ABSTRACT
In 1860 Etienne Lenoir patented a gas engine. Carriages propelled by petrol or gas engines, by electricity or steam, were more and more frequently encountered in the streets of Paris and on the roads to country estates. A Bill to ease the stranglehold of legislation had been introduced by the Government in the House of Commons on 17 June 1895, and the Government had already had discussions with bodies concerned, such as the County Councils Association. Lord Clifden pinpointed the need for motor transport facilities in rural areas: 'If the Bill facilitated the transit of farm produce to the market town or railway station it would fill a great void and meet a great want.' One of the judges at the Liverpool Trials, E.R. Calthrop, supported this view, but nobody, presumably, thought of a time when large lorries might supplant railway wagons altogether instead of merely being feeders.
