IO4 History of Inland Transport 



formed would rest on the ground, and be impermeable to 

 rain-water, there would be no need to have underneath it 

 either a stone foundation or a system of drainage ; though he 

 held it as essential that the subsoil should be perfectly dry 

 when the " metal," or covering of broken stone, was laid in 

 position. Keeping the water out of the road by this means, 

 he would prevent the road itself from being broken up by the 

 action of frost, and he would have a more elastic surface than 

 if there were a solid stone foundation under the metal. The 

 thickness of his consolidated cover of broken stones would, he 

 further argued, be immaterial to its weight-carrying capacity. 



In 1816 Me Adam became surveyor of roads in the Bristol 

 district, and the object lessons in road-mending which he 

 provided there were so convincing that his system began to be 

 generally approved in 1818. In 1827 he was appointed Sur- 

 veyor-General of Roads, and in the same year he issued a ninth 

 edition of his "Remarks on the Present System of Road- 

 Making." 



In this publication he states, among other things, that very 

 considerable sums were being raised annually in the king- 

 dom, principally from tolls, on account of turnpike roads, and 

 these funds were expended, nominally under the protection 

 of Commissioners, but practically under the surveyors. 

 Every Session there were numerous applications to Parliament 

 by turnpike trusts for powers to increase their tolls in order to 

 pay off their debts and to keep the roads in repair. In the 

 Session of 1815 there were 34 such petitions ; in 1816 there 

 were 32, and " all passed as a matter of course." The condition 

 of the turnpike roads was, nevertheless, most defective, and 

 that of the parish roads was " more deplorable than that of 

 the turnpike roads." Legislative enactments for the main- 

 tenance and repair of the parish roads were so inadequate 

 that these roads " might be considered as being placed almost 

 out of the protection of the law." In the result " The 

 defective state of the roads, independent of the unnecessary 

 expense, is oppressive on agriculture, commerce and manu- 

 factures by the increase of the price of transport, by waste of 

 the labour of cattle, and wear of carriages, as well as by causing 

 much delay of time." 



As for Scotland, he declared that " The roads in Scotland 

 are worse than those in England, although materials are more 



