§ MR. T. DUNCOMBEsaid, he rose lo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, What progress has been made towards the abolition of the Toll Gates round London; if the Metropolis Roads Commissioners have held any special meet- 469 ing to effect that object, or whether they have been summoned for the purpose at all; if they have met, what was done, and out of the forty-one Commissioners, how many were present; and if Her Majesty's Government intend to present any specific proposition for abolishing Toll Gates, and when?
SIR GEORGE LEWISregretted to say that he had no hope of being able to prepare a measure for the abolition of toll gates in the neighbourhood of the Metropolis. That was a question which would admit of very simple solution if the respective parishes were willing that the toll gates should be abolished, and that the expense of maintaining the roads within their limits should be defrayed out of the parish rates. But it was clear that any settlement of the question would involve the abolition of the present system of turnpike tolls, and the transfer of the charge to the rates either of each parish or of some larger district; and in order to effect such a change the consent of the persons at present interested in those roads must be obtained.