Part 14
With a view of establishing good roads generally throughout the kingdom, and of keeping them in repair upon the most economical plan, what limitation would you propose as to the actual weight each carriage should be allowed to carry?—I should think it should never exceed four tons, which should be a ton upon each wheel; when it exceeds that weight the best materials which can be procured for road-making must be deranged and ground to pieces.
_Martis, 11º die Maii, 1819._
Mr. _Robert Perry_, called in; and Examined.
You hold a situation in the Post-office?—Yes, under Mr. Johnson, inspector of the mails in the Post-office.
Since the examination of Mr. Johnson before this Committee, has the Post-office received any further report on the state of any of the roads near the Metropolis?—Yes; one that is between Staines and Bagshot, which I have brought with me.
[_Delivered in, and read:_]
“State of the Turnpike Road between Staines and Bagshot, May 4th, 1819.
From Staines Bridge to Egham the form of the road has been considerably altered for the better, with plenty of watercourses and arched drains: through Egham town the dirt has been entirely removed, and a very plentiful supply of well-sifted gravel laid on, which will in a short time make a good hard road. The hill likewise has recently been covered with a thick coat of good stones, which will require a little time to cement; from thence the road is greatly improved; the sides are pared down, and kept particularly clean.
At Virginia Water every thing appears to have been done to the hills, that the time and sandy nature of the soil would permit; it is now in a good form, and level.
From Virginia Water Hill, by Broom Hill Hut, the road has been well scraped, the watercourses opened, and the sides kept clean, and is in a very good state all the way to Bagshot.
(Signed) _Samuel Maddocks_.”
ABSTRACT OF RETURNS OF TURNPIKE TRUSTS ROUND LONDON.
──────────────┬───────────┬─────────┬──────────────┬──────────────┬────────────── NAME OF TRUST.│ ACTS OF │LENGTH OF│ AMOUNT OF │ EXPENSES, │ DEBT. │PARLIAMENT.│ ROAD. │ TOLLS, 1818. │ 1818. │ ──────────────┼───────────┼─────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┼────────────── Surrey New │ 26, 47, & │ 6 440│ £.9,210 -- --│ £.9,210 -- --│ £.9,000 -- -- Road │ 58 Geo. 3 │ M. Yds.│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ City Road │43 Geo. 3.c│ 1 440│ 1,645 -- --│ 1,661 6 4│ 1,623 12 6 │ 68. │ M. Yds.│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ St. │7, 8, & 29 │ 4 1,584│ 3,960 -- --│ 3,808 16 10│ 3,500 -- -- Mary-le-Bone│ G.3. 23 & │ M. Yds.│ │ │ │ 48 G.3. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Kensington │ 35 & 51 │ 17 │14,660 Tolls. │ 12,933 18 8│ 11,500 -- -- │ Geo. 3. │ M. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Cannon Street │27 Geo. 2. │ 1 747│ 1,167 -- 6│ 962 9 2│ 3,519 18 6 │5 & 42 Geo.│ M. Yds.│ │ │ │ 3. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ New Cross │ 24 May │ 39 660│ 11,833 8 3│ 11,660 11 8│ 2,464 16 -- │ 1802, 27 │ M. Yds.│ │ │ │ May 1809. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Whitechapel │ 25 & 43 │ 34 220│ 12,450 -- --│ 13,086 2 1│ 2,300 -- -- │ Geo. 3. │ M. Yds.│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Surrey and │ 42 & 58 │ 57 798│ 14,606 10 --│ 14,758 18 7│ 3,750 -- -- Sussex │ Geo. 3. │ M. Yds.│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Highgate and │41 Geo. 3. │ 20 │ 11,536 -- --│ 14,183 17 2│ 7,900 -- -- Hampstead │ │ M. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Hackney │54 Geo. 3. │ 6 880│ 4,355 -- --│ 3,942 -- --│ 2,100 -- -- │ │ M. Yds.│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Old Street │55 Geo. 3. │ 1 880│ 1,520 -- --│ 1,255 -- --│ │ │ M. Yds.│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Stamford Hill │55 Geo. 3. │ 20 880│ 10,540 -- --│ 11,393 -- --│ 15,000 -- -- │ │ M. Yds.│ │ │ │ │——— ———│ —————— —— ——│ —————— —— ——│ —————— —— —— │ │210 489│£.97,482 18 9│£.98,856 -- 6│£.62,658 7 -- │ │ M. Yds│ │ │ │ │ │ —————— —— ——│ —————— —— ——│ —————— —— —— │ │ │£.464.4. │£.470.14. │£.298.7. │ │ │p’Mile. │p’Mile. │p’Mile. ──────────────┴───────────┴─────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────
REPORT FROM SELECT COMMITTEE ON MR. M’ADAM’S PETITION, AND _EXTRACTS FROM EVIDENCE_ RELATING TO HIS IMPROVED SYSTEM OF CONSTRUCTING AND REPAIRING THE PUBLIC ROADS OF THE KINGDOM.
_Ordered, by_ The House of Commons, _to be Printed, 20th June 1823_.
REPORT.
THE SELECT COMMITTEE appointed to take into consideration the Petition of Mr. MᶜADAM, and to report to the House, whether any and what further pecuniary Grant shall be made to him, either by way of payment of his Expenses or as a remuneration for his Services, for having introduced into practice an improved System of constructing and repairing the PUBLIC ROADS of the Kingdom, or for the management of the Funds applicable to the same;—HAVE, pursuant to the Order of the House, examined the matters to them referred, and have agreed upon the following REPORT:
In presenting to the House the result of their inquiry into the claim preferred by Mr. MᶜAdam for a compensation for his services, in consequence of his having devised and introduced into practice an improved and economical system of repairing, making and managing the Turnpike Roads of the Kingdom; your Committee will notice, in the first place, the proceedings which have taken place upon this subject previous to the institution of the inquiry in which they have been engaged.
It appears from the correspondence and documents obtained from the Treasury, as well as from the Reports of former Committees of the House, appointed to inquire into the state of the Highways of the Kingdom, that the first application made by Mr. MᶜAdam for payment of his expenses, and remuneration for his services, was in November 1819. This application was referred by the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury, by letter, to the Postmasters General, for explanation and information; who, in reply, transmitted a Report from Mr. Johnson, the Superintendent of Mailcoaches, stating as follows:—
“As I travel rapidly over great distances, and my attention is usually much occupied with the immediate business of the office, I cannot speak with accuracy about particular and local alterations; but I feel myself well warranted in stating, that whenever I have found any thing done under Mr. MᶜAdam’s immediate direction, or by his pupils, or even in imitation of his plan and principles, the improvement has been most decisive, and the superiority over the common method of repairing roads most evident; and, as Superintendent of Mailcoaches, I have abundant reason to wish that Mr. MᶜAdam’s principles were acted upon very generally: if they were, a pace which in winter, or any bad weather, cannot be accomplished without difficulty, would become perfectly easy; to say nothing of the comfort and safety of the traveller, and the credit to humanity in lessening the labour of the animals. I may add, although so much has been accomplished, the Postmasters General could still expedite the conveyance of the Mails, and bring the arrangement of the Posts nearer to perfection, if the Roads were universally as much improved as the practice of Mr. MᶜAdam’s plan would effect.
(Signed) CHA. JOHNSON.”
_General Post Office,_ } _Dec. 8, 1819._” }
“As one instance of the benefit of Mr. MᶜAdam’s improvement, I beg to mention that the Mail last winter lost ten, fifteen, and twenty minutes, in passing from Staines to Bagshot; but now the time is exactly kept.
(Signed) C. J.”
And the Post Masters General also concluded their Report to the Treasury by observing, “That with respect to the road near Staines, to which he alludes, we had found it necessary to give notice of indictment, which has been prevented by the Commissioners resorting to Mr. MᶜAdam’s assistance and advice, which has produced the excellent road mentioned by the Superintendent.
“The Road from Newbury, through Reading, to Twyford, has been so much improved, that the Mailcoach has been better enabled to keep its time than heretofore, and we are convinced that if the roads near London were improved in a similar manner, considerable advantages would be obtained to the correspondence in general, but particularly in places from ninety to one hundred miles distant.”
In February, the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury received a representation from several noblemen and gentlemen, urging in very strong terms the claim of Mr. MᶜAdam to remuneration for the services he had rendered to the Public. This document, as well on account of the grounds upon which the remuneration is stated to have been merited, as also from its having been so numerously and respectively signed, well deserves the attention of the House. Mr. Harrison, by desire of their Lordships, transmitted this certificate with a letter to the Postmasters General; in which, amongst other observations, and alluding to the recommendation in favour of Mr. MᶜAdam before mentioned, he writes as follows:—“These testimonials are of so highly respectable a nature from the station and character of the individuals who have signed them, and are so decisive as to the merit, not only of the system itself, but also of Mr. MᶜAdam’s personal labours and exertions in reducing it into practice; and as to the great advantages which the Public have already derived therefrom on several important lines of road in different parts of the Kingdom, that my Lords could not hesitate a moment in affording to any application, which Mr. MᶜAdam may be advised to make to Parliament for remuneration for these services, their perfect and entire concurrence.”
And the Postmasters General in the same letter are directed, after taking into their consideration these testimonials, together with any subsequent information they may have acquired, to report whether the sum of 2,000_l._ or any other sum might, in their opinion, be advanced to Mr. MᶜAdam, to relieve him from the difficulties under which he then laboured, and until the pleasure of Parliament shall be obtained; to which the Postmasters General reply by letter of 23d February 1820, in still stronger terms of commendation of the services of Mr. MᶜAdam, stating that “they consider Mr. MᶜAdam’s system of making and repairing roads as deserving of every encouragement, that its beneficial results are acknowledged in every part of the various districts of the country where the trustees of roads have availed themselves of his assistance and suggestions, that he has in the most disinterested manner given every facility to other persons with the same general object; and that the observations of their Surveyor of Mailcoaches, enclosed in their Report of the 20th December, have acquired additional force from the experience of the last two months, in which the mail coaches have had to contend with unusual difficulties; for it has been evident on such parts of roads where Mr. MᶜAdam’s system has been pursued, the public mails have experienced less interruption than where the old system was persisted in; and their Lordships conclude their letter by recommending the advance of 2000_l._”
In the session of 1819, a Select Committee was appointed to take into consideration the Acts in force regarding the Turnpike Roads and Highways of the Kingdom, and the expediency of additional regulations for their better repair and preservation. This Committee reported, in the most decided terms, as to the success of Mr. MᶜAdam’s system. The following is a short extract from that Report: “The admirable state of repair into which the roads under Mr. MᶜAdam’s system were brought attracted very general attention, and induced the commissioners of various districts to apply for his assistance or advice. The general testimony borne to his complete success wherever he has been employed, and the proof that his improvements have been attended with an actual reduction of expense, while they have afforded the most useful employment to the poor, induce your Committee to attach a high degree of importance to that which he has already accomplished. The imitations of his plans are rendered easy by their simplicity, and by the candour with which he has explained them, although ability in the surveyor to judge of their application must be understood as an essential requisite.”
In session 1820, Mr. MᶜAdam presented a petition to Parliament, praying for the payment of his expenses, and such reward for his services as the House in its justice and wisdom should think fit to grant. This petition was referred for consideration to the Select Committee then sitting upon the state of the Highways, who had the account of Mr. MᶜAdam’s expenses up to 1814 submitted to them; and from which account it appears, that the distance travelled by Mr. MᶜAdam was 30,000 miles, and that there were 1,920 days employed in this service; that reckoning by the rules of allowance made by the Post Office to their surveyors, the expense of the above travelling amounted to the sum of 5,019_l._ 6_s._ which sum Mr. MᶜAdam states to have been expended by him on this service up to August 1814.
Mr. MᶜAdam further states, in his Evidence before the Committee; “This account is made from memoranda in my possession, and I have made the same with such care and attention, that I am ready to make oath that it is to the best of my knowledge and belief correct, whenever I may be required so to do.” Which he afterwards did in the following terms:
“I, John Loudon MᶜAdam, do hereby voluntarily make oath that the above-mentioned account delivered by me to the Committee on Turnpike Roads and Highways, is to the best of my knowledge and belief correct.”
“Witness my hand this 8th day of March 1821.
(Signed) JNO. LOUDON MᶜADAM.”
“_Sworn before me at Pontefract,_ } _8th March 1821._ }
(Signed) G. ALDERSON, _Alderman_.”
Your Committee, in their Report of the 18th of July 1820, state as follows:
“The attention of your Committee has been directed to the claim of Mr. John Loudon MᶜAdam for public remuneration, contained in his petition referred to them by the House.
“Your Committee apprehend, that the ability, industry and zeal of Mr. MᶜAdam in his successful pursuit of the best means for constructing roads are become matters of general notoriety. It appears that Mr. MᶜAdam first directed the public attention to this important fact, that angular fragments of hard materials, sufficiently reduced in size, will coalesce or bind, without other mixture, into a compacted mass of stone nearly impenetrable to water, which being laid almost flat, so as to allow of carriages passing freely upon all parts of the road, will wear evenly throughout, not exhibiting the appearance of ruts or of any other inequalities. This principle, once brought under notice, may appear sufficiently obvious; but Mr. MᶜAdam has had the honour at much expense of labour, of time, and of his private fortune, to bring it into practice on an extensive scale.
“Your Committee are therefore clearly of opinion, that Mr. MᶜAdam is entitled to reward, and they approve of the advance made to him by the Postmaster General, under sanction of the Treasury. Your Committee have called for the correspondence which passed upon that occasion. They have examined Mr. Freeling, Chief Secretary to the Post Office; Mr. Johnson, Surveyor or Superintendent of Mailcoaches; and they have received statements from Mr. MᶜAdam, in support of his further claim, all of which they insert in the Appendix; and after a full investigation of the matters submitted to them, your Committee are of opinion, that Mr. MᶜAdam is entitled to further reward for his services, but they think it much better in all respects to leave the amount to the Post Office, than to mention any specific sum themselves.
“While every individual throughout the nation, and almost every concern is benefited by good roads, the Post Office derives peculiar and more direct advantage from them, combined with constant and accurate intelligence respecting their state; your Committee, therefore, consider the Post Office best able to form a correct opinion upon the subject, and they moreover feel that a debt is due from the revenue of the Post Office, to be paid on any extraordinary occasion to the Roads of Great Britain, a debt contracted by the exemption, however properly given, of their carriages from toll.
“On all these grounds your Committee think it right to refer the Petition of Mr. MᶜAdam to the Postmasters General, under the sanction of the Treasury, with their favourable recommendation.”
And in the Appendix to that Report it will be found from the Evidence of Mr. Freeling, “That the Post Office did not take Mr. MᶜAdam’s services into consideration, or suppose that 2,000_l._ would be a sufficient remuneration for those services; they merely stated, in answer to papers from the Treasury, that they considered it would be right to _advance_ to Mr. MᶜAdam the sum of 2,000_l._ and consider Mr. MᶜAdam’s claims as establishing a ground for further remuneration.”
In consequence of that Report the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury again, on the 23d of September, refer the subject to the Postmasters General, who, considering the first sum of 5,019_l._ 6_s._ to be admitted as proved before the Committee, recommended the payment of his expenses from 1814, to be calculated upon the same principle as the travelling allowance is made to the Superintendent of the Mailcoaches, amounting to 1,837_l._ 17_s._ 6_d._ and they further propose the sum of 2,000_l._ or 2,500_l._ to be granted to Mr. MᶜAdam, as a moderate compensation for his services; upon this the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury issued a second sum of 2,000_l._ stating that their Lordships, adverting to the large amount of Mr. MᶜAdam’s claims, cannot feel themselves justified in issuing any further sum to him on account thereof, without the express authority of Parliament for that purpose. On the 5th December 1820, Mr. MᶜAdam again addressed a letter to the Lords of the Treasury, which was transmitted to the Post Office; and the Postmasters General, referring to their former letter, observe that they have no difficulty in bearing their testimony to the services of Mr. MᶜAdam, and to the benefits which the Public were likely to derive from them, and also stated that in their opinions the charges were reasonable.
The last Memorial presented by Mr. MᶜAdam was to the Postmasters General, who, in transmitting it to the Treasury, observe, “The favourable opinions which we entertained and expressed in our former Reports upon this subject have been confirmed by experience; and that by employing Mr. MᶜAdam to survey the roads in Lancashire the most beneficial results are likely to follow.”
Having thus given a succinct and connected account of these different proceedings, and having taken into their consideration the whole of the correspondence which has passed previous to this inquiry between the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury and the Postmasters General, together with the several Memorials presented at different periods to these departments by the Petitioner, with the documents accompanying them, and having considered Mr. MᶜAdam’s statement of his case, and the proof adduced in support of it, which accompany this Report, your Committee are of opinion that Mr. MᶜAdam has, by means of great assiduity, skill, and many years personal labour, and at a considerable expense, out of his private property, introduced into very extensive practice a system of repairing, making and managing the turnpike roads and highways of the kingdom, from which the Public have derived most important and valuable advantages.
That in addition to the notoriety of the fact, that the improved condition of the public roads is in a great degree to be ascribed to the ability, zeal, and indefatigable exertions of Mr. MᶜAdam, it now for the first time appears, that Mr. MᶜAdam has gratuitously given his personal attention upon, and advice and assistance to, no less a number than seventy turnpike trusts in twenty-eight counties of the kingdom, from many of which he has not received the payment even of his expenses; that he has, for a considerable length of time, been engaged in an extensive correspondence with persons connected with the management and improvement of roads, affording, in the most unreserved manner, information and instruction wherever required; and that he has attended, during several sessions of Parliament, the Committee of this House, for the same purpose of communicating information: all which services, together with the assistance he has been called upon to give to the Post Office, he has rendered without reward or pecuniary compensation of any kind, beyond the sum of 4,000_l._ advanced to him by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, in part payment of his expenses.