26 TiMEHRI. 



coarser and has more lime in it, but this shell is difficult 



to obtain owing to the very heavy sea that generally 



prevails in that quarter. During the present year I 



have tried the experiment of making up a small piece of 



road under my charge with Barbados marl or lime-stone, 



over a layer of broken granite, and there is no doubt 



that it is an improvement on the burnt earth and shell, 



although more costly. There are several pieces of 



road that of late years have been covered with shell 



only, and in dry weather they are very pleasant to travel 



over, but with the heavy rains they will not stand 



the traffic of heavily laden carts, and get cut up 



very soon. The average cost of maintaining the 



roads of the colony now under Government control 



has been $1.31 per rood during the last year, but it is 



only by constant supervision and unremitting care on the 



part of the officers in charge of the different distri6^s that 



this has been accomplished. Twenty years ago the roads 



of the colony were a by-word, they could not be called 



roads, but more rightly quagmires. However, during the 



regime of the late Chief Commissary, Mr. W. S. TURNER, 



things were changed and I have no hesitation in saying 



that the Government-maintained roads will compare 



favourably with any roads in the West Indies. I have 



before mentioned the cost of the upkeep per rood of 



road for the past year, but that of course is the result of 



the system of using burnt-earth, with shell as a top 



covering. There are some roads however on which 



there is a very heavy traffic, viz : " The Best," the East 



Coast up to Buxton, arid the New Amsterdam, from the 



town to Pin, Port Mourant ; these roads as a rule cost 



more than any others, those of New Amsterdam princi- 



