THE LATER MAILS 5 



the upkeep. They urged that the mail should 

 at least pay toll, and in this they were supported 

 hy every other Turnpike Trust. 



The exemption of mail-coaches from payment 

 of tolls, a relief provided for by the Act of 25th 

 George III., Avas really a continuation of the 

 old policy hy Avhich the postboys of an earlier 

 age, riding horseback and carrying the mailbags 

 athwart the saddle, had always passed toll-free. 

 Even the light mail-cart partook of this advantage, 

 to which there could then have been no real 

 objection. It had been no great matter, one 

 way or the other, with the Turnpike Trusts, for 

 the posts were then infrequent and the revenue 

 to be obtained quite a negligeable quantity ; but 

 the appearance of mail-coaches in considerable 

 numbers, running constantly and carrying pas- 

 sengers, and yet contributing nothing towards 

 the upkeep of the roads, soon became a very 

 real <?rievance to those Trusts situated on the 

 route of the mails, but in outlying parts of the 

 kingdom, little travelled, and where towns were 

 lacking and villages poor, few, and far betAveen. 

 Little Avonder, then, that the various Turnpike 

 Trusts in 1810 approached Parliament for a 

 redress of these disabilities. They pointed out 

 that not only Avas there a greater Avear and tear 

 of the roads noAV the mail-coaches Avere running, 

 but that travellers, relying on the fancied security 

 of the mails, had deserted the stages, Avhich 

 in many cases had been AAdiolly run off the 

 road. Pennant, Avriting in 1792, tells hoAV tAVO 



