The road clauses of the Development Bill have been dis-
cussed during the week in Grand Committee. Much to the surprise of Members, the discussion showed that Mr. Lloyd George was still intent upon maintaining his special motor roads, though it had previously been understood that this mad and wasteful scheme had been abandoned in favour of the far wiser policy of development of the ordinary roads by improving the width and the gradients, by cutting off dangerous corners, and, where necessary, by making loops to avoid narrow village streets which could not easily be widened. But though Mr. Lloyd George stuck to his new motor tracks, we are glad to see that he was obliged to yield on the point of the speed-limit, and that the new motor roads, when made, are to be exactly like any other portions of the King's highway,—that is, they may be used by all forms of traffic indifferently. This being so, the greatest objection to this part of the Development Bill is removed, and the Road Board becomes merely a rather grandiloquent piece of machinery for doing what the Spectator has always advocated,—namely, the general improvement of our roads.
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