(2) During the last 20 years the streets of Lucerne have so often been cut up for the purpose of laying drains, water pipes, gas pipes, electric-light wires, etc., that it is impossible to give the cost of repairs.

(3) Granite curbstones for footways: Straight per metre, $1.06; curved, per metre, $1.26; laying curbstones, per metre, 20 cents.

(4) Paving footways with small squared stones laid in sand, per metre, $1.16.

ASPHALT FOOTWAYS.

Stone foundation, 15 centimetres high, covered with concrete, made of cement and hydraulic lime, 5 centimetres thick, per square metre, 48 cents. Asphalt, 2 centimetres thick, per square metre, 97 cents.

HIGHWAYS.

In the old diligence days the postal roads of Switzerland were celebrated, and although, since the introduction of railroads the same amount of care has not been given to the maintenance of highways, still I think that the Swiss postal roads would compare favorably with the roads of almost any other nation. I do not know if the system of construction is the same all over Switzerland, but probably it is so. In the cantou of Lucerne highways are constructed in the following manner:

(1) If the road is in level ground, or nearly so, ditches are cut on each side, for draining. The carriage way, which is 9 metres, or thereabout, say 30 feet, wide, is not excavated, but leveled, some of the earth taken from the ditches being used to fill up the hollows. On this bed a foundation of stones 8 or 9 inches high is built, and on this a layer of large gravel, generally river gravel, is laid to fill up the interstices between the foundation stones; the size of the gravel used is about 2 inches. On this a little earth or sand is spread, and above it a thick layer of coarse gravel is laid. After this has become consolidated by the traffic, the road is kept in order by successive layers of gravel as required. In places where it is difficult to obtain river gravel, hard. broken stones are used instead, something after the system of Mr. Macadam, except that a stone foundation is always used, which Mr. Macadam never made use of. When broken stones are employed it is necessary to loosen the surface of the road with a pick before the addition of each layer of material.

(2) When the road is made on a slope, a shallow ditch is cut on the upper side. The water runs in gully holes, and is carried under the road to the lower side by cement pipes, with an internal diameter of from 8 inches to 24 inches, according to the volume of water to be carried away. When the roads are made on mountain sides, where streams of water or small torrents come down from the heights, instead of pipes

a culvert is built of a size suitable to the requirement. In that case, the lower side of the road, instead of being an earthen embankment, generally consists of a retaining wall, well pierced with draining holes. (3) All the roads have a convexity of about 4 or 5 per cent. to enable the rain water to run off to the sides.

These high roads are very hard, and are soon dry after rain.

I inclose herewith four tracings of sections of roads in or near Lucerne, kindly supplied to me by the director of constructions of the city of Lucerne, which show clearly the method of road building.

COST OF HIGHWAYS.

(1) Stone foundation of rubble or river stones, not less than 8 inches high, per square metre, 39 cents; river gravel, from 2 to 21⁄2 inches, per square metre, 5 cents; broken stone, 6 to 7 cents.

The price of maintenance varies, as is shown by the following figures: 1875 (great activity in construction) cost, per square metre, 4 to 5 cents; 1881 (works suspended) cost, per square metre, 2 to 3 cents; 1890 (great activity) cost, per square metre, 3 to 4 cents; broken stones delivered on road cost, per cubic metre, $1,31. River gravel delivered on road cost, per cubic metre, $1.04.

EFFECTS OF IMPROVED HIGHWAYS.

With regard to the effect of improved public roads upon land values in the country, I am unable to speak, but in the neighborhood of the city it is estimated that an improved carriage way augments the value of lands through or near which it passes from 6 to 12 per cent. When an improved road near the city is required it is customary for the proprietors, through or near whose land the road is to pass, to petition the city council. If it is decided that the road be made, the municipality undertakes to get the plans made by its own engineers, and to have the road constructed. It also pays one-third of the cost of construction. The remaining two-thirds are paid by the proprietors, in proportion to the extent of their land and its nearness to the road. The proprietors have also to pay to the municipality a yearly tax for the maintenance of the road, but they have the option of redeeming it by one payment. The roads being maintained by the municipality are always kept in good order.

UNITED STATES CONSULAR AGENCY,

ERNEST WILLIAMS,

Consular Agent.

Lucerne, January 5, 1891.