$6 ROAD S C A R S. 



SECTION IX, 

 Road's Can, 



FOR a country fo very far behind us as Ireland, to have 

 got fuddenly fo much the ftart of us in the article of roads, 

 is a fpeftacle that cannot fail to ft'rike the Englifti traveller ex- 

 ceedingly. But from this commendation the turnpikes in ge- 

 neral mud be excluded, they are as bad as the buy roads are 

 admirable. It is a common complaint, that the tolls of the 

 turnpikes are fo many jobs, and the roads left in a ftate that 

 difgrace the kingdom. 



The following is the fyftem on which the crofs roads are 

 made. Any perfon wifhing to make or mend a road, has it 

 jneafured by two perfons, who fwear to the meafurement be- 

 fore a juftice of the peace. It is defcribed as leading from one 

 market town to another (it matters not in what direction) that 

 it will be a public good, and that it will require fuch a fum, 

 per perch of twenty-one feet, to make or repair the fame ; a 

 certificate to this purpofe (of which printed forms are fold) 

 with the blanks filled up, is figned by the meafurers, and alfo 

 by two perfons called overfeers, one of whom is ufually the 

 perfon applying for the road, the other the labourer he intends 

 to employ as an overfeer of the work, which overfeer fwears 

 alfo before the juftice the truth of the valuation. The certi- 

 ficate, thus prepared, is given by any perfon to feme one of the 

 grand jury, at either of the aflizes, but ufually in the fpring. 

 When all the common bufinefs cf trials is over, the jury meets 

 on that of roads ; the chairman reads the certificates, and 

 they are all put to the vote, whether to be granted or not. If 

 rejected, they are torn in pieces and no farther notice taken, 

 if granted they are put on the file. 



This vote of approbation, without any farther form, enables 

 the perfon, who applied for the prefentment, immediately to 

 conftruct or repair the road in queftion, which he muft do 

 at his own expence, he muft finifh it by the following afllze?, 

 when he is to fend a certificate of his having expended the 

 money purfuant to the application ; this certificate is figned 

 by the foreman, who alfo figns an order on the treafurer of the 

 county to pay him, which is done immediately. In like man- 

 ner are bridges, houfes of correftion, gaols, &c. &c. built 

 and repaired. It" a bridge over a river, which parts two coun- 

 ties, half is done by one, and the other half by the other 

 county. 



The expence of thefe works is raifed by a tax on the lands, 

 paid by the tenant ; in fome counties it is acreable, but in 

 others it is on the plough l<md, and as no two plough lands 

 are of the fame fize, is a very unequal tax. In the county of 

 Meath it is acreable, and amounts to one /lulling per acre, 



being 



