Sessional_Paper_1902 — Page 293

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It was broken with a hammer before that ?

A-No, it was broken with the crusher, but the crusher was not set right, and therefore the stones were too large.

Q-It is a fact that that piece of road is now a good piece, and it was made with blue stone?

A-Yes.

By Colonel Brown.--Might not the failure of the blue stone near the Naval Yard have been caused through the hard stone being mixed with soft? The soft stone would wear away and leave prominences of hard stone?

A-It was all blue stone there.

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Q-But it was put on a quantity of soft stuff?

A-It was put on the old road.

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By Mr. Shewan.-You say the blue stone was too large

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A-That particular lot, I would say, was too large. Of course you can arrange the machine to make it large or small, as you want it.

Q-Mr. TooKER said in his evidence that it had all to go through a ring of a certain size. In your opinion, do you think that ring was too large ?

A-I say so, certainly, because knobs stick up. A ricksha wheel is a very narrow wheel, and cuts like a knife.

By the Chairman.—And do you think there is also a want of foundation ?

A-Part of that road is pretty good, but the trench was filled in before I came. I put a lot of rock in, and still it is going down. The trench could not have been filled in properly, in the first place.

By Mr. Shewan.-You have not seen a stone that is good for road making?

A. I have seen some granite.

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Q.-That would be better?

A. I have not had a fair test of the stone.

Q. -Do you think that the blue stone would probably be better than the stuff that is now being used?

A.

I know the stuff that is being used now is not very good.

By Mr. Master.-Would this stone, if crushed to a smaller size, be satisfactory ? A.-I could not say as to that. We used a great deal of it in Honolulu.

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Q.-Of this same nature?

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A.--Very near, but not quite. This is a little harder.

By the Chairman.-And what was the nature of the traffic there?

A. Oh, horses and carriages, carts and cars.

-It has been suggested to the Commission that the traffic here is not of a nature suitable for the blue stone.

A. I think that is right too. That has a great deal to do with it. The ricksha has a very narrow wheel, and it cuts one stone and starts the next, and the next ricksha that comes along does the same thing, and it works into a hole, and the hole keeps spreading.

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