78 [Assembly 



ties and be produced with all possible despatch. Upon the for- 

 mer blessing (pure water j depends the health of the inhabitants; 

 upon the latter their health in a measure and their commercial 

 prosperity to a great extent; for over rough uneven streets it is 

 difficult for the burdened dray or cart to progress with safety to 

 its load, its horse or its driver. Well paved streets are of impor- 

 tance to the merchant almost beyond calculation ; and if every 

 person whose interest suffered in a commercial city through the 

 dilapidated condition of the streets were to contribute but one 

 penny for every hour of time lost by delay, the fund would, in a 

 short time, be sufficient to cover those streets with blocks of gold. 



What is the remedy for the misfortune of bad streets? It has 

 not yet been found ; but by following up the experiments recent- 

 ly tried in the city of New York, a carriage-way as perfect as can 

 be obtained may be the result. The first and most important 

 step towards the construction of a substantial pavement is a good 

 and permanent foundation ; this can only be effectively and sure- 

 ly produced by a substructure of concrete. Many years ago ob- 

 jections were raised against the use of concrete for the base of city 

 pavements, where the streets were closely interlaced a short depth 

 below the surface with gas and water pipes, for sealing the streets 

 with concrete would be dangerously expensive in case of a leak in a 

 water pipe at a high point of grade, as the water from the frac- 

 tured pipe would (finding no aperture above) naturally fdlow 

 down the grade, until its accumulation at the lowest point of 

 grade forced a passage laterally ; the cost of pursuing such a leak, 

 of tearing up such a length of valuable pavement and foundation 

 thereof, was a plausible excuse fur the antipathy to that class of 

 solid and permanent work ; but that difficulty was well provided 

 for nine years ago, when the paving of Broadway was commenced 

 between Chambers and Reade streets ; the concrete by that 

 method is laid in stripes or sections about six feet in width ; each 

 section is separated from the next by a pine stiip, six inches in 

 width and one inch and a half in thickness, set. on its edge ; when 

 all the sections are filled with concrete, the pine strips are firmly 

 held by the concrete, but as the cement sets it contiacts, leaving 

 small fissures on each side of the boards for the emission of water 



