CONTINUATION OF ROAD BOARD'S CONDITIONS.
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the term strength crust' or carrying out other works designed to permanently strengthen the road.
(2) Substituting better and more durable material for inferior material previously used in renewals of the strength crust or the surface or ust.
(3) Laying down and steam rolling a wearing surface or surface crust in renewal of a damaged or worn-out surface crust.
" 4. The Board consider that an obligation rests on the authority responsible for the maintenance of a road to maintain the strength crust as well as to recoat the surface or renew the surface crust with an adequate thickness of material when it is necessary to do so in order to keep the road in a proper state of repair, and that the cost of periodical renewals of surface crust is a charge which properly falls on the maintenance account. In making contributions to road crust improvement work it is necessary therefore to confine grants to some proportion (75 per cent. is the proportion usually given) of the extra cost of improvement after provision out of maintenance account of the cost of renewal, with proper materials, of the surface crust which requires renewal.
Inferior Materials Barred.
" 5. In the case of roads which have to carry any substantial volume of modern traffic the practice of carrying out periodical renewals with inferior material, such as gravel, flints, or soft limestone, although such material may be comparatively cheap in first cost, and binding with mud, is probably wasteful, and results in the total cost of periodical renewals of surface crusts, spread over a term of years, being greater than it would be if, in effecting renewals, superior stone or other good surfacing material, treated with some kind of bituminous material for binding or for surface protection, were used. The Board are therefore desirous of assisting, so far as the funds at their disposal may permit, not only the strengthening of sub-crusts and foundations, but also the improvement of surface crusts by the use of superior surfacing material and by the substitution of bituminous-bound for -svate r-bott rid material. They are assured by their technical advisers that this will not only provide better roads from the point of view of road users, but will also prolong the life of surface crusts, protect these crusts from rapid wear, and diminish the frequency of necessary and expensive renewals or recoatings. But the question whether the whole of the extra cost of improved surface coatings can be treated as improvement cost without regard to the greater durability of these coatings, and the consequent diminution of the annual equivalent of the cost of renewals properly chargeable to maintenance account, must be considered.
" 6. Hitherto the Board, before making grants to rand crust improvement work, have obtained from highway authorities estimates of the extra cost involved in renewing surface crusts either with improved materials or by improved methods, and have contributed a proportion of sueh extra cost, without taking into account the estimated extra life of the improved surface crust.
All Money Must Go to Improvements.
" 7. It has now been so fully established that bituminous binding will substantially increase the life of wearing surfaces, that in future, in dealing with surface crust improvements, and in cases where the circumstances render the consideration relevant and material, the Board intend to take into consideration the effect of the inaprovement'in reducing the cost of future periodical -renewals, which are properly chargeable to maintenance account. The effect of this will be in some cases to reduce the proportion of the extra cost for width grants can be made, or to render it necessary to introduce into some grants a condition that, in the event of the extra cost of the improved surface crust being in fact wholly or partially recouped by the extra life of the surface crust, the highway authority will spend upon other permanent road improvements in the district under their jurisdiction, an amount equivalent to the grant made by the Board, or so much thereof as may in fact be recouped by extra life of the new surface crust to which the Board may have contributed.
Loans Favourably Viewed.
" 8. If, instead of applying for grants for a proportion of the extra cost of improvements in surface crusts on the terms suggested in this minute any highway authority would prefer to apply for a short term loan, at a low rate of interest or in some eases without interest, of the whole amount of such extra cost., the Board propose to give favourable consideration to applications for such loans.
Comparative Information Required.
" 9. In the event of any highway authority hereafter desiring to make an application for a grant or loan towards the cost of road crust improvement work, they will be required to supply, either with the application or prior thereto, the information indicated in Form No. 19* appended to this minute, so that the Board may be informed as to the quantity and prices of material laid down on the roads maintainable by such authority, and as to the expenditure on repairs and renewals in the last complete year for which such information is available, prior to the date of the application for a grant.
Future Intentions also to be Stated.
"10. The authority will also be required to supply with or prior to any application for a grant towards road crust improvement work a statement as to the lengths proposed to be recoated and the expenditure proposed to be incurred on maintenance account in the year following that for which particulars may be given on Form 19 above mentioned, and the Board will as far as practicable select from the works of recoating or renewal which the authority are proposing to carry out in the ordinary course of maintenance those lengths which having regard to the importance or the condition of the selected road should be executed by improved methods or with improved materials. "11. Subject to the terms of this minute the Board will continue to make grants and loans to road crust improvements on applications for such grants or loans being made by county councils and other highway authorities. They will also continue to make contributions to the cost of surface tarring in cases where such treatment is suitable, but such contributions except in eases where the grant is in continuation of a grant already made for a first application of surface tarring will not, except under special circumstances, exceed from 50 to 75 per cent. of the cost..
Ireland a Case Apart.
"12. This minute is intended to apply to applications from England and Wales and Scotland (with some exceptions necessary to provide for those cases in which the circumstances require special consideration). The case of Ireland will be separately considered."
will be observed from the foregoing, that the Road Board iniend-, stringently to cheek the inclination of some road authorities to use th proceeds of increased taxation merely for maintenance.—D.1