28 
j Rural Roads . 
POWER-DRIYEN VEHICLES. 
The introduction of the bicycle in a practical form about 
1880 directed public attention to the condition of the roads, 
but a further and immense stimulus in this direction has been 
produced by the invention of the motor car with pneumatic 
tyres. The need for better roads has become acute on account 
of the advent of the power-driven vehicle, which was rendered 
possible by the Locomotives on Highways Act, 1896, and there 
is now probably a greater unanimity of opinion than ever before 
existed in these islands that an improvement is desirable. 
Every new kind of carriage or waggon, including the bicycle, 
when first introduced, was strongly objected to on the ground 
that it would destroy the roads or be dangerous to the public. 
The new vehicles, however, have always gained the victory, 
though, in the -case of locomotives on roads, it was long 
delayed in Great Britain. The use of steam carriages on 
roads began about 1830, and was favourably reported on by 
a Parliamentary Committee in 1831, but although it was then 
confidently expected that the new vehicles would rapidly 
become established on a great scale, this hope was disappointed, 
mainly it is said, on account of the unfair opposition of persons 
interested in other methods of locomotion. Regarding this 
point, the Right Hon. Sir John H. A. Macdonald, K.C.B., Lord 
Justice Clerk of Scotland, gave most interesting evidence before 
the Royal Commission on Motor Cars, 1906, and set out the case 
for the abatement of the dust nuisance and encouragement 
of motor traffic in the following striking passage : — 
“ The dust question has become very prominent since the advent of the 
power-driven vehicle. To most it is a subject of bitter complaint. It will 
turn out that the awakening of the public mind to the problem of dust pre- 
vention, by the advent of the motor vehicle, will be in reality an ultimate 
blessing to the community, Dust is present on our public roads not because 
of the advent of the motor car, it was there before. The evil is not merely the 
throwing up of dust, the evil is having loose material on the road at all. 
Whether the loose material is dust or mud, it is not only an annoyance, but 
it is an evil from more than one point of view. It is an enemy to health, to 
vehicles, to horses, to pedestrians, and to vegetation, and a drag on commercial 
prosperity. It demanded the stimulus of a revival of the use of the roads to 
cause serious thought to be given to the subject. The mail coach days were 
the days of dust raising in clouds, as Bob Acres says on arriving at Bath, 
‘Warm work on the road, Jack, odds whips and wheels ; I’ve travelled like, 
a comet with a tail of dust all the way as long as the Mall.’ 
“ So fearful was the nuisance on much frequented roads that pumps were 
provided at enormous cost at every few miles on the Bath road, which was 
watered daily in dry weather. 
“ But the stoppage of all fast horse traffic by the rivalry of the railways led 
to the question of the prevention of dust being shelved for seventy years. Now 
it is again before ns, and already invention has been stimulated and is far on 
the road to success. 
“ The free use of the power vehicles on the roads will confer the following 
among other benefits : — 
