ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 47 
improving the location and grading of the old roads, fifty-eight 
miles having been formed, fifty-one miles formed and metalled, 
and sixty miles surveyed and graded. Of the new roads in the 
western and south-western districts, perhaps the most important 
is the mountain road between Tumut Valley and Kiandra, formed 
in heavy side cutting for twenty miles. In ascending the Talbingo 
Mountains it rises two thousand five hundred feet in five and a 
half miles. This road besides opening up country hitherto inac- 
cessible from Tumut, forms a means of direct communication 
between the south-east coast and the south-western interior; a 
branch three miles in length connects the Yarrangobilly Caves 
with the main road. In many districts great difficulty is experi- 
enced in obtaining satisfactory material for ballasting. The cost 
of metal is prohibitive ; vitrified clay, sand, and a red soil found 
in some parts have been used with fair success, while recently a 
corduroy of pine saplings covered with nine to twelve inches of 
the soil from side drains has been tried, and though not yet fully 
tested is expected to prove very satisfactory. In constructing 
roads in the drought-infested area, every opportunity is seized of 
forming them in embankment, with storm overflows, so that they 
shall serve as dams for the conservation of water, and this policy 
has been amply justified by its results. 
Bridges.—The total length of bridges and culverts under the 
control of the department is about one hundred and thirteen miles; 
one hundred and fifty-six bridges and one thousand two hundred 
and ninety-six culverts were built during the year 1892. The 
majority of these are of a simple character spanning the small 
coastal rivers and creeks, but several very substantial and elegant 
structures have been erected, as for example those over the Hunter 
River at Elderslie and Aberdeen, over the Lachlan River at 
Forbes, and over the Murray River at Mulwala, Tintaldra and 
Corowa. Others such as the Tocumwal Bridge over the Murray, 
and the Wilcannia and Wentworth Bridges over the Darling are 
now in course of construction. The majority of the larger bridges 
are of the lattice type with eighteen feet roadway. Where on 
