From the observations which you have made in this employment, are you able to give the Committee any information as to the best mode of improving the roads of the kingdom generally?—The first and most obvious improvement is to shorten distances; but even that must be governed by circumstances often of a local nature; a sound foundation, and the contiguity of good stone or gravel to a road, should not be overlooked in choosing a new line, or departing from an old one. In forming a new line in a level country, the transverse section should approach as near as possible to the form of the accompanying sketch No. 1, and in a hilly country to that of No. 2; in the former, the water from one half the road would be carried into a ditch on the field side, and that of the other half into a ditch between the footpath and hedge-bank. When it is necessary to form a road on the side of a hill, the ditch should be on the higher side of the road, where it will receive the water falling from the high ground, and so keep the foundation of the road dry. I have figured the breadths of a good average turnpike road on sketch No. 1, but the breadth will frequently depend upon circumstances of a local nature. Near to great towns, it would be highly advantageous if the centre of the road, for about twelve feet in width, were to be paved with hard well-squared stones, nine inches deep, and the sides made with hard rubble stones or gravel. I need scarcely mention, that in applying the materials to a new line of road, the stones should be broken into pieces of an uniform size, as near as may be; that the larger should be laid of nearly an equal depth over the whole surface of the road, and the smaller, mixed with gravel, should be placed upon them. The repairing of roads should be conducted in the same manner as far as it is practicable; but, after all, the only sure way of getting good roads is, for the trustees to employ men of education and science as their surveyors. In a few instances, where this has been done, the best consequences have resulted, and in no case is if more conspicuous than in the neighbourhood of Bristol, where Mr. MᶜAdam is the surveyor. Will not a consequent impediment arise to the employment of men of education and of superior ability as surveyors, from the smallness of the funds upon small trusts or districts?—For that reason, I would recommend the consolidation of the several trusts, in each county, into one general trust, under the authority of one general act of parliament, leaving the adoption, however, of the acts to the discretion of the several trusts respectively in each county, making it compulsory only on the minority, at the expiration of a time to be limited, when a majority in amount of toll shall call for its adoption, and after insertion in the provincial papers and London Gazette.