COACH LEGISLATION 213 



This lengthy and confusing series of Acts 

 brought into existence that conteniptil)le parasite, 

 the Professional Informer. By those provisions, 

 which awarded sometimes the whole penalty, and 

 in other cases the half or two-thirds, or merely 

 one-third, at the discretion of the magistrates, to 

 those persons who would discover these infringe- 

 ments of the law to the authorities, the Sneak 

 became an institution, wholly suj^ported l)y the 

 involuntary contributions of the coaching Avorld. 

 Informers swarmed on every road, and their 

 operations were conducted with a legal astuteness 

 and business acumen that would have made the 

 fortunes of these gentry if they had directed their 

 talents into more reputable channels. Por although 

 Parliament had created the Informer, it is not to 

 be thought that he was liked by any class. He 

 was held to be a necessary evil, as from fear of 

 him offenders might be made to mend their ways, 

 and so the roads be preserved. The end, it was 

 thought, justified the means employed. No one 

 knew the Acts of Parliament through and through, 

 inside out and uji and down, as this detested class. 

 Informers sometimes worked singly ; at others 

 they constituted themselves into firms, with offices 

 and tame attorneys, and staff's of travelling s^oies, 

 whose travelling expenses were well repaid, with 

 a handsome profit besides, by the materials for 

 informations which they had obtained on the 

 roads. Indeed, it Avas stated that on certain routes 

 the waggoners paid annual sums to the informers, 

 as a kind of quit-rent against prosecutions ; for. 



