260 
CHAP. XVL 
t ' - ■ . 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
/ . 
SECT. I.—ROADS. 
\ 
The principal roads from town, to town, being sup¬ 
ported by toll gates, are generally kept in good repair; 
though, in some of the hilly districts, they are rather 
stony, rough, and uneven. The toll gates in Worces¬ 
tershire, however, are neither numerous nor extrava¬ 
gant in their tolls; a good deal of the heavy carriage 
is taken from off them, by the navigable rivers and 
canals. 
Some of the cross roads are very bad, in the clayey 
districts, where little attention is paid either to plashing 
hedges, opening ditches, or mending roads; many of 
these are scarcely passable from Christmas to Midsum- 
mer, either on horseback, or with a loaded carriage; 
and to this, the inhabitants submit, rather than do, or 
enforce the statute duty; though it may be observed 
in mitigation, that, in these districts, proper materials 
are often scarce or distant, though in most of them, 
plenty of grit rock stone is to be found near the sur¬ 
face. Mr. Oldacre observes, the public roads are in 
pretty 
