RUBBER FOR ROADS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21470, 19 April 1933, Page 13

RUBBER FOR ROADS

SUCCESS IN SINGAPORE TESTS BY ENGINEERS [from our own correspondent] SYDNEY, April 13 "Rubber roads, which liavo hitherto been regarded as too expensive for practical purposes, are being seriously considered by authorities in many parts of the world now that the price of rubber has decreased and the technique of laying the material has passed beyond the experimental stage," said Mr. G. Parry ])avis, who arrived in Sydney this week. Mr. Davis, who has supervised the construction of long stretches of rubber roads in the Federated Malay States and Java, said that rubber was the ideal road-making material. It - was almost noiseless, and could not crack like other materials. Roads had been laid nearly three years ago in some of the busiest streets in Singapore and showed little sign of wear. Engineers had tested the roads with the heaviest motor-lorries successfully. The best-laid rubber roads cost about 7s a square yard. it is stated by Mr. Davis that it is not necessary to make rubber blocks before laying a road. Liquid rubber and clay, or other filling,, he says, may be mixed and poured directly into position. Labour costs are lessened by this method. Mr. Davis said that the use of rubber for roadmaking would spread throughout the world, and that it would mean the salvation of planters, who were suffering from the effects of the commodity's low price.