ROADS: THE PROBLEM OF THE MOMENT.
Page 16
Page 17
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The Function of the Public Works, Roads and Transport Congress and Exhibition in Enlightening Local Authorities upon the Latest Plant and Methods in Road Construction and Maintenance..
By Sir Henry P. Maybury, K.C.M.G., C.B. (In an Interview).
0 N his return from Scotland, where he had received deputations from the various road authorities (who, by the way, are being faced with the problem of the need for an expenditure on their roads far in excess of the available local monies supplemented by grants from the Road Fund), Sir
Henry P. Maybury, K.C.M.G., C.B., the DirectorGeneral of Roads, Ministry of Transport, was good enough to spare us a few minutes of his valuable time to discuss the import of the Public Works, Roads and Transport Congress and Exhibition, which takes place during the ten days from Thursday next to Saturday week. "There is valuable work to be done in assisting the local authori ties and their officials to discover the most efficient and the most economieal way of carrying out their duties," said Sir Henry, and the congresses that have been organized for the members of committees and officials of the departments concerned with gas, water, electricity, street cleansing and refuse disposal, and so forth, have been extremely useful as providing opportunities for dis cussion and for examination of the latest appliances.
"The congress and exhibition, promoted in 1919 by the County Councils Association, was a great success. It dealt, as you will remember, solely with the question of roads, their construction and maintenance, and I think it was a wise move on the part of the Association to agree to the extension of the aims and objects of .
the congress and exhibition, so that it covered the interests of other equally important bodies, melud-
ing the Association of Municipal Corporations, the Urban District Councils Association, the Rural District Councils Association, the Institution of Municipal and County Engineers, the County Sur veyors' Society, the British Waterworks Association, the Incorporated Municipal Electrical Association, the Institution of Gas Engineers, and the Institute of Cleansing Superintendents.
" We bring all these interests together-at the one gathering, we arrange for special days for the gas people, the electricity people, for those concerned with transport, for the road engineers, and for the sanitary group.
"There has, not unnaturally, been criticism of the earlier method, whereby each set of interests held its own congress and exhibition; because, obviously, there was bound to be overlapping, duplication of effort and doubling the work of those people who are concerned, as exhibitors, as members of the different bodies or as officials, with more than one section of municipal work. "The undertaking of November, 1919, which was a big development of the congresses held in 1909 and 1915 by the County Councils Association, showed the way to the combination and co-ordinatioo of effort which will come to fruition next week. "On behalf of the Ministry of Transport, I have c16 given the -undertaking all the help within my power. There is a great deal—yes, a very great deal—to be done to encourage the local authorities to obtain upto-date road-making plant and to employ up-to-date methods in road construction.
"Throughout the country, there is a distinct dearth of this up-to-date plant. Very few contractors possess it, and, of course, those few that have got it can get all the work they want, without the need, for quoting closely competitive prices. "The smaller local authorities, and those with a large mileage of roads within their area and with small funds at their disposal, can scarcely hope to be able to acquire this plant in present circumstances. The authorities with better available means can certainly acquire plant, thus helping to keep the wheels of industry, turning, and, by the employment of that plant, serving to lessen the present labour tension.
"In this matter, what is wanted is the long vision.* It should be possible to assist the local authorities by a definite guarantee of help from the Road Fund over a period oft say, three or five years; because, in many eases, the local authorities require those periods for the financing of their commitments under the head of road improvement.
"The position is an extremely difficult one, and nowhere is it more difficult 'than in the case of the poorer districts.
"Just imagine the plight of some of the authorities in Scotland, in parts of Wales, in the less populous counties of England, where there is a big mileage of -"highway with, in some cases, an extremely small population, where the soil is not very productive, and where a penny rate produces, perhaps, but a micro
scopic sum. How are those authorities to lying their roads back to the proper standard of excellence unless they receive very substantial assistance? "Take the county of Hereford, as an example. The population is not very great, yet there is an omnibus service on nearly every main road in the county. "The burden upon these poorer local authorities is intolerable, and I do not wonder that they ask for more than we can give them from the Road Fund, and for some guarantee spread over a period of years. "I believe that we are now on top of the wave of costs, and that materials, labour, plant and every requirement will he cheapening in the near future.
" You ask if horse traffic should not be . called upon to bear a share of the burden. But horse traffic has whittled down to extremely small proportions. I have had occasion to call for definite statistics under this head, and I find that, on the main roads, there is not 10 per cent. of horse traffic. The figure generally is about 5 per cent. In and around the big towns the figure is higher. Near the docks a-nd warehouses in those big towns you will find con
centrated the greater part of the horse traffic of the country.
" But to return to the congress and exhibition. Besides the plant used in road making, the various materials and methods, and the transport vehicles for handling the necessary materials, there will be a number of exhibits of a character extremely interesting to those engaged in other municipal activi
ties, and, as practically every important,authority throughout the country is sending delegates and officials, there is every assurance that we shall score a big success, and I quite anticipate.that we shall be urged,to hold the gathering more frequently than is at present our idea. We favour the two-year;interval, and it is doubtful if we shall, in present circumstances at least, depart from it: