trustees of the several turnpike roads within ten miles of the cities of London and Westminster, and the borough of Southwark, may and they are hereby empowered at any meeting or meetings to be held for the purpose, (of which meeting or meetings, and the purposes thereof, fourteen days' notice shall be given,) to lower the several additional tolls by the said recited Act (a) directed to be taken for overweight, in such manner as to them shall seem fit and convenient, and from time to time to take such reduced tolls for overweight as shall be fixed and agreed on at such meeting or meetings. Penalty for evading payment of toll for over-weight.By Stat. 3 Geo. 4. c. 126. s. 20, If any person shall unload, or cause to be unladen, any goods, wares, or merchandize, from any cart, waggon, or other carriage, at or before the same shall come to any turnpike-gate or weighing engine erected by virtue or in pursuance of this or any other Act, made for the repair or preservation of any turnpike road, or shall load or lay upon such carriage, after the same shall have passed any such turnpike or weighing engine, any goods, wares, or merchandize, taken or unladen from any horse, cart, or other carriages belonging to or hired or borrowed by the same waggoner or carrier, in order to avoid the payment of the said respective duties payable for overweight; or if any person shall so unload in order to carry considerable quantities of goods through any turnpike-gate, or by any weighing engine in one and the same day, and thereby pay less toll at such turnpike-gate or weighing engine than would have been paid if such goods, wares, or merchandize had not been so unladen; Or if any driver of any waggon or cart shall not wait a reasonable time whilst any other carriage shall be weighed, which shall have come to the weighing engine before the carriage of which he shall be the driver; or if the driver of any waggon or cart shall refuse or delay to remove or drive any such waggon or cart from the weighing machine, in order, by such neglect or refusal, to impede or delay the weighing of any other waggon or cart, or shall turn or drive out of any road, in order to avoid or evade the weighing of any waggon or cart; each and every person so offending in any of the cases aforesaid, and being thereof lawfully convicted before one or more justice or justices of the peace for the limit where the offence shall be committed, upon the oath of one or more credible witness or witnesses, shall forfeit the sum of £5, to be levied upon the goods and chattels of the owner of such cart, waggon, or other carriage; and each and every driver, not being the owner of such waggon or carriage, so offending, and being thereof convicted as aforesaid, shall forfeit any sum not exceeding 40s., and in case of non-payment thereof, shall be committed to the house of correction for any time not exceeding two calendar months. Provision for the erection of weighing engines.-By Stat. 3 Geo. 4. c. 126. s. 21, It is enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the said trustees, at any of their respective meetings, if they think proper, to order (a) and cause to be built and erected, at any of the turnpikes or toll-gates on the roads under their care and management, or at such distance therefrom as they shall think expedient, one or more crane or cranes, machines or engines, with a suitable house or other building thereto, proper for the weighing of waggons or carriages conveying any goods or merchandize whatsoever;-And by notice on a board for that purpose, to be put up at every such weighing machine, to order and direct all and every such waggons or carriages which shall come with 100 yards of any crane, machine, or engine, to be weighed, together with the loading thereof. Carriages, &c. to be weighed. -By Section 22, The keeper of every toll-gate or bar, where any weighing engine shall be erected, or any other person appointed or to be appointed by the trustees, or by their lessee or lessees, to the care of such weighing engine, shall and is hereby required to weigh all such waggons, carts, and other carriages liable to be weighed, which shall pass loaded through such gates or bars respectively, and which he shall believe to carry greater weights than are allowed to pass without paying the said additional toll:-And if any collector or person so appointed shall permit any such waggon, cart, or other carriage to pass by or through any such toll-gate with greater weights than are hereby allowed, without weighing the same and receiving such additional tolls, he shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of £5:-And if the owner or driver of any waggon, cart, or other carriage, shall refuse to allow the same to be weighed, or shall resist any gate-keeper or toll-collector in weighing the same, every owner or driver so offending shall forfeit any sum not exceeding £5. Power to trustees and surveyor to cause carriages, &c. to return to be weighed.-By Section 23, In order to detect the said collector or receiver in any fraudulent contrivance or neglect of duty in the matters aforesaid, It is veyor of every turnpike road, if he shall suspect any such connivance or neglect, to cause any waggon, cart, or other carriage, which shall have passed through any toll-gate where any weighing engine shall be erected, and shall not have passed above 300 yards beyond such toll-gate, to return to such weighing engine, and be there weighed, with the loading which passed through such toll-gate, in the presence of such trustee or surveyor, upon requiring the driver thereof to drive such carriage back to such weighing engine, and upon paying or tendering to him the sum of 1s. for so doing; which sum of 1s. shall be returned to the person paying the same, if upon weighing such carriage and the loading thereof it shall be found above the weight hereby allowed. And by Sect. 24, For the better enforcing the authority of this Act, it is enacted, That the surveyors of every turnpike road shall, and they are hereby authorized and required to make convenient places for turning such carriages upon every such turnpike road, where any weighing engine shall be erected, within 300 yards of such tollgate, on each side thereof, if the ground will admit of the same:-And if the driver of any such carriage being so requested to return with his carriage to such weighing engine, shall neglect or refuse so to do, he shall forfeit any sum not exceeding £5; and it shall be lawful for any peace officer or other person or persons being then present, upon such neglect or refusal, to drive and take such carriage back to such weighing engine, in order to be weighed as aforesaid. Adjoining trusts may erect mutual weighing engines.By Section 25, When two or more turnpike roads meet proper for the weighing of waggons or carriages conveying any goods or merchandize whatsoever;-And by notice on a board for that purpose, to be put up at every such weighing machine, to order and direct all and every such waggons or carriages which shall come with 100 yards of any crane, machine, or engine, to be weighed, together with the loading thereof. Carriages, &c. to be weighed.-By Section 22, The keeper of every toll-gate or bar, where any weighing engine shall be erected, or any other person appointed or to be appointed by the trustees, or by their lessee or lessees, to the care of such weighing engine, shall and is hereby required to weigh all such waggons, carts, and other carriages liable to be weighed, which shall pass loaded through such gates or bars respectively, and which he shall believe to carry greater weights than are allowed to pass without paying the said additional toll:-And if any collector or person so appointed shall permit any such waggon, cart, or other carriage to pass by or through any such toll-gate with greater weights than are hereby allowed, without weighing the same and receiving such additional tolls, he shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of £5:-And if the owner or driver of any waggon, cart, or other carriage, shall refuse to allow the same to be weighed, or shall resist any gate-keeper or toll-collector in weighing the same, every owner or driver so offending shall forfeit any sum not exceeding £5. Power to trustees and surveyor to cause carriages, &c. to return to be weighed.-By Section 23, In order to detect the said collector or receiver in any fraudulent contrivance or neglect of duty in the matters aforesaid, It is |