HIGHWAYS, ANCIENT AND MODERN

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 554, 3 August 1920, Page 3

HIGHWAYS, ANCIENT AND MODERN

PAKT 11. ._ ft fure leaving tb» subject of what •" -*, th | *<>ldiesr have done in the mat™k*f rond-making, >• „hort account ojjpe greatest exploit of modern tlgaa in that direnij.i -perhaps vvhw/the limited 'time employed is taken Into consideration the greatest exploit of ~|| timo-moy not be amiss. MJMtafc the 4-reui Avar Allied operatftns in the Balkan sector were great-Iv-hampered by lack of passable ropp. and the Italians set out to remedy this state of affairs. In an ? incredibly short space of time they constructed, principally by the labour of Austrian prisoners of war,- live hundred miles of magnificent highway. These roads are described as comparing favourably with the best i" the world, and in spite 'of the haste with which they were constiuctet) the workmanship was so ex client; that they are expected to last for -euturies. The average rate of construction was one and onefilth miles per day. -What say you to that. Messrs. of the Public Works Department ? Was it not an iniquity rd extravagance to squander in a day a wood job that would have kep* you hfi|lpy, and drawing your pay for a year? The only thing that ran be Paid in-excuse is that military and not civil engineers were in charge, and the poor fellows had never had • an opportunity of acquiring the etiquette that disdains vulgar hurry.

In the Middle Ages.

W»en the barbarians destroyed the Roman Empire European civilization took a very long step backwards, and for many centuries there was very little- progress of any sort. The scien<% of road-making seems to have been lost for fifteen hundred years. The old Roman roads remained, but on the Continent and in England the only highways upon was possible, except in TWsumijiier time. Other roads were merely'liiul tracks, and their remains may still fcfesecn in the so-called "sunk" roadSrmthe South of England and the NortT of France. Genera tions of travel on unpaved tracks, where the wind in summer blew the dust away, and the rain in wintei swilled the mud away, lowered the road bed many feet below the leve. of the adjoining land, and the trn veller on them journeys, as it were, in one The literature' of early times is full of allusions te. the dangers and difficulties of tra veiling. But everyone seemed to ac rept it .is Inevitable, and even om capable Tudor sovereigns did little 01 I nothing to alleviate the sitoffapn. But

not. very long after died Louis XIV. got to work, And by imBftMJfllrilyi labour of pj£jeti<pily all peasantry efftstrntt** souk thousands of miles o£p2fcjble pav# """ WaS of the "g00*.,, roads" movement in France, an-i progress in that direction since flagged, and was given by Napoleon, wlfti, amflfog other* roads, constnuctec the magnificent highway across France ever the Simplon Pass into Italy. ■) England's Awakening.

Although idling the time of the tSuarts' certain "Turnpike" Acts wen p.'.-sed authorising private companies to make roads and place toll-gates 01 th. in, the work done was most in

dili'erent in quality, as might have bi.'n expectaßfwrni a mere money making J n the Jfith cen

tiny Clifford and the griften Smentor, ■jfe' lo built the Kddystnne Lighthouse Wjjpd o ')<■■'■ "H'dio effvls in the lap, *ni» great difficulties. But it was not till the 19th century dawned that England really began to sit up an,

take notice. Then emerged Telfon

mil Macadam- still names to conjun with. Between them they evolved thi modern road, and thanks to then England's roads are now the best ii the world. The Rival Designs.

Their systems were entirely dissimilar, with only one point in com mon, a fiat, clay road bed, what en gineera -.-all the sub-grade. But thej had both Mastered the fact that ii is only by water-proofing the sob grade that a good road can be oh talned. Telford went in for a ri -i----road. Ho made his sub-grade abso lutely solid by repeated rollings. H than pitched it with fair-sized stone.* about four inches in diameter at th, edge and. increasing in si/.e toward the centre to provide the necessary camber, or fali from centre to side , The crevices between the stones wen L tightly packed with chips. Thi -/ foundation was covered by six inche. of two-inch broken metal, and agai

thoroughly rolled, and the Hniahin. course, or wearing surface, was com posed of a couple of inches of finel) broken metal, also well rolled. Macadam did not use the )arj> stone foundation because he believe, in an elastic lather than a* rigi road. His theoiy was that stone bn ken to two inches and laid on . somewhat yielding surf.ice such a clay would foj'Bp an interlocked in;.

saic with a certain amount of spring] ness which would prevent the roa< suffering too greatly from hcav; wheeled iHffnV. In other respects hi method of construction was the smii as Telford':, and he carefully pre served the camber, a procedure tha.

|. observed all the world over QxlMj hi the franklin County ,v, here,\4jPui\ in tuo ruts and the horse- H* ■,i..,\; we have a character or our ..:. and are not slavishly imitate. '.ls 'eaders will imagine that it has taken me a long time to ijet to New Zealand, but I have arrived at last. It is a pood place to be in, even belter than Old Ireland just now, and I will not leave it again until I have finished.