COACH LEGISLATION 211 



ground, or whose gauge was less than 4 ft. 6 in. 

 Coaches must then have been of an extraordinary 

 height to need such a clause as this. The penalty 

 for infringing it was £5. Luggage on ordinary 

 stage-coaches was not to exceed 2 ft. in height, or 

 three-horsed coaches, 18 in., with a penalty of 

 £5 for every inch in excess. Luggage might he 

 carried to a greater height if it was not, in all, 

 more than 10 ft 9 in. from the ground. Turnpike 

 keepers and others were given powers to have the 

 luggage measured, and passengers themselves 

 might see that it was done ; and drivers refusing 

 such measurements to he taken were to he fined, 

 on conviction, 50s. Passengers, too, came in for 

 their share. Xo passenger was to sit on the 

 luggage, or the place reserved for it, under the 

 like penalty of 50s. 



Intoxicated coachmen came in for a maximum 

 £10 penalty, or the alternative of a term of 

 imprisonment not less than three months or not 

 exceeding six ; insulting coachmen, or others 

 exacting more than the proper fare, or endanger- 

 ing passengers' lives, a maximum of 40s., or 

 imprisonment of three days to one month. 

 Mail-coach drivers, being more responsible offi- 

 cials, Avere awarded the heavier of the above 

 penalties for any among a variety of possible 

 offences — such as loitering, or hindering the 

 conduct of his Majesty's mails to the next 

 stage, or wilfully misspending or losing time, so 

 that the mails did not travel at the rates of speed 

 specified by the Postmaster-Greneral. 



