The filling in to be done in the proportion of one man filling to two men ramming with punners of not less weight than lbs. each. During dry weather a plentiful supply of water must be allowed to run into the trench whilst the filling in is in progress, for the purpose of consolidating the ground.
The traffic must not in any case be impeded, and planks must be placed across the excavations, where necessary, for the convenience of foot passengers.
The work shall if necessary be suspended on market days, or any other days that the surveyor may deem proper for the convenience of the public.
*********
The next clause of the Act deals with the manner in which the companies shall reinstate and make good the road or pavement, and is as follows:
“When the undertakers open or break up the road or pavement of any such street, or bridge, or any sewer, drain, or tunnel, they shall with all convenient speed complete the work for which the same shall be broken up, and fill in the ground and reinstate and make good the road or pavement, or the sewer, drain, or tunnel so opened or broken up, and carry away the rubbish occasioned thereby; and shall at all times whilst any road or pavement shall be so opened or broken up cause the same to be fenced and guarded, and shall cause a light sufficient for the warning of passengers to be set up, and kept there against every night during which such road or pavement shall be continued open or broken up, and shall after replacing and making good the road or pavement which shall have been so broken up, keep the same in good repair for three months thereafter, and such further time, if any, not being more than twelve months in the whole, as the soil so broken up shall continue to subside” (10 & 11 Vic. c. 17, s. 32).
The conditions embodied in the above clause are easier written than carried out.
It is well known that a trench cut longitudinally through a street takes a very long time to heal. Asphalte shows it the least if there is a good backing of concrete, but all other pavements suffer considerably in the process, as it is almost impossible to maintain their strict contour, and with macadamised roadways the result is simply disastrous.
Opening a macadamised roadway does it more harm than the heaviest and most persistent traffic, and it is surprising for what a length of time the surface will show the treatment it has received.
It is unfortunately the practice generally for the men in the employ of a gas or water company, after laying a pipe, to try and ram into the trench all the material they have removed, without allowing for the cubical contents taken up by the pipe, or if they do condescend to cart anything away it is generally the metal, which they think will come in nicely for the repairs of the trench during their liability for such repairs. What ought to be done is that no filling of ordinary earth, &c., should be allowed to come within at least six inches of the top of the trench, which should then be filled in with good road metal, and as this wears down it should be brought up to the proper level with more metal. In the former plan a hump is seen over the trench, and this hump is a mass of mixed dirt and road-metal for which there is no cure but its entire removal to a depth of at least six inches, and the substitution of good clean road-metal, which would have been the best and most economical plan in the first place.