SPEAKS ON ROADS 
Col. Sohier Talks on Road Con- 
struction at Toronto 
Col. Wm. D. Sohier 
who is chairman of the Mass. 
Ilighway Commission, spoke at the 
international Road Convention in 
Toronto yesterday afternoon on 
‘Traffic and Its Relations to Road 
of Beverly, 
Construction, Maintenance anid 
Cost.” He said“in part: 
‘With modern Massachusetts 
motor vehicle travel a newly built 
macadam road without any bitum- 
inous materials having been used on 
it will easily be destroyed in one 
inonth, so far as its surface is con- 
cerned, and will be damaged so that 
it will require fifteen to twenty-five 
cents a square yard to put it back 
into condition so that some bitum- 
‘inous material can be used. With a 
certain volume and weight cf 
traffic, granite block on a concrete 
base will perhaps be the most 
economical, especially for heavy, 
concentrated — loads. Thirty-ton 
loads on four wheels are very com- 
mon near the docks in Liverpool, 
where six-inch granite blocks on a 
concrete base has been worn for 
cighteen years. 
‘‘In figuring costs you must figure 
what the road has to bear in tons or 
otherwise. Speaking in round num- 
bers, you will find on figuring the 
English roads and American roads 
that it costs about a cent a vehicle 
a mile per year to maintain the 
roads. It would not surprise me it 
the same were true on dirt roads. 
Dirt roads, of course, will not stand 
very much heavy teaming, no mat- 
ter if they are kept constantly 
patched. For merely . automobile 
travel, cars on pneumatic tires, you 
ean economically and satisfactorily 
maintain a gravel or macadam road 
in the summer season by the proper 
use of a good bitumen and constant 
maintenance and patching. 
‘‘The increased cost on many 
water-bound macadam roads in 
England when the motor bus _ ser- 
vice was put on was substantially 
four cents a mile for every mile that 
the busses, which weighed six tons, 
including their lead, went over the 
road. Proportionately a small run- 
about would probably cost about a 
quarter of a cent; a large touring 
car from one to two cents, and prob- 
ably a heavy horse-drawn vehicle 
with a three-ton load would cost 
about the same. Constant mainten- 
ance costs money. Our labor costs 
are much in excess of those im 
France and England. Our materials 
probably cost the same, though in 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
Massachusetts our stone is cheaper 
than the French or English im- 
ported Belgian or Welsh granite, 
which is practically a hard trap- 
rock. 
‘‘ All the Frenche roads, even little 
country roads, cost over $100 a 
mile a year on the average to main- 
tain. Even the little country roads 
in England have cost more. The 
French engineers practically state 
that they need $770 a mile for many 
miles of road on their main roads to 
adequately maintain them; the 
Iinglish county engineers spent 
$1,100 a mile on the average on 
their main county roads, and we in 
Massachusetts are spending $850 a 
mile. These figures, of course, in- 
elude’ not only ordinary mainten- 
ance, but resurfacing when, say, 
one-half of the original road surface 
has worn off. The people must be 
made to vealize that if the original 
investment in roads is not to be lost 
adequate provision must be made 
for the maintenance of the roads, 
and the money secured from some 
source.” 
MANCHESTER 
Frances Andrews of Mass. Agvri- 
cultural college came home vester- 
day te spend the spring vacation. 
Mrs. Robert Mitchell of Danvers 
spent Thursday here with her 
mother, Mrs. Enoch Crombie. 
Miss Hester Rust will join a party 
of Simmons college girls camping at 
Brier Neck, Gloucester, next week, 
during the Haster holidays. 
Mrs. Alice Hinchliffe of Breok- 
line was in town last Saturday, the 
euest of Mrs. John C. Mackin, 
North st. 
There will be a-number of Man- 
chester young women in the Wales 
tour to Washington next week. 
They will leave Friday and will be 
away about ten days. 
James Salter, who has been for 
many years gardener at the Philip 
Dexter estate, Forest st., is leaving 
Manchester next week for Danvers, 
where he will be connected with 
the Essex County Agricultural 
school, recentlly established there 
Miss Ruth Bullock was hostess to 
about sixteen of her young friends 
Wednesday afternoon at a ery 
pretty party, given in honor of Miss 
Grace Salter, who will be greatly 
missed in Manchester when she 
goes to Danvers next week to make 
her home there. 
Buy your wall papers from H. 
Tappan, iY Bridge street, Maniennat 
ter. adv. 
SOCIETY NOTES 
The Alexander S. Porter, Jrs., 
plan to open their house at Singing ~ 
Beach, Manchester, the middle of 
April. 
Oo 
The J. M. Grahams are to open 
their summer residence on Smith’s 
Point, Manchester, within a week 
or two. 
% O | 
An interesting building project is — 
planned for Mystery Island, off the 
Beverly Farms shore. The manage- 
ment of Mystery Island says so 
many demands have been made for 
accommodations which they were 
unable to. fill during past seasons, 
that it is proposed to build, in con- 
nection with the Casino, about 40 
suites of two large rooms and bath, 
with a covered veranda which ean — 
be used at night as a sleeping porch, 
giving guests all the comforts and 
privacy of a home, without the 
cares of housekeeping. The suites 
have been figured to cost $2,000 
each, exclusive of the land. It is 
proposed to start building as soon 
as the first frost is out of the 
gcround, so as to have them ready 
for occupancy the first of June. 
Half of the subscription will be 
called for when the roofs are com- 
pleted, and the balance when the 
suites are finished. The suites are 
to be built in sections and each sec- 
tion will be laid out as soon as sub- 
scribed for. The new bathing pool 
of stone and concrete has been 
finished and is a feature of the 
resort. 
Ye Wilbur Theatre 
‘“A Pair of Sixes’’ 1s now in its 
fourteenth week of wonderful suc- 
cess at the Wilbur Theatre, and it is 
creating just as much hearty and — 
unbounded enthusiasm, as it did the 
first week of the Boston engage- 
ment. Every other man, woman or 
child in Boston has already seen — 
this remarkable farce at the Wil- 
bur, and the others are doubtless 
preparing to see it before it leaves 
the city. For only once in years are 
the theatre-goers given such an op-— 
portunity for rich and wholesome 
laughter as is to be found in the — 
performance of ‘‘A Pair of Sixes. o 
Already it has broken all records 
for farce runs in Boston, and there 
is not the slightest decrease in the 
interest displayed in the piece. 
The Breeze $2 a year postpaid. 
Patronize home industry by hav- 
ing your printing done at this office. 
