THE DUST PROBLEM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 106, 25 October 1911, Page 4

THE DUST PROBLEM.

A committee of the Borough Council is at present, or is supposed to be, inquiring about the acquisition of another water-cart to more effectively cope with the dust nuisance. The dust storms which year after year have proved the inefficiency of our streets watering system have cost business men hundreds of pounds' by the damage caused to goods exposed for sale, and have been most inconvenient and annoying. The Council must take steps to face the problem, but is the purchase of another water-cart going to solve the difficulty? Is it intended that the watering process Shall be, as in the past, confined to the business portion of the town? Of course it will be. because of the cost of extending the area ■ of sprinkled streets. Can nothing lie done for the residents ill the side-streets? They, too, are incommoded by the dust nuisance and they are entitled to the fullest consideration in the matter from their representatives delegated to manage the municipal affairs.- An article in a contemporary suggests that the time has arrived for commencing a system of tarspraying on streets. Tar applied to ordinary macadamised road has proved to be successful here, but unfortunately the length tested in Brougham street has not been re-tarred, and so tar and labor have been wasted. Other towns, however, are moving in the matter of having the tar applied by a more rapid and economical method. Palmertson North has decided to dress all its macadamised roads with tar. and has ordered an up-to-date machine for applying (he liquid, and as the machine does in hours what now takes days to do the town will have more asphalt footpaths. But perhaps the most interest will attach to the experiment of using tar instead of water as a cure for the dust nui»nnee on ordinary road-. Dust is costly. Our road metal is not of the best. It crumbles away very rapidly, and as New Plymouth is fortunately blest with healthy breezes in summer, our roadway is ever being blown away. Any method of treating roads that will prevent this destructive waste is worth the consideration of the borough councillors, and enquiry might be made from (lie Piilmerston people regarding this tar-spraying. Auckland has been contemplating the same move as Palmerston, and its Mayor (Mr. C. J. Parr) has been giving his experience of the result of the use of tar in England. He has been strongly impressed with its value and ellieieney. The virtual disappearance of the road dust nuisance in the dryest summer Great Britain has experienced since motor-cars first ran upon the roads is a matter of general comment, and it is all the more remarkable when it is remembered that last, year 37,000 motor vehicles were added to the road

tradii', anil (hat enough petrol was consumed to represent journeys amonniing to (i00.00f1.000 miles. ' This year the mile's covered bv motor vehicles of all kinds probably 'exceed 7110.0110.000. and yet there is no outcry about the dust on the roads. The removal of this evil is due to the fact that road engineers have known how to use tar. "Mr. 'Parr has also mentioned the adoption at Handsworth, Birmingham, of a compound of tar and shredded leather waste. After nearly a year's use the road so made showed practically no signs of wear. Heavy wheels made no impression on it, and it was a comfortable material for horses to tread on. The leather was shredded to a pulp, and treated with bitumen and tar, and in this application what was hitherto a useless material found a value.