Page:Report from the Select Committee on Steam Carriages.pdf/225



Mr. John Macneil. 6 September, 1831. five-inch wheels, and of the accompanying Carriage four tons, with four-inch wheels, the toll of the Engine would be 2s. 6d., and of the tender 2s., making 4s. 6d, as before. The only objection I can see to this mode of charging toll on Steam Carriages travelling over the turnpike roads would be, that in the event of their being able to carry a greater number of passengers at a cheaper rate than the present description of Carriages drawn by horses, it would lessen the amount of toll collected, as a fewer number of Carriages would do the work, and many persons who drive their own horses would travel by them if found cheaper to do so; and this circumstance, although it would not affect the state of repairing in which the road was previously maintained, it might lessen the value of property invested in the different turnpike trusts Throughout the kingdom, which is a very considerable sum; but such a circumstance should not militate against an invention likely to prove beneficial to the country at large.

Give your opinion on the probable extent of injury to roads from Steam Carriages?—Generally speaking. I should say that the injury roads will sustain by the introduction of Steam Carriages will be much less than is commonly supposed; but the actual amount of injury, or correct estimate of the comparative injury that will be done by a Steam Carriage cannot, in my opinion, be formed at present with any degree of certainty. Experience alone will decide the point. The only danger, in my mind, that is to be apprehended, is the injury which roads may sustain by the possibility of the wheel which is acted upon by the Engine, turning round without propelling the carriage, in which case the road would suffer considerably; and this would take place, if a train of Carriages were attached to the Engine, the draught of which was more than the friction or gripe of the Engine-wheel on the surface of the road. As long, however, as the weight is carried by the Engine, and not drawn after it, nothing of this kind will take place, even on our steepest hills.