OUR HIGHWAYS. 19 



the general practice in business at the present day, of 

 audits and supervision by the contributors to any 

 large sums raised by compulsory means, such as rates, 

 that it is rather a matter of astonishment it should 

 have existed so long. The poor-rate used to be col- 

 lected and disbursed in the same manner, and the 

 flagrant abuses which were discovered in the adminis- 

 tration of it, and the vastly expensive and illegal 

 modes which were customary, led, in a great measure, 

 to the introduction of Lord Althorp's Poor-Law Bill 

 in 1834, which eventually became the Poor-Law 

 Union Act, under which the present system of the 

 poor law is carried on. Acting probably on this 

 principle, the union of parishes for highway purposes 

 was recommended in 1840 ; and, although the High- 

 way Act, passed in the year after the Poor-Law Act, 

 enabled parishes to form themselves into unions for 

 the purpose of appointing a general surveyor, the 

 formation of highway boards under the existing 

 system was « not adopted until the year 1862, when 

 magistrates at quarter sessions were empowered to 

 form highway districts or unions, the highway board, 

 consisting of the waywardens for the several parishes 

 in the union, being elected annually by the parishioners, 

 together with some ex-officio members. 



This plan for the management of the highways by 

 boards follows very closely upon that of the poor-law 



2—2 



