The Express.
London, England, 1861-02-15 00:00:00

THE HIGHWAYS BILL.

Whatever faults lie at the door of the Homo
Secretary, a want of perseverance is not one of
them. Year succeeds to year, and session follows
session. In each and every session the Home Secre-
tary, untaught by past experience, presents to par-
liament a Highways Bill The member for Bir-
miugham assails him, but still the Hume Secretary
perseveres. The country remonstrates by petitions;
liberal members raise objections, and ask for data
or returus ; Mr. Henley has misgivings as to ex-
pense ; Mr. Barrow threatens with amend-
ments, but still the Homo Secretary perseveres.
Doubtless our highways in many parts of England
are not what they ought to be. They admit
beyond all question of amendment, like the system
under which they are maintained. They are in
some parts sloppy, dirty, and either left out of
repair or repaired perhaps clumsily and uuekil-
I fully. The farmers, too, by whom they are chiefly
managed, are in some cases prone to jobbing,
lignorant, or obstinate. But the system is an old
I one, and it reds on the English principle of local
self-government. Local energy steps forward in
many 'instances to remedy the defects of an other-
wise imperfect system. The cost, too, on the
average Is small by comparison with the cost of turn-
pike roads, which have been chiefly under magis-
terial management. "Let the house consider," said
Mr. Henley some time since, " that turnpike
roads coat the country about 42/. per mile, and the
present highways about IW. per mile." We believe
that the last returns worthy of mention, as re-
gards arrangement and completeness, and for
these we must go back sonic twenty years, give an
average annual expenditure per mile for highways
of 121. 18s. sd. for repairs, and of 3a. per mile for
law and other expenses. Sir J. McAdam's letter
in 1848 gave an average per mile of 14/. la. 9d.
No doubt highways and turnpike roads differ from
each other m their attendant circumstances.
Railways, too, which have diminished the import-
ance of one class, have increased the importance of
the other. Still these facts should make us pause
and look with care fur practical results and data.
Such surely might be pr duced if they exist, or if
notat once forthcoming might be called for. Wehave
plenty of different systems at work in England and
Wales, in Ireland and Scotland. Let us call for the
results, and the average coat of roads per mile under
each of the respective systems. Let us afterwards
test by evidence the question of general and com-
parative efficiency •, we shall thou have a fit basis
for legislation. The Home Secretary iuvitee par-
liament to rush blindfold into a new, a doubtful,
and it may be far more costly system. He says,
"Jump in the dark and trust to me."
The bill, the Home Secretary informs us, is sub-
stantially the same as the bill of last session. He
leaves its adoption, he says, optional. But optional
with whom—not with the ratepayers ! Optional
with town councils or with the magistrates in
quarter sessions, for Parliament, which is respon-
sible to the country, is not to make its adoption
compulsory. Magistrates, who are irresponsible,
may impose it on their respective counties. Is
such a project of legislation the production of an
English constitutional statesman t An analogy
may perhaps be sought from what wax done in the
case of the police. But an evil precedent is a sorry
answer to a constitutional objection.
There is, of course, to bo a board under the pro-
posed new system. Of this board the taxing body, in
counties county magistrates, are to be ex ,fficio mem-
bers, without the limit of a maximum, and there is
to be a limited number of elective way wardens. The
principle of ex officio members involves here pro
tante, taxation without representation. The board,;
too, is to audit the accounts—the sumo board which
has authorised the outlay. This board, if the dis-
tricts were extensive, would in effect very soon con-
sist of two or three of the nearest resident magis-
trates. The surveyor, from constant attendance
and superior skill in raid matters, would probably
soon do just what he pleased, with the practical
check on outlay reduced to a minimum.
The provision as regards repairs of turnpike
roads out of the highway rates present another
difficulty. Magistrates as mortgagees, it is urged,
are frequently interested in them) roads, and would.
therefore hardly be a fair tribunal to decide such
questions.
The feeling of the country, in the absence of in-
formation, is adverse to the bill, though not, we
believe, to change or improvement, if resting on
sufficient data. There had been last year, at the
date of the Twenty-fifth Petitions Report more than
300 petitions presented against the bill, with from
twenty to thirty thousand signatures. At the same
date there had been but five
.petitions, with ninety-
two signatures, in favour of it.
Mr. Hodgkimion and others pointed out some
grave objections to the plan. Colonel Wilson,
IPatten suggested a simpler scheme in preference to
the costly machinery to be created by the plan
of the Home Secretary. The matter is a grave
one ; the data as to the comparative cost and effi-
ciency of the existing systems incomplete and un-
satisfactory. Some returns give receipts and expen-
diture, omitting mileage ; others are in other
respects incomplete. No means exist of contrast-
ing the cost under the old South Wales plan with
the coat per mile under the present South Wales or
model system. The materials are not at hand to
justify legislation, and we trust, therefore, that the
Home Secretary will abandon, or for the present
at least postpone, the bill till data have been ob-
tained, if they can be obtained, to justify it.