The Express.
London, England, 1849-02-14 00:00:00

of the welt regard to public reads and highwan.
yoni
ma wed relative to highways imposed the
Hammy %Mg yea the perink. During the last
tolOwje r of the premedeentury, • mamba
of , inn whkh die main roads of the
win Mem the pt ei* end placed under the
eeLlialurtre of Maw, who were melded to levy tolls fee the
repair of the yogi and the porment of the prized* end
interests' the dahl ineurred.Tbe Wiwi* made of the
eta=ass seined samedng le the state of the traffic.
hai, however, talus plse in the train, and
a great wenn* Min
bean Moses& by the
laglitr.of railways. In emegense dOM patrol
lei asimatian el railways nog of tlis mein disks of em-
bed ha null kepeeteasat tiny bad benne
; and lank lbws met Wend is the
eirni Se pined* linnet emensiallembint
emelessew was, Mt the isminallea if rawer !hi eso
Misty eslowerted needy existing ryas el nekkinks the
roads; mid sour k bear lememles4 am the hawse to duel'
is mess passilsal manna with the asilast. Owed' am
wegneme ef this flange was, that mew Inieseakell
Its
inalvant, that they were male Is naive the 4
hod esstracted, OM,* some lateness, the mertmeei
bondholders new selselui !be Wile on *dr own ..life
net 'Pigsties bri ben pisisnd, sad that the assaily
Lad arisen of own, ea Ile- pule fir a rate in aid Inerier
be 'maintain the made. • tenspenry net was passed k the
yearyyeear lB4l, intrasesd W the ante baronet the aeolose far
Sums, which bed bass eentinned by aniviall aillisliss
Mace. With Tepid to the turnpike gets themashea, •is
newel of them was hand inconvenient, but New
it was neoeseey to renew all the turnpike seta
for Ragland and Beotland by a silt', act of the gems.
Rent, this making it emissary for the govern asst se me.
press an opinion upon the subject; and, therefore, the
whole system of turnpike acts was at present in a very un-
satisfaetery state. Under these circumstance" it had been
thoiwbt advisable to attempt to deal with the entire Nubian
dreads, not confiaiog the measure to highways, as was dote
by the measure of last y. as. but including both turnpike
roads and highways, properly so called. A measure had
been introduced by the gwernment Nat vision, by which it
was proposed t 3 deal with highways, excluding turnpike-
roads. It was referred to a committee, but it wee ass
proceeded with, and one objection to it was,
that it created an expensive 'machinery for the
maintenance of highways, and that it took no noticed IBM
part of the quemitka which was of the greatest diflinellp—
namely, the turnpike roods. It was therefore MA'AM MINI
to introduce a measure that would include bothiegkengsmai
turnpike roads. (Hear.) The numbet of pin'
their own highways was at present 18,000. The =orl
miles was 100 000. The annual expense of lif~i, no
chain •i turnpike reeds, was 1,400,000 i. The Wmelher it
Minipills trusts was I,IM. The annual expense of Imewilme
is England and Wales In 1846 was 1,378,0001. Timmelese,
taking both together, the highways end sarspOss
roads, the expense annually was 2,778,0001. but,
unfortunately, the financial part of the question
was not e nailed to this, for a my lugs debt was
created under the turnpike acts. The bond debt woo
6,826,000!., and the interest wen 1,441,0001 , so that Mel
debt of the turnpike trusts in all was about 8,287,0001. This
was the state of things with which the house had now to
deal ; and these acquainted with the two classes of roads
must admit that there wag nothing less matiefesteey or credit-
able to parliament then leaving the sublime any longer in.
attended to. (Hear.) It called he • temedy ; aid the way
gegen= was, whether the ammo he proposed was
the one to meat the dam*. At present there
were two " mite " of tandem-4a Ow het pima, the
parish, midis the next, the turnpike km* Isiah mintained
its turnpike nods by means of tau. Zeizreaul by the
to present meow* abolish both them 0 ef enation, '
to abolish all parochial liability fir the swieleimee it nods,
to abolish those very arbitrary mime As tinmilis Waste,
and le take, as the area et Mena aid mengennt, the
county. (Hier, bier.) Them were Femme why Me
county should be takes inassad dthe Hs
to place the local genteel et the lendo • eouttnittailirtes
touter seniors, Mbe elseledba the stemma, and te be
called "the masts seed ." This body maid have
• general eostraeml the power of electing a IllinejOr.
to be paid out die aminty rate. With regard es the local
management, he prepaid that the districts should be the
poor-law union. sad that the county board should have the
power of dividing all the roads fn the county into two
else's—one, the mid* roads ; and the other, the branch
roads. On the main road, they would he empowered,
subject to the ii, neral regulations of the bill, to collect
tolls; and the other clam of roads would be maintained
in the manner he would afterwards state. He pre.
posed that on the 26th of March, 18.50, all turnpike
and highway jurisdiction shou'd cease, and a new machinery
be put in force from that day. But there was another
point. The debt owing by the turnpike trusts amounted
to a sum exceeding 8,000,00 W. The main diMeety mitred
in that deb!, and in order to defray it it was intended to
take means to establish a county roads' fund, to be created
first by a tell upon the first class of roads, and in the next
plue lay • county rate. It was propos.d to abolish In
hiehway rate and substitute a county raw, the
incidents of the two being nearly ideaticiaL The
only charge would to from • road homed
way rate to a road board county rate.
all county trusts it was proposed that the county
should take measures to ascertain the nature of existing NM
rules, and then the only question that would occur WOW be
as to the inequality that might arise on account of the non
upon the entire county instead of several parishes. He was
aware that valid objections could in stated against this pro.
panel, but still he was satisfied that mime such general TlM-
sue was necessary, and he therefore asked leave to int/odes;
• bill me the subject. He should have stated that it me
posed that the debt should be paid off within a period of
set km than seven and not exceeding twenty-one years; mil
that mein. were to be taken to give good security to the
bondholders.
Mr. HENLEY objected most decidedly to giving the
management of some hundred thousand miles of highway,
and 1,900 trusts to 700 pour-law unions, unless indeed, it
could at least be shown that the pour-law guardians had so
little to do in the management of the poor as to justify such
a step if otherwise advisable. He also objected to throwing
so heavy • tax upon the county rate of England, particularly
at the present newel when they were just beginning to
taste the pleasures of having Wheat at Ct. a bushel. (Hear,
and a laugh.) Moreover, the condition of the turnpike.
roads was improving, while, during the last few years there
had ben a progressive decrease in their aggre-
gate debt. The new traffic, which caused the for-
mer expense and never paid its expenses, was taken
off and the expellee of repairing the roads was considerably
diminished. He thought these objections should be well
weighed before they consented to the passing of the measure,
so ably introdueed-by the hon. gentleman.
Sir J. ?ARINGTON also made a few remarks upon
what he called the main diffic;ilties of the measure—the con-
nolidatiem of truts, and the payment of the debt by a sink-
ing fund. F..: :email not oppose the bill, but should like to
see those features carefully examined.
Mr. BROTHERTON gave a general support to the
measure, as one of great benefit to the country.
Mr. SLANEY was as anxious as the hon. member for
Oxfordshire, to prevent additional burdens being east upon
the county rate; but it should be recollected that the adop-
tion of the proposal now made would lessen considerably the
application to that house for private bills, and confer the
great advantage upon the landed interest of having the roads
muds upon • good principle and by skilful men, instead of
at the caprice of the surveyors of the different townships,
who were ignorant of the manner in which roads ought to be
made. He was decidedly of opinion that some such Inca-
ante was wanting, and would upon the whole be the most
economical.
Mr. SCHOLRF MILD supported the view of the hon.
member far Oxfordshire (Mr. Henley).
Copt. PEUHELL objected to it, as establishing a central
sanctity, and bringing into that authority the poor law
guardiana.
Sir G. SI'RICILLAND doubted the justice of taking the
debt from the nuts, and impaling it upon the county rate;
beams same eseny boards were extremely lavish, while
ahem wen wily loomenkal and cautious. He knew some
WOW whin had diminished in consequence of the railways ;
Ist severthelem, by good management, they in a few years
geld eft the greaten pert of their debt. 'Was it, then, to be
mmilmeteed that the debts of trusts badly managed were to
be Owns arca ermasties in which they were managed well ?
Be amid like le hear the measure more fully ex-
*Med to Owa=t. They had managed highways for
NEM OM by , and in many places it worked ex-
leseaN r y well. delvi he believed the country roads werenow
fa} kr batter state than they ever were before. He had the
=g distrust in leaving the management of highways to
et gmedisin. Knowing them as he did, be should
Intik the name can Pally when they went tato com-
mittee.
Learn was then given to bring in the bill.
WOODS AND FORESTS.
Mr. TRELAWNY moved an instruction to the committee
on Woods and Forests, to extend their inquiry to the duchies
of Cornwall and L teenier. It might be said this was pri7
Tate property ; but if so, why was an annual account laid
before the house of the income and expenditure ? He lbws&
that in 1846 the gross income of the duchy of COMMA wen
60,3961.; the expenditure for salaries and alloweness was
5,1851. ; whilst there was only leg, as pepsins to the
trustees and treasurers of his royal WOLIN a beds tom
12,0001., to obtain which sum 118,0001. bad beam impended.
He might be told that the management was reamily wink
improved; hut that slid not argue that still greater 'improve-
ments might not be effect. I.
Mr. M. GIBBON seconded the motion.
Lead J. RUSSELL said the hoe. member bad send lib
motion on the ground that the revenues of the dhasidee el I
Cornwall and Lancaster might be applied to the esigentes
of the pubic service : and or that ground he issid
oppose the motion. (Hear, hear.) the dell list
was settled, the house had the whole question before them;
it was in their power, had they thought fit, to have made
the settlement on the crown contingent on the surrender of
those revenues; though he did sot merit would have been
Feet or expedient to use that gem& But, baying provided
by met of parliament that the mown should hasp Mese
revenues, It would be peellsellat intuit, front melees M MN
seamy, to resume the whole et those revenue, (Hen=
Ivory one knew that them IMO mums of revenue
by former sovereips Midis, herr base= 411 419.14 ,
including the revenues of the kingdom oaf /Pe
conaldi red that there had bees aismanagenen in the
revenues of the deaths of Cornwall sad Laves..
bar; aael with the view of patting sane cheek
en that missmagnasst it had been eroded that 1
the accounts of the general mats, aog e:pe. 1
dimes of these two duchies should be to
parliament. The hos. gentleman hat quoted one of those
returns, as showing a great proportion of expenditure ; he
had also said, very Maly, that there had been • great im-
provement in the management of them revenues. The
present Mateo( things was that persona had been appointed
who, he believed were competent to the task, in both the