready at hand on the Kuiti beach. I quite endorse your expressed opinion that large deposit* of stone available for road m?tal and building purposes extend from about one and a half miles from Gisborne to what is called the

Island, Tutoria Point. My attention was 'first called to the deposits at the time the proposed breakwater was mooted, and samples of the various deposits, including shingle gravel and stone, were forwarded to Wellington and lodged in the Public Works Office Stonemasons were employed to rough drees about 30 tons of the stone (taken promis-

cuously), a portion of which now forms the l kerb round the Government Buildings, which hus been subjected to the constant wear and K tear of foot passengers, more especially oppo- ■ site the principal entrance to the Court- ; house, and only one if one shows the effect a dent of about half an inch. No more severe test as to the resistance of pressure HF can be applied than the constant traffic of passengers confined to a particular place. B So impressed was the Borough Council with P the advisability of securing access to, and the privilege of removing and utilising the stone, that a lease in perpetuity was negotiated for by Captain Purter (the then Mayor) and finally completed, and a contract was let for the delivery of upwards of 3,000 cubic yards, at a cost of about 5s 6d per yard. Exp-ri ments were made to break the «tone to Zfc and 4 inch guage, the coat of which averaged about Is 8d per yard. Calculations were made by myself and the contractor (Mr Malcolm M'Leod) that with a stone-breaking machine and a tram laid from the beach through the flats, that, stone broken to a guage of four and two inches could be delivered on any part of the Borough at about fin 6d per cubic yard. The luge deposit at the Island seems to be an upheaval, as no traces are to be found inland. Of c -uree, it is of mixed quality, some being mu»e Lard and durable than other*; has a clear metallic ring, with a clear glossy fracture, showing a grit about the size of pin’s heads, and is laminated with quartz and felspar bands. Having close on 20 miles of streets to cover and maintain throughout the Borough, I look r upon this deposit as the most available source from which our streets are to be metalled and maintained. I was much amused at a recent meeting of the Borough Council, when the subject of a future supply of metal was being discussed, Councillor Hepburn volunteered the information that he and another expert had visited the Kaiti beach one Sunday afternoon, and in their travels did not meet with a single stone worth putting on the roads. Now whether honest Duncan was getting hungry and fired, and wished himself at the Aberdeen brickfield, or whether he was long-headed enough to see that not only was there plenty of good stone fit for road metal, but also thousands of tons fit for building purposes, and tuat the same would (in the near future) become a formidable opponent to the production and sale of •tricks, 1 do not know ; but I should advise the Council, before adopting the ipse dixit of Mr Hepburn, that they look more closely into the matter before ’finally deciding —1 am, Ac., John Drummond, > Civil Engineer.