THE ROADS.
As the railways are dependent upon the excellence of the permanent way
for the pace at which they can travel, so were coaches indebted to the
good state of the roads for the great speed at which they were able to
perform their journeys by day and night; and it may be safely said,
without fear of contradiction, that in no other country had they been
brought so near to perfection, although a good deal of improvement
still remained to be done, and would have been effected if the railway
era had been postponed for another decade. Everything that could be
thought of to lighten the draught was being adopted. Not only were
hills cut down and valleys filled up, but on one hill on the Holyhead
road, between Dunstable and Brickhill, a tram of granite had been laid
on one side of the road to render the draught lighter to carriages
ascending the hill, though it had been very greatly eased by a deep
cutting through the chalk. I was one day travelling up by the
"Wonder," and when going up this hill, Harry Liley, who was driving,
although it was a hard frost, put the wheels upon the tram to show me
what a help it was to the horses. If it was of so much benefit when
the frost had hardened the road, what must it have been when the road
was soft? If these trams had become general, they would have saved the
extra pair of horses which used to be frequently employed to pull the
fast coaches up the worst ascents. Notwithstanding all that had been
done on the main roads, there remained miles and miles of cross roads
which were traversed by coaches at high speed, where little had been
effected in the way of lowering hills, and it was then that the
greatest care and skill were required to ensure the safety of heavily
loaded coaches.
It must be recollected that up to quite the latter end of the great
coaching days no patent breaks were in use. They were not invented
till about the year 1835, and were very slow in coming into use. I
knew a case of the Post-Office authorities refusing their sanction for
the proprietors to have one attached to a mail coach at their own
expense, because they thought it would break the contract with the
coachmaker, and I can quite imagine that the breaks were no favourites
of those who miled the coaches, as there was not only the original
cost, but the use of one has a considerable influence in wearing out
the hind wheels.
I had on one occasion undertaken to horse a coach over a stage, when
the coach was supplied by one of the proprietors, and to save his hind
wheels he wanted to omit the break. I immediately said, that no horse
of mine would be put to a coach which was sent out without a break, as
I believed them to be a great security against accidents. I have known
of one instance, however, where, a break caused an accident instead of
preventing it, but then the hind wheels must have been in a shameful
condition, as they both broke upon its application.
I really think that wheel horses held back better in the days before
breaks came into use than they do now. It was then necessary to take a
hill in time, as it was called, which meant going slowly over the
brow, and about half-way down it; and horses were, by this means,
better educated in holding than they are now, when it is not generally
necessary even to slacken the pace at all, as the pressure upon the
horses can be regulated by the break. This is also an enormous help to
a fast coach, even if it did not render the use of the skid almost
unnecessary.
I was once talking this subject over with little Bob Leek, who, from
having driven the "Hirondelle" for some years, was a very competent
judge, and I remarked that I thought a break was worth a mile an hour
to a coach. He replied, he thought it was worth two, and I have little
doubt he was right over hilly roads, such as some which the
"Hirondelle" travelled over.
It was to the system of turnpike trusts, now unfortunately no more,
that this country is indebted for the general excellence of its roads,
and against which I never heard more than two objections raised. One,
that it was very unpleasant and annoying to be obliged to stop at the
toll bars and pull out the money when the fingers were cold, and the
other, that it was a very expensive method of collecting money. The
first of these objections, I think, may be passed over in silence. It,
no doubt, is unpleasant to do anything which requires the use of the
fingers when they are cold, but surely that should not be held to be
sufficient reason for putting an end to a system which in the main
worked well. To the second a plea of guilty must be returned; but with
mitigating circumstances. Indeed, there was no necessity for it at
all, if the trustees had carried out their work well.
The "pikers," as they were called, did, no doubt, make a good living
out of the business, but so do most middlemen, and they need not have
been permitted to make an exorbitant profit. But before going further,
perhaps, I had better explain what a "piker" is, as they, like the
dodo, no longer exist. Well, then, they were a class of men who leased
the turnpike tolls, each of them generally taking all the gates in a
larger or smaller district. Sam Weller said they were "Misanthropes
who levied tolls on mankind;" but, as a general rule, these men did
not collect themselves, but employed others to do it, who resided in
the houses. Of course, these "pikers," like other people, thought
their first duty was to themselves, and they usually put their heads
together previous to the lettings of the gates, and agreed to divide
the spoils amicably, instead of bidding against one another. There was
nothing, however, to prevent the trustees putting in collectors, the
same as the pikers did, and by that means find out the real value of
the tolls, and at the same time keep Mr. Piker up to the scratch.
This, indeed, was often done, but when it was omitted, great losses
were incurred, as I have found to my own advantage.
The tolls were not levied under the General Turnpike Act of
Parliament, but under local Acts, and it was usual to insert in these
local Acts a clause compelling coaches to pay toll both going and
returning, even if drawn by the same horses. This, I think, was a
decided hardship, but it was generally mitigated by the pikers
allowing them to pay for only three horses instead of four, making six
a day instead of eight, and this led to a contest which I once had
with a piker.
At the first gate, a short distance out of Machynlleth, the lessee of
it refused this concession to the "Harkaway" coach; therefore, when
the day arrived for the annual letting, my partner and myself outbid
him and took the gate, putting in a collector, and at the end of the
year, after paying for the collecting, we had fifty pounds to divide
between us. Now, I think I have shown that if proper care was taken by
the trustees, no necessity existed, on this score, for abandoning the
turnpike system, for in this one example they gratuitously threw away
at least sixty pounds a year, which ought to have been available for
repairing the roads.
In another trust on the same road, the trustees tried to be a little
too sharp. As I have already said, the tolls were levied under local
Acts, and in this case, the special clause relating to coaches had
been, either intentionally or inadvertently, omitted, and we
consequently claimed that the coach should, like all other
conveyances, be exempted from paying if returning with the same
horses. The trustees, however, contended that a public conveyance was
liable to pay both ways, independently of a special clause to that
effect. The question was referred to counsel's opinion, which was
given in favour of the coach, and this so exasperated the trustees
that they proceeded in hot haste to erect a new toll-gate to catch it
after the change of horses.
In their hurry, however, they forgot that there were yet three months
before the annual letting of the gates, and they found themselves face
to face with the difficulty that no one could be persuaded to become a
lessee for that short period.
In this dilemma, we coach proprietors stepped in, and, _faute de
mieux_, were accepted as lessees, the result being that, instead of
paying the toll at the end of the three months, we retired from the
business with a profit of thirty shillings, after paying the expenses
of collecting.
On the day following, the stables were changed to the other side of
the gate, and the coach ran through free with a ticket from the
previous one.
These seem small things to write about, but they afforded some
interest and amusement at the time, and may be worth mentioning as
being a sample of the life.
The turnpike system, no doubt, like all other human inventions, had
its defects, but to it we are indebted for the excellence of our
internal communications; and I cannot help thinking that it was unjust
both to the bondholders and the ratepayers to allow it to die out.
Though the former were fairly liable to the diminished value of their
property caused by the rivalry of the railways, they, or those before
them, had honestly lent their money upon the understanding that the
Acts of Parliament would be renewed from time to time, and it was
little short of robbery to allow them to expire. Hardships, no doubt,
did exist in some districts from the excessive number of the toll
gates, especially in Wales, where it was no uncommon thing to be
called upon to pay at three gates in a distance of ten or twelve
miles.
This was found so burdensome that it produced the Rebecca riots in
South Wales, which led to the passing of an excellent Act for that
part of the Principality, and if that Act had been extended to North
Wales and England, the turnpike gates would, most probably, have been
standing at the present day, and I know not who would have been losers
by it, except the doctors and the timber merchants and other hauliers.
At any rate, the cost of repairing the roads fell on those who enjoyed
the benefit. The system, on the whole, worked well, and might easily
have been made to work better, and I entertain no doubt, indeed, I
know it, that large numbers of those who clamoured against it, would
now recall it if possible. If it was expensive to collect the tolls,
it appears to be impossible to collect a wheel and van tax.
It is easier to destroy than to build up, and I only hope that, after
the same length of trial, it may not be found that it would have been
wiser if we had remained contented with the old form of county
government, which had done its work so well for a great number of
years.
Since the above was penned the South Wales Turnpike Act has expired,
thereby saddling £25,000 a year upon those who do not use the roads,
instead of upon those who do. Where is Rebecca now?