Construction, Cost, Repair, and Management. 387 
occasioned by the indifferent state of the ordinary highways of 
the country, and the circuitous route they involved, were very 
severely felt. It was, however, left to private enterprise to supply 
the remedy ; new main roads leading direct from one large town 
to another were constructed, the money being provided by the 
landowners and other interested parties, who in return were 
allowed to take toll for the use of the road — hence the origin 
of turnpike trusts. According to the Parliamentary Report of 
1840, the number of trusts then in existence was 1116; the 
number of toll-gates and side-bars, 7796 ; the average extent 
of each trust was about 19| miles ; the amount of mortgage 
debt was 7,260,993/. ; and the highest amount received for tolls 
was in 1837, amounting to 1,509,985/. These figures have 
since been gradually declining, till, according to the last- 
published return, 1873, the debt was reduced to 2,056,985/., 
and the annual interest to 57,280/. ; the number of trusts left 
being 712. 
Roads, being a necessity in any civilised country, ought to be 
free to every one, and their maintenance should be under local or 
imperial direction. The practice of allowing the money neces- 
sary for repairs and repayment of the capital expended on the 
road to be raised by a toll assessed on the user, was, at the 
best, an expedient justified by the fact that it rested between 
that method or none at all ; and it was recognised by the 
Legislature only as a temporary measure, the inconveniences of 
which were sought to be met by granting the charges on the- 
roads for a limited period. The debt in many cases has been 
paid off, and the toll-bars abolished, the maintenance of the 
roads having been thrown on the several parishes through which 
they pass ; many trusts yet remain, some gradually working off 
their debts, others hopelessly insolvent, all involving consider- 
able charges on the districts through which they pass, beyond 
their maintenance, for the payment of toll-collectors, clerks, law- 
charges, and other expenses. Parliamentary committees have 
decreed that tolls are an expensive and inconvenient mode of 
levying money ; and that, in order to obtain a more economical 
and efficient management of the roads, it is absolutely necessary 
to resort to some system of consolidation. 
The chief difficulty in dealing with this question is the 
bonded debt, which, in the last return (1873) amounted for 
England and Wales to 2,056,985/., paying interest, in the aggre- 
gate, of 57,280/. — the rate varying from 1;^ to 5 per cent. 
From the report made in 1865 there were then 1046 trusts in 
existence, 182 of which were free from debt. The unpaid in- 
terest amounted to 456,708/. ; 47 trusts had unpaid interest 
