The material used to fill the bridge approaches came from Pukewhanake. The Ministry of Works contracted J.E. Prince Ltd to supply the filling material to the bridge site. Prince had a contract with H.J. Clarke to get fill from his property. To construct the eastern approaches, 44,000 cubic yards of material was removed from Pukewhanake, and then a further 26,000 yards was purchased by the Ministry of Works for the approach from the other side of the river. The following letter from the resident engineer in Tauranga clearly explains the transactions between the Ministry of Works and Prince Ltd, and between Prince Ltd and Clarke:
1. Further to Stores Quotation No. 1 dated 20.1.65 an additional quantity of 26,000 cubic yards of non-organic filling is now required for the north approach to the new Wairoa River Bridge on S.H. 2.
2. Quotation No. 1 for 44,000 cubic yards of filling was accepted from J.E. Prince Ltd at a delivered price of 3/- per cubic yard. The material supplied was a selected pumice which required ripping before it could be loaded, was extremely satisfactory as filling and was easily compacted. Lead from the borrow pit to the fill was approximately 1.5 miles. The contractor had to pay a royalty of 6d per yard to the owner of the land on which the pit is situated and had to maintain 1.1 miles of County Road (Te Puna Station Road) over which he carted the material.
3. The 26,000 yards of filling now required is to form the north approach fill to the bridge and also to form the new intersection of Te Puna Station Road with the State Highway. This work is necessary now so that the successful bridge contractor will not be inconvenienced by traffic when constructing abutment “A” of the bridge.
4. Prince is prepared to supply the additional filling required as an extension to his original order of 44,000 yards at 3/- and it is recommended that this course be adopted for the following reasons:
(a) If fresh quotes are invited from interested contractors it is expected that the delivered price will be increased because it is known that the owner of the pit, Mr H.J. Clarke, has been trying to increase his royalty charge to 1/- per yard;
(b) Prince apparently has some agreement with Clarke whereby material delivered under the original order or extensions to it will incur a royalty payment of only 6d per yard;
(c) Prince proved a most satisfactory contractor when the original fill was delivered;
(d) He will be in a position to commence deliveries in approximately two-three weeks time;
(e) A delivered price of 3/- per yard for this selected material is considered to be a most realistic and competitive price.93
This letter also shows that Clarke was in a position to make substantial amounts of money from exploiting the resources of Pukewhanake. This is confirmed by a later letter from the District Commissioner of Works, who recommended that the order from Prince Ltd should proceed because the material from Pukewhanake was in demand:
93 Resident Engineer to District Commissioner of Works, 19 July 1965, W 72/2/3A/2 Tauranga Section, NA Records Centre, Auckland
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