TURNPIKE TRUSTS. (Hansard, 28 July 1835)

§ Mr. William Alexander Mackinnon

In the Motion that I am about to submit to the House, I can assure you, Sir, there is nothing whatever of a political nature. The subject is one of considerable importance, and requires most urgently the attention of the Legislature. Gentlemen here assembled are bound to promote whatever has a tendency to increase the facility of communication in the country, to promote its welfare and augment its resources. We are sent here by our constituents and are assembled to deliberate and to consult the interests of the great empire, the population of which we represent, not solely to be occupied in contention for political supremacy or to 1184 espouse the cause of contending parties. This question, Sir, would not have been taken up by me if any other Member of this House or of the Government had expressed a willingness to undertake it. My noble Friend, the Member for Westmoreland, has so much benefited his country by the measure he brought forward of consolidating the trusts and roads round the Metropolis, that he would have been perhaps the fittest person to be in the Committee which I am about to ask the House to grant, to consider some of the most important points relative to the management of the Turnpike Trusts of the kingdom. In furthering this measure I trust I may obtain the support of Gentlemen belonging to both sides of the House, I feel satisfied they will not oppose a measure that may prove beneficial to the community, merely because it originates with a Member who does not always coincide with them in political opinions. I find since I gave notice of my intention to make this Motion that a Member of his Majesty's Government has expressed a desire of supporting the principles which I recommend by introducing a Bill into this House relative to the consolidation of Turnpike Trusts. It is not my wish that any statement made by me should be taken for granted unless supported by such evidence as cannot be refuted. I will, in as concise a manner as the nature of the subject will admit, lay before the House my reasons for this Motion, and briefly state the most important points that I am desirous of bringing under the notice of a Select Committee for their attentive consideration; the great amount of debt, the number of small trusts, and the manner in which the roads are managed, and also the mode of collecting the revenues for the road by tolls, I say tolls, because, statute labour and composition ought, of course, to be abolished, are not such as can be tolerated in the present day, and are entirely at variance with the wisdom and policy that ought to guide the management of such an important cause of the national wealth and prosperity as the means of communication are in this country. The House and the public, perhaps, may not be aware, that the amount of debts incurred by the several Turnpike Trusts amounts (speaking in round numbers) to nearly nine millions, the gross income about 1,500,000l., and the expenditure rather more, and like the debt yearly increasing. Assuming, as a matter of course, that both statute labour and 1185 composition might be abolished, I will place the points for the consideration of the Committee as follows:

1. The expediency of consolidating the management and revenues of several small trusts into one trust not exceeding 150 miles.
2. The policy of raising a revenue by some other means than by tolls for the support of the roads.
3. The possibility of establishing a highway police over the turnpike roads of the kingdom.
4. The eligibility of having a central board of Commissioners in the Metropolis, to control the financial department of the several trusts, but not to have any executive power whatever over the roads as to the management; which should continue as at present, in the hands of the Trustees.

Now with respect to the first of these points, the expediency of consolidating small trusts. It may be necessary to observe to those Gentlemen not acquainted with the subject, that in many parts of the kingdom there are several small trusts not averaging more than eight or ten miles of road, each having a separate set of Trustees, Clerks, Surveyors, and Treasurer, and other most expensive machinery, the length of the turnpike roads is 19,798 miles and the number of trusts 1,119. The evidence before the Lords' Committee states that round the town of Stamford there are seven or eight small trusts, each having a set of officers and most expensive machinery; these several trusts have all separate meetings and separate management, and thereby incurs a most heavy and unnecessary expense as well as injury to the roads from want of union and co-operation. The same appears to be the case at Winchester, and in many other places. The disadvantages arising from these petty trusts are great. From the evidence, it appears that nearly 200,000l. a-year, is expended in salaries to the officers, in stationery, in various other charges which by a consolidation could be nearly done away. Another disadvantage is, that these small trusts as they now are established bid against each other for materials. From the evidence of Sir James M'Adam, it appears, that before the union of the roads round the Metropolis, the price paid for road materials brought by sea, was nearly double the price paid at present. There is no competition in the market when the consolidation is effected, and consequently, the supply is obtained at a lower rate. Another very important advantage arising from consolidation would be the saving of a high rate of interest paid for 1186 money borrowed. At present if a small trust requires the loan of a sum of money, the amount required cannot be obtained much under 5 per cent from the smallness of the income and the uncertainty of collection. Now, if a consolidation was effected, no reasonable doubt can be entertained that if a loan was required money might be obtained at from 3 to 4 per cent. Another point also which is of importance under a consolidation, horse labour might be saved and manual labour substituted in its place, by men wheeling the materials. In the evidence of Sir James M'Adam before the Lords, that gentleman states, that he has substituted manual labour for horse labour in the large trusts, not only at a saving of expense, but also to the satisfaction of the labourers, who invariably prefer wheeling the materials to carting them, even if to be taken to some distance. At a period when by the great increase of machinery so many hands are put out of employment, any measure that may give employment to the poor without additional charge on the public purse appears to me most desirable. Under these circumstances, Sir, when there does not exist one reason for continuing the present small trusts, but on the contrary, every advantage on the other side, I confess, Sir, I am at a loss to imagine why such a change should not be effected. The plan I would propose is not to consolidate the trusts into 150 miles, in one straight line which would render it most inconvenient for the trustees to attend, but to unite them round a town radiating like a star, each radius not to exceed, say twenty-five or thirty miles. If any further argument were necessary so shew the expediency of the measure, the following extract from the Report of the Lords' Committee may be stated to the House.

"The Committee have not failed to observe, from the evidence adduced, the great benefits that have arisen from the consolidation of trusts round the metropolis. One of the greatest evils in the present road system is the number of trusts, as well as their limited range and extent. The Committee would, therefore, recommend every consolidation of trusts which their localities and other circumstances will permit." Mr. Irish, in his evidence, states, not only that 200,000l. a-year is expended in salaries, &c.; as I have already stated, but that double the amount of manual labour might be employed under a better system, and yet the funds be economized.

The next point to which I would desire 1187 the attention of the House, is the policy of raising some other revenue for the roads than by tolls. The inexpediency of a revenue by tolls will be evident on a little reflection. The number of toll-gates is nearly five thousand. A great proportion of the gates in the kingdom may be said to average an amount of toll of, say from 120l. to 160l. per annum, take the mean, and say 140l. is paid by the public at a toll-gate. How much of this sum goes into the Treasurer'? hands? The expense of a toll-collector cannot be estimated at less than 12s. per week, which is 31l. 4s. per annum. The profit made by the lessee 10l., and take the repairs and rent of the toll-house at 5l., a moderate sum: the total to be deducted is 46l. 4s. from 140l. leaving only a balance for the trust of 93l. 16s. Thus we perceive that nearly one-third of the tolls paid by the public are lost to the Trust of the roads, it does not even find its way into the hands of the Treasurer. It appears further by the evidence to which I have so often alluded, that near large towns where the tolls are considerable in amount, certain individuals form themselves into companies, and rent tolls in a large district to a very considerable amount. Would any men of capital engage in such a speculation unless the profit was considerable, and whatever profit they make in such a speculation is so much loss to the public. Turnpikes have been established in England for a considerable time, and it is only since the year 1767 that the roads have been in a tolerable state, their present state, therefore, cannot be attributed to the turnpike system, but to the wealth of the country. Let any one consider the exact number of horses and carriages kept in this metropolis for luxury and pleasure, scarcely any of these pay any toll from one week to another. I am fully aware of the trite remark, that the repairs of the road ought to be borne by those who use them. In answer, I should say, that every individual in the community is benefited by communication, and that he pays, either himself directly, or by money indirectly for their maintenance, by an additional per centage on his goods and parcels, or by the travelling of some member of his family; and to him it matters little, or, indeed, to any man in the community, whether he pays for the roads in one way or in another. Whether a rate on horses and carriages used for pleasure might be substituted for tolls, or a rate on all inhabited houses of above ten pounds rent, is not for me to 1188 have the presumption of stating to the House, but I leave it to the wisdom of this Assembly for consideration. At any rate, it cannot but prove more agreeable to the mass of the community to pay so much less annually in the shape of a rate, than to pay one-third more in amount in tolls. For example, supposing that any individual, either in or out of this House, pays annually in tolls 15l., surely it would be better if that individual paid only 10l. in a rate, and certainly it would be less troublesome and annoying. The toll system ought to be abolished, and the country freed from such an impost entirely. I will only trouble the House further on this point by giving them the following extract from the Lords' Committee: "It appears that combinations have been successfully organized to defeat the provisions of the Act of George 4th, with respect to letting tolls." We next come to the consideration of the establishment of a highway police over the roads of the kingdom. Gentlemen, must bear in mind that although the lower classes are better educated, and, in general, I believe that less crime is committed on an average than formerly, yet from the great facility of communication and increase of education and intelligence, the lower classes can combine together with more facility, and are, therefore, more powerful, and more likely to be aware of their strength by means of combination. As long as the wages of labour are adequate to their support, they, the mass of the agricultural and manufacturing population, remain quiet, but should any change in the value of the circulating medium, as in the price of provisions, cause them to suffer privations to which they are unaccustomed, great dissatisfaction would naturally arise, and that Government is sleeping on a barrel of gunpowder that does not, by all the means it may command, suppress crime of every description, and also prevent the escape of criminals from justice or their acting with impunity. Of late years the crime of arson has been prevalent in the country, and may occur again. No means seem so effectual to check such a recurrence as the formation of a rural or highway police, placed like constables, under the entire control of the local Magistracy, and established under a well-organized system. Such a police would effectually check smuggling into the interior of the country, and prove useful in many other ways not necessary to mention here, and if any illicit distillation was practised, nothing better 1189 could put a stop to the practice. Those men have deserved well of their country who have established the police-force in the metropolis. The boon has not yet, perhaps, been duly appreciated, yet every one must admit the additional security to persons and property since the police-force has been established and made effective. Admitting that a consolidation of roads can be effected, I think that men of good character, working as labourers on the roads, could, on being sworn as constables, be placed under the same control, though not exactly under the same system of management as the police in the metropolis. The present is not the time, nor is this the place, to enter into any details on such a subject, I will only throw out the idea, and repeat to the House a sentence of the Select Committee of the Lords, in the following words: "The measure of employing permanent milemen with occasional labourers on the roads has combined such indisputable advantages that the Committee submit such a system might be rendered contributary to objects of general security." In what I have here suggested, therefore, I am only developing the idea thrown out by an able Committee, headed by a well-informed noble individual, who has bestowed much time and patience on the subject, and to whom, should the measure now submitted to the House ever be carried into effect, the country will feel much indebted.

The next point for the consideration of the Committee I propose to ask the House to grant is one which I believe, is inseparable from the Question of a consolidation of the trusts, or, indeed, of any of the measures which I have proposed, and without which I do not see how it would be possible to carry any of them into effect. It is far from my intention to propose any Commission that would be the means of taking any power out of the hands of the local authorities or Trustees, or Sessions, or of making any Commissioners responsible and acting as they thought fit about roads or their revenues. The example of France, and the state of their roads prove clearly the impolicy and insufficiency of the entire administration of the roads being under the orders of the Government; and in England, where you have the advantage of a county Magistracy of the most enlightened and superior description, and where so many active country gentlemen are found who promote with zeal every object that may benefit the community, the intention of placing the 1190 management of the highways under the Government would be quite preposterous; yet I think, that to prevent the needless waste of money in some trusts, the undertaking of roads as private jobs in others, and to enable a rich trust to advance money to another in want of assistance, that the Committee may discuss the eligibility of establishing a Central Board of Commissioners to control the financial department of the several trusts in the kingdom without possessing any executive power whatever, the Trustees to retain all the power, but only the state of the finances and the expenditure to be submitted to this Board of Control, but the country gentlemen to exercise their functions of Trustees as at present. Before entering into any remark on the expediency of such a Board, I will just give the House the words of the Lords' Committee in one sentence. "All the witnesses who Lave been examined to that point concur in recommending a system of general control over the management of the roads of the kingdom." It must be apparent to every one present that the suggestions which I have proposed in the observations already made cannot be brought to a satisfactory termination without Commissioners, two only of whom might be salaried, the others might be honorary. Those receiving remuneration might be paid out of the large saving that would accrue from the improved system of managing the road funds. The advantages of such a Board are apparent; they would, by assisting the funds of a poor trust from advances made by one more wealthy, prevent the recurrence of those shameful jobs, and improper system of management which the evidence already so often alluded to has disclosed. Considerable saving in interest would arise, as it appears that most trusts now pay five per cent. for money borrowed, whereas, under a Board of Control, all trusts might obtain loans at three and a-half, or not higher than four per cent. I have now, Sir, submitted to the Mouse the outline of the plan that I would lay before the Committee, which I now ask the House to grant me for that purpose. However, Sir, in moving for such a Committee I am not so visionary, or so much enamoured, or engrossed with the subject and plan proposed as not to foresee very great, if not insuperable, difficulties in the way of an entire alteration of the present system. The opposition will be from the Treasurers, Clerks, Solicitors, and other officers of the 1191 small trusts who will not relish giving up emoluments and perquisites of more than 150,000l. a-year. The objections and arguments against a change or any alteration, will be without number, and unless the Government lend a powerful hand in support of the measure, there is not the slightest chance of its being carried into execution. Before I sit down I will, for a moment only, intrude further on the attention of the House to observe that speaking in round numbers and assuming the debt to be nine millions, and at 5 per cent, the interest 450,000l. a-year, if the interest is reduced to 3½ per cent, 135,000l. a-year would be saved to the public. If to this be added the amount saved by a better system of management of the funds under a board, and the economy in the expenditure when a consolidation takes place, and if I (which I can scarcely hope ever to have accomplished) another mode of obtaining a revenue for the roads is adopted either by a rate on houses or some other means, I think I am not exaggerating when I assert, that a sum not far short of half a million annually might be saved to the public with a far better management of the roads and a more extensive use of the labouring population than is now in demand for that purpose. A most intelligent surveyor has stated his opinion as follows:—"It appears to me that an arrangement might easily be made by Parliament for the direction and control of all trusts, and for the gradual amendment of road affairs, which would save half a million a-year to the nation besides gradually paying off the existing debt and securing good roads every where." In the present state of the agricultural interest, I think that Gentlemen connected more particularly with that branch of national prosperity ought to support me in a measure that would lighten the burthens of the farmer, by abolishing statute labour and composition, a system of little service to the roads, and equally troublesome and vexatious to the landed interest, a plan that would lay the burthen of keeping the roads in order on the wealthy part of the people and on the community at large, and in many ways, unnecessary to repeat here, improve the high ways, promote the wealth and stimulate the industry of this great empire.