6 STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DA YS OF YORE 



stages plying through the county of Elint, and 

 yickling £4<0 in tolls yearly, had been unable 

 to compete Avith the mail, and were thus 

 AvithdraAVu, to the consequent loss of the Trust 

 concerned. It Avas calculated, so early as 1791, 

 by one amateur actuary, that the total annual 

 loss through mail exemptions was £90,000; but 

 another put it at only £50,000 in 1810. 



The case of the remote country trusts Avas 

 certainly a hard one. Like all turnpikes, they 

 AA'ere AA^orked under Acts of Parliament, AA^hicli 

 prescribed the amounts of tolls to lie IcA^ed, and 

 they AA^ere, further, authorised to raise money for 

 the improvement of the roads on the security of 

 the income arising from these taxes upon locomo- 

 tion. The security of money sunk in these quasi- 

 Government enterprises had ahvays been considered 

 so good that Turnpike Trust bonds and mortgages 

 AA^ere a very favourite form of investment; but 

 when Parliament turned a deaf ear to the bitter 

 cry of the remote Trusts, the position of those 

 interested in the securities began to be recon- 

 sidered. The AA'Oes of these undertakings Avere 

 further added to by the action of the Post Office, 

 AA^hich, zealous for its ncAV mail-services, sent out 

 emissaries to report upon the condition of the 

 roads. The reports of these officials bore severely 

 against the very Trusts most hardly hit by the 

 mail-exemption, and the roads under their control 

 Avcre frequently indicted for l)eing out of repair, 

 Avith the rcvsult that heavy fines Avere inflicted. 

 It had been suggested that as the Post Office on 



