22 
Rural Roads. 
some 23,000 miles of turnpike roads were controlled by about 
1,200 Trusts, many of which had only from fifteen to eighteen 
miles in their care, and though their joint income was more 
than one and a half million pounds a year, they were unable 
to meet their expenditure, including interest on loans. In 1840, 
the cost of maintaining the turnpike roads was 66?. per mile. 
In 1901, the Royal Commission on Local Taxation reported : 
u The maintenance of main roads we also consider on the whole 
to be to some extent a national service and likely to become 
more so owing to the increasing mobility of the population 
and the development of new means of locomotion.” They 
recommended that a new annual grant equal to one-half of the 
annual cost of the roads, determined by some authoritative and 
impartial body to be main roads, should be made from the 
Imperial Exchequer, and estimated this grant at 1,000,000?. 
In 1903, a Departmental Committee, appointed by the Local 
Government Board, reported that there are 1,855 highway 
authorities in England and Wales and that the mileages of roads 
of all classes which are maintained by many of the District 
Councils are very small. The Committee pointed out most 
forcibly the want of uniformity in the existing methods of 
road maintenance, and suggested that local sentiment should 
not be allowed to prevail over an effort to secure greater 
uniformity, efficiency, and economy in the maintenance of 
main roads. They recommended the formation of one County 
Board for each county to deal with all main roads therein, and 
expressed the opinion that the cost of maintaining trunk lines 
of roads throughout the country should be a matter for national, 
rather than local or county provision, and that such roads 
should be called “ National Roads,” and should be maintained 
under the supervision of a central body. 
In 1906, the Royal Commission on Motor Cars, in their 
Report, referred to the new grant of 1,000,000?. recommended 
by the Royal Commission on Local Taxation, and pointed out 
that its motive was the relief of rates and not necessarily the 
improvement of, or any increase in the expenditure upon, the 
main roads. They expressed the opinion that, if any such 
grant were made, a portion should be applied to the improve- 
ment of the character of the roads as distinguished from their 
ordinary maintenance. 
The latter Commission also stated : — 
“ It is recognised on all hands that modern developments of road locomotion 
have rendered necessary some modifications and improvements in the con- 
struction and maintenance of roads, so that no one method of construction, at 
once economical and effective, can at present be recommended ; but one fact 
appears to be certain, viz., that in order to make the roads more suitable 
for the traffic of the present day, and to maintain them in that condition, 
a considerable outlay is required.” 
