ROAD LEGISLATION.

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persons of large landed property; so that a trustseldom consists of fewer than 100 persons, even ifthe length of the road to be maintained by themdoes not exceed a few miles. The result of thispractice is, that in every set of trustees there are tobe found many persons who do not possess a singlequalification for the office ; persons who conceivethey are raised by the title of a road trustee to astation of some importance, and who too oftenseek to show it, by opposing their superiors inability and integrity, when valuable improvementsare under consideration; taking care, too fre-quently, to turn their authority to account, by sodirecting the expenditure as may best promote theinterests of themselves or their connections.

It sometimes happens that if one trustee, moreintelligent and more public spirited than the rest,attempts to take a lead, and proposes a measure inevery way right and proper to be adopted, hisability to give advice is questioned, his presumptioncondemned, his motives suspected; and as everysuch measure will almost always have the effect ofdefeating some private object, it is commonly meteither by direct rejection, or some indirect con-trivance for getting rid of it. In this way intelli-gent and public spirited trustees become disgusted,and cease to attend meetings; for, besides fre-quently experiencing opposition and defeat at thehands of the least worthy of their associates, theyare annoyed by the noise and language with whichthe discussions are carried on, and feel themselves