THE WEALTH OF NATIONS.

C81

maintenance of such a work should be put under the management of commissioners or trustees.

! In Great Britain , the abuses which the trustees have com-mitted in the management of those tolls, have in many casesbeen very justly complained of. At many turnpikes, it hasbeen said, the money levied is more than double of what isnecessary for executing, in the completest manner, the work,which is often executed in a very slovenly manner, and some-times not executed at all. The system of repairing the highroads by tolls of this kind, it must, be observed, is not of verylongstanding. We should not wonder, therefore, if it hasnot yet been brought to that degree of perfection of which itseems capable. If mean and improper persons are frequentlyappointed trustees ; and if proper courts of inspection andaccount have not yet been established for controlling theirconduct, and for reducing the tolls to what is barely sufficientfor executing the work to be done by them ; the recency ofthe institution both accounts and apologizes for those defects,of which, by the wisdom of parliament, the greater part mayin due time be gradually remedied.

The money levied at the different turnpikes in Great Bri-tain is supposed to exceed so much what is necessary for re-pairing the roads, that the savings, which, with proper eco-nomy, might be made from it, have been considered even bysome ministers, as a very great resource, which might at sometime or another be applied to the exigencies of the state. Go-vernment, it has been said, by taking the management of theturnpikes into its own hands, and by employing the soldiers,who would work for a very small addition to their pay, couldkeep the roads in good order at a much less expense than itcan be done by trustees, who have no other workmen to em-ploy, but such as derive their whole subsistence from theirwages. A great revenue, half a million, perhaps,* it hashecn pretended, might in this manner be gained, without lay-ing any new burden upon the people ; and the turnpike roadsmight be made to contribute to the general expense of the> * n the same manner as the post-office does at present.ir ihat a considerable revenue might be gained in this man-ner, 1 have no doubt, though probably not near so much asthe projectors of this plan have supposed. The plan it-

aH*t| Sll ] Ue,>U - l ? llsl "M g l*‘ e t ' Voflrst editions of this book, I have got good reasons to believe thathalf IT, •| r ,‘‘ P ' kU tU * , ic ' 1 Oreat Hritaiu do not produce a neat revenue that amounts to

•o keen'ii. »" ’ •“ 'l' 1 " 1 ' V ,'.', cl,> u,Kler llie management of Government, would not be sufficient|> in repair five of the principal roads in the kingdom.

2 x