BETTER ROADS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 293, 14 May 1914, Page 2

BETTER ROADS.

To the flditor. Sir, —In looking over the Hgmont Cownly Council monthly minting as re- , port«(i in your paper of the llUi inst., I notice a statement made by Mr. Mon- | nington in reference to the cost of preparing a road surface with Restar. He slated that it would coal 8s Id per chain to treat .1 road. 1 presume lie meant a road 12ft wide or 88 square yards to the chain, which, he «ays, can be treated for 100 pence, or a -fraction over onft penny per square yard. Surely this is an error. Tar costs 5d per gallon in its untreated state, and cannot tie treated and delivered to the local bodies for less than 9d per gallon if a standard article is to be supplied. If the tar were spread thinner than one gallon to two square yards it is of very little use. This would take 4i gallons to the chain, or £1 13s for Restar alone. Then it will take half a cubic yard of sand or •shingle for blinding the l'eatar. This, at 8s per cubic yard, is 4s per chain; add another 4s for labor in sweeping the roadway clean and spreading the blinding. This amounts to approximately £2 Is per chain for one coat of Restar. wliicli would require another dressing within six months. I have not allowed anything for rolling. wlwh is very necessary. Cut even at £2 or £3 per chain it would pay loeal bodies to surface treat their road vrith some tar preparation, as it is quite impossible to have good motor roads without using some water-proof surface treatment that will prevent the motor traffic from sucking the blinding from the road surface. -I am, etc., M0TO1! ROADS.