Oct, 19.
Nursery annals frequently re-leerd the sad fate of too popular toys. The privileged inhabitants, delighted with the possession of some new specimen of the toymaker's art, cannot leave it. They! try to take it to pieces, to experiment in the uses to which it can be put and generally smother it with affection, be it a doll, 2 railway track complete with station and rolling stock or just amoy. This grown up nursery of Shanghai is likely to perform the same feat of affectionate destruc. tiveness with the new Hangchow Road. It was natural perhaps that enthusiasm of some over. this latest pleasing example of the development of the Good Roads Movement, of others over the prospect of escaping at intervals from the prison-yard here, would tend to obscure the exact limitations of the road. Comment on that subject yest day is reinforced to-day by an outspoken letter from Bishop Curtis, who as a resident of Hangchow and a close friend of Shanghai has a special right to deliver himself of a homily in remonstrance. Accidents have already occurred on the road, owing to excessive reliance on burden far beyond its d Unless a remedy be speedily found, the well-directed efforts of the road-makers will be sadly discouraged. A movement which is greatly to the interest of China and to all dependent on trade expansion becomes thus in inger of being prejudiced. It is important that all authorities leon cerned, including the Automobile Club of China, which has already sounded a salutary warning, should bestir themselves to undo the mischief done and prevent its development into a complete fiasco. It would be tragic if China's need of roads. for the construction of which she has the special advantage of cheap labour and an absence of engineering difficulties, should not receive increased attention jon account of the treatment accorded to this Hangchow Road.
The construction was directed towards making a road which would just bear motor-traffic travelling at low speeds. A m falled road was not attempted. The existence of the sea-wall at both ends enabled, the engineers further to keep down the cost. The result was that the total bill amounted to $700,000. How small a figure thatis can be gauged from comparison with a 26 mile-road now being finished in England from Liverpool to Manchester. The total cost is estimated at £3,000,000 or something like £108,000 a mile, Owing to the urban character of the greater part of the country through which it runs, the cost of acquiring land has reached a big figure, no less than £200,000. In addition a sum of £250,000 has been reserved for surfacing. The average price paid to acquire land was £500 an acre. The road is forty feet wide, in the "carriage-way" but on either side there is room for slower traffic to the extent of giving 120 feet width between two roads of twenty feet, thus
fences. It consists mainly of ix inches of ashes, then fifteen inches of concrete with two layers lattice-work steel (called reinforcement) placed three. inches from the top and two inches from the bottom of it, with the care!'
on the top of that. owing ta economy and as a temporary measure to seal the joints, it is being sprayed with coal emulsion and granite chips" is technical description will give the layman a dim idea of the excellence of this road. iwas planned six years ago. "Yet the engineers now assert that in four years' time it will be unequal to the pressure of the traffic which it will have to carry owing to the enormously rapid increase in the use of motor-transport, unless the Ministry lof Transport places restrictions on the weight of commercial loads. Taking £2,500,000 as the constructional cost and therefore the figure per mile at £96,000 it will be seen how modest is the hangchow Road which, making an estimate of 45 miles for the new portion of construction, has cost less than £1,000 a mile.
Comparison of this kind is more illustrative of differences conditions than practically ful for technical application. The low cost of labour on the Hangchow Road must be set off against the probable addition to the overhead charges of what Jmay be.termed incidental wast age. 'The chief point is that on this road has been promptly poured traffic which, in speed and, to some extent, weight, could be comfortably' borne only by a road constructed on lines. proximating to those of the new Liverpool-Manchester Road. Unless something be done to temper the wind to the shorn lamb, the road will soon be closed by the action of the traffic itself. Blame is attachable to no one party. Motorists must bei their share of it. The eagerness of the promoters of the road to announce their achievement and to make of it an incentive to further effort elsewhere been supported by the Press. There too criticism has been earned, And it is not certain that the loca) authorities have taken precautions to convince the villagers of the road's b valence, Motorists will to show consideration for thes imple folk. Resentment against motor-traffic is ever a danger in rural districts the world over. It has reason sometimes, While therefore the authorities ought to be urged to provide policing adequate to prevent any development of the hold up, leading as it may easily do, to banditry, the aim of road users should be to wet on good terms with people Whose privacy and quiet have. thus been invaded. In the long run the efforts of the road-makers will be crowned with success, provided early attention given to this and other con-derations, he movement for the construction of roads is too valuable to be deprived of encouragement. Experience will show how the present difficulties can be overcome, They are mainly the product of a failure to realise the volume of traffic which Shanghai can emit. Shanj hai, in its turn, must put a curd on its ni wy habits. It must not make the road a broken toy to be relegated to the attic of shattered illusions.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.