POST-OFFICE, ROADS, AND CONVEYANCE. 607 



riages be good or bad. We simply state it as a matter of certainty, 

 that such as they now are they will not much longer continue to be. 



" That a change also in the department of the POST-OFFICE is 

 needed, has long been known, from the five volumes of the Revenue 

 Commission Reports, which are especially devoted to the exposure 

 and reform of its abuses ; and that it will shortly be effected, not- 

 withstanding the opposition that was made to an inquiry last Session, 

 may be inferred from the renewed motion of the Hon. Member for 

 Greenock, for the appointment of a Select Commission to investigate 

 its state and management, which stands for Friday next, the 6th 

 instant. 



" From these three circumstances combined, the present moment 

 presents an opportunity, which if omitted, may never again so favour- 

 ably occur, for submitting a Proposal to Ministers and the nation at 

 large, the adoption of which will not only put the systems of Roads, 

 Correspondence, and Conveyance, upon the best possible footing for 

 the public service, whether as regards economy, efficiency, or con- 

 venience ; but, over and above, will make their accruing revenues a 

 source of national wealth, sufficient to reduce taxation, and effect a 

 change in our domestic condition, to an amount that will improve the 

 whole social state of our society. 



" Ten years have nearly elapsed since Gurney solved the great 

 problem, that the mighty agent which to such a vast extent has sup- 

 plemented the physical energies of Great Britain, may be extended 

 to the yet higher purpose of equally multiplying her economic re- 

 sourses. So far back as the year 1831, enough had been done in this 

 new modification of elementary power to justify a Committee of the 

 House of Commons to report, after a long and close investigation of 

 the subject, that ' sufficient evidence had been adduced to prove 



'* f lst. That carriages can be propelled by steam on common 

 roads, at an average rate often miles per hour. 



" ' 2nd That at this rate they have conveyed upwards of 14 pas- 

 sengers. 



" ' 3rd That their weight, including engine, fuel, water, and at- 

 tendants, may be under three tons. 



" 4th That they can ascend and descend hills of considerable 

 inclination, with facility and safety. 



" ' 5th That they are perfectly safe for passengers. 



" ' 6th That they are not (or need not be, if properly constructed) 

 nuisances to the public. 



" ' yth That they will become a speedier and cheaper mode of 

 conveyance than carriages drawn by horses/ c. &c. 



" Since that date many important improvements have been made 

 in the detail, and though many more will undoubtedly be effected as 

 steam carriages come into general use, still they have already reached 

 a degree of perfection sufficient to enable a Committee of eminent 

 engineers, with the practical and circumspect Telford at their head, 

 to report, as the result of an experimental journey, made upon the 

 mail coach line of the Holyhead road, on the first of November last 



" e That there can be no doubt that, with a well- constructed en- 

 gine, a steam-carriage conveyance, at a velocity unattainable by 



