The foregoing Remarks on Roads cannot be better concluded than by the following Extract from the Report of the Committee of the House of Commons in 1811.
"The many important advantages to be derived
from amending the highways and turnpike
roads of the kingdom need hardly be dwelt
upon. Every individual in it would thereby
find his comforts materially increased, and his
interest greatly promoted. By the improvement
of our roads, every branch of our agricultural,
commercial, and manufacturing industry
would be materially benefited. Every article
brought to market would be diminished in
price; the number of horses would be so much
reduced, that by these, and other retrenchments,
the expence of FIVE MILLIONS
would be annually saved to the public. The
expence of repairing roads, and the wear and
tear of carriages and horses, would be essentially
diminished; and thousands of acres, the
produce of which is now wasted in feeding
unnecessary horses, would be devoted to the
production of food for man. In short, the
