HARBOR WORKS.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 February 1921, Page 4

HARBOR WORKS.

SUPPLY OF STONE. PARITUTU THE CHEAPEST SOURCE. ENGINEER’S CONCLUSIONS. Further information regarding the question of the supply of stone for the harbor works at New Plymouth was presented to yesterday’s meeting of the Harbor Board in a report from the dent engineer (Mr, G. W. Baxter Lowson). The report was aS follows: I respectfully £ e g to remind the board that they at present apparently wish to prosecute certain works not in the order of procedure laid down in the harbor development scheme adopted by them some time ago. Thus we find the Moturoa-breakwater wall considered in the original scheme as the first ne- J cessary work* of importance, set aside for the meantime in the endeavor to provide immediate relief to the which is being at times taxed to its utmost. The board are to be complimented on their realisation of the port’s handicaps, and on their desire to meet the emergencies of the case in the quickest possible manner, but it appears somewhat illogical to face the altered engineering conditions thus brought about with the idea that they can be efficiently dealt with on the lines laid down for the original scheme. Moreover, alteration to, or omission of any one of the main factors in an engineering project generally calls for a generr.l adjustment of minor but not unimportant details. The board should, therefore, bear in mind that during the delay in the construction of the Moturoa wall the Moturoa quarry may not prove the most economical source of our stone supply, nor may the contemplated* emergency works when completed be in themselves sufficient to provide the expected and much to be desired relief. xlf the board still consider using Mt. Egmont stone —and I trust that in the interests of economy and efficiency they do not —then the matter will have to be taken up with the) Railway Department and the Public Works, and an endeavor made to come to some satisfactory agreement with them re the delivery and the cost. It is obviously impossible for me torgive even an approximate estimate of this stone in the meantime, but it is Well to remember that any price agreed upon between the board and the Government departments is the cost of the stone delivered at Moturoa on the railway waggons, and not its cost tipped into position on the breakwater wall from our own trucks. With regard to the question of stone from Moturoa Island quarry, it may be remembered that in my report of last month I mentioned that the value of this quarry was not to be under-estimated, although the methods of disposing of the output did not appear practicable at the present time. After further consideration, 1 believe that by the use of two aerial ropeways we might be able to handle a satisfactory amount of stone, but pending detailed information from the manufacturers it is well not to estimate the cost of the two ropeways erected complete, with the deviation of our haulage tracks to Mikotahi. the openitig of the Moturoa quarry, and all other attendant works at less than £50,000. Once t*he plant was running efficiently maximum cart of stone from this quarry should be 4s 8d per ton. The Paritutu quarry would be the cheapest source of supply, the cost of the stone probably being riot greater than 4s 6Ad per ton. I have run a preliminary line of levels approximately over the proposed tramway site, and estimate that the total cofit of the cableway, including all the necessary plant to operate it, together with the trackwork to the quarry face, should be about £2090. There seems little reason to believe that the size and quality of the stone from Paritutu quarry will prove to be unsuitable for the board’s works, and as thus quarry is the most economical of the .three sources of stone supply, my recommendation of last month’s report to open it up to supply our needs in this line seems fully borne out. As four members' of the board w?re absent consideration of the report was left to a fuller meeting. With regard to the proposed development of the Egmont quarry, a letter was received from the Taranaki Progress League asking the board to submit an estimate of its probable requirements of stone. The chairman said the amount required was very problematical, and .it was purely a question of cost. Up to the present tjie price quoted by the Government was quite out of reach. It was decided to inform the Progress League that the board could utilise 50,000 yards of etone in blocks from 5 to I's tons, provided the price was satisfactory. In reply to the chairman, the engineer said that' the amount of stone now used annually was 35,000 yards. They could, use much more if it were available.