EVERLASTING ROAD WILL NOT CRACK.

The contractor, Mr, John Moffat, of Manchester, has got well ahead with his work on the western section of the road. The asphalt surface is being put on at the Sion-lane end, and concrete is down up to Osterley. It is the opinion of experts that a stronger road has never been constructed, and that there is no road vehicle in existence which could make a fracture in it. Indeed, one authority stated yesterday that the road will require little repair for fifty years. For a considerable part of the route the road has been cut where orchards stood until recently, but excavators have cut and removed the good soil, and in its place material has been crushed down by rollers to form the firmest bed. The steam-roller has passed many times over the course of the road. When the excavator had lifted out the soil the roller pressed the earth flat. Then a mixture of ashes and hard core to the depth of twelve inches was laid down, and again the roller was used to make it firm and to roll it to the camber of the road, as it will be when finished, the crown of the road having a sixinch rise from the channel at the kerb sides. On top of the hard core there is nine inches of reinforced concrete, above which is two inches of compressed natural rock asphalt from Trinidad, a substance which resists extremes of heat and cold, and does not crack.