PREFATORY NOTE 



DESIGNED as the introductory volume of a series of books 

 by various writers dealing with our " National Industries," 

 the present work aims at telling the story of inland transport 

 and communication from the earliest times to the present date, 

 showing, more especially, the effect which the gradual develop- 

 ment thereof, in successive stages, and under ever-varying cir- 

 cumstances, has had alike on the growth and expansion of 

 trade and industry and on the general economic and social 

 conditions of the country. 



The various phases of inland transport described in the 

 course of the work include roads, rivers, canals, turnpikes, 

 railways, tramways, and rail-less electric traction ; and the 

 facilities for communication of which accounts are given 

 comprise packhorses, waggons, stage-coaches, "flying" and 

 mail-coaches, private carriages, posting, hackney coaches, 

 cabs, omnibuses, cycles, motors, motor-buses, commercial 

 motors, and aeroplanes. Reference is (inter alia) made to 

 most of the English rivers and to many inland towns ; the 

 origin, achievements, and shortcomings of canals are traced ; 

 a complete outline of the turnpike system is given ; a short 

 history of tramways comprises the leading points therein ; the 

 story of the rise, development and prospects of the motor 

 industry is related ; while the evolution and development 

 of the railways and their position to-day both as a means 

 of transport and communication and as constituting in them- 

 selves a " National Industry " are treated in such a way as to 

 afford, it is hoped, a comprehensive idea of the railway system 

 from its very earliest origin down to the strikes and the con- 



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