NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 9 



Being now on the road, will you allow me a short digression ? 

 It is really lamentable to contemplate the numerous accidents of 

 late to first-rate .coaches, and attended, in all cases, with loss of 

 either life or limb, from the giving way of axle-trees ; and to one, 

 the Yarmouth Magnet, from the loss of a wheel, by which a 

 young woman had both her thighs broken ! It appears that all 

 I have written on this subject has had no effect in preventing 

 these dreadful occurrences, but it is high time they should be put 

 an end to at all events that such means as are most likely to 

 prevent them, should be resorted to. With respect to the loss 

 of wheels to which fast coaches, with the common linch-pin, are 

 always liable I can name one which lost six in nine years 

 there should be an Act of Parliament to make it imperative that 

 no stage-coach should travel the road without its wheels being 

 secured by screws, which is the principal feature as regards 

 safety in what are called patent boxes. As to the giving way of 

 axle-trees, a never-failing cause of injury to passengers from the 

 rapid rate at which coaches now travel, it is absurd to say that 

 occurrence cannot be prevented, even without having recourse to 

 the idle wheel. How does the cable hold the ship but by mul- 

 tiplying its power according to the tonnage of the vessel ? We 

 are told "the master of mechanics laughs at strength," a boast, 

 I am aware, that relates ^to the lever's power; nevertheless it 

 would be absurd to say, after seeing how an iron cable will hold 

 a large ship, that iron axle-trees cannot be made sufficiently 

 strong to bear the weight of a loaded coach, which never exceeds 

 three tons.* Mail-coaches, we know, are often overturned from 

 the necessity of keeping their time in all weather ; but they can- 

 not lose their wheels, and their axle-trees very rarely give way, 

 because they are more than equal to the superincumbent weight, 

 which, from the limited number of passengers, c., is much less 

 than that of the long stage-coaches, as they are called. Without 

 doubt the axle-trees of the latter should be put to some test 

 before they are used on the road, and proved equal to the weight 

 they have to carry ; and it should be seen that the iron is quite 

 free from flaw. But I fear the cry-out of the persons who horse 

 our coaches has something to do with broken axle-trees, by their 

 insisting upon the weight of them being confined within certain 

 bounds ; and we all know the difficulty of combining strength 

 with lightness. I have been chiefly led into this digression by 

 the hope that these remarks may find their way into the news- 



* The weight of twelve passengers and their luggage averages one 

 ton. The modern coaches do not exceed (few amount to) a ton ; I 

 have, therefore, allowed quite the maximum weight. 



