METAL SUPPLY.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 January 1921, Page 5

METAL SUPPLY.

MOUNT EGMONT QUARRIES. URGENT NEED FOR OPENING DEPUTATION TO THE MINISTER. (By Wire—Special Reporter.) Stratford, Last Night. The urgent need for opening up the Mount Egmont quarries in order to supply local bodies of Taranaki with their requirements of metal at a reasonable price, was one of the matters which was brought before the Hon. J. G. Coates at Stratford to-night. Mr. J. W. McMillan said that practically all the local bodies in Taranaki were up against the shortage of metal, and' he understood the reason why the Government was not opening the Mount Egmont quarries was because the local bodies had not been able to quarantee to take a sufficiently large quahtity. Already about £70,000 had been spent on the line, and the whole of this money would be wasted if the quarries were not opened up. Mr. Coates: All I want is a guarantee that, the local- bodies will take the metal in order to save my face, and I don’t want to spend another £70,000 on the line unless there is a demand for the metal at 8s a cubic yard. The metal is surely cheap enough, and all I want to know is whether local bodies will guarantee to take the metal. All the orders I’ve got already only amount to 19,000 yards per annum, which you can see isn’t much. I can order the machinery immediately if I see there is a demand for the metal.” Mr. McMillan asked if the Minister could reduce the quantity required to be guaranteed. He understood the Min-, ister wanted a guarantee for 60,000 yards the first year. 1 BIGGER SALE GUARANTEE. Mr. Coates said the qarry was not like other quarries, inasmuch as it was half way up the mountain, and 200 inches of rain fell there a year. That meant that he would have to pay more than the maximum wages to keep the men there even for only six months of the year, but that was not wha t was stopping him. All the orders up to June 10, 1920, only amounted to 15,000 yards, and as, it would cost up to £lB,OOO to complete the railway line, and the quarry machinery would cost £40,600, he required a bigger guarantee before he could do anything. The Minister then went through a list of the various local bodies in Taranaki, and pointed out that many of them had not replied to the letter asking what quantity they would, take, while others had stated they did not want any.. He was placed in an awkward position. He wanted the deputation to help him, because he desired to complete the line. If there was a demand for over 30,000 yards he could do something, but he wanted to see a bigger demand than 15,000 yards before he made a start., , Mr. McMillan said the matter had been taken up by the Progress League, but the League had not yet been able to ascertain the full requirements of the local bodies. Mr. R. H. Cameron, a member of the StratforJ County Council, said that as the Government claimed to be the friend of the farmers there was no better way in which they could help the farmers than by supplying them with cheap metal. Taranaki was a closely settled district, and good roads wfere needed in order to enable the farmers to get their milk to the factories, and he asked the Minister to do his best to open the quarry without delay, owing to metal from Wellington now costing as much as £1 per cubic yard. Mr. Coates: What would you do if you were in my position? I want to know, so as to get 'the matter settled. Could you tell me how much metal Taranaki requires? DEFINITE AMOUNT WANTED. Mr. Cameron: It’s very difficult to say, but I should think the local bodies :in Taranaki would require between thirty and forty thousand yards. Some of the local bodies who have not replied will probably take more. As the Government has already spent £70,000 on the line I think the work should not be stopped. Mr. Coates: I don’t wish to contradict you, but I understand that the only amount spent was £23,000, and not £70,000. Mr. Richards asked if the Minister would go on with the work if he got a guarantee of 30,000 cubic yards, because Already there appeared to be a demand for 33,000. Mr. Coates: What I want is something definite. Mr. Masters' pointed out that a new phase of the subject had been opened up by the action of the New Plymouth and Wanganui Harbor Boards in deciding to get metal from the quarries when they were opened up. He did not think there was any doubt about there being a demand for the metal. Mr. Coates said that he had to have a business proposition before him before he could do anything, and if the local bodies would guarantee to take sufficient metal he would be pleased to go right on with the work. Mr. Cale, of the Department, was at present in England looking for machinery, and a cable to him would procure the best machinery for the quarry without delay.