262 STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE 



hired at Or/, a mile, or to he sold by Giirney at 

 £1000 each. Diiriu'j^ four months at the bea-inains^ 

 of 1831, Sir Charles Dance, Avho had bought some 

 of the carriages, cstal)lished a steam service on the 

 road between Cheltenham and Gloncester. Three 

 double journeys a day were made, 396 regular 

 trips in all, covering 3611 miles, and conveying 

 2666 passengers, who p^iid £202 Is. 6c/. in fares. 

 The enterprise was just beginning to show a ])rofit 

 Avhen the local Trusts secured an Act under which 

 they raised the tolls against steam-carriages to a 

 prohibitive height, and even went so far as to 

 obstruct the roads with loose gravel and stones, 

 with the result that the axle of one machine was 

 broken. 



In June 1831 the " j'^^ilo^op^iical " boiler of 

 one of Gurney's steam-carriages, Avarranted not 

 to* burst disastrously, exploded at Glasgow, and 

 seriously injured two Ijoys. Tom Hood wrote : — 



Instead of journeys, peo})le now 



May go upon a Gitrneij, 

 With steam to do the horses' work 



By power of attorney ; 



Tho' with a load it may explode, 



And you may all be undone ; 

 And find you're going up to Heaven, 



Instead of up to London. 



Yet a Select Committee of the House of Commons, 

 which had l)e(Mi ajipointed to consider tlu; question 

 of steam-carriages, reported, four months later, 

 that such carriages could be 2>i'^>P^ll^'tl ^^^ an 

 average rate of ten miles an hour; that they 



