A very lengthy and severe General Turnpike Act, embodying some of the provisions already detailed, with many new ones, was that of 1766. Preambles to Acts of Parliament are generally exaggerated statements of the necessities that procured the passing of the enactments to which they sometimes afford astonishing prefaces. They are, indeed, officially so recognised, and lawyers accordingly describe them as “common form.” The preamble, however, to the Act of 1766 was an exact statement of affairs, and in saying that “the laws for the general regulation of turnpike roads are very numerous and in some respects ineffectual,” it merely set forth a commonplace of the time.
For a number of years before the passing of this measure, lengthy and heated controversies had arisen on the subject of waggons and roads, and as a result it was generally conceded that wheels with narrow tyres and heavy loads cut up the highways into ruts, while broad wheels so distributed the weight that they greatly minimised that evil, or even, if they were broad enough, rolled the surface into a better condition than it was in before their passing. Inventive minds, rioting with theories not perfectly tested, went to extremes and produced extraordinary waggons with heavy iron rollers instead of wheels, which would certainly have flattened out the most rugged of roads had it been possible for horses to have moved the enormous weight. As a result of much trial, the stage-waggons of the time were constructed with wheels whose breadth ranged from six to nine inches, and such vehicles enjoyed a remission of extraordinary toll in proportion to those measurements. From 1766, then, four-wheeled waggons weighing over three tons, with wheels less than nine inches in breadth, paid 20s. over and above the ordinary toll; all over six tons, irrespective of wheels, 20s.; and two-wheeled carts over three tons, 20s.; while waggons and carts so constructed with regard to long and short axletrees to front and hind wheels that, in conjunction with the breadth of their wheels, they rolled a track of not less than sixteen inches on either side, paid only half of the ordinary toll levied upon wagons with a nine-inch breadth of wheel. These provisions may perhaps seem a little complicated, but they were a great deal more so in actual working, for their chance of being always understood and fairly applied was small when administered by country pike-keepers.
The maximum length and width of waggons was specified by this Act, which declared it to be unlawful for any but timber-waggons to be of greater breadth than four feet six inches between the axletrees, or of a greater length than nine feet from the centre of fore wheels to that of the hind ones. No broad-wheeled waggon was to be drawn by more than eight horses, or two-wheeled carts by more than five, in pairs; and narrow-wheeled waggons were not allowed more than four. A penalty of 20s. was indicated for harnessing an extra horse, in addition to the horse being confiscated. Additional horses might be used when the roads were covered with snow or ice, and it was left to the discretion of turnpike trustees to allow extra horses on steep hills, in which cases any number up to ten might be used for four-wheeled waggons, or up to six for two-wheeled; but trustees were to carefully specify those hills on which this indulgence was granted. Steep hills, consequently, for many years afterwards were generally seen with notices beside the road, where the horses might be attached. A post at the bottom announced in large letters, “Put On,” and another, at the top, “Take Off.”
Narrow-wheeled waggons were not to be drawn by pairs. Drag-irons or slippers to be flat, not rounded; penalty 40s. The owner’s name and place of abode were to be painted on the most conspicuous part of each waggon or cart, with the words “Common Stage-Waggon,” or cart, as the case might be. It was this enactment that for many years afterwards gave their characteristic appearance to the old stage-waggons, for the most conspicuous place on them was undoubtedly the canvas tilt, which was always painted as the Act directed, in very large lettering.
The Act was lavish with its pains and penalties. For using a waggon with a false name, or without a name, 40s. was the price. The driver of any waggon with wheels not constructed according to law, or drawn by more horses than authorised, could be imprisoned, and powers were given to any person to apprehend any driver in such cases. If a driver, on coming to a toll-gate, unharnessed any horses or unloaded any part of his load with intent to deceive or defraud the turnpike authorities, he forfeited £5; while the owner paid the same sum in cases where waggons were loaded to excess, and the driver became liable to be committed for one month to a house of correction.
Among the clauses of this and other Acts it is especially forbidden to waggoners to sit in, or drive from, their waggons. They must either walk or ride beside them. They had, indeed, generally done so, as the portrait of old Hobson, on horseback, shows us, or the pictures and narratives of old road life by contemporary artists and writers sufficiently prove; but as the Acts especially decree that waggoners were not to ride on the waggons, the reason being that from such a position they could not maintain sufficient control over their horses, some of them must have done so, and perhaps have fallen asleep and so caused accidents, just as the slumbering carters and waggoners on their way to and from Covent Garden Market do now.
It now became the turn of the coaches to attract the attention of legislators. They obtained this doubtful favour because it had just occurred to the Revenue officials that, owing to the increased number of coaches running, and the larger number of persons resorting to them, the duty on post-horses had not grown at its accustomed rate. The remedy ready to hand was a Stamp Office duty on stage-coaches, which was accordingly introduced in 1776, and four-wheeled coaches paid £5 per annum. The Revenue “vampires,” as the coach-proprietors called them, turned again to this new source of income, and in 1783 levied a duty of a halfpenny a mile run by every stage-coach. Further measures were introduced two years later, when the duties were revised, and four-wheeled and two-wheeled coaches alike paid a five-shilling annual license, and a duty of a penny a mile. From this express inclusion of two-wheeled coaches, it would seem that some vehicles of that nature had been introduced to evade the previous duty; but coaching history is silent on the subject. The duty of a penny a mile was to be paid monthly, and seven days’ notice to be given of any coach being discontinued.
So far the legislature had only taken notice of coaches when new sources of revenue were being sought; but an eye was already upon their doings, an eye that had noted the increasing accidents, due to overloading, reckless driving, and a variety of other causes. It was not an official eye that thus ranged over the roads of the kingdom and marked the broken limbs and contusions of the lieges, acquired by falling from the roofs of coaches, by collisions and upsets: it was the stern gaze, indeed, of one Richard Gamon, a private member of Parliament, who in 1788, in the face of much opposition and ridicule, brought in a Bill to regulate stage-coaches. It is sad to think that even those who travelled largely by coach, whom Mr. Gamon desired to protect, made fun of his efforts, and, when his Bill at first failed to pass, rejoiced as greatly in the prospect of a continued free trade in broken necks and legs as ever the coach-proprietors themselves could have done. Some of this wit was very cheap stuff indeed. It largely consisted of torturing Mr. Gamon’s name into “Gammon,” and that done, the rest was easy. A morning newspaper found it possible to write thus:—
Whene’er a loaded stage drives by
With more than it should draw,
We view the outside group, and cry,
“That’s contrary to law.”
But all the folks who clamour thus
Are totally mistaken,
For Gammon’s Bill did never pass,
So coachmen saved their bacon.