A HISTORY OF
INLAND TRANSPORT
AND
COMMUNICATION
IN ENGLAND
BY
EDWIN A. PRATT
AUTHOR OF "RAILWAYS AND THEIR RATES"; "GERMAN VERSUS BRITISH
RAILWAYS"; "RAILWAYS AND NATIONALISATION";
"CANALS AND TRADERS"
ETC.
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO., Ltd.
BROADWAY HOUSE, CARTER LANE, E.C.
1912
| National Industries |
| Edited by HENRY HIGGS, C.B. |
| Large 8vo. Cloth gilt. Each 6s. net |
| The first volumes in this series will be:— |
| A HISTORY OF INLAND TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION IN ENGLAND. By Edwin A. Pratt. |
| BANKING AND THE MONEY MARKET. By H. O. Meredith. |
| THE BUILDING TRADES. By A. D. Webb. |
| SHIPPING. By C. J. Hamilton. |
| THE COAL TRADE. By H. Stanley Jevons. |
Designed as the introductory volume of a series of books—by various writers—dealing with our "National Industries," the present work aims at telling the story of inland transport and communication from the earliest times to the present date, showing, more especially, the effect which the gradual development thereof, in successive stages, and under ever-varying circumstances, has had alike on the growth and expansion of trade and industry and on the general economic and social conditions of the country.
The various phases of inland transport described in the course of the work include roads, rivers, canals, turnpikes, railways, tramways, and rail-less electric traction; and the facilities for communication of which accounts are given comprise packhorses, waggons, stage-coaches, "flying" and mail-coaches, private carriages, posting, hackney coaches, cabs, omnibuses, cycles, motors, motor-buses, commercial motors, and aeroplanes. Reference is (inter alia) made to most of the English rivers and to many inland towns; the origin, achievements, and shortcomings of canals are traced; a complete outline of the turnpike system is given; a short history of tramways comprises the leading points therein; the story of the rise, development and prospects of the motor industry is related; while the evolution and development of the railways and their position to-day both as a means of transport and communication and as constituting in themselves a "National Industry" are treated in such a wa