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Evening Star, Issue 14183, 7 October 1909, Page 4

■Mr Foster Fraser, in his chatty and

Tha Public Streets.

discursive lectures about Russia and Siberia, more than once directed tire

attention of his audiences to the palatial buildings that had sprung up in some of the Far Eastern cities, and to the contrast they presented to the pavements and streets. In winter and after rain the thoroughfares were sheets of deep mud and dangerous quagmires, and in dry weather inch deep in dust, which is blown about in clouds, finding its way into every room in every house and store. The most obvious, as it is a primary, test of good municipal government is clean, sound, dry "streets, that may be used with comfort and safety in all weathers and under all normal conditions* We are afraid that there are times, in many parts of Dunedin, when this City falls signally short in this regal'd. Complaints are many, and the causes therefor are not infrequently warranted. Recently a correspondent forwarded to us a packet of samples of stuff that he had gathered from the Anderson Bay road, and it certainly loft much to be desired, as well as explaining much of which the ordinary pedestrian is innocent. An examination of the methods commonly followed in the matter of street repairing and improving, however, explains why some streets are mud pools in bad weather and miniature Saharas in dry. The process is as simple as it is unsatisfactory. Loads of large, sharp metal are damped on the roadway, layers of dirt and muck are spread on top, and then the steam roller passes over, and the street is made. Neither permanence of work nor satisfaction to the users of the City streets can be looked for from such a system. Councillors generally affirm that the streets of Dunedin are cleaner than those of other centres in the Dominion. Even were this really so the plea is not sound, and councillors ■ onght not to raise it. To he the 'best of a bad lot is a poor sort of municipal defence. Pedestrians and others are apt to grow irritated when they are told hj thankful they ought to be that they oo not live in Christchurch, while cynics ttngri ly assert that the city councillors know nothing about the state of the streets, because they never walk. Now that the

dry season is' approaching we hope that. something will b© dqpe to remedy the dust evil.