340 The. Right Hon. Sir John H. A. Mardonald [Feb. 16, 



stone, reduced to very small size, such as I show you — (specimen shown) 

 — and properly treated with a binder, will produce crust material of a 

 most satisfactory kind. I have here numerous briquettes of such a 

 combination of small stone bound with suitable material which have 

 proved to be of great strength. 



It will be observed, if the briquettes are examined, that the 

 cohesion is so close that when the fracture occurs the stone, in many 

 cases, is not pulled out of the structure, but is broken across, its 

 halves remaining embedded in the binding material. The mode 

 followed in testing these tentative pieces of crust has been to set the 

 briquettes on supports at both ends, having 7 inches without sup- 

 port, to apply a gradually increasing weight where the briquette is 

 unsupported until fracture takes place. The figures I have given 

 as to pressure requisite to cause fracture indicate how different is 

 such a combination from the ordinary crust material, which could 

 not even be set on two such supports as these without breaking on 

 a slight pressure, far less stand up to a weight of many pounds ; it 

 is the difference between material that will crumble and material 

 that will cling together^-between stone set in mud and stone bound 

 with a strongly cohering substance. 



I have probably said enough to show that a good road, which 

 shall keep smooth, be impervious to water, and not tend to disinte- 

 grate, is now an accomplished fact, and I only need to add that the 

 cost, taken over a series of years, will not be more, indeed there is 

 good ground to believe it will be less, than that of a road as it has 

 been constructed in the past. But the saving to the road user will 

 be very great. Roads will not be heavy in wet weather, putting 

 strain on laoth horses and vehicles, and giving discomfort to travellers 

 after the rain has ceased to fall. In dry weather there will not be 

 mud gradually turning into a dust carpet, to be whirled about by the 

 wind or thrown up by fast-travelling motor-cars. In this there 

 will be much saving of wear and tear of animals and vehicles, of 

 clothes and tempers, the last being not the least of the evils caused 

 by mud and dust. 



One question remains — will it not be well to endeavour to provide 

 an elastic skin or carpet to lie between the vehicle and the bearing 

 crust ? This question is also engaging attention. Can we find some 

 material for the exposed surface of the road which shall be resilient, 

 yielding to traffic, but resuming its form and surface ? Just as in a 

 golf club house we protect our floor from being dug into and worn 

 away by the hob-nailed shoes of the golfer by using a thin film of 

 semi-resilient covering, such as kamptulicon or ribbed indiarubber, 

 so it is a question whether we may not protect our road floor -the 

 road crust — by covering it with a film of some substance which will 

 yield and recover without disintegrating in the process. The labora- 

 tory experiments made seem to indicate that this will be accomplished. 

 There are certain materials which at ordinary temperatures are, 



