94 THE COACHING AGE. 



packages being put into tlie fore-boot, so that the 

 weight should whenever practicable be over the hind- 

 wheels ; and with the view of still further securing 

 this object, an iron frame projecting from the bottom 

 of the hind-boot should be fixed so that extra mail- 

 bags and heavy luggage might be packed to the 

 full height, if necessary, of the top of the guard's 

 seat. 



This plan, however, seems to have omitted any 

 provision against the risk of the bags being cut off" 

 and carried away in the darkness of the night. 



In. order to try the draught of carriages a Mr. McNeill 

 invented an instrument which was found to be 

 so perfectly fit for the purpose, that experiments 

 could be made with a certainty of afi'ording accurate 

 results. The instrument could be fixed to a coach 

 to which the horses were harnessed, and showed the 

 actual force or labour they exerted in drawing. 

 The expense, however, of the experiments, about a 

 hundred pounds, was more than private individuals 

 chose to incur, although it was asserted that this 

 would soon be repaid by the saving which would 

 be effected by diminishing the labour of horses in 

 drawing stage-coaches, and consequently the expense 

 of providing and maintaining a sufiicient number of 

 them. The coach-proprietors did not care to take 

 the matter up, being satisfied apparently with the 



