Page:Report from the Select Committee on Steam Carriages.pdf/29

 former mode, yet, as on the latter it is divided over eight wheels, instead of four, its small excess cannot justify a larger Toll being imposed, as it will be found much less injurious to the roads. The Committee therefore recommend, that in charging Toll, the Engine Carriage and Carriage drawn shall be consider ed but as one.

As it is the opinion of all the engineers examined, that the use of narrow wheels has been the great cause of the wear of roads, and that cylindrical wheels, of a certain width of tire, are not only the least injurious, but that, in some states of the road, they may be even beneficial, the Committee recommend that the wheels of the Engine Carriage should be required to be cylindrical, and of not less than 3½ inches width of tire. No proprietor of Steam Carriages has expressed the slightest fear of any inconvenience or loss from the use of such wheels. Beyond this, the Committee would not recommend interference with the breadth of tire, or form of wheels; it should be left to the proprietors freely to select the breadth of tire they shall find most convenient, in proportion to the weight carried.

The Committee have divided Steam Carriages (intended for passengers) into two classes, to be subject to different rates of Toll. The first, where the Carriage is not plying for hire, or where, if plying for hire, it shall not be calculated for, or carry at any time, more than six passengers; the original cost of such machines, and the expence of working them, will sufficiently protect the roads from any great number of merely experimental Carriages; and for the same reason they will not be of a weight or size likely to be injurious. A Steam Carriage only calculated to convey six passengers will be solely used where great speed is required, and will be so light as to cause very little wear of the road, probably much less than many Carriages drawn by the number of horses which the Committee recommend as the standard of charge for this class. The Toll, therefore, proposed to be placed on this class of Steam Carriages is that, which (on the several roads, where they