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142
Mr. President and Members of the Association of
Municipal Engineers and Surveyors,
The expenditure on the paving of streets is so considerable, that
any information which can be laid before this Association in reference
to materials that can be economically used for such work, will
no doubt be welcomed.
The Vestry of this parish has alone spent £36,542 2s. 6d. on 74,370
square yards of wood paving during the last seven years, and further
large sums will have to be spent shortly for new works and repaving.
The present practice is to use creosoted deal blocks, costing
about 12s. a yard, including 6" of Portland cement concrete underneath,
these blocks being on account of their greater durability,
cheaper and more sanitary than plain deal blocks.
In June, 1889, a trial strip of Jarrah was laid in Lillie Road,
6' 6" wide. This strip is now after 3½ years' wear,½' ¾" and 1"
above the plain deal blocks adjoining, although four of the Jarrah
blocks show signs of wear or decay to the extent of 3/8", ¾" and 7/8";
also in February, 1892, about 542 square yards of Jarrah wood were
laid in Jerdan Place, at the cost of 19s. per square yard.
Karri wood (Eucalyptus diversicolor) is abundant in Western
Australia, growing in forests intermixed with Jarrah and Red Gum,
and can be delivered at our wharf, close to Putney Bridge, in blocks
9" by 3" by 4" deep, at a cost of 185s. per 1,000. This wood does
not appear to have been known in this country except to a very few
persons until the end of 1892, and it is possible that some of it has
already been laid under the name of Jarrah.
Jarrah wood (Eucalyptus marginata) also growing as above, can
be delivered at our wharf, in blocks 9" by 3" by 4" deep, at a cost of
207s. 6d. per 1,000.
This wood has already been considerably used for wood paving
for some years in London.
The blocks of both these woods at the prices quoted are
guaranteed 4" deep, but not precisely 9" long or 3" wide although
1,000 of them would cover a larger area than a 1,000 exactly the size
specified. The slight variation is due to imperfect sawing arrangements
in Australia.
At higher prices they can both be delivered the precise size
required.
The woods belong to the same class of tree, and appear from
the plan of the forests which have been shown to me to grow side by
side. Their appearance is very similar, and their similarity would
also probably extend to their durability, and to the special immunity
from decay which has been claimed on their behalf. As far as the
experiments hereafter referred to have extended, one great difference
appears to be that Karri sinks in water and Jarrah floats, showing
Karri to be denser.
Great virtue is claimed for Eucalyptus oil,—prepared from a
tree of the same class (Eucalyptus Globulus)—as an antiseptic, and
it has occurred to me that perhaps the lasting properties of these
woods may be to some extent due to the presence of this oil.