"It has frequently been urged against these carriages, that wherever they may be introduced, they must effectually prevent all other travelling on the road, as no horse will bear the noise and smoke of the engine. The Committee believe that these statements are unfounded. Whatever noise may be complained of, arises from the present defective construction of the machinery, and will be corrected as the makers of such carriages gain greater experience. Admitting even that the present engines do work with some degree of noise, the effect on horses has been greatly exaggerated. All the witnesses accustomed to travel in these carriages, even in the crowded roads adjacent to the metropolis, have stated, that horses are very seldom frightened in passing." But in 1834, the report is still more conclusive on this point. Mr Macneil, a distinguished civil engineer, gives the following evidence:-- "At the time the Committee sat in 1831, I could speak as to having seen only one steam-carriage on a turnpike road, and as to the effect on horses that passed it on the road. From considerable experience since that time, _I am quite certain, that in a very short period there will be no complaint of horses being frightened by steam-carriages._ I do not know that I have seen more than two or three horses in all my experience, that were at all frightened by any of the carriages. I travelled with, and I have passed many times through some of the most crowded streets in London and in Birmingham, in steam-carriages. I have also seen horses out in the morning, led by grooms, which would in all probability be startled by any object at all likely to frighten a horse, and they did not take the least notice of the engine. At another time, several ladies passed on horseback without the least alarm, and some of them rode close after the carriage, and alongside of it, as long as they could keep up with it."