HORSES AND HARD ROADS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20331, 12 August 1929, Page 12

HORSES AND HARD ROADS.

CONCERN IN SYDNEY. MANY MAIMED AND KILLED. Horse traffic is still an important matter in Sydney, and owners of working teams are concerned over the question of safe road surfaces. A very representative deputation which waited on the Minister for Local Government, Mr. M. F. Bruxner, recently, stated that horses were being maimed and many had to be destroyed owing to accidents caused through their having to work on roads fit only for motor traffic. Several speakers, representing organisations interested in horses, urged that the Main Roads Board should bo asked to construct road 3 suitablo for both horses and motor vehicles.

Mr. S. L. Cole, M.L.C., who introduced the deputation, asserted that 70 per cent, of the transport in the county was done by horses and only 30 per cent, by motors.

Mr. J. McMahon (Master Carriers) contended that horso traction was cheaper than motor traction in the city itself. For outlying districts horses supplied a service that motors could not supply. Mr. Bruxner, in reply, said that what was needed was a road that would suit horses in the metropolitan area. Outside the metropolitan area there were many macadamised and gravelled roads that horses could use for many years to come. In regard to the suggestion that roads could be built with a concrete crest and two macadamised sides, the Minister said

the fact had to be taken into consideration that most of the traffic to-day was mechanically propelled. No matter where a road was put or how it was constructed, a motor vehicle would uso that road. Therefore it had to bo one that would carry the fast-moving rubber-tyred vehicle. It was impact that created a tremendous momentary increase in the load, and so caused the breakages on rigid roads. Horses, ho continued, should, if possible, follow different routes, or else somo means of shoeing them should bo devised so that slippery surfaces would not be a handicap or a danger. The gravelled road was one of the most serviceable in the country, and if only owners of ironshod vehicles could be persuaded that a wider tyre does not mean a heavier load much money could be saved. It was difficult to convince a teamster that a wider tyre did not mean a heavier load. The Minister promised to lav the views of the deputation before the Main Roads Board.