334 The Right Hon. Sir John H. A. Mmdonald [Feb. 16 



discomfort, and much wear and tear to animal and carriage. It is 

 hardly to be appreciated by most people to-day, but an old^ man 

 like myself can remember how in tlie fifties and even the sixties of 

 last century the road-maker's laying work was ended when he had 

 piled his surface stones loose upon the roadway. The road user had 

 to apply his vehicle to roller work, to force the stones into a closely 

 packed surface. Perhaps some who are present may recall to memory, 

 as I can, how in those days the road man, when he had laid a cover- 

 ing of new metal, placed trestles at intervals, one on one side of the 

 road and another on the other side, so as to compel the driver to 

 zig-zag back and forward over the siiarp-edged and pointed stones, 

 his horse's feet acting as a tamping machine, and his wheels as a 

 roller, until the hundreds of shoes and iron tyres had pressed down the 

 stones into a macadam crust, and, when this was effected on the part 

 of the road that was free for transit, the trestles were moved into 

 position on the made road, and the traffic forced on to zig-zag 

 No. 2, until all the surface had been brought to a macadam consis- 

 tence, the whole road being packed close, by the stones descending 

 gradually, breaking and grinding their own packing off themselves as 

 they were slowly forced down, rubbing one against another. When 

 completed it was a good road for the traffic of the day, but, oh ! it was 

 trying work when the road user's vehicle not only conveyed his 

 passengers or his goods, but was compelled to act the part of a road 

 roller. 



A great change took place when the heavy steam roller was intro- 

 duced, which in one operation pushed the stones down into position. 

 It afforded a blessed relief to those who used the roads with horses. 

 But though advantageous in saving the road user and his horse and 

 carriage and more expeditiously completing the new surface, it was 

 not possible to provide a closely fitted road which should have its 

 interstices tilled up by the chip and grit from the stones themselves, 

 and which was an essential desideratum according to the macadam 

 theory, llis principle was that no water should enter the surface of 

 the road or penetrate beneath the crust. To keep water out of the 

 road was one of the most essential points if it was to be efficient. 

 He strongly condemned any insertion of loose material into the inter- 

 stices of the metal, or allowing water to enter between stones of the 

 crust. These maxims of Macadam came to be disregarded when steam 

 rolling was introduced. When rolling was to be done in one opera- 

 tion, a device had to be resorted to that the spaces between the 

 stones might be closed by added packing, and this has been done by 

 making what can only be described as a soup of dirt and water and 

 pouring it upon the stones and brushing and rolling this liquid mud 

 into the crust of the road. The road thus when opened for use is 

 crusted with a coating of stones whose only binding is water thickened 

 with dirt, or perhaps dirt diluted with water is the proper descrip- 

 tion. The result is that it can never be a good road in wet weather, 



