44 History of Inland Transport 



just made to the proclamations of Charles I. and James I. ; 

 and it may be explained that the stipulation as to not more 

 than five horses being attached to any cart or waggon was itself 

 a precaution against the drawing of what were regarded as 

 excessive loads. Such precautions were renewed after the 

 Restoration, when, as we have seen, there began to be a 

 considerable expansion of trade. By 13 & 14 Chas. II., c. 6, 

 it was laid down that no waggon, wain, cart or carriage carrying 

 goods " for hire " should be drawn by more than seven horses 

 or eight oxen, or carry more than 20 cwt. between October i 

 and May i, or more than 30 cwt. between May i and October i, 

 thus modifying the earlier regulations, while it further enacted 

 that no wheels should have rims exceeding four inches in 

 breadth ; but by 22 Chas. II., c. 12, the maximum number 

 of horses allowed to any vehicles was again reduced to five ; 

 and by 30 Chas. II., c. 5, the words "for hire" were deleted, 

 the restrictions being applied to all vehicles carrying goods. 



From the time of the accession of William and Mary, every 

 few years saw fresh Acts of Parliament becoming law, changing, 

 deleting or adding to regulations previously laid down as to 

 weight of loads, number of horses, the order in which they 

 should be harnessed, the breadth of the tires, the position of 

 the wheels, the kind of nails to be used for fastening the tires, 

 and so on, until it becomes practically impossible to follow 

 the complicated changes from time to time, if not actually 

 from year to year. These changes more especially applied 

 to the number of horses or oxen by which carts and waggons 

 could be drawn, and efforts were made to enforce the ever- 

 varying regulations by exceptionally severe penalties. The 

 Act 5 Geo. I., c. n, for example, authorises any person to 

 seize and keep possession of such number of horses as might 

 be attached to a carter's waggon in excess of six, or to a cart, 

 for hire, in excess of three ; though 16 Geo. II, c. 29, states that, 

 as the restriction of three horses to a cart, under the Act of 

 Geo. I., had been found inconvenient for farmers, and highly 

 detrimental to the markets of the Kingdom, the number could 

 be increased to four. 



In reference to these legislative restrictions on the number 

 of horses a farmer might attach to a single cart, it is said in 

 " A General View of the Agriculture of Shropshire," by Joseph 

 Plymley, Archdeacon of Salop (1803) : " Were farmers per- 



