OUR COMMON ROADS—-MURPHY. 44.5: 
ance of the highways of our Province. We must be gvided by 
the particular materials or mode of construction, by the locality, 
the facility for obtaining suitable material, and the necessity and 
purpose which the traffic may be intended toserve. Thesurtace 
of Nova Scotia is so varied that it presents nearly all the steps 
of geological sequence. Our road-making material is accordingly 
diversified, and may require different modes of application in 
different districts. Laws of a local nature interfere and operate 
many modifications, even in limited areas. Along the Atlantic 
shore we have the Lower Cambrian rocks, with occasional deposi- 
tions of moraines, boulder clays and quartzites, out of which may 
be also selected, here and there, a gravelly road covering. Along 
our northern boundary we have trap rock, which is excellent for 
road-making, but in the carboniferous districts, such as Cumber- 
land, Pictou, and along the Northumberland Strait, the common 
clays of the country yield but a poor covering for our highways. 
There are many matters connected with road-making which 
should be considered, as the modern modes of road construction 
could not be adopted in many districts. In fact, the country is 
not fully ripe at the present moment for adopting the most im- 
proved methods. Therefore engineers and road-makers must, as 
far as possible, deal with the materials they have at command, 
and inculcate correct principles in the use of such materials. One 
great point upon which stress should be laid was the formation 
of the cross-section of a road. No road could long remain perfect 
in this country unless the drainage from it was good, considering 
the ordinary materials with which the engineer had to deal, and 
which to a greater or less extent are pervious to moisture. The 
great question seemed to be that of price. Engineers cannot 
impress governments or municipal bodies with all the advantages 
which accrue from any particular form of road or method of 
construction, unless they could first of all, demonstrate that it 
would be the cheapest, either as the first cost or ultimately. The 
cost and durability of the various systems depend so much upon 
the nature of the traffic, gradients, care in original construction, 
and material available, that no rigid rule can be adopted; it is 
only by careful study and judicious application that we can 
arrive at the best and most economical system. 
