ghways, which are by-roads serving only local areas.
The length of the main roads is about 22,000 m., and that of ordinary
highways about 96,000. The highways of England, the old coaching roads,
are among the best in the world, being generally of a beautiful
smoothness and well maintained; they vary, naturally, in different
districts, but in many even the local roads are superior to some main
roads in other countries. The supersession of the stage coach by the
railway took a vast amount of traffic away from the main roads, but
their proper maintenance did not materially suffer; and a larger
accession of traffic took place subsequently on the development of the
cycle and the motor-vehicle.

The system of road-building by private enterprise, the undertakers being
rewarded by tolls levied from vehicles, persons or animals using the
roads, was established in England in 1663, when an act of Charles II.
authorized the taking of such tolls at "turnpikes" in Hertfordshire and
Cambridgeshire. A century later, in 1767, the authorization was extended
over the whole kingdom by an act of George III. In its fulness the
system lasted just sixty years, for the first breach in it was made by
an act of George IV., in 1827, by which the chief turnpikes in London
were abolished. Further acts followed in the same direction, leading to
the gradual extinction, by due compensation of the persons interested,
of the old system, the maintenance of the roads being vested in
"turnpike trusts and highway boards," empowered to levy local rates. The
last turnpike trust ceased to exist on the 5th of November 1895, and the
final accounts in connexion with its debt were closed in 1898-1899.
Toll-gates are now met with only at certain bridges, where the right to
levy tolls is statutory or by prescription. By the Local Government Act
of 1888 the duty of maintaining main roads was imposed on the county
councils, but these bodies were enabled to make arrangements with the
respective highway authorities for their repair. Under the Local
Government Act of 1894 the duties of all the highway authorities were
transferred to the rural district councils on or before the 31st of
March 1899.

It was not until the close of the 18th century, when the period of
road-building activity already indicated set in, that English roads were
redeemed from an extraordinarily bad condition. The roads were until
then, as a rule, merely tracks, deeply worn by ages of traffic into t