The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-18 00:00:00

sion. In the course of last session the Government introduced I
a measure with respect to highways, excluding turn-
pike
trusts. The measure was referrred to a Committee,
who made various amendments, and the Bill was
reprinted and submitted to the house. It was then
found that the period of the session would prevent the
Bill from being proceeded with, and the Bill was not pro-
ceeded with, it being under.-tood that the subject should
be duly considered by the Government during the recess.
But in the course of the discussion that arose after the BEI
came from the Committee, a general opinion was expressed
that the Bill was not sufficiently explanatory, that it did not go
far enough. and that the Government had made an important
omission by leaving out of the Bill any mention of turnpike
roads, and particularly with respect to insolvent trusts.
He appealed to those who opposed the present
measure, and who had heard that discussion, whether this
was not so ; and further, whether the Government was
not blamed for not having had the courage to deal with a
question of so important a nature. During the recess his
attention and that of his Right Hon. Friend had been ear-
nestly directed to it ; and it was thought, in deference to
the opinions of the House, and out of respect to the Com-
mittee, on which the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite
served—it was thought desirable to engraft upon the Bill
certain provisions with respect to turnpike trusts. It
was indeed the opinion of all who had turned their attention
to the subject, that on the whole the two classes of roads
would be benefited by their consolidation. He would not,
however, go into that question now. Under these circum-
stances the Government determined to lay before the
House a measure which comprised both classes of roads
This was the answer he had to make to the

lion. Gentleman opposite. Let the House bear in mind that
turnpike roads were no more than roads arbitrarily taken by-
persona locally connected, legalised by an Act of Parliament,
and placed under the management of trustees; and when the
funds of the roads were insufficient for their proper manage-
ment, recourse was had to the highway rate. Those roads
were selected many years ago, in consequence of the
course of the traffic, and might be styled as affording
the means of arterial communication. Since rail-
ways had sprung into existence, the principal roads
had sunk into roads of a secondary or tertiary
character.—(Bear, hear.) Such had been the effect of
railways upon those roads, that many of them of a minor
character, especially those near railway stations, had be-
come of great importance. The principle of the Bill to which
the House was asked to assent, and of which those voting
for it would approve, he understood to be this, to combine
the management of all roads of the company, both turnpike
and highways Every Hon. Gentleman who voted for the
Bill would assent to the proposition that the disparity of
management between turnpikes and highways should not
longer exist— that the system should either be changed at
present or prospectively. The present Bill did not propose
to repeal local Acts. Each county would be divided into
districts, and would make provision for the management
of the roads in each division by the appointment of
local boards. It also involved a plan for the
extinction of the existing turnpike debts. These were the
principal rcaiiiicz, 4.4.1
every suggestion, and to adopt every one that was prac-
ticable and likely -to be useful.—(Hear.) The Honour-
able Member for Dorsetshire had said, " Why don't you
deal with the best class of roads separately," and the Hon.
Gentleman the Member for Droitwich made a similar obser-
vation, suggesting, therefore, that two Bills should have
been introducea—one for each class of roads. To that
he would answer, that that mode of proceeding had been
already tried, and had not, in truth, given more satisfaction
than had the Bill before the House. One Bill for such a pur-
pose was introduced by the Right Hon. Gentleman then
Secretary at War (Mr. F. Maule), 13 years ago. It would
have dealt with turnpike trusts. Then the Right
Honourable Baronet the Member for Ripon (Sir James
Graham) had introduced a Bill which would have dealt
ith turnpike trusts separately from highways. Since theta
a Bill had been introduced with respect to highways; but
none of them had been so fortunate as to meet with the ap-
proval of that House, and, therefore, it could not be said that
the subject had not been fully investigated, and the
best remedy devised for existing evils that could be.
It was true there were many difficulties in the way. For
instance, turnpikes had no boundary, they were not territo-
tial divisions, and they could not say the name of the
parish where the boundary of a turnpike trust be-
gan and terminated. Their exact limits could not be de-
tined—it could only be done arbitrarily.— (Hear, hear.)
There was another difficulty quite insurmountable, which
was the extremely small size of some of the turnpike trusts;
some of them were only a few miles in extent, and their size
was extremely unequal. It appeared to him impossible to
frame any measure for the management of the highways
which should be operative in the management of the turn-
pike trusts as the basis of such a measure. He thought the
House had hardly considered the extent of the
highway expenditure, as compared with that of the
turnpike tusts.—(Hear, hear.) He believed if it
general they were to ask which of the two was the greatest
exi,enditure, most people would give an online
answer that they believed the turnpike revenue was
considerably greater than that of the highways.
Now it appeared by a return lately presented and
laid on the table of the House that the expenditure
tor the highways in England (exclusive of Wales) in 184
was 1,668,1341. The return from Wales was imperfect in
consequence of some of the local officers not having fur-
nished their quotas to the account, but the estimate, so
far as it went, was about 50,000/. ; in fact, it was
4.1,.•400/., which made a total for the expenditure of the
highways in England and Wales of 1,717,000/. The total
expenditure in 1846 for the highways and turnpike-road:
amounted to 3,061,0001., and of that sum the larger portion
was contributed by the highways. Now, he believe,:
it was scarcely necessary for him to state that
the management of the highways was, on the whole,
much less economical, much less efficient, and much less per-

fect,:than:that of the turnpike trusts. He was perfectly Will-
ing to pay that tribute to the trustees of the turnpike-roads.
The Hon. Member for the West Riding made some remarks
as to the time of introducing the present measure. Is
answer to that, he would first say that this Bill was
promised at the end of last session, that the Govern-
ment considered itself bound in deference to the expressed
wishes, and partly in consequence of the promise made
at the end of last session, to introduce a general measure on
the subject in the beginning of the present session. Thw
measure was considered by the Government during the
recess, and it had been introduced at the beginning of the
session without any reference to the temporary or
existing distress.—(Hear, hear.) He (Mr. C. Lewis)
entertained the strongest opinion that this measure
would impose no new burdens on the agricultural interest,
but, on the contrary, he believed it would lead directly and
indirectly to the gradual diminution of those burdens. Tht
Hon. Member for the West Riding had asked why was the
present generation called on to make sacrifices for the payment
of the turnpike debts. It would be a consolotary doctrine, he
(Mr. C. Lewis) admitted, if they could dispense always with
the payment of the principal of a debt, both with respect tt
public and private debts ; but with regard to workhouses.
public goals, shire-halls, prisons, and lunatic asylums,
he could show that the Legislature could in
every case fix the term for the extinction of the debt. He
must say that the principle was a sound one, and although
it implieS a present sacrifice, he thought it was a sacrifice
which was due from us to our posterity. He looked on tba.
legacy of six millions and a half of turnpike debt, together
with the million and a halt of interest on the debt, as a legacy
which had been bequeathed to us by the improvidence of (err
predecessors. The Hon. Member also urged that this Bil,
would impose additional burdens on the country.—(" Hear.
hear," from Mr. B. Denison,) Now, it the turnpike trust-
were, as they had been truly stated to be, a solvent concern.
and if there was at present an excess of means beyond the
payment of the principal and interest of that debt, he (Mr.
C. Lewis) was at a loss to see how the arrangement which
it was proposed to make could throw any considerable addi-
tional burdens on the country. The interest paid in 1846 or,
the existing trusts was 272,1331.; and the principal paid was
163,526/., nicking altogether 440,0001. The improvements
during the last year were 57,0001., and the salaries and lan
charges were 113,0001. But that did not properly come it
question here. The Bill called on the turnpike trusts to pa)
71. per cent. on the bonded debt of 6,809,0001. ; 71. pet
cent. on that amount would be 462,639/., and there-
fore, as compared with 440,000/, the only addition he
should make would be 22,0001. Then he took particular
counties; and first, in Lancashire, which was one of the
34,6581.,
d
largest counties,an the
rin
the interest
paidp onwaaids2
t;lo3at97l.act mcounatknwia;
62,000/. odd.--(Hear, hear.) According to this Bill,
the annual payment would be 50,6941., being
12,0001. less than was now voluntarily paid. He did not,
therefore, see how Lancashire would:be a sufferer. He had
been asked what would be the effect in South Wales of the
valuation of the debt and of other similar measures
contemplated by the Bill. From the official state-
ment of the superintendent he found that the repairs,
the payment of interest, the debts paid off, and the other
charges, amounted in lii43, which was previous to
the introduction of the present system, to 35,4821., and
1848, which was subsequent to the change in the law, to
35,010/. The difference between tee two amounts, it
would be seen, was very small. But there was this
difference, with regard to South Wales, an additional burden
was thrown upon the county-rate. for which no equivalent
was given. In one county the additional charge was three-
halfpence, in another a penny three-farthings, and in others
a halfpenny and two-thirds of a penny; and although those
charges were not heavy, they were not compensated for by an)
equivalent. The Hon. Member ( Mr. B. Denison) had objectee
to the constitution of the county board, on the ground tha;
certain members were to be elected to it, viz., one from eael
board of guardians, who would have it in their power to
control the magistrates. In the first that was submitted to
the House each board of guardians was empowered to elect
two of their body to the county board, but in the presentßili
the number had been reduced to one. He ( Mr. Lewis) thought
that in most cases the guardians would be disposed to elect
their chairman, and he could not see that any practical influence
would be infused into the county board by the election of such
members to it. There could not, he considered, be any valid ob-
jection to the election ofone guardian, but if the House thought
.that another constitution of the local board and another
division of the districts were preferable, he was quite read)
to modify the Bill in those respects.—(Hear, hear.) 1,
had been suggested that the magistrates at the pett)
sessions might have the management of all highways with-
out any admixture of the elective principle whatever, but he
doubted much whether suck a principle would be assented
to by the House. He was quite ready to admit that the
question as to the substitution of other persons for the
guardians at the county board was open to con-
sideration, -- and, as he had said before, he would
consent to any proposition which the majority of the
House might think proper. Some Hon. Members seemed
to prefer a separate parochial rate for highway purposes.
but it seemed to him that an union rate was on the
whole prefable, and in reference to that part of the sub-
ject, he would make this one remark—that the main
reason for constituting turnpike trusts, which began in the
reign of Charles 11., and which had been at different periods
modified and altered by the successive Actsof Parliament, was
the ineffectiveness of aparochial rate for such purposes. It was
found that several parishes could not maintain a great corn-
tnunication through a country without some additional assist-
ance, such as tolls being levied on travellers and passengers.
There was a discretionary power in this bill to en-
able the county board to assign the district that
should support certain roads, and there was a district boaru
to carry out the intentions of the ,county board. It was
intended by the Bill that the county board should exercise a
general superintendence over the whole roads in the county,
and that the district boards should only take cognizance
over the roads in their charge. Now two classes of person-
mainly opposed this Bill—the mortgagees and the clerks,
whose offices would be put an end to by its provisions.—
(Hear.) With respect to the Mortgagees, he did not
think they objected
thouh t mig to of s ; nor id he
,to the principle of the B 11,
g hey
that the measureht hadacme created its
thatdetail alarm among believ
the bond-
e
holders of these trusts that had been represented.
The officers and clerks of the existing trusts
certainly strongly opposed the measure. He admitted
that the officers and clerks were a highly meritorious class
of persons, and he fully admitted their claim to the con-
sideration of the Government and the House.—(Cries
of 4, Hear, hear.") Before the withdrawal of the former
Bill on this subject, he had heard little of the claim,
of the officers and clerks, but recently, and since the House
had adjourned for the recess, he bad received to very tem-
perate statement of their rooms why they ought tQ