CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 425 



way of railways should be constructed on much the same principle, namely, made 

 of broken stone on which the sleepers are laid. Railway companies in this 

 respect many years behind the proved practice of road experts, are now 

 beginning to realise that a permanent way so made provides a better road bed, 

 costing less to keep in order, and one that diminishes the strain and wear upon 

 locomotives and rolling stock. in other works, the principles of Macadam are 

 being tardily applied to the road bed of the principal railways nearly 100 years 

 after Macadam's era, and the old-fafihioned system of ballasting with anything 

 handy, such ae water gravel, sand, or even clay or common earth, is being 

 abandoned. 



The seventh stage of road development may be said to have commenced with 

 the advent of the motor-car in 1897, some twentyrtwo years ago. As one of 

 the pioneers of those days, I can remember when many of our main roads twenty 

 years ago were partly covered with gra^s which had invaded the metalling 

 and was growing year by year towards, and even in, the centre of the road. 

 In those days the through traffic to be met in a day's journey along many miles 

 of main Toad through the Midlands and the iSouth of England and Scotland and 

 Wales was almost nil. Roads and road transport by horse vehicle had been 

 killed by railway competition and by neglect. Wherever railways were available 

 for use, horse-drawn traffic had ceased to exist, at any rate for distances exceed- 

 ing fifteen miles. It was too slow and inconvenient to be much used for dong dis- 

 tances, and therefore mechanical vehicles in the early years of this century found 

 many important roads deserted and neglected. About the year 1900 the more pro- 

 gressive and far-seeing among road surveyors began to realise that the coming 

 of the mechanical vehicle must mean the revival of public interest in roads, 

 the increased use of roads, and the necessity for further investigation as to how 

 it might be possible to make roads more durable. Bituminous roads, water- 

 proofed yet somewhat elastic in their surface, were tried, and after initial 

 experiments this system began to prove itself. Gradually all over the United 

 Kingdom, to say nothing of the more progressive nations of the Continent, the 

 use of tar and bituminous substances greatly increased. To-day, the main roads 

 of this country are for the greater part of them composed or surfaced with 

 either a bituminous material or are tarred at regular intervals to preserve the 

 crust, and keep down dust and reduce expenditure on maintenance. A good 

 bituminous road, once made, is undeniably cheaper than the old-water- bound 

 road to maintain. In towns the diminution of scavenging required, and the non- 

 filling up of drains with the detritus of the road, have also saved much extra 

 expense in the maintenance of a bituminous over an ordinary water-bound sur- 

 face. Upon main roads in country districts where the wear on the road is 

 much less than in a town, the durability of the bituminous surface, though it 

 has not yet been scientifically ascertained, is undoubtedly greater than was for 

 a long time supposed. Once more in this instance economy and efficiency have 

 gone hand in hand. 



The modern idea of direct through road communication, that is, roads between 

 important points far apart, such as London and Edinburgh, London and Holy- 

 head, London and Bristol, was originated in this country by Telford, who was 

 at one time employed by the Government Commissioners charged with making 

 Highland roads. Telford and his pupils rightly planned main roads to avoid 

 minor towns and villages, and, after the manner of the great Napoleonic roads 

 in France, main roads went as straight as possible between towns of importance. 

 The Great North Road is an example of this between London and the northern 

 end of Leeming Lane on the borders of County Durham. Ample width was 

 another feature of these main roads, the waste of the highway, as it was called — 

 that is, the portion of the highway outside the metalled portion of it — being 

 need in those days by horsemen, and nowadays for the deposit of road metal for 

 repair purposes. In some cases this waste was used for the purpose of extracting 

 from beneath suitable metal for repair, thus cheapening the cost of maintenance 

 of the road at a time when carts, horses and men were no doubt keenly occupied 

 in agriculture and difficult to obtain for road-making purposes. 



It is a scandalous but undeniable fact that since the days of Telford and 

 Macadam no new main roads have been made in this country, neither has any 

 considerable mileage of secondary road been constructed. And it is not as if 



