DROITWICH. 117

Excessive competition has not been the only obstacle to th« success of .the gait trade. The cost of fuel had become ft wry serious question early in the seventeenth century, and experiments were then made to avoid the great expense of wood and coal; schemes were started by private individuals which led to law suits between them and the Corporation; and M at the Cheshire salt works fuel could be got much cheaper, a corresponding disparagement of the trade at Droitwich was the result. Until turnpikes were established, the state of the highways, too, was such as to confine the ana of consumption to a comparatively small circle, and up to on own times this important interest has laboured under the disadvantage of the heavy tonnage paid for carriage. tt>* An* Turnpike Act passed for Worcestershire was in 17H (probably at the instance of the salt trade), for amend-feg fee road from Worcester to Droitwich. It had always > great object to open water communication with the tbo* to avoid the expense of land carriage. > attanpl* wtre made in the seventeenth and eighteenth «Mftai«* to ien