THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 1903. OIL FOR THE STREETS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12551, 3 January 1903, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 1903. OIL FOR THE STREETS.

During dry weather, such as we have not been having recently, the dust proMem "in- Du'riediii sometimes becomes bo serious that' the .City Council may be well advised if it gives a trial to the plan of oiling the street surfaces in order to reduce the nuisance. In America and Great Britain the use of oil, upon the roads has ibeen found to' be remarkably effective in layißg dust. Not only so. Oil-has also been proved to be an important' element ia constructing a permanent. road .bed possessing a good wearing, .surface, smooth and firm, free from the persistent and irritating annoyance caused by dust during the summer season, and. equally free from the prevalence of mud in winter—an approach, in fact, and, where the conditions are most favourable, a close approach,'to au asphalt road, but at much less cost.- Experts have, consequently, arrived already at' the conclusion that the use of oil'upon public thoroughfares has become permanent., At Liverpool, the testimony. of) the city; engineer is that from the point of view of wear and tear of the road'surface oiling has, on the whole, be?n advantageous: the wear appears to be. surface, of the road

dries more quickly after rain, the number of loose stones, picked up has been reduced, and the combination of oil. and dust has appeared to form a somewhat quieter surface., The latest trials have, however, been conducted nearer our own home, at Sydney, where, the Town Clerk (Mr Kesbitt) reports, it is beyond question that the experiment's, a primitive and laborious method of application notwithstanding; have so far proved successful in effectively laying dust. Some roads are, of course, more suitable for .the application of oil than others are, and Air Neskitt considers that upon those of sandy formation the process can be most advantageously employed. Iu Southern California, where the system seems to- have been first adopted, there is a conflict of opinion as ,to the practicability of using oil successfully on a macadamised road, but,' Mr Nesbitt finds, " the trend of the testimony available up to the present time is certainly in favour of oiling macadamised roads, it being a difficult proposition to maintain a macadamised'street without dust.' It is acknowledged that a very slight sprinkling of sand is necessary on all" roads but tight macadam. But in the case of tight macadam, where there is no appreciable penetration, considerably more sand is required." The efficacy of the use of oil for laying dust being ad< mitted, however, the question- of cost remains to be considered. No figures are given to show how the subject presents itself in this aspect in Sydney, 'but, generally speaking, in America, where oil is abundant and cheap, the watering of street's costs four-'times as much as oiling does. .'Crude oil being available from Orepuki, the Dunedin City Council may consider it not inexpedient to experiment-on one of our local streets with the latest method of coping with a nuisance which, though we have escaped it for the past fortnight, will surely recur early in the year.