THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



ME 



ironical expreasiou to imply that it would be a general assesa- 

 ineiit like the income-tax. But my objection to the roads 

 being maintained by national funds is that the roads would be 

 in the condition in which the roads are abroad, where they are 

 maintained by the State, and where the through lines are in a 

 good state, but all the local roads are up to the knees in mud. I 

 apprehend that the road assessment would be put on the same 

 footing as any other county assessment, whether for police, 

 prison, or other purposes. At last meeting I referred to what 

 had taken place in Ireland, and I quoted from the report of 

 the commissioner appointed to make the inquiry. I find that 

 Mr. Clements, who was the commissioner, says, with reference 

 to the argument that those who use the roads should pay for 

 them : " The specious fallacy of ' those who use a road ought 

 to pay for it' has never stood the test of inquiry; the correlative 

 proposition that those who do not use a road ought not to pay 

 for it being contrary to present practice, and to our fixed 

 notions of maintaining highways for the common benefit." 

 Mr. Clements's report was drawn up in 105(5; and, in 

 accordance with it, an Act of Parliament was passed, 

 which abolished all tolls in Ireland, and substituted an 

 assessment. I say that an assessment is the fairest way of 

 raising the revenue required for the maintenance of roads ; 

 that every person is interested in having good roads ; and 

 that it is good roads that make property valuable. The 

 authority I have already quoted — Adam Smith— says: 

 "As vicinity to town is a cause of rent, so vicinity to a 

 road, navigable river, or canal, by diminishing the expense 

 of carriage to some great market, may have the same 

 effect." Therefore, every person's property is dependent 

 on having good roads. Without them, j'ou cannot get 

 your corn to market ; and though a proprietor may never 

 put his foot on the road, still it is reasonable he should be 

 called on to pay for roads which raise his rent, and which, 

 indeed, give him rent. Lord Elcho proceeded to say that 

 the proposed assessment was but an extension of the old 

 statute labour principle, by which all but the principal lines 

 of thoroughfare were still maintained. The turnpike 

 system was first introduced into this county in 17o0, to 

 meet the case of the through traffic then opening up 

 throughout the country ; but now that the railways had 

 absorbed the through traffic, the reason for maintaining 

 roads by tolls entirely ceased. His lordship then cited the 

 following eight Acts, in which the Legislature had sanc- 

 tioned the principle of assessment for maintaining roads: 



1, Highland Roads and Bridges Act, 5Gth of George III. 



2, Peeblesshire Act, 1818, for Improvement of Roads and 

 Extinction of Debt ; assessment fid. sterling in pound 

 Scots. 3, Argyleshire Act ; assessment not exceeding 8d. 

 per pound on rental and 4s. on horses, where the person is 

 not otherwise assessed. 4, Orkney ; assessment Is. for 

 roads and Is. for debts. 5, Perthshire ; a road along Loch 

 Earn, made by Sir Peter Murray. G, Welsh Consolida- 

 tion Act, after the Rebecca riots. 7, Isle of Man Act; 

 assessment on wheels and dogs. 8, Act for Ireland, on 

 Mr. Clements's report. Lord Elcho concluded by adverting 

 to statistics collected in the counties of Fife and Lanark, 

 showing that the burden on property would be less, as well 

 as more equitably arranged, under a system of assessment, 

 instead of tolls. 



Mr. AiTCHisoN seconded the motion of Lord Elclio. 

 The Right Hon. N:sbet Hamilton moved : 

 " That this meeting is of opinion that the most equitable 

 mode of raising funds for the maintenance of the public 

 roads is by a well-regulated system of tolls." 

 He said: Unless my noble friend can prove beyond the 



possibility of contradiction that it is impos:iIjle to main- 

 tain the highways of this county b^' means of turnpikes 

 and statute labour assessment — which, I maintain, he has 

 failed to do— I cannot conceive his introducing, especially 

 in a district like this, the dangerous principle which he 

 proposes — a principle which is most obno.xioua to the ge- 

 neral taxation of the country, and which, if introduced 

 into local matters, whether in the form of an addition to 

 our income-tax or our assessed taxes, would be still more 

 odious than the form in which these taxes already exist. 

 The income-tax is, I hold, a -system of imposition that 

 ought only to be applied — and I believe statesmen will ge- 

 nerally acknowledge it to be so — to the raising of public 

 revenue in cases of great emergency, and ought not to be 

 employed if any other equitable means can be brought for- 

 ward for the purpose. I cannot possibly conceive that, in 

 a county like this, which is called the "garden of Scot- 

 laud" — and very justly, because it is so highly farmed — 

 and where there is a considerable amount of intercourse 

 from place to place, it is impossible to uphold that ancient, 

 and, as I maintain, that equitable, system of levying the 

 revenue from tolls, by which the nionej' is drawn from the 

 pockets of those who use the roads. When I find Mr. 

 M'Connel laying down this broad principle that I have 

 mentioned, in his report, it certainly appears to me to be a 

 practicable as well as equitable thing to raise the revenue 

 by a system of tolls fairly arranged. It is clear to me that, 

 by consolidating the different road-trusts of the county 

 under one general board, by converting many of the statute 

 labour lines into turnpike roads, and by phcing toll-bars at 

 the points best calculated to intercept traffic, the required 

 revenue would be obtained. My noble friend has referred 

 to different places that have resorted to the assessment 

 principle, such as Argyleshire and Orkney. But let us 

 consider what the highways of those counties are. Their 

 chief communication is by steamboats and other vessels ; 

 and in Argyleshire at least the roads were made at the 

 public expense, and not by local arrangement. And as to 

 the county of Orkney, you. might as well talk about putting 

 turnpikes on the Bass Rock. My noble friend says there 

 is a considerable amount of expense in collecting this tax. 

 Not the least doubt about it. There is also immense ex- 

 pense in the collection of many of our national taxes ; but 

 that is no reason why the county should abandon that 

 which is a just mode, and substitute one which is oppres- 

 sive, inquisitorial, and unfair. Are we to adopt a system 

 of confiscation, beraiise it is simple and easy? I maintain 

 that no greater blow could be inflicted on the landed in- 

 terest in this country than that system, which had its com- 

 mencement in Manchester, and is now taken up by a set 

 of conceited shopkeepers in London, of invariably laying 

 the burden, if they can, on the land of the country. After 

 adverting to the difficulty of obtaining legislative sanction 

 to such a measure, especially in the face of a strong opposi- 

 tion in the county, Mr. Nisbet Hamilton said he 

 would rather have the three tolls in his parish (Dirleton) 

 doubled than sanction this unjnst arrangement, which would 

 not even exempt property, as the income-tax did, when 

 buil-;;c;l l^y family settlements or otherwise, but would 

 assess on the full rental free and burdened estates alike. 

 My noble friend, he continued, has referred to Fife and 

 Lanark as having adopted his view of the case. Now, I 

 can quite well understand a parcel of Glasgow manufac- 

 turers and shopkeepers overwhelming the landed interests 

 in Lanarkshire and compelling them to make roads for 

 their use. We know verv well that the assessment on 



