76 , THE COACHING AGE. 



forty-t-^o thousand pounds ; but it was shortly after- 

 wards done away with, although from the circumstance 

 that many parties in the country were unaware of 

 this fact, they continued doing the work or paying 

 the composition. The turnpike surveyors were 

 only too glad to avail themselves of any ignorance 

 on the subject, to continue this aid to the roads as 

 long as they could, especially as tolls were greatly 

 diminishing in almost every direction, consequent 

 upon the opening of additional railways, the road 

 traffic being thus diverted, and the amount of the 

 tolls, of course, falling off. 



The total of bonded and floating debts of the turn- 

 pikes in J836 amounted to about a million and a 

 half, and among the large number of trusts through- 

 out the kingdom some were in a flourishing condition 

 and able to meet their annual payments, including 

 the interest on their bonds, and keep their roads in 

 repair ; but others were in a vastly different state, and 

 Sir James McAdam, the famous road-surveyor, once 

 stated that he knew some roads upon which there 

 were sixty years of interest due. It was the practice 

 upon many trusts to convert unpaid interest into 

 principal, granting bonds for the unpaid interest as 

 principal, thereby increasing the yearly sum to be 

 paid for interest ; and as long as the creditor got a 

 bond, he looked forward to its being paid by the 



