MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. (continued 2)

[The following Papers were delivered in, and read:]

Expenditure on the Bristol Roads.

In the year 1815, previous to the alteration of management, there was paid £. 14,285 2 1

An unpaid floating debt of 1,400 0 0

Total expense of 1815, to 25th March 1816 £. 15,685 2 1

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129Alteration of management, commenced 16th January, 1816.

In 1816, outlay was £.16,127 5 1

Deduct accounts of 1815 £.1,400

Paid into 5 per cent. fund, about 340

1,740 0 0

Total expense of roads, to March 1817 £.14,387 5 1

=============

In 1817, outlay was £.15,830 4 11

Of which, permanent improvements cost £.1,500

Paid to 5 per cent. fund, about 200

Paid for a general survey and plans 340

Whitchurch Bridge repairs 320

2,360 0 0

Total expenditure for roads, to 25 March 1818 £.13,470 4 11

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Bristol Turnpikes. Report of Mr. John Loudon MᶜAdam, to a General Meeting of Commissioners, 2d June 1817.

Since I had the honour of reporting to the meeting of commissioners on the 2d of March last, the amendment of the roads has proceeded with success, and at present there are no parts of the roads of the Bristol district in a bad state.

Much has been done in partial improvements, which have altogether amounted to a considerable sum, although not of sufficient magnitude individually to come within the scope of the regulations of the general meeting, that restrain improvements exceeding 50l. without special order; several such improvements are still necessary, and some of the small bridges require to be lengthened in the arches, in order to lead the roads to them more commodiously, and to widen the roadway on the bridges.

The statement of the income and expenditure of the year, now made up to the 25th March, presents a very satisfactory result.

130In the last year, a sum equal to nearly five times that of the preceding year, has been paid into the 5 per cent. fund.

A floating debt, which did not appear in the printed annual account of last year, but which amounted to about 1,400l. has been paid off.

The balances of treasurer’s accounts, which last year showed the trust to be indebted on the whole to the treasurer 356l. are now so much on the other side, that your treasurers have on the whole account a balance in hand of 614l. and this balance is efficient, because the floating debt is now reduced to the smallest sum possible, under the circumstances of a business so extended.

In addition to which, I have to congratulate the commissioners on a reduction of the principal debt in the sum of 729l. 10s. 3d. and that turnpike tickets, which were at a discount, are now in demand at par.

(Signed) John Loudon MᶜAdam.

8th March 1819.

The foregoing is a true copy from the book of proceedings of the trustees of the Bristol turnpike roads.

Osborne & Ward, Clerks.

Bristol Turnpikes. Report of Mr. John Loudon MᶜAdam, to a General Meeting of Commissioners, 1st June 1818.

Bristol Office of Roads, 1st June, 1818.

Since I had the honour to report to the commissioners, in June 1817, the business of the roads has gone on successfully, and they have been kept in invariably good repair under the present system of management, notwithstanding the roads having been tried by all vicissitudes of the most unfavourable seasons ever known.

Several valuable improvements have also been effected in different parts of the district; the very promising state of the 131finances having induced the commissioners to employ great part of the savings of their income for that purpose, instead of applying the whole to the liquidation of the principal debt of the trust. This great debt has, however, been diminished nearly 500l. while the sum expended on the permanent improvements considerably exceeds 1,500l.

£. s. d.

On the 25th March 1818, there was a balance in the hands of each of the treasurers, with exception of the Bitton and Toghill roads; and the balance due to that treasurer has been diminished upon the whole account; there remained in the hands of the treasurers, on the 25th March 1818, the sum of 1,987 14 5

In the hands of the general treasurer, from 5 per cent. fund £.502 5 11

Due by the Whitchurch road to the 5 per cent. fund, and included in the general debt 300 0 0

802 5 11

Balance in hand, 25th March 1818 £.2,790 0 4

===========

It is very gratifying to report to the commissioners this material amelioration of the funds during the present year, when the income of the trust has suffered a diminution of 425l. 5s. occasioned probably by the depression of trade throughout the country.

It is to be regretted that the directions of the general meetings respecting the payments to the 5 per cent. fund have not been more punctually obeyed; but without entering into the circumstances of heavy debt and other difficulties, which have hitherto prevented payments from particular treasurers, I beg leave to call the attention of the commissioners to a consideration of the 132importance of this fund, and the use to which it may be most advantageously applied.

The fund was instituted for the purpose of giving the general meetings the power of extending aid to any division of the roads of the district that might be in distress. As the favourable state of the funds, arising from the system of management adopted by the commissioners, gives a very reasonable hope that such occasion of distress may never again occur, it may be expedient to consider of the propriety of converting the 5 per cents. into a sinking fund.

By application of such a sum, amounting to about 850l. annually, to the gradual extinction of the debt of the trust, the means of continuing several useful and very desirable improvements will be diminished only in a small proportion, and the amendment of the general state of the roads will proceed, without entirely losing sight of the justice due to the creditors, and the desirable object of reducing a debt of such magnitude.

As it may be doubtful whether under the authority of the present act of parliament the trustees may legally apply the 5 per cent. fund to the purpose of a sinking fund, the committee appointed to prepare the new act may be instructed to consider of this subject, and also for better securing the due payment of the 5 per cent. fund at stated periods, along with the interest of the debt, to the general treasurer.

I have great pleasure in being able to continue to give a favourable report of the conduct of the sub-surveyors.

(Signed) John Loudon MᶜAdam.

8th March, 1819.

The foregoing is a true copy from the book of proceedings of the trustees of the Bristol turnpike roads.

Osborne & Ward, Clerks.

133

Bristol Turnpikes.

At a Meeting of the Trustees for the care of the several roads round the city of Bristol, holden on 7th December 1818, at the Guildhall in Bristol.

Thomas Daniel, Esq. in the Chair.

It appearing that under the triennial appointment of Mr. MᶜAdam, his office of general surveyor will cease on the 16th day of January next;—

Ordered unanimously, That he be again appointed to that office for a further term of three years, at the same salary.

Resolved unanimously, That the thanks of this meeting be given to Mr. MᶜAdam for the zeal and ability with which he has executed the very arduous duties of his office, from which it appears to this meeting that the most important advantages have resulted to the roads under his care.

8th March 1819.

The foregoing is a true copy from the book of proceedings of the trustees of the Bristol turnpike roads.

Osborne & Ward, Clerks.

Does any part of that saving which is stated to have taken place on those roads, arise from an increase of revenue?—There has been a small increase of revenue, but whether arising from tolls or a better collection of the statute labour, I cannot take upon me to say; but that increase of revenue must be deducted from the saving of 2,700l., which appears in the treasurer’s hands.

134

Jovis, 11º die Martii, 1819.

John Loudon MᶜAdam, Esquire, called in; and Examined.

Is there any part of your former evidence upon which you wish to give any further explanation to the Committee?—In consequence of the surprise and doubt expressed by some members of this honourable Committee, on that part of my evidence respecting the carrying a road over a morass in Somersetshire, and the proportions of the materials used upon that, and the part of the road with a rocky foundation, which I stated from memory, I thought it proper to write down to the treasurer of that road, to request the favour of him to send for the surveyor, and know the facts exactly from him. The treasurer, Mr. Phippen, who is a magistrate, sent a certificate, signed by the surveyor. There was a certificate, also, signed by Mr. Phippen; and with it there was a letter from Mr. Phippen, of explanation; both of which I wish to put in.

[The papers put in were as follow:]

“I do certify that that part of the sixteen miles of the Bristol turnpike road under my care, from Cross, over the marsh lands, towards Bridgewater, is now in the best state I ever knew it, which is wholly owing to having the very large stones laid at the foundation when the road was first made more than fifty years since, lifted and beaten very small. The general strength of the road is from seven inches to nine; and five tons of stones, I have always considered for the repairs of this part of the road equal to seven on the other part over the hills.

(Signed) “Edward Whitting, Surveyor.”

135“I, Robert Phippen, Esq. one of His Majesty’s justices of the peace for the county of Somerset, and treasurer on the road mentioned in the above certificate, do hereby certify and declare, that the contents are true to the best of my knowledge and belief; and the road in question has been under my constant inspection for five years past; and the surveyor, Edward Whitting, is a person well known to me, and worthy of credit.

“Dated March 9th, 1819.”

“Letter from Robert Phippen, Esq. to John Loudon MᶜAdam, Esq. No. 9, Northumberland-street, Strand, London.

“Dear Sir,

“There cannot, in my opinion, be any necessity to lay the foundation of a road on any ground, even the most soft and peaty, with large stones; daily observation tells me, that this is a great waste of time, materials, and money. I have had, for these five or six years past, a great deal of experience in seeing roads made, one in particular, over a very soft peat bog, by Wedmore and Glastonbury, in this county. At the time this new line of road was proposed to be made, a great difference of opinion existed as to its practicability, and the method to be pursued to accomplish it. Some of the parties were for laying the whole of the road over the bog with brush-wood, on which were to be put large flat stones, and on those smaller ones. We who were the other party, insisted that a more simple, less expensive, and more permanent method was to make it with stones alone, broken very small. We, at last, prevailed, and the system succeeded even beyond our most sanguine expectations; for this part of the road has stood uncommonly well, though the travelling on it has been very great, and with heavy carriages, and the little repairs wanted have been done 136as an inconsiderable expense, compared to the other part of the road made on hard ground over the hills.

“I remain, dear Sir, yours truly,

“Rob. Phippen.”

“Badgworth Court, near Axbridge,

March 9th, 1819.

I wish, in reference to the opinion I gave with respect to the statute labour, to state, that I have to transact with sixty-nine parishes, respecting their statute labour, in the counties of Somerset and Gloucester; and that it is in consequence of these transactions, I gave the opinion to the Committee that I had the honour to submit.

What proportion of the statute duty, by pecuniary payments, instead of the mode at present adopted, do you conceive might be saved?—I think, if one third of the present nominal value of the statute labour was to be regularly paid into the hands of the treasurer, that it would be more available to the public roads, than the present manner in which the work is done, and certainly less onerous to the agriculture of the country.

James MᶜAdam, Esq. called in; and Examined.

You are the son of the last witness?—I am.

Have you been employed as a general surveyor upon the turnpike roads?—I have.

Upon what roads have you been employed?—Upon the Epsom and Ewell turnpike roads of twenty-one miles; upon the Reading road of six miles; upon the eastern division of the Egham road, seven miles and a half; on the western division of the Egham road, eight miles and a half; on the Cheshunt turnpike roads, of eighteen miles; upon the Wades-mill turnpike trust of twenty-nine miles; on the old North road, or Royston road, of fifteen miles; upon the Huntingdon road of ten miles; and on the road from Huntingdon to 137Somersham of ten miles; being together one hundred and twenty-five miles.

How long have you been appointed to them?—My first appointment was in December 1817.

Had you been previously in the habits of making the improvement of turnpike roads your study?—I had at Bristol, under my father’s tuition.

The information you have acquired, I presume, then, has been entirely under your father’s system?—Yes, upon my father’s principles of making roads.

And those plans which you have adopted, have been entirely conformable to the evidence which he has given before this Committee?—Entirely conformable to those principles which my father has stated in his evidence before this Committee.

Can you give the Committee any information with regard to the revenues of the different roads under your management?—The gross revenue of the trusts I have mentioned, of which I am general surveyor, is about 19,550l. per annum.

Please to state to the Committee, the state of repair in which these roads were when they first came under your management?—The roads in general were in a very loose, rough, and heavy state, much overloaded with materials, the watercourses much stopped up, and the roads in general in a very bad state.

What improvements have taken place upon them since your undertaking the care of them?—The Epsom and Ewell roads were put into a perfect state of repair during the last spring and summer; the Reading road has also been put into a perfect state of repair during the last summer; and the Cheshunt turnpike roads have been put into a good state of repair, notwithstanding that the improvements commenced in October, and have been carried on through the whole winter: the improvement is proceeding rapidly in the other districts; but the three roads I have mentioned, are the only 138trusts that are brought into a perfect state of repair. I venture to speak freely and with great confidence, of the good state of repair of these three trusts; for the reason, that no credit whatever is attached to me, except what may be considered due by the careful attention and zealous execution of my father’s commands. The merits of the improvements are wholly his own.

Can you state to the Committee the expense with which these improvements have been accompanied?—The expense upon the Epsom roads amounted to 1,929l. 8s. 1d. in the year 1818; that is the only trust upon which I am enabled to state the twelvemonth’s expenditure.

In what proportion has the expenditure been divided between the labour of men, women, and children, and the price of cartage and of materials?—I have paid for labour upon the Epsom roads, 1,146l. 1s. 2d.; for materials, 98l. 10s.; for cartage, 227l. 16s.; for tradesmen’s bills, 342l. 0s. 11d.; for land to widen the roads, 115l.; which makes up the expenditure 1,929l. 8s. 1d. I beg here to state, that I did not avail myself of any statute duty upon the Epsom and Ewell roads.

Can you state to the Committee the expenditure upon these roads, in the years preceding your having the charge of them?—I can; in the years 1815, 1816, and, 1817, which are the three preceding years to my having the charge of these roads. In the year 1815, there was paid for labour, 379l. 14s.; for cartage, 1,019l. 14s.; for gravel, 486l. 15s. 5d.; for tradesmen’s bills, 178l. 6s. 3d.; making a total of 2,064l. 9s. 5d. In the year 1816, there was paid for labour 340l. 16s.; for cartage, 1,070l. 7s. 6d.; for gravel, 563l. 1s. 10d.; for tradesmen’s bills, 382l. 4s. 5d. making a total of 2,375l. 19s. 9d. In the year 1817, there was paid for labour, 339l. 16s.; for cartage, 1,103l. 16s. 3d.; for gravel, 551l.; for tradesmen’s bills, 681l. 6s. 1d.; making a total of 2,675l. 18s. 4d.; independent of the statute duty 139upon the several parishes, which were called forth by the former surveyor.

Do you know the value of that statute duty?—Not having had occasion to call it forth, I am unable precisely to answer the question; but the parishes are wealthy, and the statute labour must form a very considerable amount.

I presume the comparative smallness of the expense which you incurred for materials must have arisen from making use of the old materials upon the road, by lifting them according to the plan which your father has described?—That was the case.

In what state did you find the executive department of these roads when you took charge of them?—I found at Epsom a person as surveyor, who had been an underwriter at Lloyd’s Coffee-house, at a salary, as I am informed, of sixty pounds per annum, and who was permitted to keep the carts and horses, and do the cartage for the trust. At Reading, I found an elderly gentleman as the surveyor, who was also one of the commissioners, at a salary of twenty or thirty pounds per annum. I found at Cheshunt three surveyors, the trust being divided into three districts. One of the surveyors was an infirm old man, another a carpenter, and another a coal-merchant. I found on the Wades-mill trust three surveyors also, and the trust divided into three districts; one of these surveyors was a very old man, another a publican at Buckland, and the other a baker at Backway, with a salary of fourteen shillings a week each. I found on the Royston road a publican as surveyor there; and I found at Huntingdon a bedridden old man who had not been out of the house for several months, and who had been allowed by the commissioners to apply to a carpenter in the town for assistance, and to whom the commissioners allowed twenty pounds per annum; this person, who accompanied me in the survey of the roads, stated, that he 140could give but little attention to the management of the road, the salary being so small; and the state of those roads bore evidence to the truth of his assertion.

Without entering into individual cases, do you consider that it was possible, from the nature of the circumstances and engagements of these parties, that they could give that attention to the roads which their improvement required?—I do not consider it was at all likely that they would.

What arrangements did you make in the executive department of these roads after you took the charge of them?—With the permission of the trustees, I appointed upon each trust an active sub-surveyor, whom I required to keep a horse, and to have no other occupation whatever.

Can you state to the Committee the expense of employing such sub-surveyors?—The salary of the sub-surveyors in general is one hundred guineas a year; and where the revenues of the trust have been small, as in the case of the Royston roads and the Huntingdon roads, I have made one surveyor do the duty of both the trusts, in order that that expense might be divided.

What emoluments have you yourself derived from your employment upon these trusts?—I am unable to state the precise amount to the Committee; for the reason that I have in every instance requested of the trustees that that consideration might be deferred for at least a twelvemonth after I was honoured with the charge of the roads; Epsom is therefore the only road upon which that period has elapsed; and with the permission of the Committee, I will read the resolution entered upon the ledger of the Epsom roads upon that subject.

21st December, 1818.

141We have examined the above accounts of Mr. MᶜAdam, the surveyor, from its commencement to this date, and find that the sum of 75l. 6s. 1d. is due to Mr. MᶜAdam, by the trust, say £.75 6 1

But as no allowance has been made to the surveyor for his management, and as that management has given great satisfaction to the trustees, it was resolved to give the surveyor, to cover all charges, and for his trouble, it being distinctly understood for this year only, the sum of one hundred and fifty guineas 157 10 ——

£.232 16 1

Which sum of 232l. 16s. 1d. the treasurer will be pleased to pay to Mr. MᶜAdam.

(Signed) T. Reid,

Edward Archbold,

John Webb,

Thomas Calverley,

Thomas Halliday,

William Dowdeswell,

J. M. Cripps,”

With permission of the Committee I will relate what I stated to the trustees, upon those resolutions being read to me; that I considered that sum as extremely liberal, and quite sufficient for one small trust to give a general surveyor, and were Epsom one trust in a district, such a sum would be quite sufficient for their proportion of the salary of a general surveyor; but standing alone, and divided from all other trusts of which I had the management, and separated also by the London roads, the necessity of my father’s travelling from Bristol and residing some time at Epsom, and of so much being required to be done the first year in a new trust, that sum did no more than repay the actual expenses incurred. It will be obvious to the Committee that such a trust as Reading, consisting of six miles only, distant from Bristol eighty miles, and from London forty miles, and anticipating an equal liberality on the part of the commissioners 142there, no sum such a trust could be justified in giving to a general surveyor could repay even a moiety of the expense of superintendance; the reward for my services, then, must be looked for in the convincing proof that my father’s principles of road-making are, if possible, more applicable, and more beneficial in a trust where the materials are very bad than where they are good: my only object in troubling the Committee with these observations, is to show that unless a district of roads are united, the expense of a general superintendence would not be paid by any salary such trust could be justified in giving.

Can you state to the Committee the nature of the materials which you have employed in the different roads under your care?—At Epsom there are flints; at Reading a very small, foul gravel, with a thick adhesive loam attached; at Waltham Cross, on the Cheshunt roads, small foul gravel; towards Ware, flints; on the Wades-mill trust, flints; on the Royston trust, flint, gravel, and blue permet stone; at Huntingdon, flint, and gravel; Egham, flint and gravel.

Is there any particular method which you have employed out of the common practice, for making use of these materials?—I have bestowed great labour, care and attention in the preparation of these materials in the pits, and in their separation previous to their being brought upon the roads; and also much labour and care for a length of time after their being laid upon the road, until it became perfectly smooth, hard and level.

Can you state to the Committee the probable future expense of keeping these roads in repair, after they have once been put into good order, as compared with the annual outgoings under the old management?—I am of opinion that the expense of maintaining these roads in good condition will be considerably less than the former expenditure; for the reason, that the better a road is, the less the wear; and 143that there will be a less quantity of materials required, when properly prepared, than were formerly used, when they were brought to the road in a very foul and improper state.

Can you state generally, whether the proportion of labour, materials and cartage that you have described upon the Epsom trust, agrees with the same proportion upon the other roads under your management?—On some of the other roads, the proportion of labour to cartage will be found greater than upon the Epsom road. At Cheshunt, in five months, during which the roads have been put into good repair, I have expended the sum of 800l. forty of which alone was paid for cartage. Upon the Wades-mill trust, out of 600l. expended, not a sixpence was paid for cartage. Upon the Royston roads, where I have spent 500l. not any of it was paid for cartage. Upon the Huntingdon roads, I have spent 20l. a week, the whole of which has been paid in labour. At Reading, during eight months, 500l. were laid out, 400l. of which were paid for labour.

Is it your opinion, that the proportion of labour, wages, and cartage, is likely to continue the same, in the future reparation of the roads?—I am of opinion they will; because there will be an increase of labour, in the preparation of the materials, previous to their being brought to the road; and also in the formation of the road after they are laid on. By a more careful and proper preparation of the materials, a much less quantity will be required to uphold the roads than formerly; I am, therefore, of opinion, that the proportion of labour to cartage will continue the same.

It appears, by your answer to a former question, that the expense of cartage has been much diminished, owing to your making use of the materials of the old road; will not the proportionate expense of cartage for future years be increased in consequence of your no longer having the resource of breaking up the roads, but being obliged to repair 144them with fresh materials?—In some degree it certainly would.

In what way is the statute labour at present performed upon these roads?—Upon two of the trusts only, the Royston road and the Huntingdon road, I have had occasion to avail myself of any statute labour; the fund upon the other trusts being more than sufficient to uphold the roads without having recourse to statute labour. Upon these two trusts I have derived some small advantage from statute labour.

Colonel Charles Brown, called in; and Examined.

Are you one of the commissioners of the turnpike road upon the Cheshunt trust?—I am.

How long have you acted?—Several years, eight or ten years.

Be kind enough to explain to the Committee any recent improvements, which have taken place in the management and repairs of the roads within that trust?—Since the new method has been adopted by Mr. MᶜAdam, a very evident advantage has arisen to the roads; they are now extremely good, and were formerly very indifferent; I therefore attribute it solely to the present mode adopted by Mr. MᶜAdam for nothing can be better than the roads are at present.

Can you state to the Committee, whether the improvement has taken place with an increase or a diminution of the expense?—I believe at about one-third less; At least I understand that it was taken at about one-third less.

Has there been any increase upon the tolls upon these roads?—Not since Mr. MᶜAdam has had any thing to do with them. I have every reason to suppose there will be a diminution, in consequence of the good state of the roads.

Having heard Mr. MᶜAdam’s evidence, can you give the Committee any further information with regard to the means by which these improvements have been effected?—I conceive 145that the mode of Mr. MᶜAdam has been the means of making the roads so much better, that it is only wonderful when we see it now, that it has not taken place sooner, being founded upon the best principle possible.

Can you state whether these improvements have taken place by the use of any new materials, or by a better application of the existing materials?—By the better application of the existing materials, certainly.

Have you found this improved system attended with any advantages, in regard to the employment of the poor within those parishes?—With regard to the parish where I live, and where my property is situated, I have seen considerable improvement, since we have had the opportunity of sending our poor to be employed by Mr. MᶜAdam, who has most readily employed every one we have sent; and I can state now, that we have not a man unemployed that I know of.

Ezekiel Harman, Esquire, called in and Examined.

You are a commissioner of the turnpike road upon the Cheshunt trust?—I am.

Having heard the evidence of the last witness; can you, upon your own knowledge, confirm the testimony that he has given with regard to improvement of the roads within your trust under Mr. MᶜAdam’s inspection, and the advantages derived therefrom?—I can, certainly. It is a matter of surprise to me, that so material an alteration has been already made in the roads, the advantages of which are obvious to every one travelling the road; and, as an additional proof, the coachmen who are in the habit of driving that road have confirmed this statement. I have witnessed also a similar improvement in the Epsom road, where the forward state of the improvement shows an additional proof of the advantages derived from this system.

146

Thomas Bridgman, Esquire, called in; and Examined.

Are you a commissioner upon the Cheshunt trust?—I am.

Having heard the evidence of the two last witnesses does your judgment in all respects confirm the testimony which they have given, in regard to the improvement which has taken place upon your roads, and the advantages derived from them?—Most assuredly. I have witnessed these roads for more than twenty years, in a variety of forms as a commissioner. I have observed, the failure of two or three different sets of coachmen and coach concerns down below, all of whom are now saying, that if this system continues they shall require a horse less. All these parties were originally much prejudiced against the new system.

John Martin Cripps, Esquire, called in; and Examined.

You are a magistrate of the county of Surrey, and commissioner of the roads upon the Epsom trust?—I am.

Can you inform the Committee what was the state of the roads within your trust, previous to the year 1818?—They were very bad, having no attention paid to the formation of the road; having the water, in many places, going over the road; and great inattention paid to the breaking of the materials, and to the expense attending the carting of them.

At what time did you commence the alteration in the system of management?—At the latter end of December 1817, when the roads were put under the superintendence of Mr. MᶜAdam, senior, and when his son commenced the management.

What alterations have since taken place in the state of the roads?—By a newer formation of the road; the materials 147being properly broken; and the water carried under the road by trunks, or drains, with proper gratings.

Referring to the particulars of the expenditure given by Mr. MᶜAdam, jun. in his evidence this day, can you confirm the accuracy of those accounts?—Yes; and I can explain that the items for tradesmen’s bills include the wharfing and repairs of Bridges in each year; I can add, that the statute labour for 1815, 1816, and 1817, amounting to one hundred pounds each year, which Mr. MᶜAdam has not availed himself of in their improvements.

Had the system of management pursued by Mr. MᶜAdam proved the means of giving employment to labourers in the district, and thereby lessening the poor’s rates?—Very much so; and they have occasionally employed from twenty to thirty persons, stout able-bodied men, who otherwise would have been obliged to have been supported out of the parish rates.

Have you in consequence had any persons who were able to work who have been out of employ?—Between twenty and thirty persons have been employed for the last three months in breaking flints, and in repairing and improving the roads, who otherwise must have come upon the poor’s rates; and all the persons who have been enabled to work have found employment in consequence of this improvement; that has been the means of greatly relieving our poor’s rates.

Has the same system been extended to the private roads in that district?—It has been adopted in some of the private roads of that district, and with the same beneficial effects.

Can you state any particulars with regard to the necessity there has been for carting additional materials for these roads?—At present Mr. MᶜAdam having lifted the roads, has found more than sufficient material for the support of those roads.

148What have been the materials that have been used?—The materials that have been used are flints chiefly.

During the state of improvement of these roads, have the tolls been increased or reduced within your trust?—At our last meeting, we agreed, that at the next letting, the tolls should be reduced from May next, for the benefit of agriculture in general; and that where two shillings and eight-pence is now paid, they will have now to pay one shilling; that with relation to the agricultural interest, will be a reduction of twenty five pounds per mile.

Within your own personal observation, have you known any other instance in which a road has been formed upon the same principles as those adopted by Mr. MᶜAdam?—I had an opportunity of observing in Sweden that the roads were more beautiful than any I ever beheld; they are formed in the same manner as by Mr. MᶜAdam, the materials broken extremely small. The material is the best in the world, as it is rocks of Granite; and so well do they understand the necessity of breaking them small, that you never behold throughout Sweden, a fragment of granite larger than the size of a walnut, for the purposes of the roads.

What is the shape of these roads?—To the eye they appear perfectly flat; but upon trial by the spirit level, there is a slight degree of convexity.

William Dowdeswell, Esquire, called in; and Examined.

You are a commissioner upon the Epsom trust?—I am.

How long have you been a commissioner?—About four or five years.

Have you had any opportunity of observing the comparative state of the roads since they were put under the care of Mr. MᶜAdam, compared with that in which they were 149before?—They were very bad when first put under Mr. MᶜAdam’s care; they are now, I think, very good.

Do you attribute this to the improved system of management?—Totally.

Can you confirm the evidence that has been already given relative to the expenses of repairing the roads previously to that time and since?—From the statement made to me by the former surveyor, and from Mr. MᶜAdam’s statement, I believe the statements delivered in to you are perfectly correct. Considering the advantage which the public has derived from Mr. MᶜAdam’s system, I have adopted the same upon the parish roads. I offered myself to the parish as their surveyor, for the purpose of carrying that system into execution. I have found employment for all persons who wanted employment upon the parish roads, assisted occasionally by persons going to the public roads under Mr. MᶜAdam.

How long have you adopted this system upon the private roads?—Ever since October last.

From that period the whole of the poor have been employed upon the parish roads?—From that period the whole of the poor that wanted employment, have been employed upon the parish roads, or upon the public roads under Mr. MᶜAdam.

Have those persons been employed by you, by piece-work or by day-work?—The roads were in such a state, and as I wanted knowledge to employ by piece-work, I have been compelled to employ them by day-work.

From your experience are you of opinion that these private roads, made upon the new system which has been adopted, can be kept in good repair at a less expense than they formerly cost in their bad state?—At a very considerable less expense than formerly.

150

Martis, 23º die Martii, 1819.

Mr. Benjamin Farey, called in; and Examined.

You are, I believe, the surveyor of the Whitechapel road?—I am.

How long have you been in that office?—Nine years.

In what situation did you find the road, at the time of your undertaking the management?—I found the Whitechapel road in a dreadful state, partly from the neglect of the surveyor, in laying on foul and improper materials. In the autumn of 1809, it was almost impassable.

Gravel is the only material you have in that neighbourhood?—Gravel is the only material we find, on or near the spot.

Is the traffic upon the Whitechapel road so great as to render it impossible to preserve it in good order with the present materials?—It is impossible to preserve it in good order at all times, with the present materials; it is past the art of man.

Do you consider the traffic upon that road, as greater than upon any other road out of London?—I believe it is a heavier traffic; there are not so many light carriages, as on some other roads.

What species of carriages do you consider do the most injury to your road?—The carriages that do the most injury, are those with the widest wheels.

In what way do you consider that they injure the road?—By their great weights destroying the materials.

Are the carriages you allude to, exempt from the payment of tolls?—They pay much less tolls. The pressure, or crushing of materials by the wide wheels, is owing to the wheels not running flat.

Being of a conical shape?—Being of a barrelled and 151conical shape, and the middle tire projecting above the others, with rough nails.

Do you consider, that if those wheels were made of a cylindrical or flat shape, it would be good policy to grant them any exemption from tolls?—They would be less injurious for being cylindrical; but whenever the road was at all out of the level, and the weight came on one edge of the wheel, the road would be destroyed there.

Upon the whole, is it your opinion that there are any circumstances which justify an exemption from toll, on account of the breadth of the wheels?—I do not see any at all, for I think they are injurious in every sense, on account of the great weights they carry.

Do you consider that injury is done to the roads, in consequence of the use of single shafts in waggons?—Very great.

In what way?—In consequence of single shafts, the horses follow in one track, in the centre of the carriage; and the wheels also follow each other in other tracks, and cut ruts: if there were double shafts, they would naturally avoid former wheel-tracks, which would be less injurious to the road.

Do you consider it therefore desirable to give encouragement to double shafts?—I do.

Do you consider the watering of that road in any way injurious?—I consider that watering that road in summer, is very injurious.

In what respect?—The water separates the stones, owing to the softening of the loam, and makes the road spongy and loose.

At what periods do you consider it injurious to water the road for laying the dust?—Before May and after August.

Have you not a practice of sometimes watering in winter, when there is no dust?—After the most careful sifting of the 152gravel, a small quantity of loamy dirt will unavoidably still adhere to the stones, and this loam, together with a glutinous matter which accumulates in the summer from the dung and urine of the cattle (which accumulation the summer watering has a tendency to increase) occasions the wheels to stick to the materials, in certain states of the road, in spring and autumn, when it is between wet and dry, particularly in heavy foggy weather, and after a frost; by which sticking of the wheels, the Whitechapel road is often, in a short time, dreadfully torn and loosened up; and it is for remedying this evil, that I have, for more than eight years past, occasionally watered the road in winter. As soon as the sticking and tearing up of the materials is observed to have commenced, several water-carts are employed upon these parts of the road, to wet the loamy and glutinous matters so much, that they will no longer adhere to the tire of the wheels, and to allow the wheels and feet of the horses to force down and again fasten the gravel stones; the traffic, in the course of four to twenty-four hours after watering, forms such a sludge on the surface, as can be easily raked off by wooden scrapers, which is performed as quickly as possible; after which the road is hard and smooth, the advantages of this practice of occasional winter watering have been great; and it might, I am of opinion, be adopted with like advantages on the other entrances into London, or wherever else the traffic is great, and the gravel stones are at times observed to be torn up by the sticking of the wheels.

In what state of the road are you in the habit of laying on fresh materials?—I prefer laying on materials immediately after the road has had a scraping, in consequence of there being upon the surface of the road a small quantity of dirty matter and broken gravel, which then form a sort of cement for the gravel to fix in.

153You consider it advantageous to lay on the materials when the road is wet?—I do, because the gravel adheres closer.

Considering the very great traffic upon the Whitechapel road, is it your opinion that it would be advantageous to pave any part of that road?—I think it would be desirable to pave it, within some feet of the footpath more particularly.

What breadth from the sides of that road would you consider it desirable to have paved?—About eleven or twelve feet from the footpath.

You would consider it a desirable plan to pave the sides of that road in preference to the centre?—Certainly.

For what reasons?—If the centre was paved, the light carriages would be very much annoyed; when the gravel road was good on the sides, the heavy carriages would go there, and the light carriages would be driven on the stones from the sides again; if the centre was paved the carters would be obliged to walk on that road to manage their horses, and would be considerably annoyed by carriages, horsemen, &c. passing: but if the sides of that road were paved, the carters would be enabled to walk on the footpath and to manage their horses without annoyance.

What is the shape of road which, from your experience, you would give the preference to?—I would have the road barrelled, and made so as that it would convey off the water in the severe weather in winter, when the roads are generally bad.

Which do you give the preference to, a road with a flat surface, or one that gradually declines from the centre?—I think a road which gradually declines from the centre is by far the most preferable, decidedly so.

What is the degree of the declivity or fall which you would recommend as the most desirable?—I have paid particular attention to the Whitechapel road, where it is of the width of 55 feet, and the fall from the centre to the sides is 15412 inches; but to attain this shape, when the road is worn down, when first covered with gravel, there should be a fall not exceeding from 16 to 18 inches from the centre to the sides. [The witness delivered in a cross section of the road.]

Is it your opinion that any parliamentary regulation with regard to stage coaches is necessary for preventing injury to the road?—None.

You think it desirable that they should remain as at present?—Yes.

What is the state of the Whitechapel road now, as compared with what it was some years ago?—During the greater part of the year, it is now one of the most pleasant roads out of London to travel upon; but from the gravel being small and brittle, it is soon worn down, by the great number of heavy weights passing on it. With the small gravel we have in the neighbourhood of Whitechapel, the road at times breaks up, and becomes in a bad state; but by the application of water, to stop the sticking of the wheels, and separate the sludge, in two days they are found in a good state again.

Have you any other suggestion to make to the Committee for the improvement of that road, or of roads in general?—On that road, very great improvement might be made, in not allowing the wide wheels to pass by paying so little toll, or to carry so great weights as at present; if the narrow-wheeled waggons were to use double shafts, they would be less injurious to the roads: even with narrow-wheeled carts, if the two fore-horses were double, the shafts not being in their track, it would be less injurious to the roads.

John Farey, Esquire, called in; and Examined.

What is your profession?—I am a mineral surveyor and engineer.

155Have you turned your attention to the state of the roads in the different districts of the kingdom?—I have, very particularly.

Can you furnish the Committee with any information with regard to the state of those roads, as compared with former years?—I can; I have particularly attended to that subject; more especially in the time of the late duke of Bedford, for whom I was an agent. I have since been employed in nearly every part of England and Wales, and also in Scotland: and I have statements by me of the various observations I have made.

You have been employed under the late duke of Bedford, in the improvement of the roads in the neighbourhood of Woburn?—In the management of his roads in Bedfordshire, and of all his rural works.

Describe what improvement of the main road has taken place under your direction, in Woburn?—The whole of the line of the road through Woburn, except about three hundred yards in different places, is on a very strong alluvial clay: the road passes over naked sand, only for three hundred yards; this road had been rendered so sandy and so bad, entirely by bringing soft sand-stone out of Buckinghamshire, at three miles carriage, upon the average, in Woburn, and some of that stone was brought almost to the end of Hockliff Town, where the best gravel abounds. It appeared, from the remains of a number of gravel pits, that there had been formerly a great deal of gravel dug in Woburn; this circumstance I mentioned to the duke of Bedford, and he desired search to be made; and it was ascertained that Woburn might furnish gravel enough, adequate to any purpose. In consequence of which, his Grace directed, when the labourers were much in want of employment, that the poor persons should be employed in preparing a great quantity of gravel for the purposes of this 156turnpike road. I undertook to direct the taking of this gravel out, and to level the siftings and dirt in a uniform manner, and lay all the soil again upon the top; by which means the land was in no degree injured, but, in fact, considerably benefited, by being loosened to that depth. A great many hundreds of cubic yards of clean-sifted and picked gravel were prepared in numerous square stacks, and the trustees at a meeting, or else their clerk, were informed, that this gravel his Grace offered to the road at the mere cost of labour, without any thing for the gravel, or the temporary damage to the occupiers of the land. After a long time of hesitation, the trustees or their clerk returned an answer, that they did not like that mode, alleging that their surveyor ought to be allowed to dig materials where and how he liked, and they would not have this gravel: it lay there, some of it for two or three years, upon the land. In that time a number of private roads were making of his Grace’s, and a good deal of it was used on these. The main road became progressively worse and worse, and the post-office caused the parish to be indicted. I was then surveyor, and made an application to the trustees, stating the circumstances the road was under: that road-trust is thirteen miles in length, two of which, or rather more, are in the parish of Woburn; there is a toll-gate in the parish which the inhabitants are liable to all the toll of; some of them, even in going and returning to and from their fields: the trustees had exacted very strictly the half of the statute duty, although the parish had, I think, eleven miles of private roads to maintain. I mention this circumstance to show there was no default on the part of the parish; and it was afterwards proved, that they had done their duty; the trustees merely laughed at the application, and said, that they had nothing to do with it: we must repair the road, and till we did so, they would not lay out a farthing upon 157our road. It happened, very fortunately for the parish of Woburn, that their act was very nearly out, and they applied for a new one; the parish opposed it, stating, that the trustees had misapplied the tolls, and praying, that the part of the road, through Woburn, should be taken out of their management; the act accordingly directed, that two-thirteenths of the tolls should be paid over to the parish surveyors of Woburn, and the trustees were not to call for any statute duty, or interfere in the management of this part of the road; in consequence of this, the gravel mentioned, which remained, and great quantities dug on purpose, was used upon the road, in a sufficient quantity at once, so as to admit of its settling down together; for it wanted lining nine inches thick, or more, and the road has since been perfectly good.

Jovis, 25º die Martii, 1819.

John Farey, Esquire, called in; and Examined,

In effecting the improvement of the Woburn road, did you make use of any particular mode of applying the gravel?—The gravel, before the time of using it, had been very clean-sifted, and separated from the dirt and sand; the great stones had been picked out, and such of the flints which were of a long and irregular shape, in order that they might be broken. After laying the gravel upon the road men were daily employed to rake the gravel into the ruts, and, at the same time, to carefully pick off the surface any stones that were either soft or improperly shaped, like long flints, or too large.

What is your opinion, in regard to the form the most preferable 158for turnpike roads?—A small convexity in the middle.

Will you state the fall, in any given width of road, that you would prefer?—Referring to my brother, Mr. Benjamin Farey’s evidence, I agree with him in wishing that the section which he produced, might be received by the Committee, as an answer to this question.

Is there any particular circumstance, in the formation of roads, more particularly applicable to the immediate neighbourhood of London?—In the neighbourhood of London, and of several other large towns, the materials that are to be readily procured, are of too tender and brittle a nature to endure the wear of the heavy carriages; I therefore am of opinion, that it would be proper to pave the sides of all the principal entrances into London; but not the middle, as has been done on the Commercial road and Borough Stones’-end road. My reasons for preferring the sides being paved are, that it is next to impossible to compel the carters to keep upon the pavement in the middle of the road, in too many instances; the fear of damage, from the swift going carriages, occasions them, either to draw their carts close to the sides, and walk upon the footpaths, or what is worse to leave their horses in the middle, beyond a train of carriages. The sides being paved, would enable one of those trains of carriages to enter London on one side of the road, and go out of it on the other, without many occasions to turn out of their tracks: which keeping nearly to the same tracks, upon a well-paved road, would not be prejudicial; but on a road formed of gravel is entirely ruinous.

Do you consider that the plan of rolling the roads in the neighbourhood, of London, might be advantageously introduced?—The centre of the roads I should recommend to remain covered with clean-sifted and picked gravel, having 159as many as possible of its large, roundish and smooth stones broken by means of a hammer before the time of laying it on the road, and that an heavy iron roller, of from four to five feet diameter, and not less, might be advantageously used in the first settling down of this gravel; a small roller, such as I believe to have been tried in the neighbourhood of London, very heavily loaded on its top, might have a tendency to force the loose gravel before it so as not easily to be drawn or to mount on to the gravel driven before it without crushing the flints. I will add, I am of opinion, that a roller could not be beneficially used upon a road at any other times but after new coating it with gravel, or after a frost or the sticking of materials to the wheels may have loosened up the materials.

Do you consider that the present regulations in regard to exemptions of tolls to waggons with broad wheels, are justified by sound policy?—In my opinion, those exemptions have wholly originated in mistaken principles, and that no wheels wider than about six inches are now, in fact, used upon the roads, owing to the general and gross deceptions which the waggoners practise as to the breadth of surface that their wheels roll on; and that if by any more efficient regulations, the users of broad wheels were compelled to roll the breadths of surface, which the laws contemplate, all such wheels would be immediately disused, from the great additional force of draught which broad wheels occasion during the average state of all the roads.

Are you of opinion that any regulation by statute, for substituting cylindrical for conical wheels, would remedy that evil, or justify an exemption from toll?—As far as I have observed, there are no conical wheels in use: all the wheels are rounding or barrelled, and it is comparatively an immaterial circumstance whether they approach the form of a cone or a cylinder, while they remain so rounding or barrelled, 160because their enormous loads roll on a very small portion of the surface of all those broad wheels. I think that six-inch cylindrical wheels, or under, are the most practicable and useful, provided the projecting nails are most rigidly prohibited, which I believe can never be done but by a penalty per nail upon the wheelers who put in those nails, and upon the drivers of the carriages who used such roughly-nailed wheels.

Are you of opinion that the penalties now fixed by law upon over-weights are regulated upon good principles?—I consider the whole system as to penalties upon over-weights generally bad; the present regulations seem to me framed upon mistaken principles, and are the source of very great impositions.

In what manner might the penalties and tolls upon carts and waggons be best fixed?—It is not practicable very simply or in this way to state any one scale that would be generally applicable for each breadth of wheels: below six inches, there should be a rate fixed, which would apply to ordinary or gate-tolls, and at the weighing machines additional tolls, which I will call machine-tolls, should be levied upon all carriages which exceeded the weight, to be regulated in an increasing scale for each breadth of wheel, so as very greatly to discourage, but not ruinously to prohibit the occasional carrying of large weights upon any wheels.

You are not, then, of opinion that it would be right to do away the regulations altogether in respect to the weights, and apportion the tolls only to the number of horses?—By no means.

Are you acquainted with any particular weighing machine, which obviates the common objection in regard to impositions by the machine-keepers?—I am; Mr. Salmon, of Woburn, many years ago, contrived, and had a patent (which has expired) for a weighing machine, intended to prevent 161impositions on the carters: the machine being so contrived as to be locked up from the machine-keeper, and accessible only to the surveyor, and so as to exhibit the exact weight by a revolving index, like the hands of a clock, which are called clock-face indexes; a great number of these weighing machines have long been in use in the kingdom, some in the immediate environs of London: by looking at the index of which machine, the carter, or any passer by, may see that the machine, before the carriage is drawn upon its weigh-bridge, is in just balance; and all the time the carriage remains upon the weigh-bridge, the index exhibits the weight, so that the carter can take it down; and at the same time the dial-plate is made an abstract of the law, by there being written against each of the weights fixed, the breadth of the carriage wheel, and the season to which that weight is applicable at the commencement of penalties for over-weights.

Can you inform the Committee of the expense of a machine of this description?—I cannot; but it is trifling, compared with its advantages, and an index may be added to a machine upon the common principle, using weights, placed in a scale; they may be applied to any good machine already in use.

Are you of opinion there exists any necessity for limiting the number of horses in carts and wagons, upon roads where there are weighing-machines?—I am of opinion not; and even doubt the propriety of calculating the gate-toll by the number of horses which draw the carriage. Upon private or parish roads, where no machines are erected, there seems, however, no other mode of regulating or preventing excessive loads being carried, to the ruin of the roads, than limiting the number of horses; but in case of the practice becoming general, which already prevails in many of the towns in the middle of England, of there being a weighing-machine, 162kept by a cottager, at all the principal entrances at the town, at which he is authorized (by the local magistrates, I believe,) to collect a small toll for each weighing, for those who voluntarily apply to him, by which means all loads passing into and out of such towns, may be, and the greater part of them are now, weighed; and if this were adopted in the environs of London, (with the addition of a yard and a warehouse, where a carter who has inadvertently taken up too large a load, either of dung, furniture, or other articles, of the weights of which he could not be accurately informed, may learn the same; and where, upon the result of this weighing, if it should be discovered that he had much too large a load, he could there throw off and deposit a part of it, either to abandon it if of small value like dung, or to take it up from the warehouse, at a future time,) these entrance weighing-machines would remove the only valid objection to weighing the loads of manure going out of London, by which the roads are at present more cut up and destroyed, than by any other description of carriages.

Will you have the goodness to state the principle upon which you prefer that the tolls should be regulated entirely by weights and breadth of wheels, without regard to the number of horses drawing?—Because nothing can be more vague or unsatisfactory, than the latter mode of defining weights, or preventing the carrying of excessive loads, because horses are of such very different degrees of size, condition and strength, and the humanity or otherwise of their drivers are so very different; but more on account of the very great inequality of the different roads of the kingdom, which this general regulation is now made to apply to, as to the number and steepness of the hills: the precautions that have been used, of setting up posts upon the tops and bottoms of those steeps, to define where extra horses may 163be used, are entirely become useless, comparatively, none of the hills now remain, to any length, with so great a degree of steepness, as to cause it to be worth any one’s while to keep horses stationed there, for the purpose of assisting heavy carriages up those hills for hire; still less has it occurred that any waggoner has spare horses following his waggon, for which he must pay tolls, in order to avail himself of this useless permission, to use any number of horses up the steep hills.

Are you of opinion that stage-coaches require, or would admit of any regulation with respect to their wheels or weights?—I am clearly of opinion, that they would not; for in travelling, when it has happened that I could not get a seat on the front of the coach, I have, through many long days, carefully attended to the impression made by the wheels of the carriages upon which I have been travelling (when they have been among the heaviest loaded coaches) and have compared these impressions with those of the carts and waggons, particularly broad-wheeled ones, which we met; from which observations, and other more particular ones, I am of opinion, that the injury done to the roads by the coaches, compared with their utility and the tolls they pay, is not such as to justify any legal restraint on their wheels or weights.

Are you of opinion, that it would be attended with any advantage to the roads, to encourage, by any regulation or exemption from tolls, the use of carriages, varying the length of their axles, so as to prevent their running in the same tracks?—I am of opinion it would be very beneficial, and have particularly so stated to the Board of Agriculture, with an example of the tolls over a new road, which are so regulated in Derbyshire: in addition to which, some inducement in the abatement of tolls, might be made to those carriages, 164which now generally use single shafts like the farmers’ carts and waggons, on their adopting double shafts, so that all their horses may draw in pairs; this being applicable even to three-horse carts, as far as concerns the two foremost. Stage-coaches, for the reasons here alluded to, as they do all draw in pairs, and very seldom follow in any previous and deep rut, do far less damage to the roads than otherwise would happen; their springs also, and swiftness of motion, contributing, very materially, to lessening their wear of the road.

Are you of opinion that any advantage would be derived from the general commutation of statute duty?—I have long been of opinion that the whole principle of statute duty, as now regulated, is erroneous; labour in kind should entirely cease: and the surveyor collect a more equable rate on all property in his township; the present regulations for calling out the teams and making of a road rate, are so complicated, as to be above the capacity of the majority of parish surveyors, who in most or all instances collect the rates for the turnpike roads as well as the private roads.

Will you state your opinion of the statute labour, as it particularly applies to turnpike roads?—In all the local road acts which I have examined, one half of the statute duty of each township is apportioned to each toll road which passes through any part or corner of that township, which in innumerable instances, is very highly prejudicial; a due proportion of the fair road rate, as already mentioned, should be payable to each toll road, where there are more than one in the township, in proportion (or nearly so, as the quarter sessions might order) to all the lengths of all the roads within the township which it contributes to repair.

From your observation of the different roads throughout the kingdom, do you think that important advantages would 165be derived from their being placed under skilful surveyors, acting for large districts?—At present, the separate trusts are so exceedingly different in extent, many of them extending only three, four and five miles, while others have fifty or a hundred miles of road under their trusts, that it seems impracticable, in many trusts, to employ a very skilful and competent surveyor, on account of the great and unnecessary expense that would be incurred on the short lengths of road; but if the legislature should see it right to enact the appointment of thoroughly competent district surveyors, who might have the superintendence and control, to a defined extent, over the officers of the local trustees of turnpike roads, as well as over the surveyors of the parish roads within their districts, the most important advantages would result.

Do you not think great inconvenience arises from the great numbers generally found forming commissioners of turnpike trusts?—From my own experience, I cannot say that I have seen any evil from the great number of trustees, on the contrary, the greatest mismanagement that I have seen in any roads, has arisen from the clergymen of the districts being almost the only acting trustees; the greatest and most active land owners frequently having no share in such trusts: the late duke of Bedford, for instance, not being a trustee in the vicinity of Woburn for many years after he took an active part in improving the district.

James Walker, Esq. called in; and Examined.

You are a civil engineer?—I am.

In the course of your experience have you turned your attention to the making and repairing of roads?—I have been employed in the making and repairing of several roads, and the regulation of others.

166In what part of the kingdom have you been employed, and what observations have occurred to you upon this subject?—The whole of the works executed under the Commercial Road, the East India Road, the Barking Road, and the Tilbury Road Acts, have been under my direction, as well as the roads made under the Bridge and Dock Companies, for which I have been engineer. The Commercial Road, which is between the West India Docks and London is referred to in the report of a former Committee on highways, as particularly well fitted for heavy traffic; that road is seventy feet wide, and is divided into two footways, each ten feet, and a carriage road fifty feet wide, of which twenty feet in the middle is paved with granite. I have a section of the form of this road (No. 1, in the annexed plan.) The East India Dock branch of the Commercial Road is also seventy feet wide, ten feet of which is paved with granite. I have prepared also a section of that road (No. 2, in the plan.) The traffic upon the Commercial Road, both up and down, is very great, and necessarily required a width of paving sufficient for two carriages to pass upon it. I am quite sure that the expense of this road would have been very much greater, probably much more than doubled if it had not been paved, and that the carriage of goods would also here been much more expensive; indeed it would have been next to impossible to have carried the present loads upon a gravelled road. The road has been paved for about sixteen years, and the expense of supporting it has been small, although the stage-coaches generally, as well as almost all the carts and waggons, go upon it; while the expense of the gravelled part has been comparatively great. During the thirteen years that the East India Dock branch has been paved, the paving has not cost 20l. in repairs, although the waggons, each 167weighing about five tons, with the whole of the East India produce, which is brought from the docks by land, have passed all that time in one track upon it, and a great deal of heavy country traffic for the last eight years, when a communication was formed with the county of Essex. The advantage of paving part of a road where the traffic is great, and the materials of making roads bad or expensive, is not confined to improving the conveyance for heavy goods and reducing the horses’ labour; but as the paving is always preferred for heavy carriages, the sides of a road are left for light carriages, and are kept in much better repair than otherwise they could possibly be. It is not, I am sure, overstating the advantage of the paving, but rather otherwise, to say, that taking the year through, two horses will do more work, with the same labour to themselves, upon a paved road than three upon a good gravelled road, if the traffic upon the gravelled road is at all considerable, and if the effect of this, in point of expense, is brought into figures, the saving of the expense of carriage will be found to be very great when compared with the cost of the paving. If the annual tonnage upon the Commercial Road is taken at 250,000 tons, and at the rate of only 3s. per ton from the Docks, it could not upon a gravelled road be done under 4s. 6d. say however 4s. or 1s. per ton difference, making a saving of 12,500l., or nearly the whole expense of the paving in one year. I think I am under the mark in all these figures, and I am convinced therefore that the introduction of paving would, in many cases, be productive of great advantage, by improving the gravel road, reducing the expense of repairs, and causing a saving of horses’ labour much beyond what there is, I believe, any idea of. The expense of a ton of Aberdeen granite paving-stones laid in London, or in any similar situation, including laying, and every expense, is about 25s.; the cost of the same weight of 168gravel is from 3s. 6d. to 5s. The cost of granite paving, 9 inches deep, is from 8s. 6d. to 10s. 6d. per superficial yard, or from 750l. to 920l. per mile for every yard in width. Guernsey granite is harder and more durable than Aberdeen granite, but is more expensive by about 10 per cent. and I think is this much better. Some stone of very good quality from near Greenock, has been used lately upon the Commercial Road, it is cheaper than Aberdeen, and appears to be very durable. The requisites for forming a good paving are to have the stones properly squared and shaped, not as wedges, but nearly as rectangular prisms; to sort them into classes according to their sizes, so as to prevent unequal sinking, which is always the effect of stones, or rows of stones, of unequal sizes being mixed together; to have a foundation properly consolidated before the road is begun to be paved, and to have the stones laid with a close joint, the courses being kept at right angles from the direction of the sides, and in perfectly straight lines, the joints carefully broken, that is, so that the joint between two stones in any one course shall not be in a line with, or opposite to a joint in any of the two courses adjoining. After the stones are laid they are to be well rammed, and such of the stones as appear to ram loose, should be taken out and replaced by others; after this the joints are to be filled with fine gravel, and if it can be done conveniently, the stability of the work will be increased by well watering at night the part that has been done during the day, and ramming it over again next morning. The surface of the pavement is then to be covered with an inch or so of fine gravel, that the joints may be always kept full, and that the wheels may not come in contact with the stones while they are at all loose in their places. Attention to these points will very much increase both the smoothness and durability of the paving. I have found great advantage from filling up, or, as it is 169called, grouting the joints with lime-water, which finds its way into the gravel between and under the stones, and forms the whole into a solid concreted mass. The purpose served by the lime might also be effectually answered by mixing a little of the borings or chippings of iron, or small scraps of iron hoop, with the gravel used in filling up the joints of the paving. The water would very soon create, an oxide of iron, and form the gravel into a species of rock. I have seen a piece of rusty hoop taken from under water, to which the gravel had so connected itself, for four or five inches round the hoop, as not to be separated without a smart blow of a hammer. And the cast-iron pipes which are laid in moist gravel soon exhibit the same tendency.

It has occurred to me, as I stated to the chairman of this honourable Committee some weeks since, that considerable improvement would be found from paving the sides of a road, upon which the heavy traffic is great, in both directions, and leaving the middle for light carriages, the carmen walking upon the footpaths or sides of the road, would then be close to their horses, without interrupting, or being in danger of accidents from light carriages, which is the case when they are driving upon the middle of the road; and the unpaved part being in the middle or highest part of the road, would be more easily kept in good repair. I have prepared a section of a road formed in this way (No. 3 in the plan), but unless the heavy traffic in both directions is great, one width (say ten or twelve feet, if very well paved,) will be found sufficient; and in this case, I think the paving ought to be in the middle of the road. The width of many of the present roads is, besides, such, that ten or twelve feet can be spared for paving, while twice that width would leave too little for the gravelled part. Although the first cost of paving is so great, I do not think that any other plan can 170be adopted to good and so cheap in those places where the materials got in the neighbourhood are not sufficient for supporting the roads. A coating of whinstone is, for instance, more durable than the gravel with which the roads round London are made and repaired; but much less so than paving; although the freight and carriage of the whinstone, and of the paving-stones, which form the principal items of the expense, are nearly the same. Scotch whinstone, or the granite rubble (that is, rough chippings of granite,) could not, I should think, be delivered into barges in the river, at less than from 14s. to 15s. per ton, the freight alone being from 11s. to 12s., while the price of Aberdeen granite, in the same situation, is only from 19s. to 21s. and 22s. Maidstone ragstone in the rubble state, costs about 7s. per ton: it is a limestone, and much less durable than the whin. The carriage from the river to the road, of all these, is of course the same. Flint, again, is so much less durable than whin, that it will not bear the expense of carriage (which may be taken at from 1s. 6d. to 2s. per ton per mile) from any distance, to make it preferable to the gravel, or paving, in point of cost, for the roads near London. A double iron rail-road, to suit the London waggons, which some have recommended, would cost about 4,500l. per mile, and would be fitted for waggons only of one precise width, and for waggons or heavy carts only; while, from the difficulty of crossing it, it would form rather an obstacle to light carriages. Blocks of Aberdeen granite, twelve inches wide and fifteen inches deep, laid in the way of the wheels (as recommended by others,) would be nearly as expensive; and the eight joints, which would be formed between the stone and the gravel, by four rows of stone, would be found extremely troublesome and inconvenient. Both these substitutes for paving, therefore, 171though equally expensive as paving, have peculiar disadvantages; and they have this besides, which is common to them both, that they make no provision for preventing the great wear upon gravelled roads, which is caused by the horses’ feet, particularly if (as is the case in a rail-road) they are confined in one track.

Attention in the forming and repairing of roads, will in all cases do much to compensate for the inferiority of the material used for that purpose, of which the improvements in the general state of the highways within the last twenty years affords the best proof. To form the road upon a good foundation, and to keep the surface clear of water after it is formed, are the two most essential points towards having the best roads possible, upon a given country, and with given materials. For obtaining the first of these objects, it is essential that the line for the road be taken so that the foundation can be kept dry either by avoiding low ground by raising the surface of the road above the level of the ground on each side of it, or by drawing off the water by means of side drains. The other object, viz. that of clearing the road of water, is best secured by selecting a course for the road which is not horizontally level, so that the surface of the road may in its longitudinal section, form in some degree an inclined plane; and when this cannot be obtained, owing to the extreme flatness of the country, an artificial inclination may generally be made. When a road is so formed, every wheel-track that is made, being in the line of the inclination, becomes a channel for carrying off the water, much more effectually than can be done by a curvature in the cross section or rise in the middle of the road, without the danger, or other disadvantages which necessarily attend the rounding a road much in the middle. I consider a fall of about one inch and a half in ten feet, to be a minimum in this 172case, if it is attainable without a great deal of extra expense. It is in the knowledge of the above points, and of the application of them in practice, that what may be called the science of road-making consists, as the observations apply in every case. When a road is to be formed, accurate sections of the rises and falls of the ground should always be taken, in the same way as is done for a canal, before the line is determined, or the levels of the road fixed upon, and when the course and levels of the road are laid down, the derail of the work ought to be particularly explained by a specification and plan, describing the manner in which each particular length is to be formed and completed.

The quantity of materials necessary to form the road depends so much upon the soil and the nature of the materials themselves, that it is impossible to lay down any general rules for them. The thickness ought to be such that the greatest weight will not affect more than the surface of the shell, and it is for this purpose chiefly, that thickness is required, in order to spread the weight which comes upon a small part only of the road over a large portion of the foundation. When the ground is very soft, trees, bavins or bushes, are applied to answer the same purpose, and to carry off the water previous to the materials of the road being so consolidated as to form a solid body, and to be impervious to water. Bushes are, however, not advisable to be used, unless they are so low as always to be completely moist. When they are dry and excluded from the air they decay in a very few years, and produce a sinking in place of preserving the road; a thickness of chalk is useful for the same purpose in cases where bushes are improper, the chalk mixing with the gravel or stones becomes concreted, and presents a larger surface to the pressure. If the material for making the roads is gravel, the common way is to lay it as it comes from 173the pit, excepting the upper foot, or 18 inches or so, which is screened; but if whin or other stone is to be used, the size of the pieces into which it is broken should decrease as we approach the surface, the superficial coating not exceeding a cube from 1 inch to 1½ inch. If the foundation is bad, breaking the bottom stone into small pieces is expensive and injurious, upon the principle I have above described, and also for the same reason that an arch formed of whole bricks or of deep stones is to be preferred to one of the same materials broken into smaller pieces, for in some counties the materials will admit of the foundation of the road being considered as of the nature of a flat arch, as well as of being supported by the strata directly under it: but the error in laying the stone in large pieces upon the surface is more common and more injurious. In all cases, whether the material is gravel or hard stone, the interstices between the pieces should be filled up solid with smaller pieces, and the finishing made by a thin covering of very small pieces, or road-sand or rubbish, for those interstices must be filled up before the road becomes solid, either in this way or by a portion of the materials of the road being ground down, which last mode occasions a waste of the material, and keeps the road unnecessarily heavy and loose. This observation applies to the repairing as well as the original making of roads, and the effect of this covering, or as it is called in the country, blinding the loose stones, is so evident, that I have often wondered to see so little attention paid to it. If the material is soft, as some limestone, this is less necessary, and the quantity ought never to be more than is just sufficient for the purpose I have described. In the original making or effectually repairing of a road, it is, I think, best that the whole of the proposed thickness be laid on at once, for the sake of the road as well as of the traveller; 174the materials of the road then form a more solid compact mass than when they are laid in thin strata, at different times, for the same reason that a deep arch of uniform materials is preferable to a number of separate rings. Though I state that an inclination in the longitudinal section of the road is always desirable for the purpose of clearing it of water, I am not of the opinion of those who recommend the road to be made and kept flat or level in its cross section. The variety of opinions and practice upon this point are very great; both extremes appear to me to be bad. A road much rounded is dangerous, particularly if the cross section approaches towards the segment of a circle, the slope in the case not being uniform, but increasing rapidly from the nature of the curve, as we depart from the middle or vertical line. The over rounding of roads is also injurious to them, by either confining the heavy carriages to one track in the crown of the road, or if they go upon the sides, by the great wear they produce, from their constant tendency to move down the inclined plane, owing to the angle which the surface of the road and the line of gravity of the load form with each other, and as this tendency is perpendicular to the line of draught, the labour of the horse and the wear of the carriage wheels, are both much increased by it.

It is not altogether foreign to the subject to notice here, the error of forming the inclination of the roadway upon bridges, in the direction of their length, or across the river, from a section of a curve for the whole length, rather than from two lines joined together by a curve, as I have recommended for the cross section of a road. It is to this cause that the very heavy pull is owing, which must have been noticed in just getting upon a bridge, which decreases as we advance towards the middle of the bridge, and which 175would not have been so much felt, had it been spread regularly over the whole length (see No. 5, in the plan.)

The disadvantages of a flat road again are, that even if it is supposed to continue so, it is bad in principle, by doing away the tendency which a road ought to have, in every direction, to clear itself of water; but as the greatest wear will always be in the middle of the road, a level or flat road will very soon be concave; the middle of the road then becomes the watercourse, and the consequence, if the road is upon level ground, is, that the water and mud lie upon it, and injure the foundation and materials; or, if otherwise, that the stones or materials of the road are washed bare, and liable to be loosened and thrown up by the wheels coming into contact with their exposed angular surfaces. Many of the roads in the country afford examples of this, particularly after heavy rains, and if the country is at all hilly.

The best form for a road, in order to avoid those evils, is,—in my opinion, to form it, and to keep it with just a sufficient rise towards the middle, to incline the water towards the sides; and in place of making the whole width the section of one curve, to form it by two straight lines, forming inclined planes, and joined by a curve towards the middle. I have prepared a section of a road in the manner I have described (No. 4.) and as the lines, excepting at the centre, are straight, the section may be made to suit almost any greater or less width, by merely extending them. The section is taken nearly from a part of a road made under my direction in the country. The dotted line drawn upon it shows the form I alluded to when speaking of the circular road that ought to be avoided. I have seen ridges formed in what I thought well formed land, much after what I would recommend for the form of a road. The object of 176forming the land into ridges, raised a little in the middle, is the same as that of raising the middle of a road to prevent the water from settling upon it, and what is sufficient for the ploughed land is certainly enough for a road. If the road is of good stone, four to five inches rise in ten feet is sufficient, gravel, and other inferior material, will allow a little more. In this section it may be worth while to notice the situation of the hedge and ditch, or rill on each side of the road, a more common, but I think a more dangerous and worse way, is to form the ditch close to the road, and to plant the quick upon a raised bank beyond it. I have dotted this mode also upon the section. The advantage of having the hedge next the road, consists in its greater safety to the traveller, particularly if a ditch of any considerable depth is necessary, and in the hedge being supported in its growth from the ground under the road, without drawing upon the farmer’s side of the ditch; and it is I believe, this last advantage, which has led the author of an article in the Edinburgh Farmer’s Magazine, with whom I am acquainted, to make nearly the same observations. In a length of road, made eight or ten years since, over a marsh, partly a bog, considerably under high water, where, from the level of the ground, and of the drainage, the ditches were obliged to be deep and wide, and therefore dangerous; I ordered some cuttings of willow to be stuck into the roadside of the ditch. In about two years they formed a blind to the ditch, and are now so thick and strong as to be a complete security from all danger. I may here take the liberty to say, that nothing is more injurious to roads than the permitting high hedges and plantations near them, their effect in keeping the rain suspended and dripping upon the road longer than otherwise it would, and in preventing the air and sun from drying the roads, is most destructive and 177very general: and as the Commissioners or principal men of the district are often the greatest offenders in this respect, the evil is one in which both the enactments and the application of them require the strictest attention and impartiality. After a road is properly made, the comfort of the traveller and the principle of economy on the part of the road-trust, both demand that it be not allowed to get much out of repair; the adage of “a stitch in time,” applies particularly to the repairing of roads, and though not universally practised, is so well known, that it is, I presume, unnecessary to state reasons, for what no one acquainted with the subject at all doubts. The best season for repairing roads is, I think, the spring or very early in the summer, when the weather is likely neither to be very wet nor dry, for both of these extremes prevent the materials from consolidating, and therefore cause a waste of them, and at the same time, either a heavy or a dusty road; but if done at the time I have recommended, the roads are left in good state for the summer, and become consolidated and hard to resist the work of the ensuing winter.

When I remarked the great improvement in many of the highways during the last twenty years, I by no means meant to say that they are not still capable of much greater, or that many of them have not been much neglected. In many districts this is notoriously the case, and when the materials are the best, the roads are frequently the worst. There is no road round London upon which there is more heavy country traffic, than the first stage of the great Essex or Mile End road; and owing to the well directed attention of the chairman of the commissioners, and of their surveyor, there are few better roads any where, excepting in very wet heavy weather. Indeed I do not think it possible to do much, if any thing, in improving the superintendance and 178repair of that road, with the material at present in use; for the nature of which, as well as for the exclusion of air and sun by buildings, proper allowance ought to be made in judging of the state of the roads near London, and when this is done, and the great wear considered, we may find that in very many cases, there is but little cause to find fault, and much room for commendation. The traffic upon the Mile End road is however too much for a gravelled road, and the expanse for repair for the first three miles is consequently very great. The same remarks as to conduct and attention, are merited by the commissioners of other districts, and their gratuitous services entitle them to the thanks of the public; while in some parts of the kingdom, including Scotland, where the material is the very best, the roads are often in the worst condition, and the most unpleasant to travel upon. The stone is put in large pieces upon the road, without any covering or mixture of smaller material, and is left to take the chance of being broke and formed into a solid, or of tumbling loose upon the road. When a track is once formed in this stone-heap, it is not to be expected that the horses will be easily made to move out of it; and unless the thoroughfare is considerable, the road in use consists sometimes for a long period, of the two deep wheel tracks, which are always filled with water during the winter, and of the horse’s path between them, the other parts being covered with a body of loose stones, and rendered absolutely useless. These observations apply to some lengths of the most frequented highways, but are more particularly applicable to the cross roads and the parish roads. I had the opportunity of seeing the roads in the West Highlands last autumn; they are formed with judgement, and kept in good repair.

When the highways in a county are under the management 179of trustees, it is common to divide them, and to assign a particular length to the trustees who live near it, without employing any person in the capacity of a surveyor. When this is the case, the state of repair depends much upon the observation and attention of the trustee; and the change in the state of the road often marks out the change of superintendence. A relative of mine has given up a good deal of his time and attention to a part of the roads in Stirlingshire, of which he is one of the trustees: no professional man could, perhaps, do the business better; and the effect of this attention is very visible. Instances of the same kind are frequent, but it is not to be expected that trustees generally can both understand, and have so great a relish for serving the public, as that the detail of the repairs of roads, if imposed upon them, will be always executed with the attention they require.