Page:Remarks on the Present System of Road Making (1823).djvu/245

 in the year 1798. In 1798 I began to make it a sort of business. Without saying to any one what my object was, I travelled all over the country in different parts. I have a list of such of those places I travelled to that I happened to keep memorandums of, but I cannot possibly say all the places I travelled to.

How long were you occupied in travelling for the purpose of obtaining information for the construction of roads?—It was only occasional travelling of course. I had some other occupations and private affairs to look into. I began in the year 1798 to travel as often as I had leisure and convenience down to the time I took the charge of the Bristol roads, down to the year 1816, the beginning of 1816 or latter end of the year 1815.

What was the result of your observations and inquiry of the state of the roads?—I found the roads were extremely bad in all parts of Great Britain, as far back as the year 1798, and that very little improvement took place in them between that time and the year 1815, which I attributed to the ignorance of the persons who had the charge of them, the ignorance of the surveyors, the total want of science.

What were the objections which you found?—I found the materials so applied that the roads were all loose, and carriages, instead of passing over the roads, ploughed them; that was the general fault of the roads, and the loose state of the materials, I apprehend, was owing to the bad selection, the bad appropriation, and the unskilful laying of them. I came to that conclusion first, from observing that in some parts of the country where things were better managed, there were better roads; and I instanced the roads between Cross and Bridgewater, in Somersetshire; there I saw a better road than in most other parts of the country, and having inquired into their management, I found that they prepared their materials better. The next improvement that I saw in roads, was at Kendal, in West