USVI Public Records

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IRIIEMRF‘.]?{_S of the ST. CROIX TURF Y& CLUB are hereby invited to attend a meeting to be held at Estate Fredensborg SUNDAY THE 12TH inst. at 4 o’clock P. M for the purpose-us deciding having a race for Easter. > For the Board E. G WULFF. Sec. & Treas. LIST OF UNCLAIMED MAIL FOR THE WEEK ENDED FEBRUARY 4, 1922. Miss Christina Abramson, Miss Axelina Benjamin, Mr. Ebez. Caines, Mr. Henry Conton, Mr. Kesterwus Davist. Water Gut, efo Mr. Weng, Miss Christena Derricks, Miss Elaine Hendricks, Miss Rebecca Howard, Susie Jensen, Queen St. (2) Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Knight, Elesa Martin, (2) Miss Florence Pond, Mrs. Kathrin Samuel, Elisa Thomas, Water Gut, Ernest Wallace, Mr. Elisha Williams. Post Office, Christiansted, Virgin Islands, February 4, 1922. B. R. LARSEN, Postmaster. e e inirsr OCAL. she S. S. ‘‘Martinique’’ sailed from New York on Saturday evening, having 70 tons of cargo for Christiansted and 19 tons for Frederiksted. There will be a regular meeting of the Home Service Committee this afternoon a' 3.30 o’clock. The Creole with outgoing mail for St. Thomas, Porto Rico and the States sailed from here at 6p. m. yesterday with a favorable breeze which should enable her to arrive in St. Thomas in good time to connect with the mail-boat from San Juan today. Last night’s show at the theatre was well patronized and enjoyed, the parts of the serial being among the most exciting and interesting yet witnessed. During one of the shows the management screened a slide to the effect that it has been proposed te change the show nights from Monday and Thursday to Sunday and Wednesday, and asking what the audience wants. There was no unmistakable murmuring that ne change is desired, and from what we learn of a large number of those present the geperal feeling is opposed to the change St o R X AD> proposed. For our part we can see no good reason why such a change is either necessary or convenient, and it is believed to be merely the whim of a minority who considers its own tasies wiinout reoard for the majority. Itis hoped that the management will heed the wishes of the latter. Our Public Roads In St. Croix. From 1885 to 1912 our roads were far superior to any coun‘ry roads that I had sver had the pleasure of iraveling over in the United States, and I had considzrable experience in that line, or, sufficient to pass a fair judgm:nt on the quality of the roads. Our mode of travel -during thos» yea*s was by horse and carriage, eart and wagon, the average heavy load being four hogsheads of sugar on a bull wagon. Average spesG from three to ten miles per hour, rhe broken stone and gravel used for repair and resurfacing the roads was packed and made smooth by the tires of vehicles in use whieh were steel or iron. While this was a slow method of smoothing our roads and resulted in oiving us only abont four or five months of first class roads, vet it served its purpose for the road traffic of that date. Since the introduction of motor ve hicles and high speed throughout the world great imprevements have te ken place in the construction and main eeance of Public Roads; in the which Fedral, State, Municipal and Insular Governments, have taken a hand throughout the United States, which haz had a great tendency especially in agricultural communities to increase the production and wealth of the country, f.i. ! spent my 1921 Christmas holidays with my son at Central Mercedita, Ponce, Porto Rico, and had the pleasure of mototing over many of their srlendid public roads some of them running over three thousand feet above sea level. Knowing that we had a road bill before” the Colonial Council, I thought it might be of some service to us if some data could be cbtained on cost of maintenance and repair of their roads. I approached the Administrator of Mercedita Mr. Giles, on the subject, and he loaned rae the Governor of Porto Rico’s Report to the Secretary of War for the year 1919, from which I gathered the following data: It appears from the report that in the years 1898-99 under the Spanish Government, Porto Rico had 254 kilometers of public roads and not many bridges, and during the period from 1871 to 1888 the highest cost for maintenance and repair was $679.57 per kilometer. In 1919 Porto Rico had 1300 kilometer of roads and many of the principal rivers had been bridged, from 1902 to 1916 tre average cost of repair and maintenance of roads under the American Government, was $301.92 and from 1916 to 1918 $490.76 per kilometer. The continueus method of road maintenance a \d repair is in practice in Porto Rico which keeps their roads in good order the year round, stone is broken by band with a few exceptions, which the report claimed was cheaper owing to cost of transportation. The average cost of broken stoue delivered on the side of the road ready for use was given as sl°7o per square meter, and for spreading the broken stone on the road for surfacing 75c. per square meter, Road ro'lers were drawn by oxen during the Spanish regime, the first steam roller weighing twelve tons was brought to the island in 1900-1901, in 1919 there were ten steam and seventeen gasoline road rollers in the island. Stone is broken by contractors along the side of the road as we do here, and measured in a square meter box without a bottom and hung on handles. Two examples were given in the report to indicate thie change in method and increase in road traffi~ in the island, first was the value of the imports _nd exports for the following years. o 5 " SevecE® —r = wagaggrmgg_.mw Do w%:"'0....:0 2T 25~-8 =lO gawziggfbmg‘a‘wo“wfia% = s < o & & C© $ 17,502,103.00 =32 "5:mi‘icc83515'8*5"32'%*"23'32% 1 at ’ ’ ® e C S 7 5 = Q= ® S 'Q_,.,v—.».m valued a PS EhE o Qo RO c =7B . S @ 2. rts were = s Y o °gsg 3‘l-—--mwa.=’,,qé<- & VB TOO : andeXpO )¢ °s(D==]w&= et —— L, = —o N'Uws_"gmms‘fig Inl9ollmpo!‘ts . e 5,245,82400 gg‘rcfi_,xgxs_o HT:’;%S%;(D:}:-C_:J E.CW %a -‘(ng:wgm"éfl i ¢ pis ' Q::N- mgflgg< e P omwm o R :m“" :,”D>m"m:j'~om‘<‘<:,g ‘“ ks :00* g@z 2.3-‘473@‘?_82% fi;g,;'—*g’é e Ras33sTl3B%, c " 1905 S "”‘Q;:"QSS'E%Q'MO; 2538 S 66 o”Cwi=& Lo ~Soy ¢ R-cAI O so® 8w “ Wiaiee ses, = BPR® So 20 LO~ o ‘e ==owe(e CTe 7 8 9*%5”8g535233§ biay | - tot o 838ML28.00 1 SFF 5335?3§Pafl~3353 =288% . . = L sl - -—:.v;’ ,—pr{-—: ’ mgdm§.£<flglzggm X2B - @@d:a zmag—-m”mg‘—’fi.g"' (':&m"""? s = <_.f ceng -e menos o 8 e e Z2823%2 %m 0 S 8%0!3'”13 éag‘%figa 191 ot 148,888 814 Spa =s © o m“’:(cbm.oa.m T ";8;3;_3 e ‘6 o —_ = @ e & & e Dkt e . =3 sRS - Q-f-ra_(b -‘s O G o;;w(n:co‘fi..,a"'s o o Sam o n zmga%agwfigsgzé Hl9lß ¢;9 éa);g\']& :%agrgcfi%wm%@mgo::%sm ) sy 5-o—@ -~ ot "-v"’:j".,_..' o 2385 s BTEa2lcs hicles in the island. .. .2SR 3 §~Z%§flga§§§g%sé§mߧ*g —DB = ON_,D‘G(DG e motor ve Ue = = F:Tr(omma: ® g H_—s:’-Q..,_,, Tw 22E s=D there were mc e . 309 B s w=oeß Vs 3%© B = Em2s°s§3B S'gog’ 2. In 1906 .G € e 553 %»;“5333Q§0§?%gm553w32 . O B o=, ‘s.s¢® 50 == = 235‘3"“8—"5’.8@ s “lign - . 4,529 &g =g Q-émg c3<a <'s"f:ms‘°'B2 235285 528050 L, SE3rEiciitonsioagiiss o —e < ‘6 cr =ov =- T ®=o |‘e e ~ESAP IS vRO | ngifizfica—?ifi‘ln I 8 “ 4,769 S RS-SAs o SRS =3 o 8 SaFa e 1‘ w = »rat oo WB =4 Hoflh:‘:m fi?m i) ‘6 .aK C’D('DS.Q‘:?%BQ‘ Gg'fls e 1919 ‘6 " '<€D_Bg- qlog.o‘gg gßotrEesmieton ® . DDt < 0 n o There roads are wide, built with a good crown and deep ditches on level land to carry off the water during heavy rains; they are surfaced with hard flinty broken stone rolled to a thard smooth surface as soon as layed with a road roller, Five ton trucks travel all over the island with their heavy loads, and automobiles speed along from thirty to forty miles per hour with ease and comfort. Trailers are not in general use in the island yet. Automobiles were introduced in this island if my memory serves me right, during the years 1910-11, and have been