14 THE COACHING AGE. 



Palace to St, James's, being once overturned. Thus 

 even royal personages were not exempt from the 

 discomforts and dangers of travelling on the roads 

 owing to the wretched condition in which they were 

 kept. 



It is scarcely necessary, perhaps, to mention that 

 such an important national subject as constructing 

 and maintaining efl&cient means of transit throughout 

 the kingdom frequently rendered Parliamentary in- 

 tervention indispensable ; and hence the number of 

 Highway Acts which were passed (independently 

 of Turnpike Acts) up to the reign of William IV., 

 when a General Highv/ay Act was passed, superseding 

 all previous ones, and providing a number of details 

 with respect to the accounts, offences and nuisances 

 on the highways, etc., adopting, however, the existing 

 principle of the annual appointment of road surveyors 

 by the inhabitants in vestry, raising the necessary 

 funds by means of rates, and the employment of 

 Statute labour as a composition in lieu of money 

 payments. 



The maintenance of the highways was kept tolerably 

 distinct from that of the turnpike roads, which were 

 managed by commissioners or trustees under the 

 provisions of the General Turnpike Act, passed in the 

 reign of George IV., and the numerous local Acts 

 referring to the various roads throughout the kingdom. 



