MAINTENANCE OF ROADS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 524, 24 July 1880, Page 2

MAINTENANCE OF ROADS.

To the Editor of the'WAißiitm Dailt. Sib.—ln these 'pinching times of retrenchment and economy, it it a matter of very great importance to ui all that we should obtain the maximum value for the minimum- outlay, and that thefa should be no extravagance or unnecessary expenditure in any way,'for: we cannot afford it. .Thepresent-system of keeping our roads in repair is.expensive, slipshod, and inefficient, which I"think,l will be able to prove satisfactorily. The plan here, when the road jets put up/is to,: fill the holes with gravel, instead; of broken metal, when the latter is procurable and ; really much cheaper, for I take it that one yard of broken metal is" equal to four yards of gravely ib' that - in the ewe - of rgr*vei ; th«) cost-of cartaeeandfillingis exactly four' :times'as-muoh-as-;that;?ofs : metal^whicji ; I would; wore than; paj-for: breaking of >-.itp |f^nth^^^r^ierintetided.^^l|will^juß^ ; here'and Carterton, across theVTaraiahi

hai been .allowed to gel in a very bad ititi;; indeed. ', Hwt,: alone ths road, ther> ; is'wi unlimited supply of boulders, the!;veryi;boit v raaterial for road metal, There;? are|;Rriat piles of them at the varioua gravel-pits, whioh are an eyesore to look upon, .The coit of reducing; them into metal would not be much-from 2i 6d to 3i per cubic yard, Thiideteifiptioß of work should never be doae but *»y contract, if it is done any other way it' costs netfly a\)uble. The iame:riileapplyi to carting,.; I hive noticed teams employed along the road come out.of the piti with about half a yard of gravel, and trarel at ash'sil'i pacejat the rate brabbtit ; a mile and a half an hour. '

This sort of thing would n<jt hippen if we had proper managementand supervision. Recently. a piece byroad near Ray's Hotel wai gravelled, andl.am lure the cost must hive beentery considerable; there were'two or three teams.and some half-a-dbten men employedtafor tome months at it, Here the method.adopted »m to put the fine gravel underneath and ihe boulders on the top. It is true that the latter were broken—as many as shewed on the surface. Not the proper system would hare been to keep the coarse stones on the bottom and"thorie 1 gravel on the top. Were this done it would consolidate sooner, and make a smooth" regular surface, is the road is now it.is a positive terror to travellers. The traffic has to take either tide of the.road.to escape the rolling stones, every few days a fresh crop of them is brought to the'su'rfaee. I find no fault with the person under whose charge the work was done, I sup Dose he acted according to instructions. However that may be, it is evident that there is a want of a proper method in the carrying out of such work. ; '• '

In all cases ,of regravelling long stretohes of i-bad the cartage should be done at so much per yard. A certain thickness is put on, and it can easily be measured when the. job ii finished. In this item alone there would be a great saving. Nor is it necessary to keep a surface man all the year round. On some portions of the main road, just before the summer sets in the rolling stones ini4t be raked off, and then the surface man could be dispensed with for at least four months. It is simply squandering money to keep men on at a season of the year when the road will'keep'itself. I trust that the above' remarks and suggestions will attract the attention of the various bodies having control of the matter I refer to, I may recur to this subjeot at another time, as I fear I have already trespassed too far on your space.-' * ••-" ;-;r ; I am,-lie.; VlMTlg,