THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



465 



bo told that, as oftoa as not, its uso is regarded by the 

 law simply as a nuisance, and that lie is liable to pains 

 and penalties accordingly ? As very possibly ho may 

 yet bo in ignorance of all this, we will quote the law 

 as it stands against him. Let him turn to the 5th and 

 Gth of William IV., cap. 50, and bearing date the ;3Ist 

 of August, 1835. This is an Act " To consolidate and 

 amend the Laws relating to Highways in that part of 

 Great Britain called England ;" passed, be it remem- 

 bered, at a time when roads were roads, and turnpike 

 travelling just in its zenith. Amongst, then, a variety 

 of other items, " to make them handsome or to keep 

 them nice," we come to see, it be further enacted : 



"That from and after the commencement of this Act it 

 shall not be lawful for any person to sink any pit or shaft, 

 or to erect or cause to be erected any steam engine, sin, or 

 other like machine, or any machinery attached thereto, 

 within tlie distance of tweiity-five yards, nor any windmill 

 within fifty yards from any part of any carriageway or 

 cartway, unless such pit or shaft, or steam engine, gin, or 

 other like engine or machinery, shall be within some house 

 or other builduig, or behind some wall or fence sufficient to 

 conceal or screen the same from the said carriageway or 

 cartway, so that the same may not be dangerous to pas- 

 sengers, horses, or cattle ; nor shall it be lawful for any 

 person to make or cause to be made auy fire for calcining 

 or burning of ironstone, limestone, bricks, or clay, or the 

 making ot cokes, within the distance of fifteen yards from 

 any part of the said carriageway or cartway, unless the same 

 shall be within some house or other building or behind 

 some wall or fence, sufficient to screen the same from the 

 same carriageway or cartway as aforesaid ; and in case any 

 person shall offead in any of the cases aforesaid, every such 

 person so offending shall forfeit and pay any sum not ex- 

 ceeding five pounds for each and every day such pit, shaft, 

 windmill, steam engine, gin, machine, or fire shall be per- 

 mitted to continue contrary to the provisions of this Act ; 

 which said penalties shall be levied, recovered, and applied 

 in such and the same manner as any penalty or forfeiture 

 for any other offence on any highway may be levied, re- 

 covered, and applied : provided that nothing herein con- 

 tained shall be construed to restrain any person or persons 

 from using, repairing, rebuilding, or enlarging any wind- 

 mill, steam engine, gin, or other like machine, or any kiln 

 or other erection used for the purpose of calcining or burning 

 of ironstone, limestone, bricks, or clay, or the making of 

 cokes, which may have been erected and may be in existence 

 at the passing of this Act." 



It can bo of no consequence nor argument whatever 

 that this was passed before any steam thrashing ma- 

 chine was known of. It is quite sufficient that such is 

 the law; and so Mr. Robert Lyne, of Barton Farm, is 

 brought before the worshipful bench at Marlborough, 

 and convicted of having- had a thrashing machine in 

 use within twenty-five yards of the public highway. The 

 magistrates, moreover, regard it as a very serious affair, 

 " a sort of thing" no doubt that " is terribly on the in- 

 crease throughout the country," And they give strict 

 orders to the police to be especially vigilant in bringing 

 all such disturbers of the public peace before them. 



It is by DO means so certain, after all, that the ma- 

 gistrates have any power to convict, considering a por- 

 table engine can hardly be considered one the farmer 

 has ''erected or caused to be erected." The very 

 wording of the clause, in fact, shows how antiquated 

 all this is. But admitting it can be so construed, what 

 an utter absurdity its enforcement in an age like 

 this has become ! The hum of the engine tends 

 to the public danger— will frighten horses, and country 



justices, and old women, and so forth. As to the horses, 

 there is hardly one in the county but goes under a rail- 

 way bridge every day of his life. "My Lord's" 

 thorough-bred bays face the train itself at a hand- 

 gallop when she is "just due"; while the curate's 

 grey pony stands uncared for and unscathed, his wife 

 waiting on the platform to help her William dowB 

 with all the shopping he is to bring home. As for a 

 cart-horse being now alarmed at the sound of steam, 

 we should almost as soon expect to see a soldier afraid 

 of fire, or a duck of water." Even, beyond this, as Mr. 

 Williams of Baydon puts it, in a good sensible letter on 

 the subject, what are we to say to these engines being 

 suffered to be about the roads, although not to work 

 near them ? Or what is to become of the nervous 

 horses, county magistrates, and old women, when Mr. 

 Boydell's coachman calls out to them to keep on their 

 right side ? 



But still this is the law ; and unless public attention 

 be at once directed to it, the local justices may 

 go on committing themselves and the farmers to eter- 

 nity. There can be no steam-ploughing after all. You 

 must not bring it within five-and-twenty yards of the 

 old high-road. There must be no more field-stacking 

 nor thrashing, for you may be within five-and-twenty 

 yards of the road. In a word, the most convenient use 

 of steam to the farmer must be denied him, in com- 

 pliment to an old obsolete Act that cnild never have 

 contemplated the absurdity and injustice now per- 

 petrated in its name. 



And then we shall have the agreeable inquisition of 

 the policeman added to that of the keeper. Of course 

 with his latest instructions he will be always peeping 

 over the hedge to see how far off we are, and making 

 mental calculations as to whether the unhappy corn- 

 grower is really within range. As he will have, how- 

 ever, to swear to this, we will give him and the bench 

 the benefit of an Old Bailey anecdote. " You declare," 

 repeated the counsel to a witness, "you distinctly 

 heard the prisoner say this. Now, how far from him 

 were you at the time ?" To which the man at once re- 

 plied, " Seven yards two feet four inches and a-half.'' 

 <' How — what do you mean by that?" asked the other 

 in turn, astounded at the preciseness of the answer. 

 " Why, just this: I thought some precious fool or 

 other might be asking the question ; so I took out my 

 foot rule and measured it." 



Let that efficient body of men, the Wiltshire police, 

 bear this in mind, and stand prepared. 



TO THE EDITOR OP THE DEVIZES GAZETTE. 



Sir, — I noticed iu your paper of the 4th instant the case 

 of Mr. Robt. Lyne, of Barton Farm, being convicted before 

 the bench of magistrates at Marlborough, for "having 

 ERECTED a steam-thrashing machine within twenty -five yards 

 of a public highway, in the pariah of Preshute, contrary to the 

 provisions of the Act 5th and 6th William IV., cap. 50." 



Now as this ia the second conviction th 'it has taken place 

 in North Wilts— Mr. Sainsbury, I believe, having been pre- 

 viously convicted at Devizes ; and I find that similar convic- 

 tions have taken place in other counties Norfolk, for instance— 



