338 Thfi Right Hon. Sir John H. A. Macdonald [Feb. 16, 



to bear the traffic, and last, and not least, to endeavour to determine 

 whether any, and if so what, protecting skin shall be placed on the 

 surface so as to come between the hoof or wheel and the bearing 

 crust to protect it from being attacked directly by the traffic. 



I shall conclude by calling your attention to some of the results 

 of recent experiments, by which I think you will see that it has been 

 possible for the Board, with the aid of its staff and the experience of 

 numerous surveyors who have been experimenting for many years, to 

 obtain valuable and practical information, both as regards the choice 

 of material, its manipulation, its proportions, and the mode of laying 

 it, which may ensure that good roads can be made, roads which will 

 keep their surface sound for twice as long as the water-bound macadam 

 road, and will not become uneven and break into holes, which was 

 the fate of all the roads of the past. Such roads in their last years 

 were rough, muddy, and dusty according to the weather, deterio- 

 rating in a marked manner within a short time after they had been 

 laid down, and in times of heavy and continuous rain having their 

 binding washed out or carried down to the gutters, or to lie thick at 

 the bottom of the slope wherever there was a gradient of any steep- 

 ness. And let it be realized that in proportion to the degrees in 

 which improvement becomes attainable, not only will the comfort 

 and convenience of the community be augmented, but the wear 

 and tear of horses, of vehicles, and of tyres will be lessened in 

 a marked degree, and the moving of passengers and goods be 

 facilitated more and more, leading to economy in transit. The 

 change will come rapidly. It may seem extravagant to say that in 

 another decade the main roads will have become practically mudless, 

 dustless, and smooth ways ; but I do not doubt that my audience will 

 agree with me that if anyone had prophesied on the first day of the 

 new century that before twelve years had passed there would be more 

 than 200,000 motor vehicles upon the roads of Great Britain, that of 

 the 500,000 horses in London 420,000 would have disappeared from 

 the streets, and that reverend rectors who denounced the mechanical 

 vehicles as " engines of Satan," and lashed at motorists with their whips, 

 would have to receive their Bishops on diocesan visitation arriving 

 in motor-cars, the gifts of the faithful, the presumptuous prophet who 

 said such impioas things would have been considered fit only for 

 Hanwell or Colney Hatch. So those who hope, as a consequence of 

 the now irresistible march of the power vehicle, to see the road revo- 

 lutionized for the benefit of the whole community hold the hope 

 confidently, and are willing to be laughed at, if you. Ladies and 

 Gentlemen, choose to do so. . . . We feel sure that we do not go 

 contrary to the Yankee mentor with his " Don't you prophesy unless 

 you know." We do not prophesy, lint we do know. We know we say 

 what must happen. And if the words have not become the exclusive 

 property of the politician, I would say, "Wait and see." 



Considering what is to be the road of the future, it is unnecessary 



