Page:Remarks on the Present System of Road Making (1823).djvu/77

 of interest. In Scotland this pressure is still more heavily felt: indeed it is not of uncommon occurrence in that country, for creditors to lose both principal and interest of their loans to roads.

This causes not only a great and unnecessary loss in the first instance, and a deficiency of means for ordinary repair, and maintenance of the roads, but it also discourages the formation of new roads. Were a better and more economical system generally adopted and acted upon, many great additions and improvements of the communications of the country would take place, from which, at present, the landholders are deterred, by fear of the extent of the expense, and the difficulty of obtaining loans of money.

The measure of substituting pavements, for convenient and useful roads, is a kind of desperate remedy, to which ignorance has had recourse. The badness, or scarcity of materials, cannot be considered a reasonable excuse; because the same quantity of stone required for paving, is fully sufficient to make an excellent road any where: and it must be evident, that road materials of the best quality may be procured at less cost than paving stone.

The very bad quality of the gravel round London, combined with want of skill and exer