THE "BITUCO" TEST.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 45, 14 July 1914, Page 4

THE "BITUCO" TEST.

Vv'ii.Vf ARE THE TERMS? Dfc-UCSSION BY THE BOROUGH COUNCIL. At ihi' meeting of the New Plymouth ume ua, occupied in a discussion as to ti'-niis of the offer made by tile Bitueo ( umpany, by which the deputyii.iivot i-.iid tiiii engineer recently visitAuck.aud to inspect the work al- '• au> dj'iiu with tiie preparation. -j. sjuj opened tlie ball by refefring to th- tM-.-ms of the company's written ol.or, wlu sh, provided that the expenses 1 n , ''*'Put.v-mayor and engineer Mould Lit; i>aid fo r the visit, and that Ule company Bhouid BU ppl y a tou #yy e iciparatioii to the Council, tlie understanding beiii.- that "if at the end oi the winter months" the Council was not satisfied vi itdi the teat, payment for the materia! slould not be. demanded. P<-»i'ted out that onlr two ironths or so now remained of the win--0 , and this was not long enough for an adequate test. Moreover, he su „. lasted tfliat the company should be asked to state definitely its instruction* 01 using the material, pointing out unit unless these instructions were followed out the Council would he ihehl lesponsible if the test were n6t regarded as satisfactory.. He moved that th« company be asked fo r such instruet.ims and also be requested to make wie test six months from tlie time of "lying dpwn, General discussion followed, in which it w mentioned that the engineer considered that lie could lay down the l.itiico preparation at a cheaper rate t-ta was being done in. Auckland—£loo per chain. Or.. Johnstone remarked that the Council was, by the fact that the ueptity-niayor and the engineer "had visited Auckland at the company's expense, morally bound, to carry out a test with the material; but if the company s instructions were not carried out the Council would have to pay whether the preparation was. a failure or not. He was sorry thai isaicjh an undignifiedbargain had been entered into, and would not be a party to any more »u<d> arrangements. In a further desultory discussion- Cr. Maunder suggested that a teat of nine months' duration he asked for. Eventually Or. Sykes' motion wascarried. THE ENGINEER'S REPORT. At the conclusion of the meeting the-deputy-mayor was asked 'by the pressmen for a copy of the engineer's report on th'e visit to Auckland, but ho refused to supply it as the town clerk was away, and as he had not seen fit to supply it to the Press with the ordinary monthly reports, he' as deputvranyor would r.ot take it on himself to supply it now. On being pressed for tin; report, he still withheld it. M eventually allowed it to be perused on the understating that no written notes were to be made from it. The effect of the report was that the engineer bad seen streets in Newmarket, which Juid been treated with Bituco, bot.li, as a coating and as a He was satisfied with the quality of the road he had inspected, but was of ophn ion that he could lay down "Bituoo" at a.; corsfc considerably lower than tfti'at paid for the work in Newmarket, namely. Os 3d per square yard. He recommended jthat tho Council obtain./a to*, : the material 1