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  • provement, I beg to mention that the mail last winter lost ten,

fifteen, and twenty minutes, in passing from Staines to Bagshot, but now the time is exactly kept.

C. J.



Appendix (C.)

LETTER from Postmaster General to the Lords of the Treasury; dated 28th December 1810.


To the Right Hon. the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury.


My Lords,


We beg to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Harrison's letter of the 26th ult. transmitting, by your lordships command, the application of John Loudon M'Adam, submitting his claim on account of his inquiries relative to the improvement of the roads in this kingdom, and requesting any information in our power with regard to Mr. M'Adam's services.

In conformity to your lordship's desire, we have applied to the superintendent of mailcoaches, as the officer in our department most competent to give information upon the subject of Mr. M'Adam's exertions; and we beg leave to inclose his report, and to add, that with respect to the road near Staines, to which he alludes, we had found it necessary to give notice of indictment, which has been prevented, by the commissioners resorting to Mr. M'Adam's assistance and advice, which have produced the excellent road mentioned by the superintendent.

The road from Newbury, through Reading to Twyford has been so much improved, that the mailcoach has been better enabled to keep its time than heretofore; and we are convinced, that if the roads near London were improved in a similar