Stratford News.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 187, 6 February 1912, Page 3

Stratford News.

THE MT. EGMONT LINE. SOLVING THE METAL PROBLEM. A HEAVY UNDERTAKING.' The roading problem of Taranaki will never be settled, until there has been made available at a reasonable cost an abundant supply of good stone for roading purposes. The members of local authorities in districts blessed with gravel pits and plenty of stone would be staggered by the quotation, of a few instances of the cost of metalling roads in Taranaki. Some of them would- be 1 ' startled, too, by the tremendous volume of wheel traffic on even the side roads in this province, this traffic being quite inseparable from the staple industry of dairying, for the milk must be carted, from the farm to the creamery, the cream thence to the factory, and the manufactured article to the nearest railway station; whilst there is always the return load of skim milk, etc. Slow draught horses in drays would not suffice. The milk-carts are 'narrow-tyred, fast running, and usually fairly heavily laden. To keep roads in good order under this heavy and fast vehicular traffic the settlers are called upon to rate their lands heavily, and the unfortunate part of it all is that even when the land has been mortgaged to the State lending department in order to raise the necessary money, and when the road has been newly metalled, the stone used is not calculated to last a great many years., In most parts of Taranaki it is of indiffer-, ent. quality. There is nothing new about this. It is a problem that has pressed itself hard upon the notice of the local bodies for many years past. The Pa tea County Council conceived the idea of a railway line to the stone jdeposits on Mount Egmont. Circulars were issued to other local authorities in Taranaki. Conferences were held and the assistance of 'members of Parliament was invoked. Much worrying of Cabinet Ministers, and then came word that a grant had been) made for the purpose of laying a railway from Waipuku to Mount Egmont for the purpose of obtaining stone for ballasting the railway line and for supplying to local authorities. There was no great haste, and it was not long before the local bodies began to wonder when the promised cheap metal would be forthcoming, and the departmental heads were .worried again. Then work was commenced on the construction of the line. But, instead of going right on to the great cliffs of hard rock high up on the! mountain side, the line was presently! diverted into the Manganui river. Stone was plentiful there, but it was expensive to procure. Different branches of the line, were put into the river at, different points, but the river deposits were too costly to work. Then a quarry was opened along the bank of the river about a mile past the site of the stone-crushing plant, which in turn was erected about five miles from Waipuku, the point' of junction > with the main railway line. Here some excellent stone was found, and some that was'poor. Unfortunately, some of the latter must have found its | way to the crushers, and afterwards | have been delivered to the local bodies.' A general condemnation of the stone followed. The Mount Egmont railway and the whole business got into bad odor. The price chargfed for the stone was thought to be too high, arid the quality hardly good enough for the price. Presently the works were closed down, and the Minister of Public Works came to i the conclusion that it were better so. j But some thousands of pounds 4ad been spent, and the original object of the line had not been attained—the deposits of good stone on Mount Egmont had not been tapped. A few weeks ago there was renewed activity in this region. The Public Works Department, whose representative here is Mr. C. J. McKenzie, resident engineer, resumed the work of extending the line to its intended destination. The Railway Department, too, sent up men to get out of the quarry more boulders for the crusher. The whistle of the locomotive once more awakened the echoes of the Mount Egmont soli- | tudes. Work had re-commenced.

"Do you see that straight cut in the bush on the mountain?" asked someone in the train the other day. ,We all looked. We were just pulling out of Midhirst; Following the direction of liis pointing finger, we escried the straightcut mentioned. "That," said our companion, "is the Waipuku railway." That straight cut, looking like a big fallen tree, represents nearly two miles of felled bush, the strip being half a chain wide. And it is as straight as it looks, but not as steep as it looks. A Daily News reporter was up there the other day. He accompanied Mr. McKenzie on one of his visits of inspection, and gathered an idea of the works in progress. The journey was made per gig, up the York road. The Yord road isn't Devon street, and. it isn't Broadway. It's atrocious. The stone on the road, or on the greatest part of it, was evidently taken direct from the bed of a river. And driving along it savored therefore of driving along a river-bed. Presently, after some miles of jolting and jarring, a gate across the road was reached, and beyond it was a good metalled road. This, it was learned, was laid down by the Public Works Department from the end of the formed road to the site of the men's quarters and the crusher site. The houses soon came into view. They are situated about 1800 feet above sea level, and just within the boundary of the Egmont National Park. Disembarking, Mr. McKenzie transacts some business with Mr. Albertson, cadet in charge, and then "Tom" announces that the kettle boils. The drive through the keen morning air lias encouraged a tremendous appetite, but there's an end to all things, even to an appetite, and to lunch. Soon we are tramping. We curiously examine the .stone-crushing plant, built, one would think, to crush the biggest and hardest metal on earth. Everything about the place is oppressively solid-looking. There are two railway yards at the crusher station. One receives the trucks of boulders from the quarry up above. These boulders are fed into the crushers and the crushed metal ejected by means of huge chutes into hopper waggons waiting in the lower yard. But th« crushers are not working to-day. Up up, up. We are walking up a grade of one in 22, not bad for walking, but rather stiff for engine traffic. The line has been cut through the thick forest which towers luxuriously on either side fringed by a thick growth of konini, or native fuschia. and bright with myriads of dandelion flowers. Here and there are lines running off to the left. Thcv are the lines leading to the river, now unused. Just over five and three-quarter | miles from Waipuku we leave the railway line. It branches away to the left. We go on. We are now' on the new formation, on the route of the new line which is to be made to tap stone in quarries to be opened up higher on the I mountain side. The ground ig for the

* * * * * from Our Resident Reporter. f * Office: No. 3, York Chambers, Stratford. * *

most part good, but there are some bad swampy places, and in : others the stone and conglomerate has to be blasted. Only a few gangs pf men are at work, but the department will take all that care to apply. Cutting for a railway line up here one has the' same trouble as , the man who is going in the' opposite direction for Oil., It's a problem to deal with the Wateir. Box culverts, creek-di-version, and all manner of tricks known only .to engineers are resorted to. . At the 2178 ft level, or six and a quarter miles from Waipuku, is the foot station,: where there will- be a yard to receive stone sent down from the quarries. This' is the end of the locomotive's journey. Above, this point; there is to be a rope incline, or a tramway, up which the empty waggons are drawn by the' full ■ ones coming down, or, rather partly drawn by them. The yard at the .foot of the incline has rails on various levels, and,a system of grades which enable the' triicks to be sent along without: difficulty to thg end of the incline; Here it is,j)QS-; sible to get a good, idea of what a one-in-22 grade is. At the upper end of the yard a creek has to be diverted in order : to save expensive bridging. Right up to j this poinf the earthwork is fairly well J advanced, but rapid progress is impos- ] sible owing to scarcity of men. I From this point onwards the grade rises one foot,in every nine. As previously staged, the bush has been felled along a narrow strip, half a chain wide, for about two miles in a direct line. The formation of this section will be fairly easy, and light. There will be no big cultings. On we go. The forest is becoming stunted. Farther on, the trees are gnarled and moss-covered. It is the "goblin" bush, and reminds one of Longfellow's introduction to "Evangeline," where he' speaks of the

"Murmuring pines and the hemlocks. I "Bearded with moss and in garments I green, indistinct in the twilight, } "Stand like Druids of old, with beards: that rest on their bosoms." I But the practical engineer of to-day has no time for poetry. As we go on he points to the dwarfed totara and rimu, which are to be pit-sawn into timber for bridges and culverts along the iline; to the kawhaka, or New Zealand cedar; and other well-known forest trees. And here is a later arrival, a ragwort plant in full bloofti, side, by side with luxuriant Scotch thistle. About a mile and three-quarters of this felled strip are traversed, the party having recently been augmented' by the arrival of Mr. ' Wolfe, the overseer. Now and again we 1 halt. No one admits that the climb is tiring. No one denies, though, that it is hot work. All are agreed that the view of the country now spread in panoramic beauty below us is fine. Unfortunately old Egmont continues to hide his head in the mist. On a, clear day, with Mt. Egmont in the background, Ngaruhoe and Ruapehu away out in the middle of ! the island, the towns and villages in the Taranaki plain in the middle distance, 1 the steam from the locomotive ascending like a white plume from amidst the glorious native bush just below, and with trees pressing in on either side of the long forest lane, the view must be one of the finest in the Dominion. Having reached the top of the clearing, we dive into the heart of the bush, and travel by way of a narrow .bush track—part of it is the old and now disused Surrey road track up the mountain—until presently, we reach a rocky creek bed below aV i frowning precipice. This is the spur of ; Which Mr. McKenzie has told us on the way up. It is almost solid rock, probably six chains through it from fape to face, twenty chains long, and from sixty to eighty feet high. Some one with more leisure than the writer can figure out how many cubic yards of stone there I >re in the lot. We are now 8 miles 47 chains from Midhirst, over 3000 feet aboye sea level. The sun is piercingly hot, yet Egmont is hidden in the mist. The stone at this point is only of fair quality, as test drives, or tunnels, have shown. The Public Works Department has had several of these drives put in, right under the mass of hard rock, and has thus been able to trace the trend of the strata, and so on. At the top drive the stone secured is very hard, the sort of stuff that is wanted. This is 3500 feet up, and the bluff, or' spur, is almost in a. direct line between "Warwick Castle" and the crusher station. Considerable excavation will be necessary ' here in order to lay the rails and make a site for the engine to drive the plant. Of course, it may be found advisable to I generate electricity lower down and work the hauling plant at the top by means of that power. This is a matter which has yet to be fully enquired into and decided'.' There is a splendid flow of water in the Manganui river, which makes its exit from the gorge on our right as we look homewards, and a twenty-two inch main has been, laid to supply water-power for the crusher. Perhaps additional power can be secured for the purpose just mentioned. Now for the rope incline. It is explained that there will be onlv three rails laid. There will download of loaded trucks, and an up load of empties. Matters will be so arranged that the two trains or rakes of truck's will pass always in the same place, and here the line will be widened and four rails provided to permit of their passing. By this means a great saving will be effe«ted in primary cost. The formation need not be as wide as for a double line, single sleepers will do instead of sleepers for eaoh of two lines, and there will be one length of rails saved. The rope will be a wire hawser, about an inch in diameter. The upper end of the incline is 3 1 /, miles above the crusher site. Returning, we descend by a surveyor's track along an old trial survey. Logs creeks, and fallen trees are safelv negotiated, and eventually we emerge M above the quarry in which the Railway Department has a number -°I ?, e " work now - 14 is °n the bank of the Manganui stream, about a mile above the crusher plant. There seems to be any amount of good stone, and tuere is a tremendous quantity of cood clean gravel that should do excellently for ballasting purposes. The rails are now run right in to the quarry, and presently we see the locomotive arrive and take off a rake of trucks to the depot. There she leaves them for the nonce, & ther f \r> ke leave of the "PPer 1 °L makin ? our wav once more to the quarters, where the chef has ready a fine "spread," to which we are enabled by our mountain climb to do the very fullest justice. We have walked, jumped, climbed, and clambered over seven miles, and have spent a most enjoyable and useful day, the cicerone (Mr. McKenzie) explaining everything fully and lucidly. . York road on the home journey is no better than in the morning. and progress is slow until the lower stretch is reached. We cross the Waipuku railway, line which runs practically its whole length along one spur, and has no bridge or culvert for four or five miles. It is on the dividing, ridge between the Manganui and tto Mangamawhete streams,

about the highest watershed in the vicinity. I When this line is completed there should be no shortage of road metal, provided it can be delivered at a price acceptable to the local bodies. BOROUGH COUNCIL MEETING. f A special meeting of the Stratford Borough Council to consider the purchase of a steam road roller was held last night. It was decided to refer the matter back to the Works Committee for fuller details of cost of convertible steam roller traction engines. \ The Town Hall Committee was asked to furnish a report as to the reason why the big theatrical companies were cutting Stratford out of their itineraries. One member of the Council said he believed it was because of the pin-pricking policy of a former council who interfered with the management of the companies' business in fixing tariffs. Mention was also made that the stage accommodation was too small.

| THE MOUNTAIN HOUSE It's "mountain" weather. To-day is hot and sunny, just as the past week or two have been. It's r the time and the weather for a week-end on Mount Egmont. Our 'mountain house is now more comfortable than ever, and more get-at-able. Gigs and other horse-drawn vehicles travel by a good road.right to the house, and the, journey takes only a little over an hour. Improvements have been made to the track, and when the surface has solidified a bit it will be possible to motor right to the house. Mr. and Mrs. Christe,nsen have everything in order, and' Stratford folks should patronise them and show their appreciation not only of the scenery but of the efforts put forth by the caterer for their comfort and well-being. At present, the committee has in hand the matter of erecting a new dining-room and . three bedrooms as additions to. the cottage. These should be a means of further popularising this delightful holiday resort.

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL. Glorious weather prevailed on Saturday afternoon, and there was a splendid gathering of members, at 'the Stratford Lawn Tennis Club's courts. Mrs. T. C. Pookes was the hostess for the afternoon. Amongst those present were: Mesdames Young, Chinchen, Rennell, the Misses O'Brien, Black, James, Mackay, D. Bayly, Mackay (3), Dr. Paget, Messrs. Young, Vaughan, Crawshaw, Fussell, Wilkie, Curtis and James (2). The ladies who played in the Eltham match are most grateful to Mr. J. H. Thompson, who took them to Eltham and back in his car.

Miss Hogg and Miss Butler, of the District High School staff, returned to Stratford on Saturday evening. Mr. A. Spence returned to Stratford on Friday evening from a short holiday.

Mrs. Lawrence, of Beaconsfield road, left on Saturday morning on a trip along the Main Trunk line, accompanied by Mrs. Terry, who was her.guest for some weeks, and was visiting Mrs. E. L. Barton at Hawera just before.^ Mrs. Joseph Mackay, who has been here for a short visit, left again for New Plymouth this morning. The Rev. B. Hutson, formerly in charge of the Presbyterian Church in Stratford, is here for a short rest,, and is staying witji Mr.. J. W. Brayshaw, on the Warwick road.

Mr. J. Douglas Perrett, artist, is in Stratford, and is holding an exhibition and sale of his paintings next Saturday. The outing planned for the Holy Trinity Church Choir and church workers, which w;i to have taken place on the 15th ins 1 ., has been postponed. The Sunday School picnic will now be held on that date.

GENERAL NEWS, The Mayor, Councillors. Geo. Sangster. and R. McK, Morison, and the borough overseer, Mr. T. Sullivan, motored to Eltham and Manaia to-day to inspect road rollers and scarifiers at work there, with a view of making a recommendation on the matter to the Borough Council, which is about to purchase, a roller for use, in'the streets. The unusual sound of a locomotive whistle was heard in Strarfcford on Sunday. Travellers by the Mountain road north of Stratford noted an unwonted bustle at the Kahouri railway bridge, near the abattoirs, late Saturday night, and on Sunday. On Monday morning the trains crossed a. new steel girder bridge on concrete piers at that point, the old wooden pier bridge 'having been replaced. The ■ concrete pier was built up around some of the old timbering, so that the bridge could be completed without dislocating, traffic. School resumed this morning. There was a splendid muster of happy and healthy and clean and well-dressed children when school time came, a credit to, the district and to the people.. The Salvation Army Hall is again being used, pending the completion of the new school building, and squads of were to be seen conveying; the forms thereto ; this morning. "A new form of form drill," a former scholar informed a number of friends who watched the performance.

Mr. J. Heslop has completed the valuation of the borough. This time no one will be able to say that the valuer did his work in the office, with pipe, tumbler and decanter handy. This is a frequent allegation, but it has no point in this, case. Despite his advancing years, Mr. Heslop did the whole of his inspection on foot, and informed me that he has visited every section in the borough and personally inspected it. We had only 2.27 inches of rain during January. Quite a drought! Saturday was, I am told by several, a line business day in Stratford. Mr. A. D. Blick, architect, has a professional notice in this issue. Mr. Blick is well established here now, and his work is his best recommendation. At present he has in progress, among other works, Mr. Chinchen's fine new residence in Hamlet street.

The annual meeting of the Domain Board is to be held on Friday.

There's fun promised for the. Mayor's meeting re the electric light loan. One or two ratepayers who are strongly opposed to the scheme are promising the. loan advocates a hot time. A big meeting may be expected in this case, but as a general rule not a great many ratepayers seem to attend meetings of this kind.

Writes an indignant ratepayer to a iocal'body in this district: "I do not see what right, moral or legal, your Board has to collect rates to thai extent in respect of a section with no formed road frontage. . . . The roads are

public, and it is the local body's place to form them, or at least to refrain from collecting rates on property facing them."