MOUNT EGMONT METAL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 228, 1 February 1911, Page 5

MOUNT EGMONT METAL

THE DEPARTMENT'S ATTITUDE. The following letter has been received by Mr. G. V. Pearcc, M.P. for Patea, from the Minister for Public Works:— Sir,—With reference to your letter of the 25th November respecting the desire of the Patca County Council and the Ilawera Borough Council to obtain road metal from the Mount Egmont crushing works, I have the honor to inform you that I find 011 looking into tlie matter that the .Mount Egmont crusher has been closed up and the men paid off, and the engines and rolling stock employed on the line are now otherwise engaged. I understand that it would be difficult to obtain the labor required for re-opening the crusher, and that even if this were done the demand for waggons for the conveyance of ordinary merchandise and other traffic that pays the full is so keen that it would not be at the present juncture to withdraw waggons from traffic to put them into the road metal business. Until the last few weeks the Hawera County Council has been obtaining a regular, and, I am advised, large sup- * ply of metal from the quarry leased from the Railway Department at Sentry Hiil. It would appear, therefore, that when waggons are again available the Patea County Council and the Hawera Borough Council should be able to obtain their supply from the Hawera County Council. So far as the Egmont quarry is concerned, the cost of atone would be l«)s per cubic yard if the crusher were reopened—l have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, J. A. MILLAR, Minister of Railways.