Page:Report from the Select Committee on Steam Carriages.pdf/102



John Farey, Esq. 10 August, 1831. will be that which will do the least injury to the road, for it will be that which will occasion no disturbance of the stones after they have been consolidated, but let, will only wear away their upper surfaces, and the iron of the tire.

You have stated that you think the bringing of these machines to perfection is retarded, because there is not a sufficient prospect of encouragement, and that Steam Coaches are therefore confined to the hands of persons who have not the same skill in practical mechanics as others, who would undertake the subject if adequate encouragement were offered; can you point out any mode by which that encouragement could be given?—Nothing could do it:o effectually as offering a handsome Parliamentary reward for the attainment of some specified performance, such as keeping a Steam Coach for passengers regularly plying on some suitable road for two years, during which it should not have failed to arrive by steam more than some specified number of times, and within a certain number of hours of lost time from the time-bill of the Mail on the same road. Suppose this were done between London and Bristol, for a reward of 10,0001. it would cost the public nothing if it were not accomplished, and the establishment of that one Coach to carry the Mail would be worth the money to the public whenever it was accomplished; or between London and Holyhead would be still more important, but that would require 20,000l, reward. Another plan of more immediate application would be to offer a bounty of a fair price per mile for carrying despatches by steam (as I suggested before) whenever they arrived in a specified time; the price should be sufficient to pay expences. That would. I think, be the best course, because I believe it would be undertaken at once by individuals, provided that no stipulations were made either for or against carrying passengers or goods; they would be sure to carry passengers and goods as soon as they could, for their own profit; and it might be stipulated, that after any coach had earned a certain sum in bounty, it should not be entitled to more. The effect of such public rewards