82 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



government pays the balance of interest and sinking fund — and it 

 controls the expenditure. The following statement of recent progress 

 is furnished by M. Michaud, Deputy Minister of Roads: 



Since 1912, the government has built five provincial 

 roads, namely: the Montreal-Quebec road, the Montreal- 

 Rouse's Point road, the Chambly road (from Victoria bridge, 

 Chambly, and then to St. Johns, P.Q.), the Sherbrooke-Derby 

 Line road, and the Levis-Jackman road, covering over 300 

 miles in all. 



Since 1911, there has been built in the province, under 

 the control of the Department of Roads, 1,279 miles of mac- 

 adam and 568 miles of gravel roads, in all 1,847 miles of im- 

 proved roads. In these figures are included the 300 miles 

 of trunk roads above referred to. 



The Department of Roads owns 57 complete outfits 

 for the construction of macadam. These outfits are loaned 

 or rented to the municipalities. Besides, it owns a certain 

 number of tractors, portable engines, etc., which are employed 

 by the Department of Roads for direct construction. 



In addition to the government's outfits, there are about 

 150 outfits owned by municipalities. They have been paid 

 for with the money allotted by the Government to those muni- 

 cipalities. 



The Department of Roads has a well equipped labora- 

 tory for the testing of road materials. 



For the purpose of this report enough records and figures have 

 been quoted to show the progress in road improvement and the in- 

 creasing rate of expenditure on roads in Canada and other countries. 

 Details of the progress and expenditure in the other provinces need 

 not be given, as Ontario and Quebec may be taken as typical of the 

 whole country in regard to the growing recognition of the importance 

 of highways. In all the other provinces there is either considerable 

 road development going on or agitation in favour of development. 

 In the western provinces there are progressive and active highway 

 departments and a continuous effort being made to improve adminis- 

 trative machinery. 



Economic and Social Value of Good Roads 



The value of good roads as a means of improving production is 

 being more and more recognized on this continent. In California, 

 the farmers whose holdings are situated on good roads get higher 

 prices for milk collected by the wholesale dealers than the farmers 

 who have bad approaches by road. Mr. Herbert Quick, of the Fed- 

 eral Farm Reserve Board, whose duty it is to appraise farm values 

 for purposes of loaning money to farmers, has declared that a thor- 



