PROGRESS AT THE PORT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 21 September 1907, Page 5

PROGRESS AT THE PORT.

IliE STOXE SUPPLY DIiTICULTY. At the Ilaibor Board meeting yesterday * letter jjaa received <soin llr K \\. Marchaur, consulting reporting that he had visited New Plymouth on August 22nd to look furtuci into the question of obtaining a supply of stone for breakwater purposes. in addition to the places where he had fot*uerly suggested test blasts should be made, the hump on tie southern lace of Paritutu promised to yield good stone, and this could also be tested. The position <j! this um blast bad been fixed in the solid stone ju=t above the old test drive. Attached to his letter was ail outline pljji. showing the means and line that must be adopted to deliver slone on to the exutng quarry railway by the old iron gantry. .First of all he took rough levels and'laid out the approximate position of a line of railway .rum the top oi the existing quarry line up to the old drive at Paritutu. He found that any such ordinary railway on a workable locomotive gradient would r.quire to be about one mile long, and it would have to traverse and countour round the saa Hulls. The cost ot maint-nance 0l such a lmc agam,t sand-drill would be prohibitive. He thereiore abandoned all idea of reaching Paritutu quarry by such means, and no w proposed to' csti!.li,h a wire rope incline worked by a winding engine erected on a staging whjeu would bridge across the railway a3 *hown on tne plm. He saw no other practicablu method of getting this won. down to the works. -At lir,t sk-nt " he wrote, -you might think such 'a -J stem a great hindrance to workina entaU.ng much expense'' "l! herelore quoted the case of a sea wad ton under his direction a good Znl ear, ago. The wall contained *JL Hung like 150,000 cubic yards of ZL measured in the embankment. stone into waggon in a grnly We. lb loade(1 we - m "I up a stoep Il|dme m We top ol the incline. From this f«nt they were hauled away to the work a distance of over three miles bv «wu* of a locomotive. The contract" or found everything, made and laid the S'7 wa p n *. and all other plant. ih e contract was 4s 5d ucr j ? the equivalent to about 3s Cd a ton weight • inl«<Ung m the price a, before" sta d low rate. Probably the co f Imi* incline suggested up to the u u quarry, together with connecting „e" f So °- aile inclusion was thus arrived at that stone could be 2 teined from thi, part of Paritutu withrl T. f rt,CUlar dimcu "y or 'rent cost, but he thought the qLtioif n • -so, railways to this or other nnmls - Iw d r."\ '* feWod Until th <* t«t t QUARRYING OPERATIOXS ' •ill- foreman, Mr. I'. Henderson. i„ l, is - .".'S' on "'" Progress of the s harbour works stated that quarrving J " !, '\ he " n '•"""""need at the Fishing Rockem! good hard stone was being obtained a considerable number of the blocks being of fro,,, five to eight tons in weight. Good progress was being made with the .invrs. Twenty feet had been driv- '•'■ at (he Fishing Ji,,,*, ~„,, th( , pross . poets were very good, the slnne slinwin" ■n improvement as the drive extended* At larnu,,, fifteen ~,-t 1., d been drive,,, ■"id although the stone ]„nked promisin? on .h, oul-ide. the quality deteriorated with .-very foot driven, and nf fifteen feet in the face was quite mll ,. loeky. However, the drive mHit lie following a faulty seam, and" after another fifteen feet or so hail boon driven, a cross-drive might lead to bettor stone.