"ROAD DESTROYERS."

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIV, Issue 4, 6 January 1910, Page 2

"ROAD DESTROYERS."

n JS e moto"st is daily becoming more pronouncedly a man of sorrow?. He SJlfe Pftrol-propeUed Ishmael Everybody s hand, including that of tw hning policeman and that of the seeker after rural simplicity, is against him. Latest of aT he is . arraigned at the bar of public %IT* W 1 * charge of destroying roads and devouring their substance not Wn*° an + e, nf n.eer demonstrated not long, ago that in order to maintain its delectable qualities, a Sac- ?™ %l °f ™hlcles with iron-shod tyres. The action of these, it was fragments of the road metal, and to mix them with the earthly particles thus forming, with the aid of moisture, the solid "skin" or smooth surface which is the desideratum of road construction and upkeeping Th? yielding tyres of the motor car do not contribute .to the cycle of necessary incidents in this fashion. They do not assist in the pulverising proSi?' Ml mS tead > -tear UP and dissi|?f* c, t<> the four wmds of heaven the invaluable blend of dust and rock powder prepared by vehicles of more ancient type. This view of the matter'is shared in New South Wales and one- of the municipalities (at Kogarah) adjacent 16 Sydney is exploiting the question with' considerable vigour. This particular bevy of civic rulers objected most strongly to being called upon to maintain roads tor outside motorists who did not contribute a penny to the revenue i£ nnn S S*m ted ? iat \ n Fra«ce alone ]5,000 miles of roads, the best in Europe, had been ruined by the devastating, car. The Mayor declared that there was nothing for it but the imposition of a substantial tax upon motorists, and his suggestion that the necessity for this be Brought £ nd .vr the notice of the Minister for Jrublic.Works;-was unanimously agreed to. The signs of the times (at the present moment, at any rate) all point fixedly to the possibility of the motorist being legislated out of exist-

enceV or; at the least/ to his beim& compelled to dawdle furtively along baclr streets and alleyways for fear of contravening any unsuspected * trifle of the vast body of law directed at his extermination. ' ■