Construction, Cost, Repair, and Management. 
405 
Carting. — Carting used to be Invariably performed by wliat is 
termed statute-duty, occupiers of land sending one or more teams 
as required, and being allowed a proportionate reduction from 
their rate. This practice has now almost ceased to exist, and 
the surveyor employs such team-work as he requires, paying for 
the services either by the day or by contract. Taking wages at 
25. 6(5?. per day, and allowing 6s. per day as an average sum for 
a horse and cart, with the driver, the carting of materials can 
be done by contract at the rate of Gc/. per ton per mile. 
With higher wages the rate will of course be more, but it may 
be calculated on this basis. 
Carting should always be done in summer, when the roads are 
hard ; and, whenever practicable, the material should be deposited 
in heaps of one cartload apiece, and then wheeled on to the 
road with barrows as required. It is bad policy in a surveyor 
to be carting over his own roads in winter time ; and he will 
then generally have to pay a higher rate for the work, the loose 
and bad condition of the roads necessitating the carrying of 
smaller loads. Material, under any circumstances, ought never 
to be shot directly out of the cart on to the road. Wherever the 
heap falls the smaller pieces of material and dirt will be left, 
and the material will thus be unevenly distributed, and the road 
consequently wear unequally. All stone when first quarried is 
more or less soft, and hardens by exposure. Stones that have 
been lying in heaps all the summer will wear longer, therefore, 
than those which are fresh quarried. 
Width of Wheels. 
A question of great importance as affecting the cost of main- 
taining roads, is the width of the wheels of the vehicles used in 
carrying produce and materials. Under the old Highway Act, 
and under the Turnpike Acts, the weight each vehicle was 
allowed to carry was regulated by the width of the wheels. No 
such restriction is imposed under the present Highway Acts ; 
but in any future legislation it should be a matter for consideration 
whether it is not expedient that such a regulating law should 
become general, as the effect of heavy loads carried in vehicles 
with narrow wheels is most detrimental to the roads. A 
deputation on this subject lately waited on the Home Secretary, 
and asked for the insertion of a clause in the new Highway 
Act, by which all carts weighing over 6 cwt. should be restricted 
to wheels of not less than 4 inches, and all vehicles drawn by 
more than three horses should have wheels of not less than 
6 inches in width. 
VOL. XIL — S. S. 
