RIVER SHINGLE v. METAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 94, 16 December 1912, Page 6

RIVER SHINGLE v. METAL.

FOR ROAD-MAKING. Early this year when turbulent times came upon the Borough Council, a heated controversy raged as to the respective merits of crushed shingle from the river, and crushed stone from the mountain. There is no need to rake over the ashes of the dead past, save to say that by a certain section of the Council crushed shingle was condemned, utterly and absolutely. Among the champions of the river metal, however, was Mr T. D. Sullivan, the borough oerseer. A well-supported motion was moved that no more shingle should be dragged from the river to desecrate our streets, but this was defeated by a small majority, thanks chiefly to the advocacy of the Overseer.

This morning Mr Sullivan asked a representative of the “Stratford Evening Post” to have a good look at a strip of road in Fenton street, from Broadway to the Railway crossing. For the first few yards from Broadway there is a splendid level surface, free from dust, and altogether excellent. This is the result of a few loads of crushed river shingle laid down during tiie winter months at a cost, spread, of 5s 5d per yard. Just near tiie railway lino is a different strip of road. It is a patch that cyclists take trouble to avoid, that pedestrians plough through, and that vehicle's churn up into clouds of dust—that’s crushed metal from the mountain.

For the purposes of a comparison, the mountain metal is at a disadvantage in that it was laid down in the beginning of the summer, but even allowing for this it has crumpled into dust in such a manner as to leave room for doubt as to whether it is so very excellent for road-making purposes. That it is superior to crushed shingle, as was claimed for it, is a thought that it is almost impossible to entertain when viewing the results of the experiments in road making. But comparisons arc always more or less odious. The point is that crushed shingle which was condemned has now been" proved to .bo excellent road-mak-ing material, and justifying the confidence placed in it by a majority of the Council in spending large suras in dragging it from the river, and crushing it in preparation for street repairing and road making on a fairly extensive scale.