Most electric tramway proposals covered the areas of several local authorities, so that negotiations had to be entered into with each in turn. The municipalities, being the guardians of the public interests, considered it their duty to impose the heaviest conditions which the promoters could be induced to accept, rather than abandon the enterprise. It was a case of Hobson's choice in every parish. In some instances direct payments for wayleaves were demanded. In others the promoters were forced to bear the cost of street widenings and other 'public improvements' which were not always necessary for tramway purposes. In nearly every town the fares and stages were determined by the local authority--on the strength of the veto, not on commercial principles. The cost of construction was frequently increased by onerous conditions regarding the standard of overhead wire and track work. Under the Tramways Act, tramway companies were compelled to maintain the roadway between the rails and also outside for a space of eighteen inches--a provision which was sensible enough when horses were used. But the condition was not only enforced within these statutory limits when the promoters were about to use a form of traction which spared the road surface; it was extended in numerous cases to an obligation to pave the entire roadway and to maintain it--often with expensive wood paving where macadam had previously been considered quite good enough for the traffic. One effect of this state of affairs was delay. The preliminary negotiations with local authorities--the interviews with mayors, aldermen, councillors, town clerks, and borough surveyors, to say nothing of the 'frontagers' along the line of route--usually occupied far more time than the actual construction of the tramways. They were also much more troublesome, since it was within the power of a single local authority in a central position to 'hold up' a complete scheme, while most districts had strong local patriotism and wanted a municipal system to themselves. Very little is known by the general public of the anxiety, difficulty, and expense attending such negotiations with local bodies divided into parties or cliques and furnished with an absolute power of veto. Looking back on the history of electric traction, it really seems extraordinary that engineers and financiers had the patience to undertake this work and carry it through. Their reward, as will be seen, was not great in a pecuniary sense; and, as regards reputation, they are generally accused of being extravagant, avaricious, and wanting in enterprise.