THE MODERN ROAD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19917, 10 April 1928, Page 14

THE MODERN ROAD.

SLIPPERY SURFACES. A PLEA FOR THE HORSE. The trouble to horses frequently occasioned by the smoothness of modern road surfaces is referred to in a letter to an English paper from Captain A. E. Astfop, secretary of Institute of the Horse, London. He writes: — "As each hunting season opens, the horseman finds that more and more roads have been improved with surfaces which are a danger to himself and his mount. If these slippery surfaces are bad for the riding-horse, imagine the cruelty they inflict on the carthorse pulling a heavy load uphill! To cattle, too, they are a danger. /'For some time past the Institute of the Horse have been making exhaustive inquiries as to the least slippery surface for modern roads. As far as they can ascertain, fin. granite or similar hard stone ohippings, rolled in when tar-paint-ing takes place, gives the least slippery surface' yet known for' all traffic. "Now* that main roads are surfaced with waterproof material, a steep camber to drain off the rain is no longer necessary, but the advantage to horse traffic of this modern development is nullified if the surface is of a glassy hardness. The cambered surface and the slippery surface are both avoidable, and it is good to note that motorists see eye to eye with those who own, drive or ride horses in hoping that local authorities will abolish these terrors in future."