STEEL ROADS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12402, 26 October 1903, Page 6

STEEL ROADS.

.. . , . ; TO THE EDITOR. Sir,-—" Glen Murray," in a recent letter to the Heuald, thinks steel rails , for. roads could not ; be delivered in Auckland for less than £7 per ton. An old steel man says, they can-be landed here for £6 per ton, and in. times of a slump in the American steel trade at, a less figure. From what I can gather a steel road could be laid down at a cost little above that of a macadam, and very probably would not cost more than the latter if properly laid down, which it seldom is, and once properly put down a steel road is good for 25 years, with practically ; no repairs if : used for motor vehicles, , and only requiring repairs between rails where the horses go in case of ordinary traffic. .Th& proper course to adopt, would bo for either the Government or local authorities to lay down, _ say, one mile in Auckland and one in Wellington, in those parts of the cities whore there is heavy traffic. If this were done in a few ; years steel roads would creep all over the country, and the roads, would be the finest in,;; the world, and , attract tourists in thousands from England and America, and this would mean millions, of money to . New _ Zealand. These roads, are far easier for vehicles than macadam, and even in the case of horse traffic cost of repair is only one-tenth of macadam.l am, etc., .. . ' : Feed. A. G. Cottereix.