Page:Remarks on the Present System of Road Making (1823).djvu/109

 having the roads firm and hard, much harder than they are now.

Is it not a common defect to place the gravel on the road without being sufficiently sifted or washed?—Very much so.

Do you not consider it as a bad system, likewise, to place the gravel so much in the centre of the road, thereby rendering it of too great convexity?—Yes, certainly. I think it is laid generally too thick and too high in the middle. There is no necessity for the roads being rounded so much.

Have you known any accidents to have arisen from the steepness of the road?—Yes; several accidents with my coaches, as well as those of other people, in consequence of the road being laid so very high in the middle.

Is not that shape of the road likewise attended with a disadvantage in the draft of the carriage?—I consider it so, inasmuch as it flings the weight too much on one side.

Is not a great loss sustained by the proprietors of stage coaches, in consequence of the badness of the roads, in the wearing out of their horses?—Yes; particularly so the first fifty or sixty miles from London.

With regard to the performance of time by the mail coaches, do you find that you labour under greater difficulty on the roads near London, than on those at a greater distance from town?—I am certain we do. It requires a greater quantity of horses to perform the duty, and, in my opinion, it requires ten horses to perform the same number of miles for the first fifty out of London, that might be done by eight, with the same speed, beyond that distance.

Is there any difference in the value of the horses used near town and at a distance from it?—I can buy horses at 15l. a piece that will perform the duty, at a distance from London, equal to those that we are obliged to give 30l. a piece for, on the average, for the work near town.

Are you in the habit of working coaches to a greater