PHILIPPINE ROADS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 3554, 1 August 1905, Page 4

PHILIPPINE ROADS.

ft A Million Dollars to B« Spent In tins I Improvement ol Ronds ftt and I Hear Manila. ft The Philippine coramiwion has «p- ---■ preprinted s],()oo.mi for the improveii jmenl ol the roads in the island of Lul/zon. If this sum be wisely and eco- -■ nomicaily expended in constructing tv highways connecting important towns, K so as to enable the inhabitants to have I easy communication with each other, f- even during the rainy Benson, it vyill Behave a beneficial effect upon the people I of the territory through which the | roads pass probably greater than could B- haw been secured by any other expenclf iturc. ty The Spaniards did not seem to regard C a road as necessary or even desirable I unless it would serve a military purI" pose. The railway from Manila to Dagf up;m gave them ample means of trunwI porting t roops, ammunition and store* I;, bet ween those places, and beyond Dag- |, upati they built a fine, broadvnacadamb ,lml boulevard as far asVigap. There | is a similar highway across* the island ftl near its southern extremity. Qeneralft ly speaking, however, Luzon has no ft! roads, except these two, that can be ft. traveled by a vehicle in the rainy seoar aon. andi few of them are navigable on ft. horseback. Naturally the Filipinos do ■ not stray far from their home villages, ■ .and news as well ns merchandise dbes ft not circulate freely. It is no uncomI imon thing to find a variety of dialects ■’■spoken by the natives in traversing 30 ft or 40 miles, and this diversity of lanft gungehas been perpetuated by the diffiftjculties in the way of travel. ft Alreadv a start has been made by ft the United States officers in Manila,, ft:where the streets have been greatly ft improved, and this feature, of American ftprogress has been one of >the most popftiilar of any introduced by our people, ft There seems to be n noticeable connerft:tion between the means of cOmmunift cation of a country and its progress iocivilization. Bodily motion apftjiears to stimulate-movement mentally ft and spiritually. If. therefore, th« sl,ftpoo.otiojnst appropriated for good-roadts fthi Ln/on is devoted to the making of ftpatlsfactory highways and is not partly H3l verted into the pockets of shiftless ft[or dishonest contractors who give no therefor, it is probable that, ■Whatever may be the ultimate fate of Bihe island, future generations of FiliHftlmvs will applaud the first legislative Hjict of the American commission as one Hfrt the wisest steps it could have taken. Record.

f,\, Philippine Foreet PrMtmi, ,* Upon the recommendation of the war (apartment the agricultural department is preparing an order setting llpurt as forest reserves the island of Jpiublon, which Is north of the islaml if Panay; also the island l of Pauitani, yhich is one of the extreme group ol! he «Jolo islands of the Philippine •jroup. Officers of the army who bare ij?en investigating the islands have bund that these are the richest lands i the world for rubber trees, and it Is he intention of the Washington aukgr ties to have the trees preserved M e»r«d * or.