Page:Remarks on the Present System of Road Making (1823).djvu/165

 *sioners there, no sum such a trust could be justified in giving to a general surveyor could repay even a moiety of the expense of superintendance; the reward for my services, then, must be looked for in the convincing proof that my father's principles of road-making are, if possible, more applicable, and more beneficial in a trust where the materials are very bad than where they are good: my only object in troubling the Committee with these observations, is to show that unless a district of roads are united, the expense of a general superintendence would not be paid by any salary such trust could be justified in giving.

Can you state to the Committee the nature of the materials which you have employed in the different roads under your care?—At Epsom there are flints; at Reading a very small, foul gravel, with a thick adhesive loam attached; at Waltham Cross, on the Cheshunt roads, small foul gravel; towards Ware, flints; on the Wades-mill trust, flints; on the Royston trust, flint, gravel, and blue permet stone; at Huntingdon, flint, and gravel; Egham, flint and gravel.

Is there any particular method which you have employed out of the common practice, for making use of these materials?—I have bestowed great labour, care and attention in the preparation of these materials in the pits, and in their separation previous to their being brought upon the roads; and also much labour and care for a length of time after their being laid upon the road, until it became perfectly smooth, hard and level.

Can you state to the Committee the probable future expense of keeping these roads in repair, after they have once been put into good order, as compared with the annual outgoings under the old management?—I am of opinion that the expense of maintaining these roads in good condition will be considerably less than the former expenditure; for the reason, that the better a road is, the less the wear; and