the first International Road Congress will meet in Paris on
Monday. Although there hare sometimes been informal international meetings of those interested in the making and maintenance of roads, this Congress will be the first meeting on a large scale. Some details of the agenda are given in the Times of Tuesday. Mr. Burns has sent a delegate from Great Britain, which, it is worth noticing, will be the only country represented at the Congress that has not got a regular Roads Department. As the writer in the Times points out, the roads of Great Britain represent a capital value of about £430,280,000; and it really is time that this matter should be taken out of the hands of county surveyors (though we know that some of them are excellent and zealous officials) and local bodies. A central authority is needed, not only because new forms of traffic are giving back to the roads an importance they have not had since the days of Telford and Macadam, but because it is necessary to reform the financial system under which they are paid for. It is absurd that local residents should have to meet the very heavy bills for the upkeep of popular reads which are used habitually by everybody.
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