BOROUGH WORKS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 35, 1 July 1914, Page 4

BOROUGH WORKS.

CONOR ETE-CHANNELM \'G COMPAPJSONS.

INTERVIEW WITH THE BOROUGH ENGINEER.

Consumable interest has been evinced w : S If w ex^ n3ive street works which the New Plymouth borough engineer (Mr. C. Skitrop) has in hand preparatory to the installation of the electric tramway system. The principal work so far has been in narrowing the footpaths in the main street and forming them in .this and other streets with concrete kerbiijg and channelling. A feature of this work is the use of a concrete-mixer which the Council recently purchased. This machine has been the subject of considerable ♦comment, favorable and otherwise, ever since its advent, and there have not been wanting "street corner engineers" ivho assert that it is a mere luxury, and costs more than the old method of con-crete-mixing.

A Daily News representative last week approached Mr. Skitrop as to the comparative cost of concrete work with the mixer and .by hand. "The mixer," said Mr. Skitrop at the outset, "is one of the best investments in the way of machinery which the Council ever made." He then proceeded to make the following comparison. "The cost per. chain of kerbing and channelling laid down by the concrete-mixer is as follows: Material, 2 cubic yards of single, l'2s; % cubic yard of sand, 3s; six bags of cement, £1- 10s (including cartage); labor, mixing, wheeling and tamping, 13s; timbering, including average earthwork, 8s; plastering, 8s; benzine and oil for the machine, Is; total, £3 l'Ss. So that a cubic yard of concrete Tcerb and channel turned out by the mixer costs £3 15s. THE OLD WAY.

"The lowest cost at which concrete kerbing and channelling has beeil laid by the Council since I have been in charge of the . borough works waß £3 18s 6d per chain. This did not include earthwork, which in that particular case (Gilbert Street East) cost 2s per chain, making a total of £4 Og 6d. When tenders were called for this work the lowest tender was £5 per chian. The cost of labor at that time was 10, per cent, lower than it is now. The St. Aubyn Town Board lei their kerbing and channelling work by contract, and the lowest tender was £4 9s. THE DIFFERENCE.

. "Taking this cost," concluded Mr. Skitrop, "which is -practically the same as that paid by the Borough Council, and adding ten per cent, to the cost of labor, the machine-mixed concrete kerbing and channelling is 14s per chain cheaper than hand-mixed. This in an average day's work of five chains is a saving of £3 10s. The same number of men as work the mixer would do by hand only about half as much work in a day. The mixer cost .£2BB, and by saving £3 10a per day has already almost paid for itself." In further discussing the kerbing and channelling work, .Mr. Skitrop remarked that the people who complained that the work was done in a patchy way, and that work was continually loft in an unfinished sate, klid not consider the fact that it was impossible to channel until the kerb was properly set. Consequently he kerbed in one street and then started another, waiting until the first kerbing was ready before he put in the channel.