LEAVE. FIRST READING. (Hansard, 30 March 1876)

§ The LORD ADVOCATE,

in moving for leave to bring in a Bill to alter and amend the Law in regard to the management and maintenance of Roads and Bridges in Scotland, said: The changes which have taken place in Scotland during the last 30 years, and especially the general introduction of railways, have so entirely altered the road traffic of the country that the old provisions for the maintenance of roads by tolls and statute labour have become in many districts quite unsuitable to existing circumstances. The turnpike roads have in many cases ceased to be the leading thorough fares, their place being taken by the parish roads affording access to railway stations, for the heavy traffic on which, the assessments now leviable are quite inadequate. So long 915 ago as 1858 a Royal Commission was appointed by Lord Derby's Government for the purpose of investigating the whole system of the management and maintenance of the public roads in Scotland, with a view to securing "a more economical and equitable system than that which at present prevails." The Commissioners were Mr. Smythe, of Methven, Sir John M'Neill, the hon. Gentleman the Member for Edinburgh (Mr. M'Laren), and the late Sir Andrew Orr. In December, 1859, the Commissioners made an elaborate Report, the leading recommendations of which were (1) The existing turnpikes and statute labour trusts should be abolished, and all the public roads in the landward parts of each county—that is, exclusive of the burghs—should be managed by trustees, consisting of the Commissioners of Supply—i.e., all owners above £100 rental—and certain representatives of the general body of tenants or ratepayers; (2) In lieu of tolls and statute labour, the roads should be maintained by assessment on real rental, payable, as in the case of poor rates, one half by the owner, and the other half by the occupier, provision being made for special rating of quarries and public works, the carting from which is exceptionally extensive; (3) The debts affecting roads should be valued and allocated between burghs and counties, the assessment for payment of them and for new roads to be paid by owners only; (4) Roads within burghs should be maintained and managed by the burgh authorities having charge of the streets. The Commissioners, while expressing their own opinion in favour of the abolition of the toll system, add the following remarks:— Having thus pointed out the manner in which we conceive provision might be made for maintaining roads and bridges by means of a system of assessment, we are of opinion that, even although it should be deemed inexpedient at present to attempt any compulsory general measure for introducing such a system in all the counties of Scotland, power should nevertheless be conferred upon the Road Trustees of any county to abolish the present system of tolls and statute labour, and in lieu thereof to introduce a system of assessment. Care ought to be taken, however, that such a resolution should embody the deliberate opinion of the county, by being agreed to at a meeting specially called for the purpose, and after certain notices have been given, so as to insure the perfect publicity of the intended change, in order that 916 all parties affected by it may have an opportunity of resisting its introduction if so advised. We are aware that a difference of opinion exists as to whether it would be expedient thus to allow one county to abandon the toll system without making the measure general, and applicable to the whole country. We are of opinion that such a permission ought to be given. Several counties are already in a condition to take advantage of a permissive Act, whereas in others no immediate change is desired. The anomaly of there being tolls in some counties, while none are found in others immediately adjoining, is one which already exists; and the few instances that will occur of persons paying tolls in one county and assessment in another, might be deemed exceptional, and not worthy of consideration. The more the traffic is found to be local, the smaller will be the number of such cases of hardship. The inhabitants of Argyllshire and Sutherland do not complain that they have to pay tolls in Dumbartonshire, Perthshire, or Inverness shire. Besides, if the change be really in itself a good one for any particular county in regard to the maintenance of its own roads, and with reference to its own traffic, the existence of tolls elsewhere should be matters of very little moment. When the Royal Commissioners reported in 1859, there were no tolls in the counties of Argyll, Orkney, and Sutherland, the roads being maintained wholly by assessment. Since 1859 private Acts of Parliament have been obtained by which tolls have been abolished, and the maintenance of the roads provided for by assessment in the counties of Caithness (1860), Elgin and Nairn (1863), Peebles (1864), Kirkcudbright (1864), Zetland (1864), Aberdeen (1865), Banff (1866), Ross and Cromarty (1866), Selkirk (1867). In two other counties—namely, Haddington (in 1863) and Wigtown (in 1865)—private Acts have been obtained, under which tolls are to cease as soon as the debts affecting the turnpike roads are paid off or provided for, the whole cost of maintaining the roads being at once thrown upon assessment. By the private Acts obtained for Dumfriesshire in 1865, and Forfarshire in 1874, permissive power is given to abolish tolls and to provide for the maintenance of the roads affected by them by means of assessment. It is obvious from this statement as to the course taken by more than half of the counties of Scotland, in obtaining private Acts, that public opinion is not favourable to the toll system, but is in favour of the maintenance of roads by means of assessment. It is, however, to be remarked that the counties in which tolls have been abolished 917 are not in the centre of Scotland. They are generally also of an agricultural or pastoral character. The counties which have not abolished tolls are chiefly in the centre of Scotland, and contain numerous towns and populous districts, with which it has been found difficult to deal by means of private Bill legislation. I think the time has come when a general measure should be introduced dealing with the whole country; but as in several of the last-mentioned counties peculiar circumstances have created a feeling of opposition to the substitution of assessment for tolls, I propose that, at all events for some years, the measure should not be compulsory. The Bill which I now ask leave to introduce has accordingly been framed upon that principle, effect being given in it to the greater part of the recommendations of the Royal Commissioners of 1859—with such modifications as the experience obtained under Private Bill legislation has suggested. The Royal Commissioners did not suggest any machinery for the adoption of a road Act, assuming it to be of a per missive character. By the Bill it is proposed that in the ordinary case the adoption of the Act shall rest with the Commissioners of Supply in those counties where tolls still exist, and with the Road Trustees acting under the local Acts, in those counties which have already abolished them. But in the former case it is proposed to give for the period of five years a right of veto to the Parliamentary electors of the county, to enable them, if so inclined, to postpone for that period a change which, to a certain extent, may involve, if not an addition to, at least a variation in the incidence of, their local burdens. I have been most anxious to devise some means for enabling the counties of Lanark, Renfrew, Mid-Lothian, and Ayr, which have hitherto been most opposed to the abolition of the toll system, to adopt the Act. The main cause of opposition in these counties has been the difficulty of settling by any general measure the principles which should regulate the allocation between county and burgh of debt affecting, and expense of maintaining, the roads in the neighbourhood of Glasgow, Edinburgh, and other large towns. To enable these difficulties to be equitably solved, Section 7 proposes to make it competent to adopt the Act, subject to 918 conditions contained in provisional agreements which counties and burghs are authorized to enter into in regard to the mode of meeting the expenditure on suburban roads, such agreements, however, not to have the effect of law until they shall have been approved of by one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State after such inquiry as to him may seem proper. If such an agreement should not be made within three years after the passing of the Act, it is so important that an opportunity should be afforded for special provisions being made in regard to the suburban roads round large towns that it is further proposed by Sections 8 and 9 to give the Commissioners of Supply power to apply for a provisional order to be made by the Secretary of State, and to be confirmed by Parliament modifying the general provisions of the Act in regard to the expenditure upon such roads. The Bill as drawn limits the permissive character of the measure to five years, for which period, if necessary, all existing local Acts would be continued. After five years, unless Parliament should think that period too short, it is thought that the Act should take effect at once in all counties which have not obtained private Acts of their own. Keeping in view that in the course of five years almost every one of the existing turnpike Acts will have expired, the great majority of them being already dependent on the annual Continuance Act, and further, bearing in mind the anxious provisions which the Bill contains for the adjustment of local difficulties, I do not think it is too much to expect that in 1881, or rather before the end of the Session of 1882, the Act may come into general operation without just ground of complaint on the part of anyone.