ROAD MAKING.

Otaki Mail, 22 August 1923, Page 4

ROAD MAKING.

— • MODERN METHODS. MOTOR TRANSPORT PROBLEM. The following article l'rom tlio Roadmaker, (England) will well repay perusal, especially at the present juncture, when the question of guod iouUs iGOins large in the Dominion: — Road finance is a burning question at the present moment, it conies up again, and again at county council meetings all over the country. Tim rate - tor road maintenance bulks too largely in the. country rate tor rural ratepayers to be. indifferent to it. A lew weeks ago Lieutenant-Colonel Hilder, the Coii.servutiv.rji member lor South-East Essex, carried by a big majority (with the Government whips “oil”; a motion calling lor a wmer allocation ol 1 the proceeds Rom ihe taxation 01 motor vehicles. The tinancial question is not one Unit can he settled easily or dogmatically. Roads arc necessity. There is no quest ion oi that. Look at a map 01 England and compare the close network ol roads with the widely sofiarated Jiiios of railways. Tii •. railways are the gieat arteries, tne roads are the smaller arteries, and capillaries which carry the life blood tn and out to every part 01 the body ■of the land, Farm, and factory alike depend on the road to. gut their mutenuis in and their produce out, it is admitted by the highest exp etui that, the road is the only means by j which economical distribution can ’ be accomplished in this country, Tile j quality oi the roads is therefore a n«- ‘ ionai interest and a local interest. Bad roads or poor roads afa cosily for mil road transport and especially lor motor transport, which is now from 70 to 75 per cent, ol the try Hie ol wind one may call thy, capillary roads on winch tann and lactory dii- j pend. ” i Farmers and rural ratepayers naturally resent paying the heavy cost of maintaining some roads winch atv largely used iur through traffic which does not directly serve their interests. It is impossible .to assert that they ale wrong in this, tor the ques- ■ lion of load imaiiee is a wry rumplicatcd economic problem. But; some observe! lulls may be made, not j dogmatically, but by way oi suggest-j mg counicr-considera!ioiis. In strict 1 ■crjtiumic.s, no doubt, the com ol road ) auiiuloiiaiiee should lie borne proportionately by the traffic that Uses the ■ roads. Bui we cannot return to the turnpike in these hurried days, am, a rougher and easier method must be used. - The county rate is heavy, Inn, ■omiiy lares generally are light compared with town rates. The goon road to which lie has to contribute so much provides the rural ratepayer with til - means by which he gets his ' produce quickly and cheaply to town ,

—tax tie,a—as a market, i-fo is not ‘ asked hi contribute fo the rates of that market, much higher than ids own, or even to its extremely costly paved roads. His land is enhanced in value wherever the good country rood goes. A rough balance of justice and economic fairness is struck — not, certainly, such as would satisfy an economic purist, but as this world goes, not so had. Yet, the position is wholly unsatisfactory anil for one plain reason, and tiitit partly an economic and partly an engineering reason. The county ratepayer is paying an enormous upkeep cost for roauj which are cuntiitjuallv being battered to pieces. The j Average road with the most excellent I surface is not tit to stand the strain 1 qf modern motor transport., it is continually being destroyed and remade. The whole financial secret, as j Lord Montagu of Beaulieu 1 has per- i I'eived, is in capital expenditure to! make loads which, like tlie Roman J roads, will be permanent hi their es- « seiitial structure, stronger, not weaker than the traffic they have to bear, and costing- little for maintenance except. the comparatively trivial amount required for .keeping up the topdressing of smooth and dustiess surluce. ’J he cost of this service ol the roads is negligible. Thy question is how the capital for laying such lasting roads should be raised- Lora Montagu ol Beaulieu bits suggested highway loans, the interest on which, it- must be assumed, would be much mote titan covered b.v the saving onU upkeep, But the roads so construct- a cd must be scientiJic roa is, >ure of permanence and tree irom Ihe constant burden and fundamental repair and reconstruction. This, indeed, is the essence oi the problem—roads that in their foundations will bear the traffic, nut lor a season, but for years—roads so linn ( and strong that the heaviest practic- . able and economic traffic cannot des- j troy them. This is well within the I resources of applied science, but like any other of the resources of applied science it needs capital expenditure. Here thgiv is an evident case for national help to the local authorities. It. is being given for the road-making that is being accelerated in order to absorb a proportion of the unemployed. 'File most up-o-date forms ol modern road-making can be largely—almost entirely—carried out by unskilled labour, and unskilled labour is a pool into which almost all unemployed men can be drawn. But. that ivp must hope is a transient eondi-, .ion, and whatever the slate of employment may lie in more prosperous

'ays tlie need for capital expenditure ei permanent roads is none the less urgent. It is impossible, if it were desirable; to turn back tlie swelling tide of motor transport by road. Mrs j Partingl/on with her mop fwas not, more helpless against the invading Atlantic. It is perfectTv practicable to lit the roads for traffic ol the weight and speed which are now economically the best. An investor looks usually to the profits over twenty or thirty' years, or perhaps, longer. This would seem to be the- justification of, highway loans, with Governments guarantee, for the construction of J loads that would save their cost in I upkeep 'm far less time. The road problem has to be solved, i We have no network of light, raili ways and the. best Government, exj f-, rts have decided against them. There must be a way to every man’s home, farm or factory, and there re- ! mains only the system of roads, unrivalled in the world, to fulfil that function. In practice the roads are i still being maintained at great ex- ■ as if we were still in the days j of Telford and Macadam, when all transport was horse transport. No on e would think it sensible to conduct our railways as if they were still horise-drawn tramways on wooden rails. It is no more reasonable to build our roads as if they were still to servo only the com [Kira lively light hoi sc-drawn traffic oi twenty years ago. Once again it is not. a question of surface, hut of foundations.