120 Tlie Bight Hon. Sir John Macdonald [April 18, 



occupied is no more than at present. In many cases the journey will 

 occupy less time. At present paterfamilias is compelled to gobble a 

 hasty breakfast and make off, often not at a proper post-prandial 

 speed, sometimes in hail, rain or snow, to reach a station half-a-mile or 

 more from his house. When he arrives there, he finds that, instead of 

 being nearly too late, the train does not come in till long after its 

 proper time, and when it does take him up, it stops time after time at 

 signals, and gets further and further still behind its time. Then on 

 arrival he has still perhaps a mile to go by omnibus before he can get 

 within some hundred yards of his oflfice. All this would be changed, 

 and countless citizens who cannot afford to set up a horse and stable, 

 or who would not have the space, could find accommodation for their 

 voiturettes in their warehouse, or put them up elsewhere for a trifle, 

 till the time for the return journey. 



One who is a little better off can take a servant with him, and may 

 send back the car to enable my lady to do her shopping or make her 

 calls, coming back for him in the afternoon, doing its 50 or 60 miles 

 in one day, which no horse could do, or if it could, would certainly 

 not be fit for work on the day following. 



The car can be applied to purposes such'as sawing, or watering, 

 pumping, thrashing, and other useful works. As regards the business 

 uses of the motor vehicle, will it not be a boon to the occupiers of land 

 to be able to send their milk and butter, and field produce, long dis- 

 tances of 30 or even 40 miles into the large towns, either by their own 

 vehicles or by contract, without the intervention of the middleman, 

 and the arbitrary rates and delays of the railway companies ? The 

 time occupied and the expense incurred would be less, for the carting 

 to a station, the loading on to railway trucks, the waiting for train 

 despatch, the unloading on to another cart, are all complications bad 

 for the goods and tending to pile up expense. 



Further, the farmer who is many miles from a railway station 

 would be alDle to compete on fair terms with others which now he 

 cannot do, and therefore his landlord gets a smaller rent, and he is 

 somewhat limited in his choice of means of making a profit. To the 

 manufacturer, the merchant and the town tradesman, will it not be a 

 great advantage to have a range for delivery of their goods and for 

 taking orders by their own vehicles practically trebled, as will 

 certainly be the case. Their vans can go a round of 50 miles, or even 

 more, whereas now the range is limited by the necessity of baiting 

 and watering, and by the capacity of the horse for work. Between 

 Manchester and Liverpool, within a very short time, enormous 

 quantities of goods will be carried, and quite as fast as they could be 

 conveyed by railway. 



The wayside inn-keeper, who has been a faded and decayed person 

 ever since the railways took possession of our road traffic, will be 

 benefited. I have seen some, in places which a short time ago were 

 never visited, greatly rejoicing when three or four cars came in, from 

 the occupants of which they were able to draw a good profit. There 

 is now an excellent outlook for the country inn-keeper. 



