Page:Report from the Select Committee on Steam Carriages.pdf/41



Mr. G. Garney. 3 August, 1831. but not openly; the steam is allowed to escape from the safety-valve into a chamber peculiarly constructed, which prevents any nuisance from it.

There is no annoyance either from smoke or steam?—There is no annoyance either from smoke or steam, when the Engine is perfect.

Have you found that horses are more liable to be frightened by passing your Carriages, than passing other Carriages?—As far as my own observation goes. I should say about the same; I have travelled with a Carriage. I think, five years, more or less, every week; I have been very frequently in the public streets of London with the Steam Carriage, and the roads round London, and also in the private and public roads in the country; I have certainly seen horses shy often, but never saw a horse make a dead stand.

Is there a very peculiar noise attending the motion of your Engine Carriage?—The noise of wire-drawing, &c, is at the will of the engineer; if the Carriage should make a noise, he has the means of stopping the noise; but there ought not to be any disagreeable noise.

Must not the noise proceed from the imperfection of the works?—Yes, and that only.

Do you attribute the startling of horses to the peculiar noise of the Engine, or to its unusual appearance?—I think it must be from its unusual appearance. It appears from an observation on the Carriages at Cheltenham, made in this Committee, to have been more troublesome than any where else; those Carriages were made with curtains, to inclose persons who might ride in them, and the Carriage altogether rather more outré in its appearance, from the flapping of those curtains, or some circumstance of that kind, the horses have been startled, or accidents have occurred there.

Are you aware that there is an imperfection in the Carriage at Cheltenham, which is stated to occasion noise?—I have not seen much of these Carriages; I was never at Cheltenham but twice or thrice, and then but for a short time.

What have you found to be the effect of the wheels