45° THE COACHING AGE. 



from the weather, go at not less than twelve miles an 

 hour, and stop at every station ; the fare not to exceed 

 a penny a mile, and the company to run at least one 

 train daUy each way. Without this Act it is not 

 very clear how the poor people would have got about 

 the country. 



What were called the open carriages, and repre- 

 sented the third class before the Parliamentary trains 

 were established, were very different from the third- 

 class carriages now in use, for they were wholly 

 uncovered, and on some lines the seats were fixed 

 in trucks very much the same as those in which road- 

 carriages are conveyed. The establishment of the 

 Parliamentaries was a great boon to the poorer classes, 

 who instead of travelling at a rate of about four miles 

 an hour, with great irregularity as to the time of 

 departure or arrival at any place, being in a great 

 measure exposed to the weather, and paying probably 

 as much as the fare of a Parliamentary train, are now 

 carried in comfortable carriages, at double the rate of 

 the fastest coaches, and with tolerable certainty as to 

 the times of departure and arrival at the different 

 stations ; although I find that some of the companies 

 in their official time-books, in order to protect them- 

 selves from any claims for compensation arising from 

 want of punctuality, issue this notice : 



' Every attention will be paid to ensure punctuality 



