Construction, Cost, Repair, and Management. 399 
fragments are sufficiently tough and solid to bear the weight 
of the wheel without its being able to break through. 
The objections against the use of hard materials are the ex- 
pense and the difficulty of obtaining them. The latter objection 
disappears under a consideration of the fact that railways have 
placed the most distant localities within the reach of all sources 
•of supply ; and the former objection is one that will be dis- 
sipated on a proper inquiry being made irrto the question, and 
certainly can only apply so far as the first outlay is concerned. 
The superior lasting qualities of the granites (which render 
much smaller quantities of material necessary), the saving in 
carting and labour, and the advantage gained in the traction of 
vehicles from the improved condition of the road, make the use 
of such materials a real matter of economy ; and it is sounder 
policy to pay the cost of transporting them from long distances 
than to use the inferior material which may be procured in the 
immediate locality. 
Having carefully examined this question, and observed the 
operation of roads repaired with different kinds of material 
during the past 15 years, I am able to give the following 
figures, taken from carefully kept accounts, which bear out the 
above statements : — 
Cost per mile. 
Labour and 
Material. 
EoAD No. 1. — Reprdred with hard gravel picked off the] 
surface of the laud, and broken by band, cost 5s. 6cZ.f 
per ton, and 2s. 6d. breaking. Average of four years. ( 
1860-1-2-3 j 
The same repaired with granite from Leicestershire,) 
broken into fragments to pass through 2^ inch-gauge, I 
the cost of the granite being 13s. Qd. per ton on the j 
road. Average of four years, 1864-5-6-7 j 
Eo.VD No. 2. — Repaired with broken flint stones, costl 
4s. G(Z. per ton, and breaking 2s. Cd. Average of four \ 
years, 1860-1-2-3 ) 
The same, repaired with granite aa above, cost 13s. 6d. 
^ per ton on the road 
Gain per mile 
Road No. 3. — Repaired with flint gravel dug from the 
land and screened, cost on the road 5s. 6d. per ton. 
Average of four years, 1862-3-4-5 
The same repaired with granite, four years, 1866-7-8-9, 
cost on the road 13s. 6d 
Grain per mile 
114 0 0 
61 3 0 
52 
17 
0 
137 
12 
0 
81 
6 
0 
56 
6 
0 
65 
18 
0 
46 
4 
G 
19 13 6 
