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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of British Canals, by Edwin A. Pratt

-

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most

-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions

-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of

-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at

-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have

-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.

-

-Title: British Canals

-       Is their resuscitaion practicable?

-

-Author: Edwin A. Pratt

-

-Release Date: November 23, 2014 [EBook #47435]

-

-Language: English

-

-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

-

-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITISH CANALS ***

-

-

-

-

-Produced by Chris Curnow, MWS and the Online Distributed

-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was

-produced from images generously made available by The

-Internet Archive)

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-BRITISH CANALS

-

-

-[Illustration: AQUEDUCT AT PONTCYSYLLTE (IN THE DISTANCE).

-

-(Constructed by Telford to carry Ellesmere Canal over River Dee. Opened

-1803. Cost £47,000. Length, 1007 feet.)

-

-      [_Frontispiece._

-]

-

-

-

-

- BRITISH CANALS:

-

- IS THEIR RESUSCITATION

- PRACTICABLE?

-

- BY EDWIN A. PRATT

-

- AUTHOR OF "RAILWAYS AND THEIR RATES," "THE ORGANIZATION

- OF AGRICULTURE," "THE TRANSITION IN AGRICULTURE," ETC.

-

-

- LONDON

- JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.

- 1906

-

-

-

-

-PREFACE

-

-

-The appointment of a Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways, which

-first sat to take evidence on March 21, 1906, is an event that should

-lead to an exhaustive and most useful enquiry into a question which has

-been much discussed of late years, but on which, as I hope to show,

-considerable misapprehension in regard to actual facts and conditions

-has hitherto existed.

-

-Theoretically, there is much to be said in favour of canal restoration,

-and the advocates thereof have not been backward in the vigorous and

-frequent ventilation of their ideas. Practically, there are other

-all-important considerations which ought not to be overlooked, though

-as to these the British Public have hitherto heard very little. As a

-matter of detail, also, it is desirable to see whether the theory that

-the decline of our canals is due to their having been "captured" and

-"strangled" by the railway companies--a theory which many people seem

-to believe in as implicitly as they do, say, in the Multiplication

-Table--is really capable of proof, or whether that decline is not,

-rather, to be attributed to wholly different causes.

-

-In view of the increased public interest in the general question, it

-has been suggested to me that the Appendix on "The British Canal

-Problem" in my book on "Railways and their Rates," published in the

-Spring of 1905, should now be issued separately; but I have thought it

-better to deal with the subject afresh, and at somewhat greater length,

-in the present work. This I now offer to the world in the hope that,

-even if the conclusions at which I have arrived are not accepted, due

-weight will nevertheless be given to the important--if not (as I trust

-I may add) the interesting--series of facts, concerning the past and

-present of canals alike at home, on the Continent, and in the United

-States, which should still represent, I think, a not unacceptable

-contribution to the present controversy.

-

-      EDWIN A. PRATT.

-

-London, _April 1906_.

-

-

-

-

-CONTENTS

-

-

- CHAP.                                                           PAGE

-

-    I. INTRODUCTORY                                                 1

-

-   II. EARLY DAYS                                                  12

-

-  III. RAILWAYS TO THE RESCUE                                      23

-

-   IV. RAILWAY-CONTROLLED CANALS                                   32

-

-    V. THE BIRMINGHAM CANAL AND ITS STORY                          57

-

-   VI. THE TRANSITION IN TRADE                                     74

-

-  VII. CONTINENTAL CONDITIONS                                      93

-

- VIII. WATERWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES                             104

-

-   IX. ENGLISH CONDITIONS                                         119

-

-    X. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS                            142

-

- APPENDIX--THE DECLINE IN FREIGHT TRAFFIC ON THE MISSISSIPPI      151

-

- INDEX                                                            157

-

-

-

-

-LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS

-

-

-HALF-TONE ILLUSTRATIONS

-

- AQUEDUCT AT PONTCYSYLLTE (in the distance)      _Frontispiece_

-

- WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN:

- COWLEY TUNNEL AND EMBANKMENTS              _To face page_   32

-

- LOCKS ON THE KENNET AND AVON CANAL

- AT DEVIZES                                       "    "     42

-

- WAREHOUSES AND HYDRAULIC CRANES AT

- ELLESMERE PORT                                   "    "     48

-

- WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN:

- SHROPSHIRE UNION CANAL AT CHESTER                "    "     70

-

- "FROM PIT TO PORT": PROSPECT PIT, WIGAN          "    "     82

-

- THE SHIPPING OF COAL: HYDRAULIC TIP ON

- G.W.R., SWANSEA                                  "    "     88

-

- A CARGO BOAT ON THE MISSISSIPPI                  "    "    110

-

- SUCCESSFUL RIVALS OF MISSISSIPPI CARGO

- BOATS                                            "    "    114

-

- WATER SUPPLY FOR CANALS: BELVIDE

- RESERVOIR, STAFFORDSHIRE                         "    "    128

-

-

-MAPS AND DIAGRAMS

-

- INDEPENDENT CANALS AND INLAND NAVIGATIONS        "    "     54

-

- CANALS AND RAILWAYS BETWEEN WOLVERHAMPTON

- AND BIRMINGHAM                                   "    "     56

-

- SOME TYPICAL BRITISH CANALS                      "    "     98

-

-

-

-

-BRITISH CANALS

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER I

-

-INTRODUCTORY

-

-

-The movement in favour of resuscitating, if not also of reconstructing,

-the British canal system, in conjunction with such improvement as may

-be possible in our natural waterways, is a matter that concerns various

-interests, and gives rise to a number of more or less complicated

-problems.

-

-It appeals in the most direct form to the British trader, from the

-point of view of the possibility of enabling him to secure cheaper

-transit for his goods. Every one must sympathise with him in that

-desire, and there is no need whatever for me to stay here to repeat the

-oft-expressed general reflections as to the important part which cheap

-transit necessarily plays in the development of trade and commerce.

-But when from the general one passes to the particular, and begins to

-consider how these transit questions apply directly to canal revival,

-one comes at once to a certain element of insincerity in the agitation

-which has arisen.

-

-There is no reason whatever for doubt that, whereas one section of

-the traders favouring canal revival would themselves directly benefit

-therefrom, there is a much larger section who have joined in the

-movement, not because they have the slightest idea of re-organising

-their own businesses on a water-transport basis, but simply because

-they think the existence of improved canals will be a means of

-compelling the railway companies to grant reductions of their own

-rates below such point as they now find it necessary to maintain.

-Individuals of this type, though admitting they would not use the

-canals themselves, or very little, would have us believe that there are

-enough of _other_ traders who would patronise them to make them pay. In

-any case, if only sufficient pressure could be brought to bear on the

-railway companies to force them to reduce their rates and charges, they

-would be prepared to regard with perfect equanimity the unremunerative

-outlay on the canals of a large sum of public money, and be quite

-indifferent as to who might have to bear the loss so long as they

-gained what they wanted for themselves.

-

-The subject is, also, one that appeals to engineers. As originally

-constructed, our British canals included some of the greatest

-engineering triumphs of their day, and the reconstruction either of

-these or even of the ordinary canals (especially where the differences

-of level are exceptionally great), would afford much interesting

-work for engineers--and, also, to come to commonplace details, would

-put into circulation a certain number of millions of pounds sterling

-which might lead some of those engineers, at least, to take a still

-keener interest in the general situation. There is absolutely no doubt

-that, from an engineering standpoint, reconstruction, however costly,

-would present no unsurmountable technical difficulties; but I must

-confess that when engineers, looking at the problem exclusively from

-their own point of view, apart from strictly economic and practical

-considerations, advise canal revival as a means of improving British

-trade, I am reminded of the famous remark of Sganerelle, in Molière's

-"L'Amour Médecin"--"Vous êtes orfévre, M. Josse."

-

-The subject strongly appeals, also, to a very large number of patriotic

-persons who, though having no personal or professional interests to

-serve, are rightly impressed with the need for everything that is in

-any way practicable being done to maintain our national welfare, and

-who may be inclined to assume, from the entirely inadequate facts

-which, up to the present, have been laid before them as to the real

-nature and possibilities of our canal system, that great results would

-follow from a generous expenditure of money on canal resuscitation

-here, following on the example already set in Continental countries. It

-is in the highest degree desirable that persons of this class should be

-enabled to form a clear and definite opinion on the subject in all its

-bearings, and especially from points of view that may not hitherto have

-been presented for their consideration.

-

-Then the question is one of very practical interest indeed to the

-British taxpayer. It seems to be generally assumed by the advocates

-of canal revival that it is no use depending on private enterprise.

-England is not yet impoverished, and there is plenty of money still

-available for investment where a modest return on it can be assured.

-But capitalists, large or small, are not apparently disposed to

-risk their own money in the resuscitation of English canals. Their

-expectation evidently is that the scheme would not pay. In the absence,

-therefore, of any willingness on the part of shrewd capitalists--ever

-on the look-out for profitable investments--to touch the business, it

-is proposed that either the State or the local authorities should take

-up the matter, and carry it through at the risk, more or less, either

-of taxpayers or ratepayers.

-

-The Association of Chambers of Commerce, for instance, adopted, by a

-large majority, the following resolution at its annual meeting, in

-London, in February 1905:--

-

- "This Association recommends that the improvement and extension of

- the canal system of the United Kingdom should be carried out by means

- of a public trust, and, if necessary, in combination with local or

- district public trusts, and aided by a Government guarantee, and that

- the Executive Council be requested to take all reasonable measures to

- secure early legislation upon the subject."

-

-Then Sir John T. Brunner has strongly supported a nationalisation

-policy. In a letter to _The Times_ he once wrote:

-

- "I submit to you that we might begin with the nationalisation of our

- canals--some for the most part sadly antiquated--and bring them up to

- one modern standard gauge, such as the French gauge."

-

-Another party favours municipalisation and the creation of public

-trusts, a Bill with the latter object in view being promoted in the

-Session of 1905, though it fell through owing to an informality in

-procedure.

-

-It would be idle to say that a scheme of canal nationalisation, or even

-of public trusts with "Government guarantee" (whatever the precise

-meaning of that term may be) involving millions of public money, could

-be carried through _without_ affecting the British taxpayer. It is

-equally idle to say that if only the canal system were taken in hand by

-the local authorities they would make such a success of it that there

-would be absolutely no danger of the ratepayers being called upon to

-make good any deficiency. The experiences that Metropolitan ratepayers,

-at least, have had as the result of County Council management of the

-Thames steamboat service would not predispose them to any feeling of

-confidence in the control of the canal system of the country by local

-authorities.

-

-At the Manchester meeting of the Association of Chambers of Commerce,

-in September 1904, Colonel F. N. Tannett Walker (Leeds) said, during

-the course of a debate on the canal question: "Personally, he was

-not against big trusts run by local authorities. He knew no more

-business-like concern in the world than the Mersey Harbour Board, which

-was a credit to the country as showing what business men, not working

-for their own selfish profits, but for the good of the community,

-could do for an undertaking. He would be glad to see the Mersey Boards

-scattered all over the country." But, even accepting the principle

-of canal municipalisation, what prospect would there be of Colonel

-Walker's aspiration being realised? The Mersey Harbour Board is an

-exceptional body, not necessarily capable of widespread reproduction on

-the same lines of efficiency. Against what is done in Liverpool may be

-put, in the case of London, the above-mentioned waste of public money

-in connection with the control of the Thames steamboat service by the

-London County Council. If the municipalised canals were to be worked

-on the same system, or any approach thereto, as these municipalised

-steamboats, it would be a bad look-out for the ratepayers of the

-country, whatever benefit might be gained by a small section of the

-traders.

-

-Then one must remember that the canals, say, from the Midlands to one

-of the ports, run through various rural districts which would have

-no interest in the through traffic carried, but might be required,

-nevertheless, to take a share in the cost and responsibility of

-keeping their sections of the municipalised waterways in an efficient

-condition, or in helping to provide an adequate water-supply. It

-does not follow that such districts--even if they were willing to

-go to the expense or the trouble involved--would be able to provide

-representatives on the managing body who would in any way compare, in

-regard to business capacity, with the members of the Mersey Harbour

-Board, even if they did so in respect to public spirit, and the sinking

-of their local interests and prejudices to promote the welfare of

-manufacturers, say, in Birmingham, and shippers in Liverpool, for

-neither of whom they felt any direct concern.

-

-Under the best possible conditions as regards municipalisation, it is

-still impossible to assume that a business so full of complications as

-the transport services of the country, calling for technical or expert

-knowledge of the most pronounced type, could be efficiently controlled

-by individuals who would be essentially amateurs at the business--and

-amateurs they would still be even if assisted by members of Chambers of

-Commerce who, however competent as merchants and manufacturers, would

-not necessarily be thoroughly versed in all these traffic problems. The

-result could not fail to be disastrous.

-

-I come, at this point, in connection with the possible liability of

-ratepayers, to just one matter of detail that might be disposed of

-here. It is certainly one that seems to be worth considering. Assume,

-for the sake of argument, that, in accordance with the plans now being

-projected, (1) public trusts were formed by the local authorities for

-the purpose of acquiring and operating the canals; (2) that these

-trusts secured possession--on some fair system of compensation--of the

-canals now owned or controlled by railway companies; (3) that they

-sought to work the canals in more or less direct competition with the

-railways; (4) that, after spending large sums of money in improvements,

-they found it impossible to make the canals pay, or to avoid heavy

-losses thereon; and (5) that these losses had to be made good by the

-ratepayers. I am merely assuming that all this might happen, not that

-it necessarily would. But, admitting that it did, would the railway

-companies, as ratepayers, be called upon to contribute their share

-towards making good the losses which had been sustained by the local

-authorities in carrying on a direct competition with them?

-

-Such a policy as this would be unjust, not alone to the railway

-shareholders, but also to those traders who had continued to use the

-railway lines, since it is obvious that the heavier the burdens imposed

-on the railway companies in the shape of local rates (which already

-form such substantial items in their "working expenses"), the less

-will the companies concerned be in a position to grant the concessions

-they might otherwise be willing to make. Besides, apart from monetary

-considerations, the principle of the thing would be intolerably unfair,

-and, if only to avoid an injustice, it would surely be enacted that

-any possible increase in local rates, due to the failure of particular

-schemes of canal municipalisation, should fall exclusively on the

-traders and the general public who were to have been benefited, and

-in no way on the railway companies against whom the commercially

-unsuccessful competition had been waged.

-

-This proposition will, I am sure, appeal to that instinct of justice

-and fair play which every Englishman is (perhaps not always rightly),

-assumed to possess. But what would happen if it were duly carried out,

-as it ought to be? Well, in the Chapter on "Taxation of Railways" in

-my book on "Railways and their Rates," I gave one list showing that

-in a total of eighty-two parishes a certain British railway company

-paid an average of 60·25 per cent. of the local rates; while another

-table showed that in sixteen specified parishes the proportion of local

-rates paid by the same railway company ranged from 66·9 per cent. to

-86·1 per cent. of the total, although in twelve parishes out of the

-sixteen the company had not even a railway station in the place. But

-if, in all such parishes as these, the railway companies were very

-properly excused from having to make good the losses incurred by their

-municipalised-canal competitors (in addition to such losses as they

-might have already suffered in meeting the competition), then the full

-weight of the burden would fall upon that smaller--and, in some cases,

-that very small--proportion of the general body of ratepayers in the

-locality concerned.

-

-The above is just a little consideration, _en passant_, which might

-be borne in mind by others than those who look at the subject only

-from a trader's or an engineer's point of view. It will help, also,

-to strengthen my contention that any ill-advised, or, at least,

-unsuccessful municipalisation of the canal system of the country might

-have serious consequences for the general body of the community, who,

-in the circumstances, would do well to "look before they leap."

-

-But, independently of commercial, engineering, rating and other

-considerations, there are important matters of principle to be

-considered. Great Britain is almost the only country in the world where

-the railway system has been constructed without State or municipal

-aid--financial or material--of any kind whatever. The canals were

-built by "private enterprise," and the railways which followed were

-constructed on the same basis. This was recognised as the national

-policy, and private investors were allowed to put their money into

-British railways, throughout successive decades, in the belief and

-expectation that the same principle would be continued. In other

-countries the State has (1) provided the funds for constructing or

-buying up the general railway system; (2) guaranteed payment of

-interest; or (3) has granted land or made other concessions, as a

-means of assisting the enterprise. Not only has the State refrained

-from adopting any such course here, and allowed private investors to

-bear the full financial risk, but it has imposed on British railways

-requirements which may certainly have led to their being the best

-constructed and the most complete of any in the world, but which have,

-also, combined with the extortions of landowners in the first instance,

-heavy expenditure on Parliamentary proceedings, etc., to render their

-construction per mile more costly than those of any other system of

-railways in the world; while to-day local taxation is being levied

-upon them at the rate of £5,000,000 per annum, with an annual increment

-of £250,000.

-

-This heavy expenditure, and these increasingly heavy demands, can

-only be met out of the rates and charges imposed on those who use the

-railways; and one of the greatest grievances advanced against the

-railways, and leading to the agitation for canal revival, is that

-these rates and charges are higher in Great Britain than in various

-other countries, where the railways have cost less to build, where

-State funds have been freely drawn on, and where the State lines

-may be required to contribute nothing to local taxation. The remedy

-proposed, however, is not that anything should be done to reduce the

-burdens imposed on our own railways, so as to place them at least in

-the position of being able to make further concessions to traders, but

-that the State should now itself start in the business, in competition,

-more or less, with the railway companies, in order to provide the

-traders--if it can--with something _cheaper_ in the way of transport!

-

-Whatever view may be taken of the reasonableness and justice of such a

-procedure as this, it would, undoubtedly, represent a complete change

-in national policy, and one that should not be entered upon with

-undue haste. The logical sequel, for instance, of nationalisation of

-the canals would be nationalisation of the railways, since it would

-hardly do for the State to own the one and not the other. Then, of

-course, the nationalisation of all our ports would have to follow,

-as the further logical sequel of the State ownership of the means of

-communication with them, and the consequent suppression of competition.

-From a Socialist standpoint, the successive steps here mentioned would

-certainly be approved; but, even if the financial difficulty could be

-met, the country is hardly ready for all these things at present.

-

-Is it ready, even in principle, for either the nationalisation or

-the municipalisation of canals alone? And, if ready in principle, if

-ready to employ public funds to compete with representatives of the

-private enterprise it has hitherto encouraged, is it still certain

-that, when millions of pounds sterling have been spent on the revival

-of our canals, the actual results will in any way justify the heavy

-expenditure? Are not the physical conditions of our country such that

-canal construction here presents exceptional drawbacks, and that canal

-navigation must always be exceptionally slow? Are not both physical

-and geographical conditions in Great Britain altogether unlike those

-of most of the Continental countries of whose waterways so much is

-heard? Are not our commercial conditions equally dissimilar? Is not

-the comparative neglect of our canals due less to structural or

-other defects than to complete changes in the whole basis of trading

-operations in this country--changes that would prevent any general

-discarding of the quick transit of small and frequent supplies by

-train, in favour of the delayed delivery of large quantities at longer

-intervals by water, however much the canals were improved?

-

-These are merely some of the questions and considerations that arise in

-connection with this most complicated of problems, and it is with the

-view of enabling the public to appreciate more fully the real nature of

-the situation, and to gain a clearer knowledge of the facts on which

-a right solution must be based, that I venture to lay before them the

-pages that follow.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER II

-

-EARLY DAYS

-

-

-It seems to be customary with writers on the subject of canals and

-waterways to begin with the Egyptians, to detail the achievements of

-the Chinese, to record the doings of the Greeks, and then to pass on

-to the Romans, before even beginning their account of what has been

-done in Great Britain. Here, however, I propose to leave alone all this

-ancient history, which, to my mind, has no more to do with existing

-conditions in our own country than the system of inland navigation

-adopted by Noah, or the character of the canals which are supposed to

-exist in the planet of Mars.

-

-For the purposes of the present work it will suffice if I go no further

-back than what I would call the "pack-horse period" in the development

-of transport in England. This was the period immediately preceding the

-introduction of artificial canals, which had their rise in this country

-about 1760-70. It preceded, also, the advent of John Loudon McAdam,

-that great reformer of our roads, whose name has been immortalised in

-the verb "to macadamise." Born in 1756, it was not until the early days

-of the nineteenth century that McAdam really started on his beneficent

-mission, and even then the high-roads of England--and especially of

-Scotland--were, as a rule, deplorably bad, "being at once loose,

-rough, and perishable, expensive, tedious and dangerous to travel on,

-and very costly to repair." Pending those improvements which McAdam

-brought about, adapting them to the better use of stage-coaches and

-carriers' waggons, the few roads already existing were practically

-available--as regards the transport of merchandise--for pack-horses

-only. Even coal was then carried by pack-horse, the cost working out at

-about 2s. 6d. per mile for as much as a horse could carry.

-

-It was from these conditions that canals saved the country--long,

-of course, before the locomotive came into vogue. As it happened,

-too, it was this very question of coal transport that led to their

-earliest development. There is quite an element of romance in the

-story. Francis Egerton, third and last Duke of Bridgewater (born 1736),

-had an unfortunate love affair in London when he reached the age of

-twenty-three, and, apparently in disgust with the world, he retired to

-his Lancashire property, where he found solace to his wounded feelings

-by devoting himself to the development of the Worsley coal mines. As a

-boy he had been so feeble-minded that the doubt arose whether he would

-be capable of managing his own affairs. As a young man disappointed in

-love, he applied himself to business in a manner so eminently practical

-that he deservedly became famous as a pioneer of improved transport. He

-saw that if only the cost of carriage could be reduced, a most valuable

-market for coal from his Worsley mines could be opened up in Manchester.

-

-It is true that, in this particular instance, the pack-horse had been

-supplemented by the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, established as the

-result of Parliamentary powers obtained in 1733. This navigation

-was conducted almost entirely by natural waterways, but it had many

-drawbacks and inconveniences, while the freight for general merchandise

-between Liverpool and Manchester by this route came to 12s. per ton.

-The Duke's new scheme was one for the construction of an artificial

-waterway which could be carried over the Irwell at Barton by means of

-an aqueduct. This idea he got from the aqueduct on the Languedoc Canal,

-in the south of France.

-

-But the Duke required a practical man to help him, and such a man he

-found in James Brindley. Born in 1716, Brindley was the son of a small

-farmer in Derbyshire--a dissolute sort of fellow, who neglected his

-children, did little or no work, and devoted his chief energies to

-the then popular sport of bull-baiting. In the circumstances James

-Brindley's school-teaching was wholly neglected. He could no more have

-passed an examination in the Sixth Standard than he could have flown

-over the Irwell with some of his ducal patron's coals. "He remained to

-the last illiterate, hardly able to write, and quite unable to spell.

-He did most of his work in his head, without written calculations

-or drawings, and when he had a puzzling bit of work he would go to

-bed, and think it out." From the point of view of present day Board

-School inspectors, and of the worthy magistrates who, with varied

-moral reflections, remorselessly enforce the principles of compulsory

-education, such an individual ought to have come to a bad end. But he

-didn't. He became, instead, "the father of inland navigation."

-

-James Brindley had served his apprenticeship to a millwright, or

-engineer; he had started a little business as a repairer of old

-machinery and a maker of new; and he had in various ways given proof of

-his possession of mechanical skill. The Duke--evidently a reader of

-men--saw in him the possibility of better things, took him over, and

-appointed him his right-hand man in constructing the proposed canal.

-After much active opposition from the proprietors of the Mersey and

-Irwell Navigation, and also from various landowners and others, the

-Duke got his first Act, to which the Royal assent was given in 1762,

-and the work was begun. It presented many difficulties, for the canal

-had to be carried over streams and bogs, and through tunnels costly

-to make, and the time came when the Duke's financial resources were

-almost exhausted. Brindley's wages were not extravagant. They amounted,

-in fact, to £1 a week--substantially less than the minimum wage that

-would be paid to-day to a municipal road-sweeper. But the costs of

-construction were heavy, and the landowners had unduly big ideas of the

-value of the land compulsorily acquired from them, so that the Duke's

-steward sometimes had to ride about among the tenantry and borrow a

-few pounds from one and another in order to pay the week's wages. When

-the Worsley section had been completed, and had become remunerative,

-the Duke pledged it to Messrs Child, the London bankers, for £25,000,

-and with the money thus raised he pushed on with the remainder of the

-canal, seeing it finally extended to Liverpool in 1772. Altogether

-he expended on his own canals no less than £220,000; but he lived to

-derive from them a revenue of £80,000 a year.

-

-The Duke of Bridgewater's schemes gave a great impetus to canal

-construction in Great Britain, though it was only natural that a good

-deal of opposition should be raised, as well. About the year 1765

-numerous pamphlets were published to show the danger and impolicy of

-canals. Turnpike trustees were afraid the canals would divert traffic

-from the roads. Owners of pack-horses fancied that ruin stared them in

-the face. Thereupon the turnpike trustees and the pack-horse owners

-sought the further support of the agricultural interests, representing

-that, when the demand for pack-horses fell off, there would be less

-need for hay and oats, and the welfare of British agriculture would be

-prejudiced. So the farmers joined in, and the three parties combined

-in an effort to arouse the country. Canals, it was said, would involve

-a great waste of land; they would destroy the breed of draught horses;

-they would produce noxious or humid vapours; they would encourage

-pilfering; they would injure old mines and works by allowing of new

-ones being opened; and they would destroy the coasting trade, and,

-consequently, "the nursery for seamen."

-

-By arguments such as these the opposition actually checked for some

-years the carrying out of several important undertakings, including

-the Trent and Mersey Navigation. But, when once the movement had

-fairly started, it made rapid progress. James Brindley's energy, down

-to the time of his death in 1772, was especially indomitable. Having

-ensured the success of the Bridgewater Canal, he turned his attention

-to a scheme for linking up the four ports of Liverpool, Hull, Bristol,

-and London by a system of main waterways, connected by branch canals

-with leading industrial centres off the chief lines of route. Other

-projects followed, as it was seen that the earlier ventures were

-yielding substantial profits, and in 1790 a canal mania began. In 1792

-no fewer than eighteen new canals were promoted. In 1793 and 1794 the

-number of canal and navigation Acts passed was forty-five, increasing

-to eighty-one the total number which had been obtained since 1790. So

-great was the public anxiety to invest in canals that new ones were

-projected on all hands, and, though many of them were of a useful

-type, others were purely speculative, were doomed to failure from the

-start, and occasioned serious losses to thousands of investors. In

-certain instances existing canals were granted the right to levy tolls

-upon new-comers, as compensation for prospective loss of traffic--even

-when the new canals were to be 4 or 5 miles away--fresh schemes being

-actually undertaken on this basis.

-

-The canals that paid at all paid well, and the good they conferred on

-the country in the days of their prosperity is undeniable. Failing,

-at that time, more efficient means of transport, they played a most

-important rôle in developing the trade, industries, and commerce of

-our country at a period especially favourable to national advancement.

-For half a century, in fact, the canals had everything their own way.

-They had a monopoly of the transport business--except as regards road

-traffic--and in various instances they helped their proprietors to make

-huge profits. But great changes were impending, and these were brought

-about, at last, with the advent of the locomotive.

-

-The general situation at this period is well shown by the following

-extracts from an article on "Canals and Rail-roads," published in the

-_Quarterly Review_ of March 1825:--

-

- "It is true that we, who, in this age, are accustomed to roll along

- our hard and even roads at the rate of 8 or 9 miles an hour, can

- hardly imagine the inconveniences which beset our great-grandfathers

- when they had to undertake a journey--forcing their way through deep

- miry lanes; fording swollen rivers; obliged to halt for days together

- when 'the waters were out'; and then crawling along at a pace of 2

- or 3 miles an hour, in constant fear of being set down fast in some

- deep quagmire, of being overturned, breaking down, or swept away by a

- sudden inundation.

-

- "Such was the travelling condition of our ancestors, until the several

- turnpike Acts effected a gradual and most favourable change, not only

- in the state of the roads, but the whole appearance of the country;

- by increasing the facility of communication, and the transport of

- many weighty and bulky articles which, before that period, no effort

- could move from one part of the country to another. The pack-horse was

- now yoked to the waggon, and stage coaches and post-chaises usurped

- the place of saddle-horses. Imperfectly as most of these turnpike

- roads were constructed, and greatly as their repairs were neglected,

- they were still a prodigious improvement; yet, for the conveyance

- of heavy merchandise the progress of waggons was slow and their

- capacity limited. This defect was at length remedied by the opening

- of canals, an improvement which became, with regard to turnpike roads

- and waggons, what these had been to deep lanes and pack-horses.[1]

- But we may apply to projectors the observation of Sheridan, 'Give

- these fellows a good thing and they never know when to have done with

- it,' for so vehement became the rage for canal-making that, in a few

- years, the whole surface of the country was intersected by these

- inland navigations, and frequently in parts of the island where there

- was little or no traffic to be conveyed. The consequence was, that a

- large proportion of them scarcely paid an interest of one per cent.,

- and many nothing at all; while others, judiciously conducted over

- populous, commercial, and manufacturing districts, have not only amply

- remunerated the parties concerned, but have contributed in no small

- degree to the wealth and prosperity of the nation.

-

- "Yet these expensive establishments for facilitating the conveyance

- of the commercial, manufacturing and agricultural products of the

- country to their several destinations, excellent and useful as all

- must acknowledge them to be, are now likely, in their turn, to give

- way to the old invention of Rail-roads. Nothing now is heard of but

- rail-roads; the daily papers teem with notices of new lines of them

- in every direction, and pamphlets and paragraphs are thrown before

- the public eye, recommending nothing short of making them general

- throughout the kingdom. Yet, till within these few months past,

- this old invention, in use a full century before canals, has been

- suffered, with few exceptions, to act the part only of an auxiliary

- to canals, in the conveyance of goods to and from the wharfs, and of

- iron, coals, limestone, and other products of the mines to the nearest

- place of shipment....

-

- "The powers of the steam-engine, and a growing conviction that our

- present modes of conveyance, excellent as they are, both require and

- admit of great improvements, are, no doubt, among the chief reasons

- that have set the current of speculation in this particular direction."

-

-Dealing with the question of "vested rights," the article warns

-"the projectors of the intended railroads ... of the necessity of

-being prepared to meet the most strenuous opposition from the canal

-proprietors," and proceeds:--

-

- "But, we are free to confess, it does not appear to us that the canal

- proprietors have the least ground for complaining of a grievance.

- They embarked their property in what they conceived to be a good

- speculation, which in some cases was realised far beyond their most

- sanguine hopes; in others, failed beyond their most desponding

- calculations. If those that have succeeded should be able to maintain

- a competition with rail-ways by lowering their charges; what they

- thus lose will be a fair and unimpeachable gain to the public, and a

- moderate and just profit will still remain to them; while the others

- would do well to transfer their interests from a bad concern into one

- whose superiority must be thus established. Indeed, we understand that

- this has already been proposed to a very considerable extent, and that

- the level beds of certain unproductive canals have been offered for

- the reception of rail-ways.

-

- "There is, however, another ground upon which, in many instances, we

- have no doubt, the opposition of the canal proprietors may be properly

- met--we mean, and we state it distinctly, the unquestionable fact,

- that our trade and manufactures have suffered considerably by the

- disproportionate rates of charge upon canal conveyance. The immense

- tonnage of coal, iron, and earthenware, Mr Cumming tells us,[2] 'have

- enabled one of the canals, passing through these districts (near

- Birmingham), to pay an annual dividend to the proprietary of £140 upon

- an original share of £140, and as such has enhanced the value of each

- share from £140 to £3,200; and another canal in the same district, to

- pay an annual dividend of £160 upon the original share of £200, and

- the shares themselves have reached the value of £4,600 each.'

-

- "Nor are these solitary instances. Mr Sandars informs us[3] that,

- of the only two canals which unite Liverpool with Manchester, the

- thirty-nine original proprietors of one of them, the Old Quay,[4]

- have been paid for every other year, for nearly half a century, the

- _total amount of their investment_; and that a share in this canal,

- which cost only £70, has recently been sold for £1,250; and that, with

- regard to the other, the late Duke of Bridgewater's, there is good

- reason to believe that the net income has, for the last twenty years,

- averaged nearly £100,000 per annum!"

-

-In regard, however, to the supersession of canals in general by

-railways, the writer of the article says:--

-

- "We are not the advocates for visionary projects that interfere with

- useful establishments; we scout the idea of a _general_ rail-road as

- altogether impracticable....

-

- "As to those persons who speculate on making rail-ways general

- throughout the kingdom, and superseding all the canals, all the

- waggons, mail and stage-coaches, post-chaises, and, in short, every

- other mode of conveyance by land and water, we deem them and their

- visionary schemes unworthy of notice."

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER III

-

-RAILWAYS TO THE RESCUE

-

-

-It is not a little curious to find that, whereas the proposed

-resuscitation of canals is now being actively supported in various

-quarters as a means of effecting increased competition with the

-railways, the railway system itself originally had a most cordial

-welcome from the traders of this country as a means of relieving

-them from what had become the intolerable monopoly of the canals and

-waterways!

-

-It will have been seen that in the article published in the _Quarterly

-Review_ of March 1825, from which I gave extracts in the last Chapter,

-reference was made to a "Letter on the Subject of the Projected

-Rail-road between Liverpool and Manchester," by Mr Joseph Sandars, and

-published that same year. I have looked up the original "Letter," and

-found in it some instructive reading. Mr Sandars showed that although,

-under the Act of Parliament obtained by the Duke of Bridgewater, the

-tolls to be charged on his canal between Liverpool and Manchester were

-not to exceed 2s. 6d. per ton, his trustees had, by various exactions,

-increased them to 5s. 2d. per ton on all goods carried along the

-canal. They had also got possession of all the available land and

-warehouses along the canal banks at Manchester, thus monopolising the

-accommodation, or nearly so, and forcing the traders to keep to the

-trustees, and not patronise independent carriers. It was, Mr Sandars

-declared, "the most oppressive and unjust monopoly known to the trade

-of this country--a monopoly which there is every reason to believe

-compels the public to pay, in one shape or another, £100,000 more

-per annum than they ought to pay." The Bridgewater trustees and the

-proprietors of the Mersey and Irwell Navigation were, he continued,

-"deaf to all remonstrances, to all entreaties"; they were "actuated

-solely by a spirit of monopoly and extension," and "the only remedy

-the public has left is to go to Parliament and ask for a new line of

-conveyance." But this new line, he said, would have to be a railway. It

-could not take the form of another canal, as the two existing routes

-had absorbed all the available water-supply.

-

-In discussing the advantages of a railway over a canal, Mr Sandars

-continued:--

-

- "It is computed that goods could be carried for considerably less than

- is now charged, and for one-half of what has been charged, and that

- they would be conveyed in one-sixth of the time. Canals in summer are

- often short of water, and in winter are obstructed by frost; a Railway

- would not have to encounter these impediments."

-

-Mr Sandars further wrote:--

-

- "The distance between Liverpool and Manchester, by the three lines

- of Water conveyance, is upwards of 50 miles--by a Rail-road it would

- only be 33. Goods conveyed by the Duke and Old Quay [Mersey and

- Irwell Navigation] are exposed to storms, the delays from adverse

- winds, and the risk of damage, during a passage of 18 miles in the

- tide-way of the Mersey. For days together it frequently happens that

- when the wind blows very strong, either south or north, their vessels

- cannot move against it. It is very true that when the winds and tides

- are favourable they can occasionally effect a passage in fourteen

- hours; but the average is certainly thirty. However, notwithstanding

- all the accommodation they can offer, the delays are such that the

- spinners and dealers are frequently obliged to cart cotton on the

- public high-road, a distance of 36 miles, for which they pay four

- times the price which would be charged by a Rail-road, and they are

- three times as long in getting it to hand. The same observation

- applies to manufactured goods which are sent by land-carriage daily,

- and for which the rate paid is five times that which they would be

- subject to by the Rail-road. This enormous sacrifice is made for two

- reasons--sometimes because conveyance by water cannot be promptly

- obtained, but more frequently because speed and certainty as to

- delivery are of the first importance. Packages of goods sent from

- Manchester, for immediate shipment at Liverpool, often pay two or

- three pounds per ton; and yet there are those who assert that the

- difference of a few hours in speed can be no object. The merchants

- know better."

-

-In the same year that Mr Sandars issued his "Letter," the merchants

-of the port of Liverpool addressed a memorial to the Mayor and Common

-Council of the borough, praying them to support the scheme for the

-building of a railway, and stating:--

-

- "The merchants of this port have for a long time past experienced

- very great difficulties and obstructions in the prosecution of their

- business, in consequence of the high charges on the freight of goods

- between this town and Manchester, and of the frequent impossibility

- of obtaining vessels for days together."

-

-It is clear from all this that, however great the benefit which canal

-transport had conferred, as compared with prior conditions, the canal

-companies had abused their monopoly in order to secure what were often

-enormous profits; that the canals themselves, apart from the excessive

-tolls and charges imposed, failed entirely to meet the requirements

-of traders; and that the most effective means of obtaining relief was

-looked for in the provision of railways.

-

-The value to which canal shares had risen at this time is well shown by

-the following figures, which I take from the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for

-December, 1824:--

-

-  +-------------------------------+----------------------+--------+

-  |      Canal.                   |         Shares.      | Price. |

-  +-------------------------------+----------------------+--------+

-  |                               | £ _s._ _d._          |   £    |

-  |Trent and Mersey               | 75  0  0             | 2,200  |

-  |Loughborough                   |197  0  0             | 4,600  |

-  |Coventry                       | 44  0  0 (and bonus) | 1,300  |

-  |Oxford (short shares)          | 32  0  0   "    "    |   850  |

-  |Grand Junction                 | 10  0  0   "    "    |   290  |

-  |Old Union                      |  4  0  0             |   103  |

-  |Neath                          | 15  0  0             |   400  |

-  |Swansea                        | 11  0  0             |   250  |

-  |Monmouthshire                  | 10  0  0             |   245  |

-  |Brecknock and Abergavenny      |  8  0  0             |   175  |

-  |Staffordshire & Worcestershire | 40  0  0             |   960  |

-  |Birmingham                     | 12 10  0             |   350  |

-  |Worcester and Birmingham       |  1 10  0             |    56  |

-  |Shropshire                     |  8  0  0             |   175  |

-  |Ellesmere                      |  3 10  0             |   102  |

-  |Rochdale                       |  4  0  0             |   140  |

-  |Barnsley                       | 12  0  0             |   330  |

-  |Lancaster                      |  1  0  0             |    45  |

-  |Kennet and Avon                |  1  0  0             |    29  |

-  +-------------------------------+----------------------+--------+

-

-These substantial values, and the large dividends that led to them,

-were due in part, no doubt, to the general improvement in trade which

-the canals had helped most materially to effect; but they had been

-greatly swollen by the merciless way in which the traders of those

-days were exploited by the representatives of the canal interest. As

-bearing on this point, I might interrupt the course of my narrative

-to say that in the House of Commons on May 17, 1836, Mr Morrison,

-member for Ipswich, made a speech in which, as reported by Hansard, he

-expressed himself "clearly of opinion" that "Parliament should, when it

-established companies for the formation of canals, railroads, or such

-like undertakings, invariably reserve to itself the power to make such

-periodical revisions of the rates and charges as it may, under the then

-circumstances, deem expedient"; and he proposed a resolution to this

-effect. He was moved to adopt this course in view of past experiences

-in connection with the canals, and a desire that there should be no

-repetition of them in regard to the railways then being very generally

-promoted. In the course of his speech he said:--

-

- "The history of existing canals, waterways, etc., affords abundant

- evidence of the evils to which I have been averting. An original share

- in the Loughborough Canal, for example, which cost £142, 17s. is now

- selling at about £1,250, and yields a dividend of £90 or £100 a year.

- The fourth part of a Trent and Mersey Canal share, or £50 of the

- company's stock, is now fetching £600, and yields a dividend of about

- £30 a year. And there are various other canals in nearly the same

- situation."

-

-At the close of the debate which followed, Mr Morrison withdrew his

-resolution, owing to the announcement that the matter to which he had

-called attention would be dealt with in a Bill then being framed. It

-is none the less interesting thus to find that Parliamentary revisions

-of railway rates were, in the first instance, directly inspired by the

-extortions practised on the traders by canal companies in the interest

-of dividends far in excess of any that the railway companies have

-themselves attempted to pay.

-

-Reverting to the story of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway--the

-projection of which, as Mr Sandars' "Letter" shows, represented

-a revolt against "the exorbitant and unjust charges of the

-water-carriers"--the Bill promoted in its favour was opposed so

-vigorously by the canal and other interests that £70,000 was spent in

-the Parliamentary proceedings in getting it through. But it was carried

-in 1826, and the new line, opened in 1830, was so great a success that

-it soon began to inspire many similar projects in other directions,

-while with its opening the building of fresh canals for ordinary inland

-navigation (as distinct from ship canals) practically ceased.

-

-There is not the slightest doubt that, but for the extreme

-dissatisfaction of the trading interests in regard alike to the heavy

-charges and to the shortcomings of the canal system, the Liverpool and

-Manchester Railway--that precursor of the "railway mania"--would not

-have been actually constructed until at least several years later. But

-there were other directions, also, in which the revolt against the then

-existing conditions was to bring about important developments. In the

-pack-horse period the collieries of Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire

-respectively supplied local needs only, the cost of transport by

-road making it practically impossible to send coal out of the county

-in which it was raised. With the advent of canals the coal could be

-taken longer distances, and the canals themselves gained so much

-from the business that at one time shares in the Loughborough Canal,

-on which £142 had been paid, rose, as already shown, to £4,600, and

-were looked upon as being as safe as Consols. But the collapse of a

-canal from the Leicestershire coal-fields to the town of Leicester

-placed the coalowners of that county at a disadvantage, and this they

-overcame, in 1832, by opening the Leicester and Swinnington line of

-railway. Thereupon the disadvantage was thrown upon the Nottinghamshire

-coalowners, who could no longer compete with Leicestershire. In fact,

-the immediate outlook before them was that they would be excluded from

-their chief markets, that their collieries might have to be closed, and

-that the mining population would be thrown out of employment.

-

-In their dilemma they appealed to the canal companies, and asked

-for such a reduction in rates as would enable them to meet the

-new situation; but the canal companies--wedded to their big

-dividends--would make only such concessions as were thought by

-the other side to be totally inadequate. Following on this the

-Nottinghamshire coalowners met in the parlour of a village inn at

-Eastwood, in the autumn of 1832, and formally declared that "there

-remained no other plan for their adoption than to attempt to lay a

-railway from their collieries to the town of Leicester." The proposal

-was confirmed by a subsequent meeting, which resolved that "a railway

-from Pinxton to Leicester is essential to the interests of the

-coal-trade of this district." Communications were opened with George

-Stephenson, the services of his son Robert were secured, the "Midland

-Counties Railway" was duly constructed, and the final outcome of the

-action thus taken--as the direct result of the attitude of the canal

-companies--is to be seen in the splendid system known to-day as the

-Midland Railway.

-

-Once more, I might refer to Mr Charles H. Grinling's "History of the

-Great Northern Railway," in which, speaking of early conditions, he

-says:--

-

- "During the winter of 1843-44 a strong desire arose among the

- landowners and farmers of the eastern counties to secure some of the

- benefits which other districts were enjoying from the new method

- of locomotion. One great want of this part of England was that of

- cheaper fuel, for though there were collieries open at this time

- in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire, the nearest

- pits with which the eastern counties had practicable transport

- communication were those of South Yorkshire and Durham, and this was

- of so circuitous a character that even in places situated on navigable

- rivers, unserved by a canal, the price of coal often rose as high as

- 40s. or even 50s. a ton. In remoter places, to which it had to be

- carted 10, 20, or even 30 miles along bad cross-roads, coal even for

- house-firing was a positive luxury, quite unattainable by the poorer

- classes. Moreover, in the most severe weather, when the canals were

- frozen, the whole system of supply became paralysed, and even the

- wealthy had not seldom to retreat shivering to bed for lack of fuel."

-

-In this particular instance it was George Hudson, the "Railway King,"

-who was approached, and the first lines were laid of what is now the

-Great Northern Railway.

-

-So it happened that, when the new form of transport came into vogue, in

-succession to the canals, it was essentially a case of "Railways to the

-Rescue."

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER IV

-

-RAILWAY-CONTROLLED CANALS

-

-

-Both canals and railways were, in their early days, made according to

-local conditions, and were intended to serve local purposes. In the

-case of the former the design and dimensions of the canal boat used

-were influenced by the depth and nature of the estuary or river along

-which it might require to proceed, and the size of the lock (affecting,

-again, the size of the boat) might vary according to whether the lock

-was constructed on a low level, where there was ample water, or on a

-high level, where economy in the use of water had to be practised.

-Uniformity under these varying conditions would certainly have been

-difficult to secure, and, in effect, it was not attempted. The original

-designers of the canals, in days when the trade of the country was far

-less than it is now and the general trading conditions very different,

-probably knew better what they were about than their critics of to-day

-give them credit for. They realised more completely than most of

-those critics do what were the limitations of canal construction in a

-country of hills and dales, and especially in rugged and mountainous

-districts. They cut their coat, as it were, according to their cloth,

-and sought to meet the actual needs of the day rather than anticipate

-the requirements of futurity. From their point of view this was the

-simplest solution of the problem.

-

-[Illustration: WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN.

-

-(Cowley Tunnel and Embankments, on Shropshire Union Route between

-Wolverhampton and the Mersey.)

-

-      [_To face page 32._

-]

-

-But, though the canals thus made suited local conditions, they became

-unavailable for through traffic, except in boats sufficiently small

-to pass the smallest lock or the narrowest and shallowest canal _en

-route_. Then the lack of uniformity in construction was accompanied by

-a lack of unity in management. Each and every through route was divided

-among, as a rule, from four to eight or ten different navigations, and

-a boat-owner making the journey had to deal separately with each.

-

-The railway companies soon began to rid themselves of their own local

-limitations. A "Railway Clearing House" was set up in 1847, in the

-interests of through traffic; groups of small undertakings amalgamated

-into "great" companies; facilities of a kind unknown before were made

-available, while the whole system of railway operation was simplified

-for traders and travellers. The canal companies, however, made no

-attempt to follow the example thus set. They were certainly in a more

-difficult position than the railways. They might have amalgamated, and

-they might have established a Canal Clearing House. These would have

-been comparatively easy things to do. But any satisfactory linking up

-of the various canal systems throughout the country would have meant

-virtual reconstruction, and this may well have been thought a serious

-proposition in regard, especially, to canals built at a considerable

-elevation above the sea level, where the water supply was limited, and

-where, for that reason, some of the smallest locks were to be found.

-To say the least of it, such a work meant a very large outlay, and at

-that time practically all the capital available for investment in

-transport was being absorbed by new railways. These, again, had secured

-the public confidence which the canals were losing. As Mr Sandars said

-in his "Letter":--

-

- "Canals have done well for the country, just as high roads and

- pack-horses had done before canals were established; but the

- country has now presented to it cheaper and more expeditious means

- of conveyance, and the attempt to prevent its adoption is utterly

- hopeless."

-

-All that the canal companies did, in the first instance, was to attempt

-the very thing which Mr Sandars considered "utterly hopeless." They

-adopted a policy of blind and narrow-minded hostility. They seemed to

-think that, if they only fought them vigorously enough, they could

-drive the railways off the field; and fight them they did, at every

-possible point. In those days many of the canal companies were still

-wealthy concerns, and what their opposition might mean has been

-already shown in the case of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The

-newcomers had thus to concentrate their efforts and meet the opposition

-as best they could.

-

-For a time the canal companies clung obstinately to their high tolls

-and charges, in the hope that they would still be able to pay their big

-dividends. But, when the superiority of the railways over the waterways

-became more and more manifest, and when the canal companies saw greater

-and still greater quantities of traffic being diverted from them by

-their opponents, in fair competition, they realised the situation at

-last, and brought down their tolls with a rush. The reductions made

-were so substantial that they would have been thought incredible a few

-years previously.

-

-In the result, benefits were gained by all classes of traders, for

-those who still patronised the canals were charged much more reasonable

-tolls than they had ever paid before. But even the adoption of this

-belated policy by the canal companies did not help them very much.

-The diversion of the stream of traffic to the railways had become too

-pronounced to be checked by even the most substantial of reductions

-in canal charges. With the increasing industrial and commercial

-development of the country it was seen that the new means of transport

-offered advantages of even greater weight than cost of transport,

-namely, speed and certainty of delivery. For the average trader it was

-essentially a case of time meaning money. The canal companies might

-now reduce their tolls so much that, instead of being substantially

-in excess of the railway rates, as they were at first, they would

-fall considerably below; but they still could not offer those other

-all-important advantages.

-

-As the canal companies found that the struggle was, indeed, "utterly

-hopeless," some of them adopted new lines of policy. Either they

-proposed to build railways themselves, or they tried to dispose of

-their canal property to the newcomers. In some instances the route of

-a canal, no longer of much value, was really wanted for the route of a

-proposed railway, and an arrangement was easily made. In others, where

-the railway promoters did not wish to buy, opposition to their schemes

-was offered by the canal companies with the idea of forcing them either

-so to do, or, alternatively, to make such terms with them as would be

-to the advantage of the canal shareholders.

-

-The tendency in this direction is shown by the extract already given

-from the _Quarterly Review_; and I may repeat here the passage in which

-the writer suggested that some of the canal companies "would do well to

-transfer their interests from a bad concern into one whose superiority

-must be thus established," and added: "Indeed, we understand that

-this has already been proposed to a very considerable extent, and

-that the level beds of certain unproductive canals have been offered

-for the reception of rail-ways." This was as early as 1825. Later on

-the tendency became still more pronounced as pressure was put on the

-railway companies, or as promoters, in days when plenty of money was

-available for railway schemes, thought the easiest way to overcome

-actual or prospective opposition was to buy it off by making the best

-terms they could. So far, in fact, was the principle recognised that in

-1845 Parliament expressly sanctioned the control of canals by railway

-companies, whether by amalgamation, lease, purchase, or guarantee, and

-a considerable amount of canal mileage thus came into the possession,

-or under the control, of railway companies, especially in the years

-1845, 1846, and 1847. This sanction was practically repealed by the

-Railway and Traffic Acts of 1873 and 1888. By that time about one-third

-of the existing canals had been either voluntarily acquired by, or

-forced upon, the railway companies. It is obvious, however, that the

-responsibility for what was done rests with Parliament itself, and

-that in many cases, probably, the railway companies, instead of being

-arch-conspirators, anxious to spend their money in killing off moribund

-competitors, who were generally considered to be on the point of dying

-a natural death, were, at times, victims of the situation, being

-practically driven into purchases or guarantees which, had they been

-perfectly free agents, they might not have cared to touch.

-

-The general position was, perhaps, very fairly indicated by the late

-Sir James Allport, at one time General Manager of the Midland Railway

-Company, in the evidence he gave before the Select Committee on Canals

-in 1883.

-

- "I doubt (he said) if Parliament ever, at that time of day, came

- to any deliberate decision as to the advisability or otherwise of

- railways possessing canals; but I presume that they did not do so

- without the fullest evidence before them, and no doubt canal companies

- were very anxious to get rid of their property to railways, and they

- opposed their Bills, and, in the desire to obtain their Bills, railway

- companies purchased their canals. That, I think, would be found to

- be the fact, if it were possible to trace them out in every case. I

- do not believe that the London and North-Western would have bought

- the Birmingham Canal but for this circumstance. I have no doubt that

- the Birmingham Canal, when the Stour Valley line was projected, felt

- that their property was jeopardised, and that it was then that the

- arrangement was made by which the London and North-Western Railway

- Company guaranteed them 4 per cent."

-

-The bargains thus effected, either voluntarily or otherwise (and mostly

-otherwise), were not necessarily to the advantage of the railway

-companies, who might often have done better for themselves if they had

-fought out the fight at the time with their antagonists, and left the

-canal companies to their fate, instead of taking over waterways which

-have been more or less of a loss to them ever since. Considering the

-condition into which many of the canals had already drifted, or were

-then drifting, there is very little room for doubt what their fate

-would have been if the railway companies had left them severely alone.

-Indeed, there are various canals whose continued operation to-day, in

-spite of the losses on their wholly unremunerative traffic, is due

-exclusively to the fact that they are owned or controlled by railway

-companies. Independent proprietors, looking to them for dividends, and

-not under any statutory obligations (as the railway companies are) to

-keep them going, would long ago have abandoned such canals entirely,

-and allowed them to be numbered among the derelicts.

-

-As bearing on the facts here narrated, I might mention that, in the

-course of a discussion at the Institution of Civil Engineers, in

-November 1905, on a paper read by Mr John Arthur Saner, "Waterways

-in Great Britain" (reported in the official "Proceedings" of the

-Institution), Mr James Inglis, General Manager of the Great Western

-Railway Company, said that "his company owned about 216 miles of canal,

-not a mile of which had been acquired voluntarily. Many of those

-canals had been forced on the railway as the price of securing Acts,

-and some had been obtained by negotiations with the canal companies.

-The others had been acquired in incidental ways, arising from the fact

-that the traffic had absolutely disappeared." Mr Inglis further told

-the story of the Kennet and Avon Canal, which his company maintain at

-a loss of about £4,000 per annum. The canal, it seems, was constructed

-in 1794 at a cost of £1,000,000, and at one time paid 5 per cent. The

-traffic fell off steadily with the extension of the railway system,

-and in 1846 the canal company, seeing their position was hopeless,

-applied to Parliament for powers to construct a railway parallel with

-the canal. Sanction was refused, though the company were authorised to

-act as common carriers. In 1851 the canal owners approached the Great

-Western Railway Company, and told them of their intention to seek again

-for powers to build an opposition railway. The upshot of the matter

-was that the railway company took over the canal, and agreed to pay

-the canal company £7,773 a year. This they have done, with a loss to

-themselves ever since. The rates charged on the canal were successively

-reduced by the Board of Trade (on appeal being made to that body) to

-1-1/4d., then to 1d., and finally 1/2d. per ton-mile; but there had

-never been a sign, Mr Inglis added, that the reduction had any effect

-in attracting additional traffic.[5]

-

-

-To ascertain for myself some further details as to the past and present

-of the Kennet and Avon Navigation, I paid a visit of inspection to the

-canal in the neighbourhood of Bath, where it enters the River Avon, and

-also at Devizes, where I saw the remarkable series of locks by means

-of which the canal reaches the town of Devizes, at an elevation of 425

-feet above sea level. In conversation, too, with various authorities,

-including Mr H. J. Saunders, the Canals Engineer of the Great Western

-Railway Company, I obtained some interesting facts which throw light

-on the reasons for the falling off of the traffic along the canal.

-

-Dealing with this last mentioned point first, I learned that much

-of the former prosperity of the Kennet and Avon Navigation was due

-to a substantial business then done in the transport of coal from

-a considerable colliery district in Somersetshire, comprising the

-Radstock, Camerton, Dunkerton, and Timsbury collieries. This coal was

-first put on the Somerset Coal Canal, which connected with the Kennet

-and Avon at Dundas--a point between Bath and Bradford-on-Avon--and, on

-reaching this junction, it was taken either to towns directly served

-by the Kennet and Avon (including Bath, Bristol, Bradford, Trowbridge,

-Devizes, Kintbury, Hungerford, Newbury and Reading) or, leaving the

-Kennet and Avon at Semmington, it passed over the Wilts and Berks Canal

-to various places as far as Abingdon. In proportion, however, as the

-railways developed their superiority as an agent for the effective

-distribution of coal, the traffic by canal declined more and more,

-until at last it became non-existent. Of the three canals affected, the

-Somerset Coal Canal, owned by an independent company, was abandoned, by

-authority of Parliament, two years ago; the Wilts and Berks, also owned

-by an independent company, is practically derelict, and the one that

-to-day survives and is in good working order is the Kennet and Avon,

-owned by a railway company.

-

-Another branch of local traffic that has left the Kennet and Avon Canal

-for the railway is represented by the familiar freestone, of which

-large quantities are despatched from the Bath district. The stone

-goes away in blocks averaging 5 tons in weight, and ranging up to 10

-tons, and at first sight it would appear to be a commodity specially

-adapted for transport by water. But once more the greater facilities

-afforded by the railway have led to an almost complete neglect of the

-canal. Even where the quarries are immediately alongside the waterway

-(though this is not always the case) horses must be employed to get the

-blocks down to the canal boat; whereas the blocks can be put straight

-on to the railway trucks on the sidings which go right into the

-quarry, no horses being then required. In calculating, therefore, the

-difference between the canal rate and the railway rate, the purchase

-and maintenance of horses at the points of embarkation must be added

-to the former. Then the stone could travel only a certain distance by

-water, and further cost might have to be incurred in cartage, if not in

-transferring it from boat to railway truck, after all, for transport to

-final destination; whereas, once put on a railway truck at the quarry,

-it could be taken thence, without further trouble, to any town in Great

-Britain where it was wanted. In this way, again, the Kennet and Avon

-(except in the case of consignments to Bristol) has practically lost a

-once important source of revenue.

-

-A certain amount of foreign timber still goes by water from Avonmouth

-or Bristol to the neighbourhood of Pewsey, and some English-grown

-timber is taken from Devizes and other points on the canal to Bristol,

-Reading, and intermediate places; grain is carried from Reading to

-mills within convenient reach of the canal, and there is also a small

-traffic in mineral oils and general merchandise, including groceries

-for shopkeepers in towns along the canal route; but, whereas, in

-former days a grocer would order 30 tons of sugar from Bristol to be

-delivered to him by boat at one time, he now orders by post, telegraph,

-or telephone, very much smaller quantities as he wants them, and these

-smaller quantities are consigned mainly by train, so that there is less

-for the canal to carry, even where the sugar still goes by water at all.

-

-Speaking generally, the actual traffic on the Kennet and Avon at the

-western end would not exceed more than about three or four boats a day,

-and on the higher levels at the eastern end it would not average one

-a day. Yet, after walking for some miles along the canal banks at two

-of its most important points, it was obvious to me that the decline in

-the traffic could not be attributable to any shortcomings in the canal

-itself. Not only does the Kennet and Avon deserve to rank as one of

-the best maintained of any canal in the country, but it still affords

-all reasonable facilities for such traffic as is available, or seems

-likely to be offered. Instead of being neglected by the Great Western

-Railway Company, it is kept in a state of efficiency that could not

-well be improved upon short of a complete reconstruction, at a very

-great cost, in the hope of getting an altogether problematical increase

-of patronage in respect to classes of traffic different from what was

-contemplated when the canal was originally built.

-

-[Illustration: LOCKS ON THE KENNET AND AVON CANAL AT DEVIZES.

-

-(A difference in level of 239 feet in 2-1/2 miles is overcome by 29

-locks. Of these, 17 immediately follow one another in direct line,

-"pounds" being provided to ensure sufficiency of reserve water to work

-boats through.)

-

-  _Photo by Chivers, Devizes._]      [_To face page 42._

-]

-

-Within the last year or two the railway company have spent £3,000 or

-£4,000 on the pumping machinery. The main water supply is derived from

-a reservoir, about 9 acres in extent, at Crofton, this reservoir being

-fed partly by two rivulets (which dry up in the summer) and partly

-by its own springs; and extensive pumping machinery is provided for

-raising to the summit level the water that passes from the reservoir

-into the canal at a lower level, the height the water is thus raised

-being 40 feet. There is also a pumping station at Claverton, near Bath,

-which raises water from the river Avon. Thanks to these provisions, on

-no occasion has there been more than a partial stoppage of the canal

-owing to a lack of water, though in seasons of drought it is necessary

-to reduce the loading of the boats.

-

-The final ascent to the Devizes level is accomplished by means of

-twenty-nine locks in a distance of 2-1/2 miles. Of these twenty-nine

-there are seventeen which immediately follow one another in a direct

-line, and here it has been necessary to supplement the locks with

-"pounds" to ensure a sufficiency of reserve water to work the boats

-through. No one who walks alongside these locks can fail to be

-impressed alike by the boldness of the original constructors of the

-canal and by the thoroughness with which they did their work. The walls

-of the locks are from 3 to 6 feet in thickness, and they seem to have

-been built to last for all eternity. The same remark applies to the

-constructed works in general on this canal. For a boat to pass through

-the twenty-nine locks takes on an average about three hours. The 39-1/2

-miles from Bristol to Devizes require at least two full days.

-

-Considerable expenditure is also incurred on the canal in dredging

-work; though here special difficulties are experienced, inasmuch as

-the geological formation of the bed of the canal between Bath and

-Bradford-on-Avon renders steam dredging inadvisable, so that the more

-expensive and less expeditious system of "dragging" has to be relied on

-instead.

-

-Altogether it costs the Great Western Railway Company about £1 to

-earn each 10s. they receive from the canal; and whether or not,

-considering present day conditions of trade and transport, and the

-changes that have taken place therein, they would get their money

-back if they spent still more on the canal, is, to say the least of

-it, extremely problematical. One fact absolutely certain is that the

-canal is already capable of carrying a much greater amount of traffic

-than is actually forthcoming, and that the absence of such traffic is

-not due to any neglect of the waterway by its present owners. Indeed,

-I had the positive assurance of Mr Saunders that, in his capacity as

-Canals Engineer to the Great Western, he had never yet been refused by

-his Company any expenditure he had recommended as necessary for the

-efficient maintenance of the canals under his charge. "I believe," he

-added, "that any money required to be spent for this purpose would

-be readily granted. I already have power to do anything I consider

-advisable to keep the canals in proper order; and I say without

-hesitation that all the canals belonging to the Great Western Railway

-Company are well maintained, and in no way starved. The decline in the

-traffic is due to obvious causes which would still remain, no matter

-what improvements one might seek to carry out."

-

-

-The story told above may be supplemented by the following extract from

-the report of the Great Western Railway Company for the half-year

-ending December 1905, showing expenses and receipts in connection with

-the various canals controlled by that company:--

-

-GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY CANALS,

-

-for half-year ending 31st December 1905.

-

-          Canal.        To Canal Expenses.  By Canal Traffic.

-

-  Bridgwater and Taunton   £1,991  2  8         £664  8  9

-  Grand Western               197  7  1          119 10 10

-  Kennet and Avon           5,604  0  9        2,034 18  8

-  Monmouthshire             1,557  3  3          886 16  8

-  Stourbridge Extension       450 19  4          765  7  1

-  Stratford-upon-Avon       1,349 11  3          724  1  4

-  Swansea                   1,643 15  7        1,386 14  9

-                         --------------     --------------

-                          £12,793 19 11       £6,581 18  1

-                         --------------     --------------

-

-The capital expenditure on these different canals, to the same date,

-was as follows:--

-

-  Brecon                      £61,217 19  0

-  Bridgwater and Taunton       73,989 12  4

-  Grand Western                30,629  8  7

-  Kennet and Avon             209,509 19  3

-  Stourbridge Extension        49,436 15  0

-  Stratford-on-Avon           172,538  9  7

-  Swansea                     148,711 17  6

-                             --------------

-  Total,                     £746,034  1  3

-                            ---------------

-

-These figures give point to the further remark made by Mr Inglis at the

-meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers when he said, "It was

-not to be imagined that the railway companies would willingly have all

-their canal property lying idle; they would be only too glad if they

-could see how to use the canals so as to obtain a profit, or even to

-reduce the loss."

-

-On the same occasion, Mr A. Ross, who also took part in the debate,

-said he had had charge of a number of railway-owned canals at different

-times, and he was of opinion there was no foundation for the

-allegation that railway-owned canals were not properly maintained. His

-first experience of this kind was with the Sankey Brook and St Helens

-Canal, one of wide gauge, carrying a first-class traffic, connecting

-the two great chemical manufacturing towns of St Helens and Widnes,

-and opening into the Mersey. Early in the seventies the canal became

-practically a wreck, owing to the mortar on the walls having been

-destroyed by the chemicals in the water which the manufactories had

-drained into the canal. In addition, there was an overflow into the

-Sankey Brook, and in times of flood the water flowed over the meadows,

-and thousands of acres were rendered barren. Mr Ross continued (I quote

-from the official report):--

-

- "The London and North-Western Railway Company, who owned the canal,

- went to great expense in litigation, and obtained an injunction

- against the manufacturers, and in the result they had to purchase all

- the meadows outright, as the quickest way of settling the question

- of compensation. The company rebuilt all the walls and some of the

- locks. If that canal had not been supported by a powerful corporation

- like the London and North-Western Railway, it must inevitably have

- been in ruins now. The next canal he had to do with, the Manchester

- and Bury Canal, belonging to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway

- Company, was almost as unfortunate. The coal workings underneath the

- canal absolutely wrecked it, compelling the railway company to spend

- many thousands of pounds in law suits and on restoring the works,

- and he believed that no independent canal could have survived the

- expense. Other canals he had had to do with were the Peak Forest, the

- Macclesfield and the Chesterfield canals, and the Sheffield and South

- Yorkshire Navigation, which belonged to the old Manchester Sheffield

- and Lincolnshire Railway. Those canals were maintained in good order,

- although the traffic was certainly not large."

-

-On the strength of these personal experiences Mr Ross thought that

-"if a company came forward which was willing to give reasonable

-compensation, the railway companies would not be difficult to deal

-with."

-

-

-The "Shropshire Union" is a railway-controlled canal with an especially

-instructive history.

-

-This system has a total mileage of just over 200 miles. It extends from

-Wolverhampton to Ellesmere Port on the river Mersey, passing through

-Market Drayton, Nantwich and Chester, with branches to Shrewsbury,

-Newtown (Montgomeryshire), Llangollen, and Middlewich (Cheshire). Some

-sections of the canal were made as far back as 1770, and others as

-recently as 1840. At one time it was owned by a number of different

-companies, but by a process of gradual amalgamation, most of these

-were absorbed by the Ellesmere and Chester Canal Company. In 1846

-this company obtained Acts of Parliament which authorised them to

-change their name to that of "The Shropshire Union Railways and Canal

-Company," and gave them power to construct three lines of railway:

-(1) from the Chester and Crewe Branch of the Grand Junction Railway

-at Calveley to Wolverhampton; (2) from Shrewsbury to Stafford, with a

-branch to Stone; and (3) from Newtown (Montgomeryshire) to Crewe. Not

-only do we get here a striking instance of the tendency shown by canal

-companies to start railways on their own account, but in each one of

-the three Acts authorising the lines mentioned I find it provided that

-"it shall be lawful for the Chester and Holyhead Railway Company and

-the Manchester and Birmingham Railway Company, or either of them, to

-subscribe towards the undertaking, and hold shares in the Shropshire

-Union Railways and Canal Company."

-

-Experience soon showed that the Shropshire Union had undertaken more

-than it could accomplish. In 1847 the company obtained a fresh Act

-of Parliament, this time to authorise a lease of the undertakings of

-the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company to the London and

-North-Western Railway Company. The Act set forth that the capital

-of the Shropshire Union Company was £482,924, represented by shares

-on which all the calls had been paid, and that the indebtedness on

-mortgages, bonds and other securities amounted to £814,207. Under these

-adverse conditions, "it has been agreed," the Act goes on to say,

-"between the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company and the London

-and North-Western Railway Company, with a view to the economical and

-convenient working" of the three railways authorised, "that a lease

-in perpetuity of the undertaking of the Shropshire Union Railways and

-Canal Company should be granted to the London and North-Western Railway

-Company, and accepted by them, at a rent which shall be equal to ...

-half the rate per cent. per annum of the dividend which shall from time

-to time be payable on the capital stock of the London and North-Western

-Railway Company."

-

-[Illustration: WAREHOUSES AND HYDRAULIC CRANES AT ELLESMERE PORT.

-

-      [_To face page 48._

-]

-

-We have in this another example of the way in which a railway company

-has saved a canal system from extinction, while under the control

-of the London and North-Western the Shropshire Union Canal is still

-undoubtedly one of the best maintained of any in the country.

-There may be sections of it, especially in out-lying parts, where

-the traffic is comparatively small, but a considerable business is

-still done in the conveyance of sea-borne grain from the Mersey to

-the Chester district, or in that of tinplates, iron, and manufactured

-articles from the Black Country to the Mersey for shipment. For

-traffic such as this the canal already offers every reasonable

-facility. The Shropshire Union is also a large carrier of goods to

-and from the Potteries district, in conjunction with the Trent and

-Mersey. So little has the canal been "strangled," or even neglected,

-by the London and North-Western Railway Company that, in addition

-to maintaining its general efficiency, the expenditure incurred by

-that company of late years for the development of Ellesmere Port--the

-point where the Shropshire Union Canal enters the Manchester Ship

-Canal--amounts to several hundred thousand pounds, this money having

-been spent mainly in the interest of the traffic along the Shropshire

-Union Canal. Deep-water quay walls of considerable length have

-been built; warehouses for general merchandise, with an excellent

-system of hydraulic cranes, have been provided; a large grain depôt,

-fully equipped with grain elevators and other appliances, has been

-constructed at a cost of £80,000 to facilitate, more especially, the

-considerable grain transport by canal that is done between the River

-Mersey and the Chester district; and at the present time the dock area

-is being enlarged, chiefly for the purpose of accommodating deeper

-barges, drawing about 7 feet of water.

-

-Another fact I might mention in regard to the Shropshire Union Canal

-is in connection with mechanical haulage. Elaborate theories, worked

-out on paper, as to the difference in cost between rail transport and

-water transport, may be completely upset where the water transport is

-to be conducted, not on a river or on a canal crossing a perfectly

-level plain, but along a canal which is raised, by means of locks,

-several hundred feet on one side of a ridge, or of some elevated

-table-land, and must be brought down in the same way on the other side.

-So, again, the value of what might otherwise be a useful system of

-mechanical haulage may be completely marred owing to the existence of

-innumerable locks.

-

-This conclusion is the outcome of a series of practical experiments

-conducted on the Shropshire Union Canal at a time when the theorists

-were still working out their calculations on paper. The experiments

-in question were directed to ascertaining whether economy could be

-effected by making up strings of narrow canal boats, and having them

-drawn by a tug worked by steam or other motive power, instead of

-employing man and horse for each boat. The plan answered admirably

-until the locks were reached. There the steam-tug was, temporarily, no

-longer of any service. It was necessary to keep a horse at every lock,

-or flight of locks, to get the boats through, so that, apart from the

-tedious delays (the boats that passed first having to wait for the

-last-comers before the procession could start again), the increased

-expense at the locks nullified any saving gained from the mechanical

-haulage.

-

-

-As a further illustration--drawn this time from Scotland--of the

-relations of railway companies to canals, I take the case of the Forth

-and Clyde Navigation, controlled by the Caledonian Railway Company.

-

-This navigation really consists of two sections--the Forth and Clyde

-Navigation, and the Monkland Navigation. The former, authorised in

-1768, and opened in 1790, commences at Grangemouth on the Firth of

-Forth, crosses the country by Falkirk and Kirkintilloch, and terminates

-at Bowling on the Clyde. It has thirty-nine locks, and at one point has

-been constructed through 3 miles of hard rock. The original depth of 8

-feet was increased to 10 feet in 1814. In addition to the canal proper,

-the navigation included the harbours of Grangemouth and Bowling, and

-also the Grangemouth Branch Railway, and the Drumpeller Branch Railway,

-near Coatbridge. The Monkland Canal, also opened in 1790, was built

-from Glasgow _viâ_ Coatbridge to Woodhall in Lanarkshire, mainly for

-the transport of coal from the Lanarkshire coal-fields to Glasgow and

-elsewhere. Here the depth was 6 feet. The undertakings of the Forth and

-Clyde and the Monkland Navigations were amalgamated in 1846.

-

-Prior to 1865, the Caledonian Railway did not extend further north than

-Greenhill, about 5 miles south of Falkirk, where it joined the Scottish

-Central Railway. This undertaking was absorbed by the Caledonian in

-1865, and the Caledonian system was thus extended as far north as

-Perth and Dundee. The further absorption of the Scottish North-Eastern

-Railway Company, in 1866, led to the extension of the Caledonian system

-to Aberdeen.

-

-At this time the Caledonian Railway Company owned no port or harbour

-in Scotland, except the small and rather shallow tidal harbour of

-South Alloa. Having got possession of the railway lines in Central

-Scotland, they thought it necessary to obtain control of some port on

-the east coast, in the interests of traffic to or from the Continent,

-and especially to facilitate the shipment to the Continent of coal

-from the Lanarkshire coal-fields, chiefly served by them. The port of

-Grangemouth being adapted to their requirements, they entered into

-negotiations with the proprietors of the Forth and Clyde Navigation,

-who were also proprietors of the harbour of Grangemouth, and acquired

-the whole undertaking in 1867, guaranteeing to the original company a

-dividend of 6-1/4 per cent.

-

-Since their acquisition of the canal, the Caledonian Railway Company

-have spent large sums annually in maintaining it in a state of

-efficiency, and its general condition to-day is better than when it

-was taken over. Much of the traffic handled is brought into or sent

-out from Grangemouth, and here the Caledonian Railway Company have

-more than doubled the accommodation, with the result that the imports

-and exports have enormously increased. All the same, there has been a

-steady decrease in the actual canal traffic, due to various causes,

-such as (_a_) the exhaustion of several of the coal-fields in the

-Monkland district; (_b_) the extension of railways; and (_c_) changes

-in the sources from which certain classes of traffic formerly carried

-on the canal are derived.

-

-In regard to the coal-fields, the closing of pits adjoining the canal

-has been followed by the opening of others at such a distance from the

-canal that it was cheaper to consign by rail.

-

-In the matter of railway extensions, when the Caledonian took over

-the canal in 1867, there were practically no railways in the district

-through which it runs, and the coal and other traffic had, perforce,

-to go by water. But, year by year, a complete network of railways

-was spread through the district by independent railway companies,

-notwithstanding the efforts made by the Caledonian to protect the

-interests of the canal-efforts that led, in some instances, to

-Parliament refusing assent to the proposed lines. Those that were

-constructed (over a dozen lines and branches altogether), were almost

-all absorbed by the North British Railway Company, who are strong

-competitors with the Caledonian Railway Company, and have naturally

-done all they could to get traffic for the lines in question. This, of

-course, has been at the expense of the canal and to the detriment of

-the Caledonian Railway Company, who, in view of their having guaranteed

-a dividend to the original proprietors, would prefer that the traffic

-in question should remain on the canal instead of being diverted to an

-opposition line of railway. Other traffic which formerly went by canal,

-and is now carried on the Caledonian Railway, is of a character that

-would certainly go by canal no longer, and for this the Caledonian and

-the North British Companies compete.

-

-The third factor in the decline of the canal relates to the general

-consideration that, during the last thirty or forty years, important

-works have no longer been necessarily built alongside canal banks,

-but have been constructed wherever convenient, and connected with the

-railways by branch lines or private sidings, expense of cartage to or

-from the canal dock or basin thus being saved. On the Forth and Clyde

-Canal a good deal of coal is still carried, but mainly to adjoining

-works. Coal is also shipped in vessels on the canal for transport to

-the West Highlands and Islands, where the railways cannot compete;

-but even here there is an increasing tendency for the coal to be

-bought in Glasgow (to which port it is carried by rail), so that the

-shippers can have a wider range of markets when purchasing. Further

-changes affecting the Forth and Clyde Canal are illustrated by the

-fact that whereas, at one time, large quantities of grain were brought

-into Grangemouth from Russian and other Continental ports, transhipped

-into lighters, and sent to Glasgow by canal, the grain now received at

-Glasgow comes mainly from America by direct steamer.

-

-That the Caledonian Railway Company have done their duty towards the

-Forth and Clyde Canal is beyond all reasonable doubt. It is true

-that they are not themselves carriers on the canal. They are only

-toll-takers. Their business has been to maintain the canal in efficient

-condition, and allow any trader who wishes to make use of it so to do,

-on paying the tolls. This they have done, and, if the traders have not

-availed themselves of their opportunities, it must naturally have been

-for adequate reasons, and especially because of changes in the course

-of the country's business which it is impossible for a railway company

-to control, even where, as in this particular case, they are directly

-interested in seeing the receipts from tolls attain to as high a figure

-as practicable.

-

-

-I reserve for another chapter a study of the Birmingham Canal system,

-which, again, is "railway controlled"; but I may say here that I

-think the facts already given show it is most unfair to suggest,

-as is constantly being done in the Press and elsewhere, that the

-railway companies bought up canals--"of malice aforethought," as it

-were--for the express purpose of killing such competition as they

-represented--a form of competition in which, as we have seen, public

-confidence had already practically disappeared. One of the witnesses at

-the canal enquiry in 1883 even went so far as to assert:

-

- "The railway companies have been enabled, in some cases by means of

- very questionable legality, to obtain command of 1,717 miles of canal,

- so adroitly selected as to strangle the whole of the inland water

- traffic, which has thus been forced upon the railways, to the great

- interruption of their legitimate and lucrative trade."

-

-The assertions here made are constantly being reproduced in one form

-or another by newspaper writers, public speakers, and others, who have

-gone to no trouble to investigate the facts for themselves, who have

-never read, or, if they have read, have disregarded, the important

-evidence of Sir James Allport, at the same enquiry, in reference to the

-London coal trade (I shall revert to this subject later on), and who

-probably have either not seen a map of British canals and waterways

-at all, or else have failed to notice the routes that still remain

-independent, and are in no way controlled by railway companies.

-

-[Illustration: INDEPENDENT CANALS

-

-AND

-

-INLAND NAVIGATIONS

-

-IN

-

-ENGLAND

-

-Which are not controlled by railway companies]

-

-1. River Ouse Navigation (Yorkshire).

-

-2. River Wharfe Navigation.

-

-3. Aire and Calder Navigation.

-

-4. Market Weighton Navigation.

-

-5. Driffield Navigation.

-

-6. Beverley Beck Navigation.

-

-7. Leven Navigation.

-

-8. Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

-

-9. Manchester Ship Canal.

-

-10. Bridgewater portion of Manchester Ship Canal.

-

-11. Rochdale Canal.

-

-12. Calder and Hebble Navigation.

-

-13. Weaver Navigation.

-

-14. Idle Navigation.

-

-15. Trent Navigation Co.

-

-16. Aucholme Navigation.

-

-17. Caistor Canal.

-

-18. Louth Canal (Lincolnshire).

-

-19. Derby Canal.

-

-20. Nutbrook Canal.

-

-21. Erewash Canal.

-

-22. Loughborough Navigation.

-

-23. Leicester Navigation.

-

-24. Leicestershire Union Canal.

-

-25. Witham Navigation.

-

-26. Witham Navigation.

-

-27. Glen Navigation.

-

-28. Welland Navigation.

-

-29. Nen Navigation.

-

-30. Wisbech Canal.

-

-31. Nar Navigation.

-

-32. Ouse and Tributaries (Bedfordshire).

-

-33. North Walsham Canal.

-

-34. Bure Navigation.

-

-35. Blyth Navigation.

-

-36. Ipswich and Stowmarket Navigation.

-

-37. Stour Navigation.

-

-38. Colne Navigation.

-

-39. Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation.

-

-40. Roding Navigation.

-

-41. Stort Navigation.

-

-42. Lea Navigation.

-

-43. Grand Junction Canal.

-

-44. Grand Union Canal.

-

-45. Oxford Canal.

-

-46. Coventry Canal.

-

-47. Warwick and Napton Canal.

-

-48. Warwick and Birmingham Canal.

-

-49. Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal.

-

-30. Worcester and Birmingham Canal.

-

-51. Stafford and Worcester Canal.

-

-52. Severn (Lower) Navigation.

-

-53. Gloucester and Berkeley Ship Canal.

-

-54. Lower Avon Navigation.

-

-55. Stroudwater Canal.

-

-56. Wye Navigation.

-

-57. Axe Navigation.

-

-58. Parrett Navigation.

-

-59. Tone Navigation.

-

-60. Wilts and Berks Canal.

-

-61. Thames Navigation.

-

-62. London and Hampshire Canal.

-

-63. Wey Navigation.

-

-64. Medway Navigation.

-

-65. Canterbury Navigation.

-

-66. Ouse Navigation (Sussex).

-

-67. Adur Navigation.

-

-68. Arun and Wey Canal.

-

-69. Portsmouth and Arunder Canal.

-

-70. Itchen Navigation.

-

-      [To face page 54.

-

-I give, facing p. 54, a sketch which shows the nature and extent of

-these particular waterways, and the reader will see from it that they

-include entirely free and independent communication (_a_) between

-Birmingham and the Thames; (_b_) from the coal-fields of the Midlands

-and the North to London; and (_c_) between the west and east coasts,

-_viâ_ Liverpool, Leeds, and Goole. To say, therefore, in these

-circumstances, that "the whole of the inland water traffic" has been

-strangled by the railway companies because the canals or sections of

-which they "obtained command" were "so adroitly selected," is simply to

-say what is not true.

-

-The point here raised is not one that merely concerns the integrity

-of the railway companies--though in common justice to them it is only

-right that the truth should be made known. It really affects the whole

-question at issue, because, so long as public opinion is concentrated

-more or less on this strangulation fiction, due attention will not

-be given to the real causes for the decay of the canals, and undue

-importance will be attached to the suggestions freely made that if only

-the one-third of the canal mileage owned or controlled by the railway

-companies could be got out of their hands, the revival schemes would

-have a fair chance of success.

-

-Certain it is, therefore, as the map I give shows beyond all possible

-doubt, that the causes for the failure of the British canal system must

-be sought for elsewhere than in the fact of a partial railway-ownership

-or control. Some of these alternative causes I propose to discuss in

-the Chapters that follow my story of the Birmingham Canal, for which

-(inasmuch as Birmingham and district, by reason of their commercial

-importance and geographical position, have first claim to consideration

-in any scheme of canal resuscitation) I would beg the special attention

-of the reader.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER V

-

-THE BIRMINGHAM CANAL AND ITS STORY

-

-

-What is known as the "Birmingham Canal" is really a perfect network

-of waterways in and around Birmingham and South Staffordshire,

-representing a total length of about 160 miles, exclusive of some

-hundreds of private sidings in connection with different works in the

-district.

-

-[Illustration: Map of the Canals & Railways between

-

-WOLVERHAMPTON & BIRMINGHAM

-

-      [_To face page 56._

-]

-

-The system was originally constructed by four different canal companies

-under Acts of Parliament passed between 1768 and 1818. These companies

-subsequently amalgamated and formed the Birmingham Canal Navigation,

-known later on as the Birmingham Canal Company. From March 1816 to

-March 1818 the company paid £36 per annum per share on 1,000 shares,

-and in the following year the amount paid on the same number of shares

-rose to £40 per annum. In 1823 £24 per annum per share was paid on

-2,000 shares, in 1838 £9 to £16 on 8,000, in 1844 £8 on 8,800, and from

-May 1845 to December 1846 £4 per annum per share on 17,600 shares.

-

-The year 1845 was a time of great activity in railway promotion, and

-the Birmingham Canal Company, who already had a canal between that town

-and Wolverhampton, proposed to supplement it by a railway through the

-Stour Valley, using for the purpose a certain amount of spare land

-which they already owned. A similar proposal, however, in respect to a

-line of railway to take practically the same route between Birmingham

-and Wolverhampton, was brought forward by an independent company, who

-seem to have had the support of the London and Birmingham Railway

-Company; and in the result it was arranged among the different parties

-concerned (1) that the Birmingham Canal Company should not proceed

-with their scheme, but that they and the London and Birmingham Railway

-Company should each subscribe a fourth part of the capital for the

-construction of the line projected by the independent Birmingham,

-Wolverhampton, and Stour Valley Railway Company; and (2) that the

-London and Birmingham Railway Company should, subject to certain terms

-and conditions, guarantee the future dividend of the Canal Company,

-whenever the net income was insufficient to produce a dividend of £4

-per share on the capital, the Canal Company thus being insured against

-loss resulting from competition.

-

-The building of the Stour Valley Line between Birmingham and

-Wolverhampton, with a branch to Dudley, was sanctioned by an Act of

-1846, which further authorised the Birmingham Canal Company and the

-London and Birmingham Railway Company to contribute each one quarter

-of the necessary capital. The canal company raised their quarter,

-amounting to £190,087, by means of mortgages. In return for their

-guarantee of the canal company's dividend, the London and Birmingham

-Railway Company obtained certain rights and privileges in regard to

-the working of the canal. These were authorised by the London and

-Birmingham Railway and Birmingham Canal Arrangement Act, 1846, which

-empowered the two companies each to appoint five persons as a committee

-of management of the Birmingham Canal Company. Those members of the

-committee chosen by the London and Birmingham Railway Company were

-to have the same powers, etc., as the members elected by the canal

-company; but the canal company were restricted from expending, without

-the consent of the railway company, "any sum which shall exceed the sum

-of five hundred pounds in the formation of any new canal, or extension,

-or branch canal or otherwise, for the purpose of any single work to be

-hereafter undertaken by the same company"; nor, without consent of the

-railway company, could the canal company make any alterations in the

-tolls, rates, or dues charged. In the event of differences of opinion

-arising between the two sections of the committee of management, the

-final decision was to be given by the railway representatives in such

-year or years as the railway company was called upon to make good a

-deficiency in the dividends, and by the canal representatives when no

-such demand had been made upon the railway company. In other words the

-canal company retained the deciding vote so long as they could pay

-their way, and in any case they could spend up to £500 on any single

-work without asking the consent of the railway company.

-

-In course of time the Stour Valley Line, as well as the London

-and Birmingham Company, became part of the system of the London

-and North-Western Railway Company, which thus took over the

-responsibilities and obligations, in regard to the waterways, already

-assumed; while the mortgages issued by the Birmingham Canal Company,

-when they undertook to raise one-fourth of the capital for the Stour

-Valley Railway, were exchanged for £126,725 of ordinary stock in the

-London and North-Western Railway.

-

-The Birmingham Canal Company was able down to 1873 (except only in one

-year, 1868, when it required £835 from the London and North-Western

-Company) to pay its dividend of £4 per annum on each share, without

-calling on the railway company to make good a deficiency. In 1874,

-however, there was a substantial shortage of revenue, and since that

-time the London and North-Western Railway Company, under the agreement

-already mentioned, have had to pay considerable sums to the canal

-company, as the following table shows:--

-

-  Year

-

-  1874          £10,528 18  0

-  1875                 nil.

-  1876            4,796 10  9

-  1877              361  7  9

-  1878           11,370  5  7

-  1879           20,225  0  5

-  1880           13,534 19  6

-  1881           15,028  9  3

-  1882            6,826  7  1

-  1883            8,879  4  7

-  1884           14,196  7  9

-  1885           25,460 19 10

-  1886           35,169  9  6

-  1887           31,491 14  1

-  1888           15,350 10 11

-  1889            5,341 19  3

-  1890           22,069  9  8

-  1891           17,626  2  3

-  1892           29,508  4  2

-  1893           31,618 19  4

-  1894           27,935  8  9

-  1895           39,065 15  2

-  1896           22,994  0 10

-  1897           10,186 19  7

-  1898           10,286 13  3

-  1899           18,470 18  1

-  1900           34,075 19  6

-  1901           62,644  2  8

-  1902           27,645  2  3

-  1903           34,047  4  6

-  1904           37,832  5  8

-  1905           39,860 13  0

-

-The sum total of these figures is £685,265, 2s. 11d.

-

-It will have been seen, from the facts already narrated, that for a

-period of over twenty years from the date of the agreement the canal

-company continued to earn their own dividend without requiring any

-assistance from the railway company. Meantime, however, various

-local, in addition to general, causes had been in operation tending

-to affect the prosperity of the canals. The decline of the pig-iron

-industry in the Black Country had set in, while though the conversion

-of manufactured iron into plates, implements, etc., largely took

-its place, the raw materials came more and more from districts not

-served by the canals, and the finished goods were carried mainly by

-the railways then rapidly spreading through the district, affording

-facilities in the way of sidings to a considerable number of

-manufacturers whose works were not on the canal route. Then the local

-iron ore deposits were either worked out or ceased to be remunerative,

-in view of the competition of other districts, again facilitated by the

-railways; and the extension of the Bessemer process of steel-making

-also affected the Staffordshire iron industry.

-

-These changes were quite sufficient in themselves to account for

-the increasing unprofitableness of the canals, without any need for

-suggestions of hostility towards them on the part of the railways.

-In point of fact, the extension of the railways and the provision of

-"railway basins" brought the canals a certain amount of traffic they

-might not otherwise have got. It was, indeed, due less to an actual

-decrease in the tonnage than to a decrease in the distance carried

-that the amount received in tolls fell off, that the traffic ceased to

-be remunerative, and that the deficiencies arose which, under their

-statutory obligations, the London and North-Western Railway Company

-had to meet. The more that the traffic actually left the canals, the

-greater was the deficiency which, as shown by the figures I have

-given, the railway company had to make good.[6]

-

-The condition of the canals in 1874, when the responsibilities

-assumed by the London and North-Western Railway Company began to

-fall more heavily upon them, left a good deal to be desired, and the

-railway company found themselves faced with the necessity of finding

-money for improvements which eventually represented a very heavy

-expenditure, apart altogether from the making up of a guaranteed

-dividend. They proceeded, all the same, to acquit themselves of these

-responsibilities, and it is no exaggeration to say that, during the

-thirty years which have since elapsed, they have spent enormous sums in

-improving the canals, and in maintaining them in what--adverse critics

-notwithstanding--is their present high state of efficiency, considering

-the peculiarities of their position.

-

-One of the greatest difficulties in the situation was in regard to

-water supply. At Birmingham, portions of the canal are 453 feet above

-ordnance datum; Wolverhampton, Wednesfield, Tipton, Dudley, and Oldbury

-are higher still, for their elevation is 473 feet, while Walsall,

-Darlaston, and Wednesbury are at a height of 408 feet. On high-lands

-like these there are naturally no powerful streams, and such is the

-lack of local water supplies that, as every one knows, the city of

-Birmingham has recently had to go as far as Wales in order to obtain

-sufficient water to meet the needs of its citizens.

-

-In these circumstances special efforts had to be made to obtain water

-for the canals in the district, and to ensure a due regard for economy

-in its use. The canals have, in fact, had to depend to a certain extent

-on water pumped from the bottom of coal pits in the Black Country, and

-stored in reservoirs on the top levels; the water, also, temporarily

-lost each time a canal boat passed through one of the many locks in the

-district being pumped back to the top to be used over again.

-

-To this end pumping machinery had already been provided by the old

-canal companies, but the London and North-Western Railway Company, on

-taking over the virtual direction of the canals for which they were

-financially responsible, substituted new and improved plant, and added

-various new pumping stations. Thanks to the changes thus effected--at,

-I need hardly say, very considerable cost--the average amount of water

-now pumped from lower to higher levels, during an average year, is

-25,000,000 gallons per day, equal to 1,000 locks of water. On occasions

-the actual quantity dealt with is 50,000,000 gallons per day, while

-the total capacity of the present pumping machinery is equal to about

-102,000,000 gallons, or 4,080 locks, per day. There is absolutely no

-doubt that, but for the special provisions made for an additional

-water supply, the Birmingham Canal would have had to cease operations

-altogether in the summer of 1905--probably for two months--because

-of the shortage of water. The reservoirs on the top level were

-practically empty, and it was solely owing to the company acquiring new

-sources of supply, involving a very substantial expenditure indeed,

-that the canal system was kept going at all. A canal company with no

-large financial resources would inevitably have broken down under the

-strain.

-

-Then the London and North-Western Company are actively engaged in

-substituting new pumping machinery--representing "all the latest

-improvements"--for old, the special aim, here, being the securing of a

-reduction of more than 50 per cent. over the former cost of pumping. An

-expenditure of from £15,000 to £16,000 was, for example, incurred by

-them so recently as 1905 at the Ocker Hill pumping station. In this way

-the railway company are seeking both to maintain the efficiency of the

-canal and to reduce the heavy annual demands made upon them in respect

-to the general cost of operation and shareholders' dividend.

-

-For reasons which will be indicated later on, it is impossible to

-improve the Black Country canals on any large scale; but, in addition

-to what I have already related, the London and North-Western Railway

-Company are constantly spending money on small improvements, such as

-dredging, widening waterway under-bridges, taking off corners, and

-putting in side walls in place of slopes, so as to give more space for

-the boats. In the latter respect many miles have been so treated, to

-the distinct betterment of the canal.

-

-All this heavy outlay by the railway company, carried on for a series

-of years, is now beginning to tell, to the advantage alike of the

-traders and of the canal as a property, and if any scheme of State

-or municipal purchase were decided on by the country the various

-substantial items mentioned would naturally have to be taken into

-account in making terms.

-

-Another feature of the Birmingham Canal system is that it passes to a

-considerable extent through the mining districts of the Black Country.

-This means, in the first place, that wherever important works have been

-constructed, as in the case of tunnels, (and the system passes through

-a number of tunnels, three of these being 3,172 yards, 3,027 yards,

-and 3,785 yards respectively in length) the mineral rights underneath

-have to be bought up in order to avoid subsidences. In one instance

-the railway company paid no less than £28,500 for the mining rights

-underneath a short length (754 yards) of a canal tunnel. In other

-words, this £28,500 was practically buried in the ground, not in order

-to work the minerals, but with a view to maintain a secure foundation

-for the canal. Altogether the expenditure of the company in this one

-direction, and for this one special purpose alone, in the Black Country

-district, must amount by this time to some hundreds of thousands of

-pounds.

-

-Actual subsidences represent a great source of trouble. There are

-some parts of the Birmingham Canal where the waterway was originally

-constructed on a level with the adjoining ground, but, as more and

-more coal has been taken from the mines underneath, and especially as

-more and more of the ribs of coal originally left to support the roof

-have been removed, the land has subsided from time to time, rendering

-necessary the raising of the canal. So far has this gone that to-day

-the canal, at certain of these points, instead of being on a level with

-the adjoining ground, is on an embankment 30 feet above. Drops of from

-10 to 20 feet are of frequent occurrence, even with narrow canals, and

-the cost involved in repairs and restoration is enormous, as the reader

-may well suppose, considering that the total length of the Birmingham

-Canal subject to subsidences from mining is about 90 miles.

-

-I come next to the point as to the comparative narrowness of

-the Birmingham Canal system and the small capacity of the

-locks--conditions, as we are rightly told, which tell against the

-possibility of through, or even local, traffic in a larger type of

-boat. Such conditions as these are generally presented as one of the

-main reasons why the control should be transferred to the State, to

-municipalities, or to public trusts, who, it is assumed, would soon get

-rid of them.

-

-The reader must have fully realised by this time that the original

-size of the waterways and locks on the Birmingham Canal was determined

-by the question of water supply. But any extensive scheme of widening

-would involve much beyond the securing of more water.

-

-During the decades the Birmingham Canal has been in existence important

-works of all kinds have been built alongside its banks, not only in

-and around Birmingham itself, but all through the Black Country. There

-are parts of the canal where almost continuous lines of such works on

-each side of the canal, flush up to the banks or towing path, are to be

-seen for miles together. Any general widening, therefore, even of the

-main waterways, would involve such a buying up, reconstruction of, or

-interference with extremely valuable properties that the expenditure

-involved--in the interests of a problematical saving in canal

-tolls--would be alike prodigious and prohibitive.

-

-There is the less reason for incurring such expenditure when we

-consider the special purposes which the canals of the district already

-serve, and, I may even say, efficiently serve. The total traffic

-passing over the Birmingham Canal system amounts to about 8,000,000

-tons per annum,[7] and of this a considerable proportion is collected

-for eventual transport by rail. Every few miles along the canal in

-the Black Country there is a "railway-basin" put in either by the

-London and North-Western Railway Company, who have had the privilege

-of finding the money to keep the canal going since 1874, or by the

-Great Western or the Midland Railway Companies. Here, again, very

-considerable expenditure has been incurred by the railway companies

-in the provision alike of wharves, cranes, sheds, etc., and of branch

-railways connecting with the main lines of the company concerned.

-From these railway-basins narrow boats are sent out to works all over

-the district to collect iron, hardware, tinplates, bricks, tiles,

-manufactured articles, and general merchandise, and bring them in for

-loading into the railway trucks alongside. So complete is the network

-of canals, with their hundreds of small "special" branches, that for

-many of the local works their only means of communication with the

-railway is by water, and the consignments are simply conveyed to the

-railway by canal boat, instead of, as elsewhere, by collecting van or

-road lorry.

-

-The number of these railway-basins--the cost of which is distinctly

-substantial--is constantly being increased, for the traffic through

-them grows almost from day to day.

-

-The Great Western Railway Company, for example, have already several

-large transhipping basins on the canals of the Black Country. They

-have one at Wolverhampton, and another at Tipton, only 5 miles away;

-yet they have now decided to construct still another, about half-way

-between the two. The matter is thus referred to in the _Great Western

-Railway Magazine_ for March, 1906:--

-

- "The Directors have approved a scheme for an extensive depôt adjoining

- the Birmingham Canal at Bilston, the site being advantageously central

- in the town. It will comprise a canal basin and transfer shed, sidings

- for over one hundred and twenty waggons, and a loop for made-up

- trains. A large share of the traffic of the district, mainly raw

- material and manufactured articles of the iron trade, will doubtless

- be secured as a result of this important step--the railway and canal

- mutually serving each other as feeders."

-

-The reader will see from this how the tendency, even on canals that

-survive, is for the length of haul to become shorter and shorter, so

-that the receipts of the canal company from tolls may decline even

-where there is no actual decrease in the weight of the traffic handled.

-

-In the event of State or municipal purchase being resorted to, the

-expenditure on all these costly basins and the works connected

-therewith would have to be taken into consideration, equally with the

-pumping machinery and general improvements, and, also, the purchase of

-mining rights, already spoken of; but I fail to see what more either

-Government or County Council control could, in the circumstances, do

-for the Birmingham system than is being done already. Far more for

-the purposes of maintenance has been spent on the canal by the London

-and North-Western Railway Company than had been so spent by the canal

-company itself; and, although a considerable amount of traffic arising

-in the district does find its way down to the Mersey, the purpose

-served by the canal is, and must necessarily be, mainly a local one.

-

-That Birmingham should become a sort of half-way stage on a continuous

-line of widened canals across country from the Thames to the Mersey

-is one of the most impracticable of dreams. Even if there were not

-the question of the prodigious cost that widenings of the Birmingham

-Canal would involve, there would remain the equally fatal drawback

-of the elevation of Birmingham and Wolverhampton above sea level. In

-constructing a broad cross-country canal, linking up the two rivers in

-question, it would be absolutely necessary to avoid alike Birmingham

-and the whole of the Black Country. That city and district, therefore,

-would gain no direct advantage from such a through route. They would

-have to be content to send down their commodities in the existing

-small boats to a lower level, and there, in order to reach the Mersey,

-connect with either the Shropshire Union Canal or the Trent and Mersey.

-One of these two waterways would certainly have to be selected for a

-widened through route to the Mersey.

-

-Assume that the former were decided upon, and that, to meet the

-present-day agitation, the State, or some Trust backed by State or

-local funds, bought up the Shropshire Union, and resolved upon a

-substantial widening of this particular waterway, so as to admit of a

-larger type of boat and the various other improvements now projected.

-In this case the _crux_ of the situation (apart from Birmingham and

-Black Country conditions), would be the city of Chester.

-

-For a distance of 1-1/2 miles the Shropshire Union Canal passes

-through the very heart of Chester. Right alongside the canal one sees

-successively very large flour mills or lead works, big warehouses, a

-school, streets which border it for some distance, masses of houses,

-and, also, the old city walls. At one point the existing canal makes

-a bend that is equal almost to a right angle. Here there would have

-to be a substantial clearance if boats much larger than those now in

-use were to get round so ugly a corner in safety. This bend, too, is

-just where the canal goes underneath the main lines of the London and

-North-Western and the Great Western Railways, the gradients of which

-would certainly have to be altered if it were desired to employ larger

-boats.

-

-[Illustration: WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN.

-

-(The Shropshire Union Canal at the Northgate, Chester, looking East.)

-

-      [_To face page 70._

-]

-

-The widening of the Shropshire Union Canal at Chester would, in effect,

-necessitate a wholesale destruction of, or interference with, valuable

-property (even if the city walls were spared), and an expenditure of

-hundreds of thousands of pounds. Such a thing is clearly not to be

-thought of. The city of Chester would have to be avoided by the through

-route from the Midlands to the Mersey, just as the canals of Birmingham

-and the Black Country would have to be avoided in a through route

-from the Thames. If the Shropshire Union were still kept to, a new

-branch canal would have to be constructed from Waverton to connect

-again with the Shropshire Union at a point half-way between Chester and

-Ellesmere Port, leaving Chester in a neglected bend on the south.

-

-On this point as to the possibility of enlarging the Shropshire Union

-Canal, I should like to quote the following from some remarks made by

-Mr G. R. Jebb, engineer to the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal

-Company, in the discussion on Mr Saner's paper at the Institution of

-Civil Engineers:--

-

- "As to the suggestion that the railway companies did not consider

- it possible to make successful commercial use of their canals in

- conjunction with their lines, and that the London and North-Western

- Railway Company might have improved the main line of the Shropshire

- Union Canal between Ellesmere Port and Wolverhampton, and thus have

- relieved their already overburdened line, as a matter of fact about

- twenty years ago he went carefully into the question of enlarging

- that particular length of canal, which formed the main line between

- the Midlands and the sea. He drew up estimates and plans for wide

- canals, of different cross sections, one of which was almost identical

- with the cross section proposed by Mr Saner. After very careful

- consideration with a disposition to improve the canal if possible, it

- was found that the cost of the necessary works would be too heavy.

- Bridges of wide span and larger headway--entailing approaches which

- could not be constructed without destroying valuable property on

- either side--new locks and hydraulic lifts would be required, and

- a transhipping depôt would have been necessary where each of the

- narrow canals joined. The company were satisfied, and he himself was

- satisfied, that no reasonable return for that expenditure could be

- expected, and therefore the work was not proceeded with.... He was

- satisfied that whoever found the money for canal improvements would

- get no fair return for it."

-

-The adoption of the alternative route, _viâ_ the Trent and Mersey,

-would involve (1) locking-up to and down a considerable summit, and (2)

-a continuous series of widenings (except along the Weaver Canal), the

-cost of which, especially in the towns of Stoke, Etruria, Middlewich,

-and Northwich, would attain to proportions altogether prohibitive.

-

-The conclusion at which I arrive in regard to the Birmingham Canal

-system is that it cannot be directly included in any scheme of

-cross-country waterways from river to river; that by reason alike

-of elevation, water supply, and the existence of a vast amount of

-valuable property immediately alongside, any general widening of the

-present system of canals in the district is altogether impracticable;

-that, within the scope of their unavoidable limitations, those

-particular canals already afford every reasonable facility to the real

-requirements of the local traders; that, instead of their having been

-"strangled" by the railways, they have been kept alive and in operation

-solely and entirely because of the heavy expenditure upon them by the

-London and North-Western Railway Company, following on conditions which

-must inevitably have led to collapse (with serious disadvantages to the

-traders dependent on them for transport) if the control had remained

-with an independent but impoverished canal company; and that very

-little, if anything, more--with due regard both for what is practical,

-and for the avoidance of any waste of public money--could be done than

-is already being done, even if State or municipal authorities made the

-costly experiment of trying what they could do for them with their own

-'prentice hands.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER VI

-

-THE TRANSITION IN TRADE

-

-

-Of the various causes which have operated to bring about the

-comparative decay of the British canal system (for, as already shown,

-there are sections that still retain a certain amount of vitality), the

-most important are to be found in the great changes that have taken

-place in the general conditions of trade, manufacture and commerce.

-

-The tendency in almost every branch of business to-day is for the

-trader to have small, or comparatively small, stocks of any particular

-commodity, which he can replenish speedily at frequent intervals as

-occasion requires. The advantages are obvious. A smaller amount of

-capital is locked up in any one article; a larger variety of goods

-can be dealt in; less accommodation is required for storage; and men

-with limited means can enter on businesses which otherwise could be

-undertaken only by individuals or companies possessed of considerable

-resources. If a draper or a grocer at Plymouth finds one afternoon that

-he has run short of a particular article, he need only telegraph to

-the wholesale house with which he deals in London, and a fresh supply

-will be delivered to him the following morning. A trader in London

-who wanted something from Dublin, and telegraphed for it one day,

-would expect as a matter of course to have it the next. What, again,

-would a London shopkeeper be likely to say if, wanting to replenish

-his limited stock with some Birmingham goods, he was informed by the

-manufacturer:--"We are in receipt of your esteemed order, and are

-sending the goods on by canal. You may hope to get them in about a

-week"?

-

-With a little wider margin in the matter of delivery, the

-same principle applies to those trading in, or requiring, raw

-materials--coal, steel, ironstone, bricks, and so on. Merchants,

-manufacturers, and builders are no more anxious than the average

-shopkeeper to keep on hand stocks unnecessarily large, and to have so

-much money lying idle. They calculate the length of time that will be

-required to get in more supplies when likely to be wanted, and they

-work their business accordingly.

-

-From this point of view the railway is far superior to the canal in two

-respects, at least.

-

-First, there is the question of speed. The value of this factor was

-well recognised so far back as 1825, when, as I have told on page 25,

-Mr Sandars related how speed and certainty of delivery were regarded as

-"of the first importance," and constituted one of the leading reasons

-for the desired introduction of railways. But speed and certainty of

-delivery become absolutely essential when the margin in regard to

-supplies on hand is habitually kept to a working minimum. The saving in

-freight effected as between, on the one hand, waiting at least several

-days, if not a full week, for goods by canal boat, and, on the other,

-receiving them the following day by train, may be more than swallowed

-up by the loss of profit or the loss of business in consequence of

-the delay. If the railway transport be a little more costly than the

-canal transport, the difference should be fully counterbalanced by the

-possibility of a more rapid turnover, as well as the other advantages

-of which I have spoken.

-

-In cases, again, where it is not a matter of quickly replenishing

-stocks but of effecting prompt delivery even of bulky goods, time may

-be all-important. This fact is well illustrated in a contribution, from

-Birmingham, published in the "Engineering Supplement" of _The Times_ of

-February 14, 1906, in which it was said:--

-

- "Makers of wheels, tires, axles, springs, and similar parts are busy.

- Of late the South African colonies have been larger buyers, while

- India and the Far Eastern markets, including China and Japan, South

- America, and some other shipping markets are providing very good and

- valuable indents. In all cases, it is especially remarked, very early

- execution of contracts and urgent delivery is impressed by buyers. The

- leading firms have learned a good deal of late from German, American,

- Belgian, and other foreign competitors in the matter of rapid output.

- By the improvement of plant, the laying down of new and costly machine

- tools, and by other advances in methods of production, delivery is now

- made of contracts of heavy tonnage within periods which not so long

- ago would have been deemed by these same producers quite impossible.

- In no branch of the engineering trades is this expedition more

- apparent than in the constructional engineering department, such as

- bridges, roofs, etc., also in steam boiler work."

-

-Now where, in cases such as these, "urgent delivery is impressed by

-buyers," and the utmost energy is probably being enforced on the

-workers, is it likely that even the heavy goods so made would be

-sent down to the port by the tediously slow process of canal boat,

-taking, perhaps, as many days as even a goods train would take hours?

-Alternatively, would the manufacturers run the risk of delaying urgent

-work by having the raw materials delivered by canal boat in order to

-effect a small saving on cost of transport?

-

-Certainty of delivery might again be seriously affected in the case

-of canal transport by delays arising either from scarcity of water

-during dry seasons, or from frost in winter. The entire stoppage

-of a canal system, from one or other of these causes, for weeks

-together, especially on high levels, is no unusual occurrence, and the

-inconvenience which would then result to traders who depended on the

-canals is self-evident. In Holland, where most of the goods traffic

-goes by the canals that spread as a perfect network throughout the

-whole country, and link up each town with every other town, the advent

-of a severe frost means that the whole body of traffic is suddenly

-thrown on the railways, which then have more to get through than they

-can manage. Here the problem arises: If waterways take traffic from the

-railways during the greater part of the year, should the railways still

-be expected to keep on hand sufficient rolling stock, etc., not only

-for their normal conditions, but to meet all the demands made upon them

-during such periods as their competitors cannot operate?

-

-There is an idea in some quarters that stoppage from frost need not be

-feared in this country because, under an improved system of waterways,

-measures would be taken to keep the ice on the canals constantly

-broken up. But even with this arrangement there comes a time, during a

-prolonged frost, when the quantity of broken ice in the canal is so

-great that navigation is stopped unless the ice itself is removed from

-the water. Frost must, therefore, still be reckoned with as a serious

-factor among the possibilities of delay in canal transport.

-

-Secondly, there is the question of quantities. For the average trader

-the railway truck is a much more convenient unit than the canal boat.

-It takes just such amount as he may want to send or receive. For some

-commodities the minimum load for which the lowest railway rate is

-quoted is as little as 2 tons; but many a railway truck has been run

-through to destination with a solitary consignment of not more than

-half-a-ton. On the other hand, a vast proportion of the consignments

-by rail are essentially of the "small" type. From the goods depôt at

-Curzon Street, Birmingham, a total of 1,615 tons dealt with, over a

-certain period, represented 6,110 consignments and 51,114 packages,

-the average weight per consignment being 5 cwts. 1 qr. 4 lbs., and

-the average weight per package, 2 qrs. 14 lbs. At the Liverpool goods

-depôts of the London and North-Western Railway, a total weight of 3,895

-tons handled consisted of 5,049 consignments and 79,513 packages, the

-average weight per consignment being 15 cwts. 1 qr. 20 lbs., and the

-average weight per package 3 qrs. 26 lbs. From the depôt at Broad

-Street, London, 906 tons represented 6,201 consignments and 23,067

-packages, with an average weight per consignment of 2 cwts. 3 qrs. 19

-lbs., and per package, 3 qrs. 4 lbs.; and so on with other important

-centres of traffic.

-

-There is little room for doubt that a substantial proportion of these

-consignments and packages consisted partly of goods required by traders

-either to replenish their stocks, or, as in the case of tailors

-and dressmakers, to enable them to execute particular orders; and

-partly of commodities purchased from traders, and on their way to the

-customers. In regard to the latter class of goods, it is a matter of

-common knowledge that there has been an increasing tendency of late

-years to eliminate the middleman, and establish direct trading between

-producer and consumer. Just as the small shopkeeper will purchase from

-the manufacturer, and avoid the wholesale dealer, so, also, there are

-individual householders and others who eliminate even the shopkeeper,

-and deal direct with advertising manufacturers willing to supply to

-them the same quantities as could be obtained from a retail trader.

-

-For trades and businesses conducted on these lines, the railway--taking

-and delivering promptly consignments great or small, penetrating to

-every part of the country, and supplemented by its own commodious

-warehouses, in which goods can be stored as desired by the trader

-pending delivery or shipment--is a far more convenient mode of

-transport than the canal boat; and to the railway the perfect

-revolution that has been brought about in the general trade of this

-country is mainly due. Business has been simplified, subdivided, and

-brought within the reach of "small" men to an extent that, but for the

-railway, would have been impossible; and it is difficult to imagine

-that traders in general will forego all these advantages now, and

-revert once more to the canal boat, merely for the sake of a saving in

-freight which, in the long run, might be no saving at all.

-

-Here it may be replied by my critics that there is no idea of reviving

-canals in the interests of the general trader, and that all that is

-sought is to provide a cheaper form of transport for those heavier

-or bulkier minerals or commodities which, it is said, can be carried

-better and more economically by water than by rail.

-

-Now this argument implies the admission that canal resuscitation, on

-a national basis, or at the risk more or less of the community, is

-to be effected, not for the general trader, but for certain special

-classes of traders. As a matter of fact, however, such canal traffic

-as exists to-day is by no means limited to heavy or bulky articles. In

-their earlier days canal companies simply provided a water-road, as

-it were, along which goods could be taken by other persons on payment

-of certain tolls. To enable them to meet better the competition of

-the railways, Parliament granted to the canal companies, in 1846,

-the right to become common carriers as well, and, though only a very

-small proportion of them took advantage of this concession, those that

-did are indebted in part to the transport of general merchandise for

-such degree of prosperity as they have retained. The separate firms

-of canal carriers ("by-traders") have adopted a like policy, and,

-notwithstanding the changes in trade of which I have spoken, a good

-deal of general merchandise does go by canal to or from places that

-happen to be situated in the immediate vicinity of the waterways. It is

-extremely probable that if some of the canals which have survived had

-depended entirely on the transport of heavy or bulky commodities, their

-financial condition to-day would have been even worse than it really is.

-

-But let us look somewhat more closely into this theory that canals are

-better adapted than railways for the transport of minerals or heavy

-merchandise, calling for the payment of a low freight. At the first

-glance such a commodity as coal would claim special attention from this

-point of view; yet here one soon learns that not only have the railways

-secured the great bulk of this traffic in fair and open competition

-with the canals, but there is no probability of the latter taking it

-away from them again to any appreciable extent.

-

-Some interesting facts in this connection were mentioned by the late

-Sir James Allport in the evidence he gave before the Select Committee

-on Canals in 1883. Not a yard, he said, of the series of waterways

-between London and Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, part of Staffordshire,

-Warwickshire and Leicestershire--counties which included some of the

-best coal districts in England for supplying the metropolis--was owned

-by railway companies, yet the amount of coal carried by canal to London

-had steadily declined, while that by rail had enormously increased.

-To prove this assertion, he took the year 1852 as one when there was

-practically no competition on the part of the railways with the canals

-for the transport of coal, and he compared therewith the year 1882,

-giving for each the total amount of coal received by canal and railway

-respectively, as follows:--

-

-                              1852             1882

-

-  Received by canal        33,000 tons    7,900     tons

-      "    "  railway      317,000 "      6,546,000  "

-

-The figures quoted by Sir James Allport were taken from the official

-returns in respect to the dues formerly levied by the City of London

-and the late Metropolitan Board of Works on all coal coming within

-the Metropolitan Police Area, representing a total of 700 square

-miles; though at an earlier period the district in which the dues were

-enforced was that included in a 20-mile radius. The dues were abolished

-in 1889, and since then the statistics in question have no longer been

-compiled. But the returns for 1889 show that the imports of coal, by

-railway and by canal respectively, into the Metropolitan Police Area

-for that year were as follows:--

-

-                           BY RAILWAY

-

-                                        Tons.         Cwts.

-

-  Midland                               2,647,554       0

-  London and North-Western              1,735,067      13

-  Great Northern                        1,360,205       0

-  Great Eastern                         1,077,504      13

-  Great Western                           940,829       0

-  London and South-Western                 81,311       2

-  South-Eastern                            27,776      18

-                                       ------------------

-  Total by Railway                      7,870,248       6

-                                       ------------------

-

-                           BY CANAL

-

-  Grand Junction                           12,601      15

-                                   ----------------------

-  Difference                            7,857,646      11

-                                   ----------------------

-

-If, therefore, the independent canal companies, having a waterway from

-the colliery district of the Midlands and the North through to London

-(without, as already stated, any section thereof being controlled by

-railway companies), had improved their canals, and doubled, trebled,

-or even quadrupled the quantity of coal they carried in 1889, their

-total would still have been insignificant as compared with the quantity

-conveyed by rail.

-

-[Illustration: "FROM PIT TO PORT."

-

-(Prospect Pit, Wigan Coal and Iron Company. Raised to the surface,

-the coal is emptied on to a mechanical shaker, which grades it into

-various sizes--lumps, cobbles, nuts, and slack. These sizes then each

-pass along a picking belt--so that impurities can be removed--and fall

-into the railway trucks placed at the end ready to receive them. The

-coal can thus be taken direct from the mouth of the pit to any port or

-town in Great Britain.)

-

-      [_To face page 82._

-]

-

-The reasons for this transition in the London coal trade (and the

-same general principle applies elsewhere) can be readily stated. They

-are to be found in the facilities conferred by the railway companies,

-and the great changes that, as the direct result thereof, have taken

-place in the coal trade itself. Not only are most of the collieries in

-communication with the railways, but the coal waggons are generally

-so arranged alongside the mouth of each pit that the coal, as raised,

-can be tipped into them direct from the screens. Coal trains, thus

-made up, are next brought to certain sidings in the neighbourhood of

-London, where the waggons await the orders of the coal merchants to

-whom they have been consigned. At Willesden, for example, there is

-special accommodation for 2,000 coal waggons, and the sidings are

-generally full. Liberal provision of a like character has also been

-made in London by the Midland, the Great Northern, and other railway

-companies in touch with the colliery districts. An intimation as to the

-arrival of the consignments is sent by the railway company to the coal

-merchant, who, in London, is allowed three "free" days at these coal

-sidings in which to give instructions where the coal is to be sent.

-After three days he is charged the very modest sum of 6d. per day per

-truck. Assuming that the coal merchant gives directions, either within

-the three days or later, for a dozen trucks, containing particular

-qualities of coal, to be sent to different parts of London, north,

-south, east and west, those dozen trucks will have to be picked out

-from the one or two thousand on the sidings, shunted, and coupled on

-to trains going through to the stated destination. This represents in

-itself a considerable amount of work, and special staffs have to be

-kept on duty for the purpose.

-

-Then, at no fewer than one hundred and thirty-five railway stations in

-London and the suburbs thereof, the railway companies have provided

-coal depôts on such vacant land as may be available close to the local

-sidings, and here a certain amount of space is allotted to the use

-of coal merchants. For this accommodation no charge whatever is made

-in London, though a small rent has to be paid in the provinces. The

-London coal merchant gets so many feet, or yards, allotted to him

-on the railway property; he puts up a board with his name, or that

-of his firm; he stores on the said space the coal for which he has

-no immediate sale; and he sends his men there to fetch from day to

-day just such quantities as he wants in order to execute the orders

-received. With free accommodation such as this at half a dozen, or even

-a score, of suburban railway stations, all that the coal merchant of

-to-day requires in addition is a diminutive little office immediately

-adjoining each railway station, where orders can be received, and

-whence instructions can be sent. Not only, also, do the railway

-companies provide him with a local coal depôt which serves his every

-purpose, but, after allowing him three "free" days on the great coal

-sidings, to which the waggons first come, they give him, on the local

-sidings, another seven "free" days in which to arrange his business.

-He thus gets ten clear days altogether, before any charge is made for

-demurrage, and, if then he is still awaiting orders, he has only to

-have the coal removed from the trucks on to the depôt, or "wharf" as

-it is technically called, so escaping any payment beyond the ordinary

-railway rate, in which all these privileges and advantages are included.

-

-If canal transport were substituted for rail transport, the coal would

-first have to be taken from the mouth of the pit to the canal, and,

-inasmuch as comparatively few collieries (except in certain districts)

-have canals immediately adjoining, the coal would have to go by rail to

-the canal, unless the expense were incurred of cutting a branch of the

-canal to the colliery--a much more costly business, especially where

-locks are necessary, than laying a railway siding. At the canal the

-coal would be tipped from the railway truck into the canal boat,[8]

-which would take it to the canal terminus, or to some wharf or basin on

-the canal banks. There the coal would be thrown up from the boat into

-the wharf (in itself a more laborious and more expensive operation than

-that of shovelling it down, or into sacks on the same level, from a

-railway waggon), and from the wharf it would have to be carted, perhaps

-several miles, to final destination.

-

-Under this arrangement the coal would receive much more handling--and

-each handling means so much additional slack and depreciation in value;

-a week would have to be allowed for a journey now possible in a day;

-the coal dealers would have to provide their own depôts and pay more

-for cartage, and they would have to order particular kinds of coal by

-the boat load instead of by the waggon load.

-

-This last necessity would alone suffice to render the scheme abortive.

-Some years ago when there was so much discussion as to the use of a

-larger size of railway waggon, efforts were made to induce the coal

-interests to adopt this policy. But the 8-ton truck was so convenient

-a unit, and suited so well the essentially retail nature of the coal

-trade to-day, that as a rule the coal merchants would have nothing to

-do with trucks even of 15 or 20 tons. Much less, therefore, would they

-be inclined to favour barge loads of 200 or 250 tons.

-

-Exceptions might be made in the case of gas works, or of factories

-already situated alongside the banks of canals which have direct

-communication with collieries. In the Black Country considerable

-quantities of coal thus go by canal from the collieries to the many

-local ironworks, etc., which, as I have shown, are still actively

-served by the Birmingham Canal system. But these exceptions can

-hardly be offered as an adequate reason for the nationalisation of

-British canals. The general conditions, and especially the nature of

-the coal trade transition, will be better realised from some figures

-mentioned by the chairman of the London and North-Western Railway

-Company, Lord Stalbridge, at the half-yearly meeting in February 1903.

-Notwithstanding the heavy coal traffic--in the aggregate--the average

-consignment of coal, he showed, on the London and North-Western Railway

-is only 17-1/2 tons, and over 80 per cent. of the total quantity

-carried represents consignments of less than 20 tons, the actual

-weights ranging from lots of 2 tons 14 cwts. to close upon 1,000 tons

-for shipment.

-

-"But," the reader may say, "if coal is taken in 1,000-ton lots to a

-port for shipment, surely canal transport could be resorted to here!"

-This course is adopted on the Aire and Calder Navigation, which is very

-favourably situated, and goes over almost perfectly level ground. The

-average conditions of coal shipment in the United Kingdom are, however,

-much better met by the special facilities which rail transport offers.

-

-Of the way in which coal is loaded into railway trucks direct from the

-colliery screens I have already spoken; but, in respect to steam coal,

-it should be added that anthracite is sold in about twelve different

-sizes, and that one colliery will make three or four of these sizes,

-each dropped into separate trucks under the aforesaid screens. The

-output of an anthracite colliery would be from 200 to 300 tons a day,

-in the three or four sizes, as stated, this total being equal to from

-20 to 30 truck-loads. An order received by a coal factor for 2,000 or

-3,000 tons of a particular size would, therefore, have to be made up

-with coal from a number of different collieries.

-

-The coal, however, is not actually sold at the collieries. It is

-sent down to the port, and there it stands about for weeks, and

-sometimes for months, awaiting sale or the arrival of vessels. It must

-necessarily be on the spot, so that orders can be executed with the

-utmost expedition, and delays to shipping avoided. Consequently it is

-necessary that ample accommodation should be provided at the port for

-what may be described as the coal-in-waiting. At Newport, for example,

-where about 4,000,000 tons of coal are shipped in the course of the

-year (independently of "bunkers,") there are 50 miles of coal sidings,

-capable of accommodating from 40,000 to 50,000 tons of coal sent there

-for shipment. A record number of loaded coal trucks actually on these

-sidings at any one time is 3,716. The daily average is 2,800.

-

-Now assume that the coal for shipment from Newport had been brought

-there by canal boat. To begin with, it would have been first loaded,

-by means of the colliery screens, into railway trucks, taken in these

-to the canal, and then tipped into the boats. This would mean further

-breakage, and, in the case of steam coal especially, a depreciation in

-value. But suppose that the coal had duly arrived at the port in the

-canal boats, where would it be stored for those weeks and months to

-await sale or vessels? Space for miles of sidings on land can easily be

-found; but the water area in a canal or dock in which barges can wait

-is limited, and, in the case of Newport at least, it would hardly be

-equal to the equivalent of 3,000 truck-loads of coal.

-

-There comes next the important matter of detail as to the way in which

-coal brought to a port is to be shipped. Nothing could be simpler and

-more expeditious than the practice generally adopted in the case of

-rail-borne coal. When a given quantity of coal is to be despatched, the

-vessel is brought alongside a hydraulic coal-tip, such as that shown

-in the illustration facing this page, and the loaded coal trucks are

-placed in succession underneath the tip. Raised one by one to the level

-of the shoot, the trucks are there inclined to such an angle that the

-entire contents fall on to the shoot, and thence into the hold of the

-ship. Brought to the horizontal again, the empty truck passes on to a

-viaduct, down which it goes, by gravitation, back to the sidings, the

-place it has vacated on the tip being at once taken by another loaded

-truck.

-

-[Illustration: THE SHIPPING OF COAL: HYDRAULIC TIP ON G.W.R., SWANSEA.

-

-(The loaded truck is hoisted to level of shoot, and is there inclined

-to necessary angle to "tip" the coal, which falls from shoot into hold

-of vessel. Empty truck passes by gravitation along viaduct, on left,

-to sidings.)

-

-      [_To face page 88._

-]

-

-Substitute coal barges for coal trucks, and how will the loading then

-be accomplished? Under any possible circumstances it would take longer

-to put a series of canal barges alongside a vessel in the dock than

-to place a series of coal trucks under the tip on shore. Nor could

-the canal barge itself be raised to the level of a shoot, and have

-its contents tipped bodily into the collier. What was done in the

-South Wales district by one colliery some years ago was to load up a

-barge with iron tubs, or boxes, filled with coal, and placed in pairs

-from end to end. In dock one of these would be lifted out of the

-barge by a crane, and lowered into the hold, where the bottom would

-be knocked out, the emptied tub being then replaced in the barge by

-the crane, and the next one to it raised in turn. But, apart from the

-other considerations already presented, this system of shipment was

-found more costly than the direct tipping of railway trucks, and was

-consequently abandoned.

-

-Although, therefore, in theory coal would appear to be an ideal

-commodity for transport by canal, in actual practice it is found

-that rail transport is both more convenient and more economical, and

-certainly much better adapted to the exigences of present day trade in

-general, in the case alike of domestic coal and of coal for shipment.

-Whether or not the country would be warranted in going to a heavy

-expense for canal resuscitation for the special benefit of a limited

-number of traders having works or factories alongside canal banks is a

-wholly different question.

-

-I take next the case of raw cotton as another bulky commodity carried

-in substantial quantities. At one time it was the custom in the

-Lancashire spinning trade for considerable supplies to be bought in

-Liverpool, taken to destination by canal, and stored in the mills for

-use as required. A certain proportion is still handled in this way;

-but the Lancashire spinners who now store their cotton are extremely

-few in number, and represent the exception rather than the rule. It is

-found much more convenient to receive from Liverpool from day to day

-by rail the exact number of bales required to meet immediate wants.

-The order can be sent, if necessary, by post, telegraph, or telephone,

-and the cotton may be expected at the mill next day, or as desired. If

-barge-loads of cotton were received at one time, capital would at least

-have to be sunk in providing warehousing accommodation, and the spinner

-thinks he can make better use of his money.

-

-The day-by-day arrangement is thus both a convenience and a saving to

-the trader; though it has one disadvantage from a railway standpoint,

-for cotton consignments by rail are, as a rule, so small that there is

-difficulty in making up a "paying load" for particular destinations. As

-the further result of the agitation a few years ago for the use of a

-larger type of railway waggons, experiments have been made at Liverpool

-with large trucks for the conveyance especially of raw cotton. But,

-owing to the day-by-day policy of the spinners, it is no easy matter

-to make up a 20-ton truck of cotton for many of the places to which

-consignments are sent, and the shortage in the load represents so

-much dead weight. Consignments ordered forward by rail must, however,

-be despatched wholly, or at any rate in part, on day of receipt. Any

-keeping of them back, with the idea of thus making up a better load for

-the railway truck, would involve the risk of a complaint, if not of a

-claim, against the railway company, on the ground that the mill had had

-to stop work owing to delay in the arrival of the cotton.

-

-If the spinners would only adopt a two- or three-days-together policy,

-it would be a great advantage to the railways; but even this might

-involve the provision of storage accommodation at the mills, and they

-accordingly prefer the existing arrangement. What hope could there be,

-therefore, except under very special circumstances, that they would be

-willing to change their procedure, and receive their raw cotton in bulk

-by canal boat?

-

-Passing on to other heavy commodities carried in large quantities, such

-as bricks, stone, drain-pipes, manure, or road-making materials, it

-is found, in practice, that unless both the place whence these things

-are despatched and the place where they are actually wanted are close

-to a waterway, it is generally more convenient and more economical to

-send by rail. The railway truck is not only (once more) a better unit

-in regard to quantity, but, as in the case of domestic coal, it can go

-to any railway station, and can often be brought miles nearer to the

-actual destination than if the articles or materials in question are

-forwarded by water; while the addition to the canal toll of the cost of

-cartage at either end, or both, may swell the total to the full amount

-of the railway rate, or leave so small a margin that conveyance by

-rail, in view of the other advantages offered, is naturally preferred.

-Here we have further reasons why commodities that seem to be specially

-adapted for transport by canal so often go by rail instead.

-

-There are manufacturers, again, who, if executing a large shipping

-order, would rather consign the goods, as they are ready, to a railway

-warehouse at the port, there to await shipment, than occupy valuable

-space with them on their own premises. Assuming that it might be

-possible and of advantage to forward to destination by canal boat, they

-would still prefer to send off 25 or 30 tons at a time, in a narrow

-boat (and 25 to 30 tons would represent a big lot in most industries),

-rather than keep everything back (with the incidental result of

-blocking up the factory) until, in order to save a little on the

-freight, they could fill up a barge of 200 or 300 tons.

-

-So the moral of this part of my story is that, even if the canals of

-the country were thoroughly revived, and made available for large

-craft, there could not be any really great resort to them unless there

-were, also, brought about a change in the whole basis of our general

-trading conditions.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER VII

-

-CONTINENTAL CONDITIONS

-

-

-The larger proportion of the arguments advanced in the Press or in

-public in favour of a restoration of our own canal system is derived

-from the statements which are unceasingly being made as to what our

-neighbours on the Continent of Europe are doing.

-

-Almost every writer or speaker on the subject brings forward the same

-stock of facts and figures as to the large sums of money that are

-being expended on waterways in Continental countries; the contention

-advanced being, in effect, that because such and such things are done

-on the Continent of Europe, therefore they ought to be done here. In

-the "Engineering Supplement" of _The Times_, for instance--to give only

-one example out of many--there appeared early in 1906 two articles on

-"Belgian Canals and Waterways" by an engineering contributor who wrote,

-among other things, that, in view of "the well-directed efforts now

-being made with the object of effecting the regeneration of the British

-canal system, the study of Belgian canals and other navigable waterways

-possesses distinct interest"; and declared, in concluding his account

-thereof, that "if the necessary powers, money, and concentrated effort

-were available, there is little doubt that equally satisfactory results

-could be obtained in Great Britain." Is this really the case? Could

-we possibly hope to do all that can be done either in Belgium or in

-Continental countries generally, even if we had the said powers and

-money, and showed the same concentrated effort? For my part I do not

-think we could, and these are my reasons for thinking so:--

-

-Taking geographical considerations first, a glance at the map of Europe

-will show that, apart from their national requirements, enterprises,

-and facilities, Germany, Belgium, and Holland are the gateways to vast

-expanses producing, or receiving, very large quantities of merchandise

-and raw materials, much of which is eminently suitable for water

-transport on long journeys that have absolutely no parallel in this

-country. In the case of Belgium, a good idea of the general position

-may be gained from some remarks made by the British Consul-General at

-Antwerp, Sir E. Cecil Hertslet, in a report ("Miscellaneous Series,"

-604) on "Canals and other Navigable Waterways of Belgium," issued by

-the Foreign Office in 1904. Referring to the position of Antwerp he

-wrote:--

-

- "In order to form a clear idea of the great utility of the canal

- system of Belgium, it is from its heart, from the great port of

- Antwerp, as a centre, that the survey must be taken.... Antwerp

- holds a leading position among the great ports of the world, and

- this is due, not only to her splendid geographical situation at the

- centre of the ocean highways of commerce, but, also, and perhaps more

- particularly, to her practically unique position as a distributing

- centre for a large portion of North-Eastern Europe."

-

-Thus the canals and waterways of Belgium do not serve merely local,

-domestic, or national purposes, but represent the first or final links

-in a network of water communications by means of which merchandise

-can be taken to, or brought from, in bulk, "a large portion of

-North-Eastern Europe." Much of this traffic, again, can just as well

-pass through one Continental country, on its way to or from the coast,

-as through another. In fact, some of the most productive of German

-industrial centres are much nearer to Antwerp or Rotterdam than they

-are to Hamburg or Bremen. Hence the extremely keen rivalry between

-Continental countries having ports on the North Sea for the capture

-of these great volumes of trans-Continental traffic, and hence, also,

-their low transport rates, and, to a certain extent, their large

-expenditure on waterways.

-

-Comparing these with British conditions, we must bear in mind the

-fact that we dwell in a group of islands, and not in a country which

-forms part of a Continent. We have, therefore, no such transit

-traffic available for "through" barges as that which is handled on

-the Continent. Traffic originating in Liverpool, and destined say,

-for Austria, would not be put in a canal boat which would first go to

-Goole, or Hull, then cross the North Sea in the same boat to Holland

-or Belgium, and so on to its destination. Nor would traffic in bulk

-from the United States for the Continent--or even for any of our East

-Coast ports--be taken by boat across England. It would go round by sea.

-Traffic, again, originating in Birmingham, might be taken to a port

-by boat. But it would there require transhipment into an ocean-going

-vessel, just as the commodities received from abroad would have to be

-transferred to a canal boat--unless Birmingham could be converted into

-a sea-port.

-

-If Belgium and Holland, especially, had had no chance of getting more

-than local, as distinct from through or transit traffic--if, in other

-words, they had been islands like our own, with the same geographical

-limitations as ourselves, and with no trans-Continental traffic to

-handle, is there the slightest probability that they would have spent

-anything like the same amount of money on the development of their

-waterways as they have actually done? In the particular circumstances

-of their position they have acted wisely; but it does not necessarily

-follow that we, in wholly different circumstances, have acted foolishly

-in not following their example.

-

-It might further be noted, in this connection, that while in the

-case of Belgium all the waterways in, or leading into, the country

-converge to the one great port of Antwerp, in England we have great

-ports, competing more or less the one with the other, all round our

-coasts, and the conferring of special advantages on one by the State

-would probably be followed by like demands on the part of all the

-others. As for communication between our different ports, this is

-maintained so effectively by coasting vessels (the competition of which

-already powerfully influences railway rates) that heavy expenditure on

-canal improvement could hardly be justified on this account. However

-effectively the Thames might be joined to the Mersey, or the Humber

-to the Severn, by canal, the vast bulk of port-to-port traffic would

-probably still go by sea.

-

-Then there are great differences between the physical conditions of

-Great Britain and those parts of the Continent of Europe where the

-improvement of waterways has undergone the greatest expansion. Portions

-of Holland--as everybody knows--are below the level of the sea, and

-the remainder are not much above it. A large part of Belgium is flat;

-so is most of Northern Germany. In fact there is practically a level

-plain right away from the shores of the North Sea to the steppes of

-Russia. Canal construction in these conditions is a comparatively

-simple and a comparatively inexpensive matter; though where such

-conditions do not exist to the same extent--as in the south of Germany,

-for example--the building of canals becomes a very different problem.

-This fact is well recognised by Herr Franz Ulrich in his book on

-"Staffeltarife und Wasserstrassen," where he argues that the building

-of canals is practicable only in districts favoured by Nature, and that

-hilly and backward country is thus unavoidably handicapped.

-

-Much, again, of the work done on the Continent has been a matter either

-of linking up great rivers or of canalising these for navigation

-purposes. We have in England no such rivers as the Rhine, the Weser,

-the Elbe, and the Oder, but the very essence of the German scheme of

-waterways is to connect these and other rivers by canals, a through

-route by water being thus provided from the North Sea to the borders

-of Russia. Further south there is already a small canal, the Ludwigs

-Canal, connecting the Rhine and the Danube, and this canal--as distinct

-from those in the northern plains--certainly does rise to an elevation

-of 600 feet from the River Main to its summit level. A scheme has now

-been projected for establishing a better connection between the Rhine

-and the Danube by a ship canal following the route either of the Main

-or of the Neckar. In describing these two powerful streams Professor

-Meiklejohn says, in his "New Geography":--

-

- "The two greatest rivers of Europe--greatest from almost every point

- of view--are the Danube and the Rhine. The Danube is the largest river

- in Europe in respect of its volume of water; it is the only large

- European river that flows due east; and it is therefore the great

- highway to the East for South Germany, for Austria, for Hungary, and

- for the younger nations in its valley. It flows through more lands,

- races, and languages than any other European river. The Rhine is the

- great water-highway for Western Europe; and it carries the traffic and

- the travellers of many countries and peoples. Both streams give life

- to the whole Continent; they join many countries and the most varied

- interests; while the streams of France exist only for France itself.

- The Danube runs parallel with the mighty ranges of the Alps; the Rhine

- saws its way through the secondary highlands which lie between the

- Alps and the Netherlands."

-

-The construction of this proposed link would give direct water

-communication between the North Sea and the Black Sea, a distance, as

-the crow flies, and not counting river windings, of about 1,300 miles.

-Such an achievement as this would put entirely in the shade even the

-present possible voyage, by canal and river, of 300 miles from Antwerp

-to Strasburg.

-

-What are our conditions in Great Britain, as against all these?

-

-In place of the "great lowland plain" in which most of the Continental

-canal work we hear so much about has been done, we possess an

-undulating country whose physical conditions are well indicated by

-the canal sections given opposite this page. Such differences of

-level as those that are there shown must be overcome by locks, lifts,

-or inclined planes, together with occasional tunnels or viaducts.

-In the result the construction of canals is necessarily much more

-costly in Great Britain than on the aforesaid "great lowland plain"

-of Continental Europe, and dimensions readily obtainable there become

-practically impossible here on account alike of the prohibitive cost

-of construction and the difficulties that would arise in respect to

-water supply. A canal connecting the Rhine, the Weser, and the Elbe, in

-Germany, is hardly likely to run short of water, and the same may be

-said of the canals in Holland, and of those in the lowlands of Belgium.

-This is a very different matter from having to pump water from low

-levels to high levels, to fill reservoirs for canal purposes, as must

-be done on the Birmingham and other canals, or from taking a fortnight

-to accomplish the journey from Hull to Nottingham as once happened

-owing to insufficiency of water.

-

-[Illustration: SOME TYPICAL BRITISH CANALS.

-

-      [_To face page 98._

-]

-

-There is, also, that very important consideration, from a transport

-standpoint, of the "length of haul." Assuming, for the sake of argument

-(1) that the commercial conditions were the same in Great Britain as

-they are on the Continent; (2) that our country, also, consisted of

-a "great lowland plain"; and (3) that we, as well, had great natural

-waterways, like the Rhine, yielding an abundant water supply;--assuming

-all this, it would still be impossible, in the circumscribed dimensions

-of our isles, to get a "length of haul" in any way approaching the

-barge-journeys that are regularly made between, say, North Sea ports

-and various centres in Germany.

-

-The geographical differences in general between Great Britain and

-Continental countries were thus summed up by Mr W. H. Wheeler in the

-discussion on Mr Saner's paper at the Institution of Civil Engineers:--

-

-

- "There really did not seem to be any justification for Government

- interference with the canals. England was in an entirely different

- situation from Continental countries. She was a sea-girt nation, with

- no less than eight first-class ports on a coast-line of 1,820 miles.

- Communication between these by coasting steamers was, therefore,

- easy, and could be accomplished in much less time and at less cost

- than by canal. There was no large manufacturing town in England that

- was more than about 80 miles in a direct line from a first-class

- seaport; and taking the country south of the Firth of Forth, there

- were only 42-1/2 square miles to each mile of coast. France, on the

- other hand, had only two first-class ports, one in the north and the

- other in the extreme south, over a coast-line of 1,360 miles. Its

- capital was 100 miles from the nearest seaport, and the towns in

- the centre of the country were 250 to 300 miles from either Havre

- or Marseilles. For every mile of coast-line there were 162 square

- miles of country. Belgium had one large seaport and only 50 miles of

- coast-line, with 227 square miles of country to every square mile.

- Germany had only two first-class ports, both situated on its northern

- coast; Frankfort and Berlin were distant from those ports about 250

- miles, and for every mile of coast-line there were 231 square miles

- of country. The necessity of an extended system of inland waterways

- for the distribution of produce and materials was, therefore, far more

- important in those countries than it was in England."

-

-Passing from commercial and geographical to political conditions, we

-find that in Germany the State owns or controls alike railways and

-waterways. Prussia bought up most of the former, partly with the idea

-of safeguarding the protective policy of the country (endangered by

-the low rates charged on imports by independent railway companies),

-and partly in order that the Government could secure, in the profits

-on railway operation, a source of income independent of Parliamentary

-votes. So well has the latter aim been achieved that a contribution

-to the Exchequer of from £10,000,000 to £15,000,000 a year has been

-obtained, and, rather than allow this source of income to be checked

-by heavy expenditure, the Prussian Government have refrained from

-carrying out such widenings and improvements of their State system of

-railways as a British or an American railway company would certainly

-have adopted in like circumstances, and have left the traders to find

-relief in the waterways instead. The increased traffic the waterways

-of Germany are actually getting is mainly traffic which has either

-been diverted from the railways, or would have been handled by the

-railways in other countries in the natural course of their expansion.

-Whatever may be the case with the waterways, the railways of Prussia,

-especially, are comparatively unprogressive, and, instead of developing

-through traffic at competitive rates, they are reverting more and more

-to the original position of railways as feeders to the waterways. They

-get a short haul from place of origin to the waterway, and another

-short haul, perhaps, from waterway again to final destination; but the

-greater part of the journey is done by water.

-

-These conditions represent one very material factor in the substantial

-expansion of water-borne traffic in Germany--and most of that traffic,

-be it remembered, has been on great rivers rather than on artificial

-canals. The latter are certainly being increased in number, especially,

-as I have said, where they connect the rivers; and the Government are

-the more inclined that the waterways should be developed because then

-there will be less need for spending money on the railways, and for

-any interference with the "revenue-producing machine" which those

-railways represent.

-

-In France the railways owned and operated by the State are only a

-comparatively small section of the whole; but successive Governments

-have advanced immense sums for railway construction, and the State

-guarantees the dividends of the companies; while in France as in

-Germany railway rates are controlled absolutely by the State. In

-neither country is there free competition between rail and water

-transport. If there were, the railways would probably secure a

-much greater proportion of the traffic than they do. Still another

-consideration to be borne in mind is that although each country has

-spent great sums of money--at the cost of the general taxpayer--on the

-provision of canals or the improvement of waterways, no tolls are,

-with few exceptions, imposed on the traders. The canal charges include

-nothing but actual cost of carriage, whereas British railway rates may

-cover various other services, in addition, and have to be fixed on a

-scale that will allow of a great variety of charges and obligations

-being met. Not only, both in Germany and France, may the waterway be

-constructed and improved by the State, but the State also meets the

-annual expenditure on dredging, lighting, superintendence and the

-maintenance of inland harbours. Here we have further reasons for the

-growth of the water-borne traffic on the Continent.

-

-Where the State, as railway owner or railway subsidiser, spends money

-also on canals, it competes only, to a certain extent, with itself;

-but this would be a very different position from State-owned or

-State-supported canals in this country competing with privately-owned

-railways.[9]

-

-If then, as I maintain is the case, there is absolutely no basis for

-fair comparison between Continental and British conditions--whether

-commercial, geographical, or political--we are left to conclude that

-the question of reviving British canals must be judged and decided

-strictly from a British standpoint, and subject to the limitations of

-British policy, circumstances, and possibilities.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER VIII

-

-WATERWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES

-

-

-In some respects conditions in the United States compare with those of

-Continental Europe, for they suggest alike powerful streams, artificial

-canals constructed on (as a rule) flat or comparatively flat surfaces,

-and the possibilities of traffic in large quantities for transport

-over long distances before they can reach a seaport. In other respects

-the comparison is less with Continental than with British conditions,

-inasmuch as, for the last half century at least, the American railways

-have been free to compete with the waterways, and fair play has been

-given to the exercise of economic forces, with the result that, in

-the United States as in the United Kingdom, the railways have fully

-established their position as the factors in inland transport best

-suited to the varied requirements of trade and commerce of to-day,

-while the rivers and canals (I do not here deal with the Great Lakes,

-which represent an entirely different proposition) have played a rôle

-of steadily diminishing importance.

-

-The earliest canal built in the United States was that known as

-the Erie Canal. It was first projected in 1768, with the idea of

-establishing a through route by water between Lake Erie and the River

-Hudson at Albany, whence the boats or barges employed would be able

-to reach the port of New York. The Act for its construction was not

-passed, however, by the Provincial Legislature of the State of New York

-until 1817. The canal itself was opened for traffic in 1825. It had a

-total length from Cleveland to Albany of 364 miles, included therein

-being some notable engineering work in the way of aqueducts, etc.

-

-At the date in question there were four North Atlantic seaports,

-namely, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, all of about

-equal importance. Boston, however, had appeared likely to take the

-lead, by reason both of her comparatively dense population and of her

-substantial development of manufactures. Philadelphia was also then

-somewhat in advance of New York in trade and population. The effect of

-the Erie Canal, however, was to concentrate all the advantages, for

-the time being, on New York. Thanks to the canal, New York secured the

-domestic trade of a widespread territory in the middle west, while

-her rivals could not possess themselves of like facilities, because

-of the impracticability of constructing canals to cross the ranges

-of mountains separating them from the valley of the Mississippi and

-the basin of the Great Lakes--ranges broken only by the Hudson and

-the Mohawk valleys, of which the constructors of the Erie Canal had

-already taken advantage. So New York, with its splendid harbour, made

-great progress alike in trade, wealth, and population, completely

-outdistancing her rivals, and becoming, as a State, "the Empire

-State," and, as a city, "the financial and commercial centre of the

-Western Hemisphere."

-

-While, again, the Erie Canal was "one of the most efficient factors"

-in bringing about these results, it was also developing the north-west

-by giving an outlet to the commerce of the Great Lakes, and during

-the second quarter of the nineteenth century it represented what has

-been well described as "the most potent influence of American progress

-and civilisation." Not only did the traffic it carried increase from

-1,250,000 tons, in 1837, to 3,000,000 tons in 1847, but it further

-inspired the building of canals in other sections of the United States.

-In course of time the artificial waterways of that country represented

-a total length of 5,000 miles.

-

-With the advent of the railways there came revolutionary changes

-which were by no means generally appreciated at first. The cost of

-the various canals had been defrayed mostly by the different States,

-and, though financial considerations had thus been more readily met,

-the policy pursued had committed the States concerned to the support

-of the canals against possible competition. When, therefore, "private

-enterprise" introduced railways, in which the doom of the canals was

-foreseen, there was a wild outburst of indignant protest. The money of

-the taxpayers, it was said, had been sunk in building the canals, and,

-if the welfare of these should be prejudiced by the railways, every

-taxpayer in the State would suffer. When it was seen that the railways

-had come to stay, the demand arose that, while passengers might

-travel by rail, the canals should have the exclusive right to convey

-merchandise.

-

-The question was even discussed by the Legislature of the State of

-New York, in 1857, whether the railways should not be prevented from

-carrying goods at all, or, alternatively, whether heavy taxes should

-not be imposed on goods traffic carried by rail in order to check the

-considerable tendency then being shown for merchandise to go by rail

-instead of by canal, irrespective of any difference in rates. The

-railway companies were further accused of conspiring to "break down

-those great public works upon which the State has spent forty years

-of labour," and so active was the campaign against them--while it

-lasted--that one New York paper wrote:--"The whole community is aroused

-as it never was before."

-

-Some of the laws which had been actually passed to protect the

-State-constructed canals against the railways were, however, repealed

-in 1851, and the agitation itself was not continued beyond 1857, from

-which year the railways had free scope and opportunity to show what

-they could do. The contest was vigorous and prolonged, but the railways

-steadily won.

-

-In the first instance the Erie Canal had a depth of 4 feet, and could

-be navigated only by 30-ton boats. In 1862 it was deepened to 7 feet,

-in order that boats of 240 tons, with a capacity of 8,000 tons of

-wheat, could pass, the cost of construction being thus increased from

-$7,000,000 to $50,000,000. Then, in 1882, all tolls were abolished, and

-the canal has since been maintained out of the State treasury. But how

-the traffic on the New York canals as a whole (including the Erie, the

-Oswego, the Champlain, etc.) has declined, in competition with the

-railroads, is well shown by the following table:--[10]

-

-  +-------------+---------------------------+-------------------+

-  |    Year.    | Total Traffic on New York |   Percentage on   |

-  |             |   Canals and Railroads.   |    Canals only.   |

-  +-------------+---------------------------+-------------------+

-  |             |           Tons.           |     Per cent.     |

-  |    1860     |         7,155,803         |        65         |

-  |    1870     |        17,488,469         |        35         |

-  |    1880     |        29,943,633         |        21         |

-  |    1890     |        56,327,661         |         9.3       |

-  |    1900     |        84,942,988         |         4.1       |

-  |    1903     |        93,248,299         |         3.9       |

-  +-------------+---------------------------+-------------------+

-

-The falling off in the canal traffic has been greatest in just those

-heavy or bulky commodities that are generally assumed to be specially

-adapted for conveyance by water. Of the flour and grain, for instance,

-received at New York, less than 10 per cent. in 1899, and less than 8

-per cent. in 1900, came by the Erie Canal.

-

-The experiences of the New York canals have been fully shared by other

-canals in other States. Of the sum total of 5,000 miles of canals

-constructed, 2,000 had been abandoned by 1890 on the ground that the

-traffic was insufficient to cover working expenses. Since then most

-of the remainder have shared the same fate, one of the last of the

-survivors, the Delaware and Hudson, being converted into a railway

-a year or two ago. In fact the only canals in the United States

-to-day, besides those in the State of New York, whose business is

-sufficiently regular to warrant the inclusion of their traffic in the

-monthly reports of the Government are the Chesapeake and Delaware

-(connecting Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, and having an annual traffic

-of about 700,000 tons, largely lumber); and the Chesapeake and Ohio

-(from Cumberland to Georgetown, owned by the State of Maryland, and

-transporting coal almost exclusively, the amount depending on the state

-of congestion of traffic on the railroads).

-

-It is New York that has been most affected by this decline in American

-canals. When the railways began to compete severely with the Erie

-Canal, New York's previous supremacy over rival ports in the Eastern

-States was seriously threatened. Philadelphia and Baltimore, and

-various smaller ports also, started to make tremendous advance. Then

-the Gulf ports--notably New Orleans and Galveston--were able to

-capture a good deal of ocean traffic that might otherwise have passed

-through New York. Not only do the railway lines to those ports have

-the advantage of easy grades, so that exceptionally heavy train-loads

-can be handled with ease, and not only is there no fear of snow or

-ice blocks in winter, but the improvements effected in the ports

-themselves--as I had the opportunity of seeing and judging, in the

-winter of 1902-3, during a visit to the United States--have made these

-southern ports still more formidable competitors of New York. While,

-therefore, the trade of the United States has undergone great expansion

-of late years, that proportion of it which passes through the port of

-New York has seriously declined. "In less than ten years," says a

-pamphlet on "The Canal System of New York State," issued by the Canal

-Improvement State Committee, City of New York, "Pennsylvania or some

-other State may be the Empire State, which title New York has held

-since the time of the Erie Canal."

-

-So a movement has been actively promoted in New York State for the

-resuscitation of the Erie and other canals there, with a view to

-assuring the continuance of New York's commercial supremacy, and

-giving her a better chance--if possible--of competing with rivals

-now flourishing at her expense. At first a ship canal between New

-York and Lake Erie was proposed; but this idea has been rejected as

-impracticable. Finally, the Legislature of the State of New York

-decided on spending $101,000,000 on enlarging the Erie and other

-canals in the State, so as to give them a depth of 12 feet, and allow

-of the passage of 1,000-ton barges, arrangements being also made for

-propulsion by electric or steam traction.

-

-In addition to this particular scheme, "there are," says Mr F. H.

-Dixon, Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College, in an address

-on "Competition between Water and Railway Transportation Lines in

-the United States," read by him before the St Louis Railway Club,

-and reported in the _Engineering News_ (New York) of March 22,

-1906, "many other proposals for canals in different sections of the

-country, extending all the way from projects that have some economic

-justification to the crazy and impracticable schemes of visionaries."

-But the general position in regard to canal resuscitation in the United

-States does not seem to be very hopeful, judging from a statement made

-by Mr Carnegie--once an advocate of the proposed Pittsburg-Lake Erie

-Canal--before the Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce in 1898.

-

- "Such has been the progress of railway development," he said, "that

- if we had a canal to-day from Lake Erie through the Ohio Valley to

- Beaver, free of toll, we could not afford to put boats on it. It is

- cheaper to-day to transfer the ore to 50-ton cars, and bring it to our

- works at Pittsburg over our railway, than it would be to bring it by

- canal."

-

-Turning from artificial to natural waterways in the United States, I

-find the story of the Mississippi no less instructive.

-

-[Illustration: A CARGO BOAT ON THE MISSISSIPPI.

-

-      [_To face page_ 110.

-]

-

-This magnificent stream has, in itself, a length of 2,485 miles. But

-the Missouri is really only an upper prolongation of the same river

-under another name, and the total length of the two, from mouth to

-source, is 4,190 miles, of which the greater distance is navigable.

-The Mississippi and its various tributaries drain, altogether, an area

-of 1,240,000 square miles, or nearly one-third of the territory of the

-United States. If any great river in the world had a chance at all

-of holding its own against the railroads as a highway of traffic it

-should, surely, be the Mississippi, to which British theorists ought

-to be able to point as a powerful argument in support of their general

-proposition concerning the advantages of water over rail-transport. But

-the actual facts all point in the other direction.

-

-The earliest conditions of navigation on the Mississippi are well shown

-in the following extract from an article published in the _Quarterly

-Review_ of March 1830, under the heading, "Railroads and Locomotive

-Steam-carriages":--

-

- "As an example of the difficulties of internal navigation, it may

- be mentioned that on the great river Mississippi, which flows at

- the rate of 5 or 6 miles an hour, it was the practice of a certain

- class of boatmen, who brought down the produce of the interior to New

- Orleans, to break up their boats, sell the timber, and afterwards

- return home slowly by land; and a voyage up the river from New

- Orleans to Pittsburg, a distance of about 2,000 miles, could hardly

- be accomplished, with the most laborious efforts, within a period of

- four months. But the uncertain and limited influence, both of the

- wind and the tide, is now superseded by a new agent, which in power

- far surpassing the raging torrent, is yet perfectly manageable, and

- acts with equal efficacy in any direction.... Steamboats of every

- description, and on the most approved models, ply on all the great

- rivers of the United States; the voyage from New Orleans to Pittsburg,

- which formerly occupied four months, is accomplished with ease in

- fifteen or twenty days, and at the rate of not less than 5 miles an

- hour."

-

-Since this article in the _Quarterly Review_ was published, enormous

-sums of money have been spent on the Mississippi--partly with a view

-to the prevention of floods, but partly, also, to improve the river

-for the purposes of navigation. Placed in charge of a Mississippi

-Commission and of the Chief of Engineers in the United States Army,

-the river has been systematically surveyed; special studies and

-reports have been drawn up on every possible aspect of its normal or

-abnormal conditions and circumstances; the largest river dredges in

-the world have been employed to ensure an adequate depth of the river

-bed; engineering works in general on the most complete scale have been

-carried out--in fact, nothing that science, skill, or money could

-accomplish has been left undone.

-

-The difficulties were certainly considerable. There has always been

-a tendency for the river bed to get choked up by the sediment the

-stream failed to carry on; the banks are weak; while the variation in

-water level is sometimes as much as 10 feet in a single month. None

-the less, the Mississippi played for a time as important a rôle in the

-west and the south as the Erie Canal played in the north. Steamboats on

-the western rivers increased in number from 20, in 1818, to 1,200, in

-1848, and there was a like development in flat boat tonnage. With the

-expansion of the river traffic came a growth of large cities and towns

-alongside. Louisville increased in population from 4,000, in 1820, to

-43,000, in 1850, and St Louis from 4,900 to 77,000 in the same period.

-

-With the arrival of the railroads began the decline of the river,

-though some years were to elapse before the decline was seriously felt.

-It was the absolute perfection of the railway system that eventually

-made its competition irresistible. The lines paralleled the river; they

-had, as I have said, easy grades; they responded to that consideration

-in regard to speedy delivery of consignments which is as pronounced in

-the United States as it is in Great Britain; they were as free from

-stoppages due to variations in water level as they were from stoppages

-on account of ice or snow; and they could be provided with branch

-lines as "feeders," going far inland, so that the trader did not have

-either to build his factory on the river bank or to pay cost of cartage

-between factory and river. The railway companies, again, were able to

-provide much more efficient terminal facilities, especially in the

-erection of large wharves, piers, and depôts which allow of the railway

-waggons coming right alongside the steamers. At Galveston I saw cargo

-being discharged from the ocean-going steamers by being placed on

-trucks which were raised from the vessel by endless moving-platforms

-to the level of the goods station, where stood, along parallel

-series of lines, the railway waggons which would take them direct to

-Chicago, San Francisco, or elsewhere. With facilities such as these

-no inland waterway can possibly compete. The railways, again, were

-able, in competition with the river, to reduce their charges to "what

-the traffic would bear," depending on a higher proportion of profit

-elsewhere. The steamboats could adopt no such policy as this, and the

-traders found that, by the time they had paid, not only the charges for

-actual river transport, but insurance and extra cartage, as well, they

-had paid as much as transport by rail would have cost, while getting a

-much slower and more inconvenient service.

-

-[Illustration: SUCCESSFUL RIVALS OF MISSISSIPPI CARGO BOATS.

-

-  (1) Illinois Central Freight Train; 43 cars; 2,100 tons.

-

-  (2)    "       "     Banana Express, New Orleans to Chicago; 34 cars;

-      433 tons of bananas.

-

-      [_To face page 114._

-]

-

-The final outcome of all these conditions is indicated by some remarks

-made by Mr Stuyvesant Fish, President of the Illinois Central Railroad

-Company (the chief railway competitors of the Mississippi steamboats),

-in the address he delivered as President of the Seventh Session of the

-International Railway Congress at Washington, in May 1905:--

-

- "It is within my knowledge that twenty years ago there were annually

- carried by steamboats from Memphis to New Orleans over 100,000 bales

- of cotton, and that in almost every year since the railroads between

- Memphis and New Orleans passed under one management, not a single bale

- has been carried down the Mississippi River from Memphis by boat, and

- in no one year have 500 bales been thus carried; the reason being

- that, including the charges for marine and fire insurance, the rates

- by water are higher than by rail."

-

-To this statement Mr Fish added some figures which may be tabulated as

-follows:--

-

-TONNAGE OF FREIGHT RECEIVED AT OR DESPATCHED FROM NEW ORLEANS.

-

-  +----------------------------------------+-------------+-------------+

-  |                                        |     1890    |     1900    |

-  +----------------------------------------+-------------+-------------+

-  | By the Mississippi River (all sources) |  2,306,290  |    450,498  |

-  | By rail                                |  3,557,742  |  6,852,064  |

-  +----------------------------------------+-------------+-------------+

-

-  Decline of river traffic in ten years        1,855,792 tons

-  Increase of rail    "      "      "          3,294,322  "

-

-These figures bear striking testimony to the results that may be

-brought about in a country where railways are allowed a fair chance of

-competing with even the greatest of natural waterways--a chance, as I

-have said, denied them in Germany and France. Looking, too, at these

-figures, I understand better the significance of what I saw at Memphis,

-where a solitary Mississippi steamboat--one of the survivals of those

-huge floating warehouses now mostly rusting out their existence at New

-Orleans--was having her cargo discharged on the river banks by a few

-negroes, while the powerful locomotives of the Illinois Central were

-rushing along on the adjoining railway with the biggest train-loads it

-was possible for them to haul.

-

-On the general position in the United States I might quote the

-following from a communication with which I have been favoured by Mr

-Luis Jackson, an Englishman by birth, who, after an early training on

-British railways, went to the United States, created there the rôle of

-"industrial commissioner" in connection with American railways, and

-now fills that position on the Erie Railroad:--

-

- "When I was in the West the question of water transportation down the

- Mississippi was frequently remarked upon. The Mississippi is navigable

- from St Paul to New Orleans. In the early days the towns along the

- Mississippi, especially those from St Paul to St Louis, depended upon,

- and had their growth through, the river traffic. It was a common

- remark among our railroad people that 'we could lick the river.' The

- traffic down the Mississippi, especially from St Paul to St Louis

- (I can only speak of the territory with which I am well acquainted)

- perceptibly declined in competition with the railroads, and the river

- towns have been revived by, and now depend more for their growth on,

- the railroads than on the river.... Figures do not prove anything.

- If the Erie Canal and the Mississippi River traffic had increased,

- doubled, trebled, or quadrupled in the past years, instead of actually

- dwindling by tonnage figures, it would prove nothing as against the

- tremendous tonnage hauled by the trunk line railroads. The Erie

- Railroad Company, New York to Chicago, last year carried 32,000,000

- tons of revenue freights. It would take a pretty good canal to handle

- that amount of traffic; and the Erie is only one of many lines between

- New York and Chicago.

-

- "A canal, paralleling great railroads, to some extent injures them

- on through traffic. The tendency of all railroads is in the line of

- progress. As the tonnage increases the equipment becomes larger, and

- the general tendency of railroad rates is downwards; in other words,

- the public in the end gets from the railroad all that can be expected

- from a canal, and much more. The railroad can expand right and left,

- and reach industries by side tracks; with canals every manufacturer

- must locate on the banks of the canal. Canals for internal commerce,

- in my mind, are out of date; they belong to the 'slow.' Nor do I

- believe that the traffic management of canals by the State has the

- same conception of traffic measures which is adopted by the modern

- managers of railroads.

-

- "Canals affect rates on heavy commodities, and play a part mostly

- injurious, to my mind, to the proper development of railroads,

- especially on the Continent of Europe. They may do local business, but

- the railroad is the real handmaid of commerce."

-

-By way of concluding this brief sketch of American conditions, I cannot

-do better than adopt the final sentences in Professor Dixon's paper at

-the St Louis Railway Club to which I have already referred:--

-

- "Two considerations should, above all others, be kept in mind in

- determination of the feasibility of any project: first, the very

- positive limitations to the efficiency of rivers and canals as

- transportation agencies because of their lack of flexibility and the

- natural disabilities under which they suffer; and secondly, that water

- transportation is not necessarily cheap simply because the Government

- constructs and maintains the channels. Nothing could be more delusive

- than the assertion so frequently made, which is found in the opening

- pages of the report of the New York Committee on Canals of 1899, that

- water transportation is inherently cheaper than rail transportation.

- Such an assertion is true only of ocean transportation, and possibly

- also of large bodies of water like the lakes, although this last is

- doubtful.

-

- "By all means let us have our waterways developed when such

- development is economically justifiable. What is justifiable must be

- a matter of judgment, and possibly to some extent of experimentation,

- but the burden of proof rests on its advocates. Such projects should

- be carried out by the localities interested and the burden should

- be borne by those who are to derive the benefit. Only in large

- undertakings of national concern should the General Government be

- called upon for aid.

-

- "But I protest most vigorously against the deluge of schemes poured in

- upon Congress at every session by reckless advocates who, disregarding

- altogether the cost of their crazy measures in the increased burden

- of general taxation, argue for the inherent cheapness of water

- transportation, and urge the construction at public expense of works

- whose traffic will never cover the cost of maintenance."

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER IX

-

-ENGLISH CONDITIONS

-

-

-I have already spoken in Chapter VII. of some of the chief differences

-between Continental and English conditions, but I revert to the latter

-because it is essential that, before approving of any scheme of canal

-restoration here, the British public should thoroughly understand the

-nature of the task that would thus be undertaken.

-

-The sections of actual canal routes, given opposite page 98, will

-convey some idea of the difficulties which faced the original builders

-of our artificial waterways. The wonder is that, since water has not

-yet been induced to flow up-hill, canals were ever constructed over

-such surfaces at all. Most probably the majority of them would not

-have been attempted if railways had come into vogue half a century

-earlier than they did. Looking at these diagrams, one can imagine how

-the locomotive--which does not disdain hill-climbing, and can easily be

-provided with cuttings, bridges, viaducts, and tunnels--could follow

-the canal; but one can hardly imagine that in England, at least, the

-canal would have followed the railway.

-

-The whole proposition in regard to canal revival would be changed if

-only the surfaces in Great Britain were the same as they are, say,

-between Hamburg and Berlin, where in 230 miles of waterway there are

-only three locks. In this country there is an average of one lock for

-every 1-1/4 mile of navigation. The sum total of the locks on British

-canals is 2,377, each representing, on an average, a capitalised cost

-of £1,360. Instead of a "great central plain," as on the Continent of

-Europe, we have a "great central ridge," extending the greater length

-of England. In the 16 miles between Worcester and Tardebigge on the

-Worcester and Birmingham Canal, there are fifty-eight locks to be

-passed through by a canal boat going from the Severn to Birmingham. At

-Tardebigge there is a difference in level of about 250 feet in 3 miles

-or so. This is overcome by a "flight" of thirty locks, which a 25-ton

-boat may hope to get through in four hours. Between Huddersfield and

-Ashton, on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, there are seventy-four locks

-in 20 miles; between Manchester and Sowerby Bridge, on the Rochdale

-Canal, there are ninety-two locks in 32 miles, to enable the boats to

-pass over an elevation 600 feet above sea level; and at Bingley, on the

-Leeds and Liverpool Canal, five "staircase" locks give a total lift of

-59 feet 2 inches.

-

-Between London and Liverpool there are three canal routes, each passing

-through either ten or eleven separate navigations, and covering

-distances of from 244 to 267 miles. By one of these routes a boat has

-to pass through such series of locks as ninety in 100 miles on the

-Grand Junction Canal, between Paddington and Braunston; forty-three in

-17 miles on the Birmingham Canal, between Birmingham and Aldersley; and

-forty-six in 66 miles on the Shropshire Union Canal, between Autherley

-and Ellesmere Port. Proceeding by an alternative route, the boat would

-pass through fifty-nine locks in 67 miles on the Trent and Mersey;

-while a third route would give two hundred and eighty-two locks in a

-total of 267 miles. The number of separate navigations is ten by Routes

-I. and II., and eleven by Route III.

-

-Between London and Hull there are two routes, one 282 miles with one

-hundred and sixty-four locks, and the other 305 miles with one hundred

-and forty-eight locks. On the journey from London to the Severn, a boat

-would pass through one hundred and thirty locks in 177 miles in going

-to the Avonmouth Docks (this total including one hundred and six locks

-in 86 miles between Reading and Hanham, on the Kennet and Avon Canal);

-and either one hundred and two locks in 191 miles, or two hundred and

-thirty in 219 miles, if the destination were Sharpness Docks. Between

-Liverpool and Hull there are one hundred and four locks in 187 miles by

-one route; one hundred and forty-nine in 159 miles by a second route;

-and one hundred and fifty-two in 149 miles by a third. In the case of

-a canal boat despatched from Birmingham, the position would be--to

-London, one hundred and fifty-five locks in 147 miles; to Liverpool (1)

-ninety-nine locks in 114 miles, (2) sixty-nine locks in 94 miles; to

-Hull, sixty-six locks in 164 miles; to the Severn, Sharpness Docks (1)

-sixty-one locks in 75 miles, (2) forty-nine locks in 89 miles.

-

-Early in 1906 a correspondent of _The Standard_ made an experimental

-canal journey from the Thames, at Brentford, to Birmingham, to test

-the qualities of a certain "suction-producer gas motor barge." The

-barge itself stood the test so well that the correspondent was able to

-declare:--"In the new power may be found a solution of the problem

-of canal traction." He arrived at this conclusion notwithstanding the

-fact that the motor barge was stopped at one of the locks by a drowned

-cat being caught between the barge and the incoming "butty" boat. The

-journey from London to Birmingham occupied, "roughly," six and a half

-days--a journey, that is, which London and North-Western express trains

-accomplish regularly in two hours. The 22-1/2 miles of the Warwick and

-Birmingham Canal, which has thirty-four locks, alone took ten hours and

-a half. From Birmingham the correspondent made other journeys in the

-same barge, covering, altogether, 370 miles. In that distance he passed

-through three hundred and twenty-seven locks, various summits "several

-hundred feet" in height being crossed by this means.

-

-At Anderton, on the Trent and Mersey Canal, there is a vertical

-hydraulic lift which raises or lowers two narrow boats 50 feet to

-enable them to pass between the canal and the River Mersey, the

-operation being done by means of troughs 75 feet by 14-1/2 feet.

-Inclined planes have also been made use of to avoid a multiplicity

-of locks. It is assumed that in the event of any general scheme of

-resuscitation being undertaken, the present flights of locks would, in

-many instances, be done away with, hydraulic lifts being substituted

-for them. Where this could be done it would certainly effect a saving

-in time, though the provision of a lift between series of locks would

-not save water, as this would still be required for the lock below.

-Hydraulic lifts, however, could not be used in mining districts, such

-as the Black Country, on account of possible subsidences. Where that

-drawback did not occur there would still be the question of expense.

-The cost of construction of the Anderton lift was £50,000, and the cost

-of maintenance is £500 a year. Would the traffic on a particular route

-be always equal to the outlay? In regard to inclined planes, it was

-proposed some eight or ten years ago to construct one on the Birmingham

-Canal in order to do away with a series of locks at a certain point

-and save one hour on the through journey. Plans were prepared, and a

-Bill was deposited in Parliament; but just at that time a Board of

-Trade enquiry into canal tolls and charges led to such reductions being

-enforced that there no longer appeared to be any security for a return

-on the proposed expenditure, and the Bill was withdrawn.

-

-In many instances the difference in level has been overcome by the

-construction of tunnels. There are in England and Wales no fewer than

-forty-five canal tunnels each upwards of 100 yards in length, and of

-these twelve are over 2,000 yards in length, namely, Standidge Tunnel,

-on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, 5,456 yards; Sapperton, Thames and

-Severn, 3,808; Lappal, Birmingham Canal navigations, 3,785; Dudley,

-Birmingham Canal, 3,672; Norwood, Chesterfield Canal, 3,102; Butterley,

-Cromford, 3,063; Blisworth, Grand Junction, 3,056; Netherton,

-Birmingham Canal, 3,027; Harecastle (new), Trent and Mersey, 2,926;

-Harecastle (old), Trent and Mersey, 2,897; West Hill, Worcester and

-Birmingham, 2,750; and Braunston, Grand Junction, 2,042.

-

-The earliest of these tunnels were made so narrow (in the interests of

-economy) that no space was left for a towing path alongside, and the

-boats were passed through by the boatmen either pushing a pole or shaft

-against the roof or sides, and then walking from forward to aft of the

-boat, or else by the "legging" process in which they lay flat on their

-backs in the boat, and pushed with their feet against the sides of the

-tunnel. At one time even women engaged in work of this kind. Later

-tunnels were provided with towing paths, while in some of them steam

-tugs have been substituted for shafting and legging.

-

-Resort has also been had to aqueducts, and these represent some of the

-best work that British canal engineers have done. The first in England

-was the one built at Barton by James Brindley to carry the Bridgewater

-Canal over the Irwell. It was superseded by a swing aqueduct in

-1893, to meet the requirements of the Manchester Ship Canal. But the

-finest examples are those presented by the aqueducts of Chirk and

-Pontcysyllte on the Ellesmere Canal in North Wales, now forming part

-of the Shropshire Union Canal. Each was the work of Telford, and the

-two have been aptly described as "among the boldest efforts of human

-invention of modern times." The Chirk aqueduct (710 feet long) carries

-the canal over the River Ceriog. It was completed in 1801 and cost

-£20,898. The Pontcysyllte aqueduct, of which a photograph is given as

-a frontispiece, carries the canal in a cast-iron trough a distance

-of 1,007 feet across the valley of the River Dee. It was opened for

-traffic in 1803, and involved an outlay of £47,000. Another canal

-aqueduct worthy of mention is that which was constructed by Rennie in

-1796, at a cost of £48,000, to carry the Lancaster Canal over the River

-Lune.

-

-These facts must surely convince everyone who is in any way open to

-conviction of the enormous difference between canal construction as

-carried on in bygone days in Great Britain--involving as it did all

-these costly, elaborate, and even formidable engineering works--and

-the building of canals, or the canalisation of rivers, on the flat

-surfaces of Holland, Belgium, and Northern Germany. Reviewing--even

-thus inadequately--the work that had been already done, one ceases to

-wonder that, when the railways began to establish themselves in this

-country, the canal companies of that day regarded with despair the

-idea of practically doing the greater part of their work over again,

-in order to carry on an apparently hopeless struggle with a powerful

-competitor who had evidently come not only to stay but to win. It is

-not surprising, after all, that many of them thought it better to

-exploit the enemy by inducing or forcing him to buy them out!

-

-The average reader who may not hitherto have studied the question so

-completely as I am here seeking to do, will also begin by this time to

-understand what the resuscitation of the British canal system might

-involve in the way of expense. The initial purchase--presumably on fair

-and equitable terms--would in itself cost much more than is supposed

-even by the average expert.

-

- "Assuming," says one authority, Mr Thwaite, "that 3,500 miles of the

- canal system were purchasable at two-thirds of their original cost of

- construction, say £2,350 per mile of length, then the capital required

- would be £8,225,000."

-

-This looks very simple. But is the original cost of construction

-of canals passing through tunnels, over viaducts, and up and down

-elevations of from 400 to 600 feet, calculated here on the same basis

-as canals on the flat-lands? Is allowance made for costly pumping

-apparatus--such as that provided for the Birmingham Canal--for the

-docks and warehouses recently constructed at Ellesmere Port, and for

-other capital expenditure for improvements, or are these omitted from

-the calculation of so much "per mile of length"? Items of this kind

-might swell even "cost of construction" to larger proportions than

-those assumed by Mr Thwaite. That gentleman, also, evidently leaves

-out of account the very substantial sums paid by the present owners or

-controllers of canals for the mining rights underneath the waterways in

-districts such as Staffordshire or Lancashire.

-

-This last-mentioned point is one of considerable importance, though

-very few people seem to know that it enters into the canal question at

-all. When canals were originally constructed it was assumed that the

-companies were entitled to the land they had bought from the surface to

-the centre of the earth. But the law decided they could claim little

-more than a right of way, and that the original landowners might still

-work the minerals underneath. This was done, with the result that there

-were serious subsidences of the canals, involving both much loss of

-water and heavy expenditure in repairs. The stability of railways was

-also affected, but the position of the canals was much worse on account

-of the water.

-

-To maintain the efficiency of the canals (and of railways in addition)

-those responsible for them--whether independent companies or railway

-companies--have had to spend enormous sums of money in the said mining

-districts on buying up the right to work the minerals underneath. In

-some instances the landowner has given notice of his intention to

-work the minerals himself, and, although he may in reality have had

-no such intention, the canal company or the railway company have been

-compelled to come to terms with him, to prevent the possibility of the

-damage that might otherwise be done to the waterway. The very heavy

-expenditure thus incurred would hardly count as "cost of construction,"

-and it would represent money sunk with no prospect of return. Yet, if

-the State takes over the canals, it will be absolutely bound to reckon

-with these mineral rights as well--if it wants to keep the canals

-intact after improving them--and, in so doing, it must allow for a

-considerably larger sum for initial outlay than is generally assumed.

-

-But the actual purchase of canals _and_ mineral rights would be only

-the beginning of the trouble. There would come next the question of

-increasing the capacity of the canals by widening, and what this might

-involve I have already shown. Then there are the innumerable locks by

-which the great differences in level are overcome. A large proportion

-of these would have to be reconstructed (unless lifts or inclined

-planes were provided instead) to admit either the larger type of boat

-of which one hears so much, or, alternatively, two or four of the

-existing narrow boats. Assuming this to be done, then, when a single

-narrow boat came up to each lock in the course of the journey it was

-making, either it would have to wait until one or three others arrived,

-or, alternatively, the water in a large capacity lock would be used for

-the passage of one small boat. The adoption of the former course would

-involve delay; and either would necessitate the provision of a much

-larger water supply, together with, for the highest levels, still more

-costly pumping machinery.

-

-The water problem would, indeed, speedily become one of the most

-serious in the whole situation--and that, too, not alone in regard to

-the extremely scanty supplies in the high levels. The whole question

-has been complicated, since canals were first built, by the growing

-needs of the community, towns large and small having tapped sources of

-water supply which otherwise might have been available for the canals.

-

-Even as these lines are being written, I see from _The Times_ of March

-17, 1906, that, because the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway

-Company are sinking a well on land of their own adjoining the railway

-near the Carshalton springs of the River Wandle, with a view to getting

-water for use in their Victoria Station in London, all the public

-authorities in that part of Surrey, together with the mill-owners and

-others interested in the River Wandle, are petitioning Parliament in

-support of a Bill to restrain them, although it is admitted that "the

-railway company do not appear to be exceeding their legal rights."

-This does not look as if there were too much water to spare for canal

-purposes in Great Britain; and yet so level-headed a journal as _The

-Economist_, in its issue of March 3, 1906, gravely tells us, in an

-article on "The New Canal Commission," that "the experience of Canada

-is worth studying." What possible comparison can there be, in regard to

-canals, between a land of lakes and great rivers and a country where a

-railway company may not even sink a well on their own property without

-causing all the local authorities in the neighbourhood to take alarm,

-and petition Parliament to stop them![11]

-

-[Illustration: WATER SUPPLY FOR CANALS.

-

-  (Belvide Reservoir, Staffordshire, Shropshire Union Canal.)

-

-      [_To face page 128._

-]

-

-On this question of water supply, I may add, Mr John Glass, manager

-of the Regents Canal, said at the meeting of the Institution of Civil

-Engineers in November 1905:--

-

- "In his opinion Mr Saner had treated the water question, upon which

- the whole matter depended, in too airy a manner. Considering, for

- instance, the route to Birmingham, it would be seen that to reach

- Birmingham the waterway was carried over one summit of 400 feet, and

- another of 380 feet, descended 200 feet, and eventually arrived at

- Birmingham, which was about 350 feet above sea level. The proposed

- standard lock, with a small allowance for the usual leakage in

- filling, would consume about 50,000 cubic feet of water, and the two

- large crafts which Mr Saner proposed to accommodate in the lock[12]

- would carry together, he calculated, about 500 tons. Supposing it

- were possible to regulate the supply and demand so as to spread that

- traffic economically over the year, and to permit of twenty-five pairs

- of boats passing from Birmingham to the Thames, or in the opposite

- direction, on 300 days in the year, the empty boats going into the

- same locks as the laden boats, it would be necessary to provide

- 1,250,000 cubic feet of water daily, at altitudes of 300 to 400 feet;

- and in addition it would be necessary to have water-storage for at

- least 120 days in the year, which would amount to about 150,000,000

- cubic feet. When it was remembered that the districts in which the

- summit-levels referred to were situated were ill-supplied with water,

- he thought it was quite impossible that anything like that quantity of

- water could be obtained for the purpose. Canal-managers found that the

- insufficiency of water in all districts supplied by canals increased

- every year, and the difficulty of acquiring proper water-storage

- became enhanced."

-

-Not only the ordinary waterway and the locks, but the tunnels and

-viaducts, also, might require widening. Then the adoption of some

-system of mechanical haulage is spoken of as indispensable. But a

-resort to tugs, however propelled, is in no way encouraged by the

-experiments made on the Shropshire Union, as told on p. 50. An overhead

-electrical installation, with power houses and electric lighting, so

-that navigation could go on at night, would be an especially costly

-undertaking. But the increased speed which it is hoped to gain from

-mechanical haulage on the level would also necessitate a general

-strengthening of the canal banks to avoid damage by the wash, and

-even then the possible speed would be limited by the breadth of the

-waterway. On this particular point I cannot do better than quote the

-following from an article on "Canals and Waterways" published in _The

-Field_ of March 10, 1906:--

-

- "Among the arguments in favour of revival has been that of anticipated

- rapid steam traffic on such re-opened waterways. Any one who

- understands the elementary principles of building and propulsion of

- boats will realise that volume of water of itself fixes limits for

- speed of vessels in it. Any vessel of certain given proportions has

- its limit of speed (no matter what horse-power may be employed to move

- it) according to the relative limit (if any) of the volume of water

- in which it floats. Our canals are built to allow easy passage of the

- normal canal barge at an average of 3 to 3-1/2 miles an hour. A barge

- velocity of even 5 miles, still more of 6 or 7, would tend to wash

- banks, and so to wreck (to public danger) embankments where canals are

- carried higher than surrounding land. A canal does not lie in a valley

- from end to end like a river. It would require greater horse-power

- to tow one loaded barge 6 miles an hour on normal canal water than

- to tow a string of three or even four such craft hawsered 50 or more

- feet apart at the pace of 3-1/2 miles. The reason would be that the

- channel is not large enough to allow the wave of displacement forward

- to find its way aft past the advancing vessel, so as to maintain an

- approximate level of water astern to that ahead, unless either the

- channel is more than doubled or else the speed limited to something

- less than 4 miles. It therefore comes to this, that increased speed on

- our canals, to any tangible extent, does not seem to be attainable,

- even if all barges shall be screw steamers, unless the entire channel

- can be reconstructed to far greater depth and also width."

-

-What the actual cost of reconstruction would be--as distinct from

-cost of purchase--I will not myself undertake to estimate; and merely

-general statements, based on the most favourable sections of the

-canals, may be altogether misleading. Thus, a writer in the _Daily

-Chronicle_ of March 21, 1906, who has contributed to that journal a

-series of articles on the canal question, "from an expert point of

-view," says:--

-

- "If the Aire and Calder navigation, which is much improved in recent

- years, be taken as a model, it has been calculated that £1,000,000 per

- 100 miles would fit the trunk system for traffic such as is dealt with

- on the Yorkshire navigation."

-

-How can the Aire and Calder possibly be taken as a model--from the

-point of view of calculating cost of improvements or reconstruction?

-Let the reader turn once more to the diagrams given opposite p. 98. He

-will see that the Aire and Calder is constructed on land that is almost

-flat, whereas the Rochdale section on the same trunk route between the

-Mersey and the Humber reaches an elevation of 600 feet. How can any

-just comparison be made between these two waterways? If the cost of

-"improving" a canal of the "model" type of the Aire and Calder be put

-at the rate of £1,000,000 per 100 miles, what would it come to in the

-case of the Rochdale Canal, the Tardebigge section of the Worcester

-and Birmingham Canal, or the series of independent canals between

-Birmingham and London? That is a practical question which I will

-leave--to the experts!

-

-Supposing, however, that the canals have been purchased, taken

-possession of, and duly improved (whatever the precise cost) by State,

-municipalities, or public trust, as the case may be. There will then be

-the almost exact equivalent of a house without furniture, or a factory

-without machinery. Before even the restored canals could be adapted to

-the requirements of trade and commerce there would have to be a very

-considerable expenditure, also, on warehouses, docks, appliances, and

-other indispensable adjuncts to mere haulage.

-

-After all the money that has been spent on the Manchester Ship Canal

-it is still found necessary to lay out a great deal more on warehouses

-which are absolutely essential to the full and complete development of

-the enterprise. The same principle would apply to any scheme of revived

-inland navigation. The goods depôts constructed by railway companies

-in all large towns and industrial centres have alone sufficed to bring

-about a complete revolution in trade and commerce since the days when

-canals were prosperous. There are many thousands of traders to-day who

-not only order comparatively small quantities of supplies at a time

-from the manufacturer, but leave even these quantities to be stored

-locally by the railway company, having delivered to them from day to

-day, or week by week, just as much as they can do with. A certain

-"free" period is allowed for warehousing, and, if they remove the goods

-during that period, they pay nothing to the railway company beyond the

-railway rate. After the free period a small "rent" is charged--a rent

-which, while representing no adequate return to the railway company

-for the heavy capital outlay in providing the depôts, is much less than

-it would cost the trader if he had to build store-rooms for himself,

-or pay for accommodation elsewhere. Other traders, as mentioned in

-the chapter on "The Transition in Trade," send goods to the railway

-warehouses as soon as they are ready, to wait there until an order is

-completed, and the whole consignment can be despatched; while others

-again, agents and commission men, carry on a considerable business from

-a small office, leaving all the handling of the commodities in which

-they deal to be done by the railway companies. In fact, the situation

-might be summed up by saying that, under the trading conditions of

-to-day, railway companies are not only common carriers, but general

-warehousemen in addition.

-

-If inland canals are to take over any part of the transport at present

-conducted by the railways, they will have to provide the traders with

-like facilities. So, in addition to buying up and reconstructing the

-canals; in addition to widenings, and alterations of the gradients of

-roads and railways passed under; and in addition to the maintenance

-of towing paths, locks, bridges, tunnels, aqueducts, culverts,

-weirs, sluices, cranes, wharves, docks, and quay walls, reservoirs,

-pumping machinery, and so on, there would still be all the subsidiary

-considerations in regard to warehousing, etc., which would arise when

-it became a question with the trader whether or not he should avail

-himself of the improved water transport thus placed at his disposal.

-

-For the purposes of reasonable argument I will assume that no

-really sensible person, knowing anything at all of actual facts and

-conditions, would attempt to revive the entire canal system of the

-country.[13] I have shown on p. 19, that even in the year 1825 it was

-recognised that some of the canals had been built by speculators simply

-as a means of abstracting money from the pockets of foolish investors,

-victims of the "canal mania," and that no useful purpose could be

-served by them even at a time when there were no competing railways.

-Yet to-day sentimental individuals who, in wandering about the

-country, come across some of these absolutely useless, though still,

-perhaps, picturesque survivals, write off to the newspapers to lament

-over "our neglected waterways," to cast the customary reflections

-on the railway companies, and to join their voice to the demand for

-immediate nationalisation or municipalisation, according to their

-individual leanings, and regardless of all considerations of cost or

-practicability.

-

-Derelicts of the type here referred to are not worth considering at

-all. It is a pity they were not drained and filled in long ago, and

-given, as it were, a decent burial, if only out of consideration for

-the feelings of sentimentalists. Much more deserving of study are

-those particular systems which either still carry a certain amount

-of traffic, or are situated on routes along which traffic might be

-reasonably expected to flow. But, taking even canals of this type,

-the reader must see from the considerations I have already presented

-that resuscitation would be a very costly business indeed. Estimates

-of which I have read in print range from £20,000,000 to £50,000,000;

-but even these omit various important items (mining rights, etc.),

-which would certainly have to be added, while the probability is that,

-however high the original estimate in regard to work of this kind, a

-good deal more would have to be expended before it was finished.

-

-The remarks I have here made are based on the supposition that all

-that is aimed at is such an improvement as would allow of the use of a

-larger type of canal boat than that now in vogue. But, obviously, the

-expenditure would be still heavier if there were any idea of adapting

-the canals to the use of barges similar in size to those employed on

-the waterways of Germany, or craft which, starting from an inland

-manufacturing town in the Midlands, could go on a coasting trip, or

-make a journey across to the Continent. Here the capital expenditure

-would be so great that the cost would be absolutely prohibitive.

-

-Whatever the precise number of millions the resuscitation scheme might

-cost, the inevitable question would present itself--How is the money to

-be raised?

-

-The answer thereto would be very simple if the entire expense were

-borne by the country--that is to say, thrown upon the taxpayers or

-ratepayers. The problem would then be solved at once. The great

-drawback to this solution is that most of the said taxpayers or

-ratepayers would probably object. Besides, there is the matter

-of detail I mentioned in the first Chapter: if the State or the

-municipalities buy up the canals on fair terms, including the canals

-owned or controlled by the railways, and, in operating them in

-competition with the railways, make heavy losses which must eventually

-fall on the taxpayers or ratepayers, then it would be only fair that

-the railway companies should be excused from such direct increase

-in taxation as might result from the said losses. In that case the

-burden would fall still more heavily on the general body of the tax or

-ratepayers, independently of the railway companies.

-

-It would fall, too, with especial severity on those traders who were

-themselves unable to make use of the canals, but might have to pay

-increased local rates in order that possible competitors located

-within convenient reach of the improved waterways could have cheaper

-transport. It might also happen that when the former class of traders,

-bound to keep to the railways, applied to the railway companies for

-some concession to themselves, the reply given would be--"What you

-suggest is fair and reasonable, and under ordinary circumstances we

-should be prepared to meet your wishes; but the falling off in our

-receipts, owing to the competition of State-aided canals, makes it

-impossible for us to grant any further reductions." An additional

-disadvantage would thus have to be met by the trader who kept to the

-railway, while his rival, using the canals, would practically enjoy the

-benefit of a State subsidy.

-

-The alternative to letting the country bear the burden would be to

-leave the resuscitated canal system to pay for itself. But is there any

-reasonable probability that it could? The essence of the present day

-movement is that the traders who would be enabled to use the canals

-under the improved conditions should have cheaper transport; but if

-the twenty, fifty, or any other number of millions sterling spent

-on the purchase and improvement of the canals, and on the provision

-of indispensable accessories thereto, are to be covered out of the

-tolls and charges imposed on those using the canals, there is every

-probability that (if the canals are to pay for themselves) the tolls

-and charges would have to be raised to such a figure that any existing

-difference between them and the present railway rates would disappear

-altogether. That difference is already very often slight enough, and it

-may be even less than appears to be the case, because the railway rate

-might include various services, apart from mere haulage--collection,

-delivery, warehousing, use of coal depôt, etc.--which are not covered

-by the canal tolls and charges, and the cost of which would have to be

-added thereto. A very small addition, therefore, to the canal tolls,

-in order to meet interest on heavy capital expenditure on purchase and

-reconstruction, would bring waterways and railways so far on a level in

-regard to rates that the railways, with the superior advantages they

-offer in many ways, would, inevitably, still get the preference.

-

-The revival movement, however, is based on the supposition that no

-increase in the canal tolls now charged would be necessary.[14] Canal

-transport, it is said, is already much higher in this country than

-it is on the Continent--and that may well be so, considering (1)

-that canals such as ours, with their numerous locks, etc., cost more

-to construct, operate and maintain than canals on the flat lands of

-Continental Europe; (2) that British canals are still supposed to

-maintain themselves; and (3) that canal traffic as well as railway

-traffic is assessed in the most merciless way for the purposes of local

-taxation. In the circumstances it is assumed that the canal traffic

-in England could not pay higher tolls and charges than those already

-imposed, and that the interest on the aforesaid millions, spent on

-purchase and improvements, would all be met out of the expanded traffic

-which the restored canals would attract.

-

-Again I may ask--Is there any reasonable probability of this? Bearing

-in mind the complete transition in trade of which I have already

-spoken--a transition which, on the one hand, has enormously increased

-the number of individual traders, and, on the other, has brought

-about a steady and continuous decrease in the weight of individual

-consignments--is there the slightest probability that the conditions of

-trade are going to be changed, and that merchants, manufacturers, and

-other traders will forego the express delivery of convenient quantities

-by rail, in order to effect a problematical saving (and especially

-problematical where extra cartage has to be done) on the tedious

-delivery of wholesale quantities by canal?

-

-Nothing short of a very large increase indeed in the water-borne

-traffic would enable the canals to meet the heavy expenditure

-foreshadowed, and, even if such increase were secured, the greater part

-of it would not be new traffic, but simply traffic diverted from the

-railways. More probably, however, the very large increase would not be

-secured, and no great diversion from the railways would take place. The

-paramount and ever-increasing importance attached by the vast majority

-of British traders to quick delivery (an importance so great that on

-some lines there are express goods trains capable of running from 40

-to 60 miles an hour) will keep them to the greater efficiency of the

-railway as a carrier of goods; while, if a serious diversion of traffic

-were really threatened, the British railways would not be handicapped

-as those of France and Germany are in any resort to rates and charges

-which would allow of a fair competition with the waterways.

-

-In practice, therefore, the theory that the canals would become

-self-supporting, as soon as the aforesaid millions had been spent, must

-inevitably break down, with the result that the burden of the whole

-enterprise would then necessarily fall upon the community; and why the

-trader who consigns his goods by rail, or the professional man who

-has no goods to consign at all, should be taxed to allow of cheaper

-transport being conferred on the minority of persons or firms likely to

-use the canals even when resuscitated, is more than I can imagine, or

-than they, probably, will be able to realise.

-

-The whole position was very well described in some remarks made by

-Mr Harold Cox, M.P., in the course of a discussion at the Society of

-Arts in February 1906, on a paper read by Mr R. B. Buckley, on "The

-Navigable Waterways of India."

-

- "There was," he said, "a sort of feeling current at the present time

- in favour of spending large amounts of the taxpayer's money in order

- to provide waterways which the public did not want, or at any rate

- which the public did not want sufficiently to pay for them, which

- after all was the test. He noticed that everybody who advocated

- the construction of canals always wanted them constructed with the

- taxpayer's money, and always wanted them to be worked without a toll.

- Why should not the same principle be applied to railways also? A

- railway was even more useful to the public than a canal; therefore,

- construct it with the taxpayer's money, and allow everybody to use

- it free. It was always possible to get plenty of money subscribed

- with which to build a railway, but nobody would subscribe a penny

- towards the building of canals. An appeal was always made to the

- government. People had pointed to France and Germany, which spent

- large sums of money on their canals. In France that was done because

- the French Parliamentary system was such that it was to the interest

- of the electorate and the elected to spend the public money on local

- improvements or non-improvements.... He had been asked, Why make any

- roads? The difference between roads and canals was that on a canal a

- toll could be levied on the people who used it, but on a road that

- was absolutely impossible. Tolls on roads were found so inconvenient

- that they had to be given up. There was no practical inconvenience in

- collecting tolls on canals; and, therefore, the principle that was

- applied to everything else should apply to canals--namely, that those

- who wanted them should pay for them."

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER X

-

-CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

-

-

-Taking into consideration all the facts and arguments here presented, I

-may summarise as follows the conclusions at which I have arrived:--

-

-(1) That, alike from a geographical, physical, and economic point

-of view, there is no basis for fair comparison between British and

-Continental conditions; consequently our own position must be judged on

-its own merits or demerits.

-

-(2) That, owing to the great changes in British trade, manufacture, and

-commerce, giving rise to widespread and still increasing demands for

-speedy delivery of comparatively small consignments for a great number

-of traders of every possible type, canal transport in Great Britain is

-no longer suited to the general circumstances of the day.

-

-(3) That although a comparatively small number of traders, located

-in the immediate neighbourhood of the canals, might benefit from a

-canal-resuscitation scheme, the carrying out of such scheme at the

-risk, if not at the cost, of the taxpayers, would virtually amount to

-subsidising one section of the community to the pecuniary disadvantage

-of other sections.

-

-(4) That the nationalisation or the municipalisation of British

-canals would introduce a new principle inconsistent with the "private

-enterprise" hitherto recognised in the case of railways, in which such

-large sums have been sunk by investors, but with which State-aided

-canals would compete.

-

-(5) That, in view both of the physical conditions of our land

-(necessitating an extensive resort to locks, etc., to overcome great

-differences in level) and of the fact that many of the most important

-of the canals are now hemmed in by works, houses, or buildings, any

-general scheme of purchase and improvement, in regard even to main

-routes (apart from hopeless derelicts), would be extremely costly, and,

-in most instances, entirely outside the scope of practicability.

-

-(6) That such a scheme, involving an expenditure of many millions,

-could not fail to affect our national finances.

-

-(7) That there is no ground for expecting so large an outlay could be

-recouped by increased receipts from the canals, and that the cost would

-thus inevitably fall upon the community.

-

-(8) That the allegation as to the chief canals of the country, or

-sections thereof, having been "captured" and "strangled" by the

-railway companies, in the interests of their own traffic, is entirely

-unsupported by evidence, the facts being, rather, that in most cases

-the canals were more or less forced upon the railway companies, who

-have spent money liberally on such of them as offered reasonable

-prospect of traffic, and, in that way, have kept alive and in active

-working condition canals that would inevitably have been added to the

-number of derelicts had they remained in the hands of canal companies

-possessed of inadequate capital for the purposes of their efficient

-maintenance.

-

-(9) That certain of these canals (as, for example, the Birmingham

-and the Shropshire Union Canals) are still offering to traders all

-reasonable facilities within the limitations of their surroundings and

-physical possibilities; and that if such canals were required to bear

-the expense of extremely costly widenings, of lock reconstruction, of

-increased water supply, and of general improvements, the tolls and

-charges would have to be raised to such a point that the use of the

-canals would become prohibitive even to those local traders who now

-fully appreciate the convenience they still afford.

-

-(10) That, in effect, whatever may be done in the case of navigable

-rivers, any scheme which aimed at a general resuscitation of canals in

-this country, at the risk, if not at the expense, of the community,

-is altogether impracticable; and that, inasmuch as the only desire

-of the traders, in this connection, is to secure cheaper transport,

-it is desirable to see whether the same results could not be more

-effectively, more generally, and more economically obtained in other

-directions.

-

-Following up this last conclusion, I beg to recommend:--

-

-(_a_) The desirability of increasing the usefulness of the railway

-system, which can go anywhere, serve everybody, and carry and deliver

-consignments, great and small, with that promptness and despatch which

-are all-important to the welfare of the vast majority of industries

-and enterprises, as conducted under the trading conditions of to-day.

-This usefulness, some of the traders allege, is marred by rates and

-charges which they consider unduly heavy, especially in the case of

-certain commodities calling for exceptionally low freight, and canal

-transport is now asked for by them, as against rail transport, just

-as the traders of 1825 wanted the railways as a relief from the

-waterways. The rates and charges, say the railway companies, are not

-unreasonable in themselves, considering all the circumstances of the

-case and the nature of the various services represented, while the

-actual amount thereof is due, to a certain extent, not so much to any

-seeking on the part of the companies to pay dividends of abnormal

-proportions, akin to those of the canal companies of old (the average

-railway dividend to-day, on over one thousand millions of actual

-capital, being only about 3-1/2 per cent.), but to a combination of

-causes which have increased unduly capital outlay and working expenses,

-only to be met out of the rates, fares, and charges that are imposed

-on traders and travellers. Among these causes may be mentioned the

-heavy price the companies have had to pay for their land; the cost of

-Parliamentary proceedings; various requirements imposed by Parliament

-or by Government departments; and the heavy burden of the contribution

-that railway companies make to local rates. (See p. 10.) These various

-conditions must necessarily influence the rates and charges to be paid

-by traders. Some of them--such as cost of land--belong to the past;

-others--like the payments for local taxation--still continue, and tend

-to increase rather than decrease. In any case, the power of the railway

-companies to concede to the traders cheaper transport is obviously

-handicapped. But if, to obtain such cheaper transport, the country is

-prepared to risk (at least) from £20,000,000 to £50,000,000 on a scheme

-of canal reconstruction which, as I have shown, is of doubtful utility

-and practicability, would it not be much more sensible, and much more

-economical, if the weight of the obligations now cast upon railways

-were reduced, thus enabling the companies to make concessions in the

-interests of traders in general, and especially in the interests of

-those consigning goods to ports for shipment abroad, for whose benefit

-the canal revival is more particularly sought?

-

-(_b_) My second recommendation is addressed to the general trader.

-His policy of ordering frequent small consignments to meet immediate

-requirements, and of having, in very many instances, practically no

-warehouse or store-rooms except the railway goods depôts, is one that

-suits him admirably. It enables him either to spend less capital or

-else to distribute his capital over a larger area. He is also spared

-expense in regard to the provision of warehouse accommodation of his

-own. But to the railway companies the general adoption of this policy

-has meant greater difficulty in the making up of "paying loads." To

-suit the exigencies of present-day trade, they have reduced their

-_minima_ to as low, for some commodities, as 2-ton lots, and it is

-assumed by many of the traders that all they need do is to work up to

-such _minima_. But a 2-ton lot for even an 8-ton waggon is hardly a

-paying load. Still less is a 10-cwt. consignment a paying load for a

-similarly sized waggon. Where, however, no other consignments for the

-same point are available, the waggon goes through all the same. In

-Continental countries consignments would be kept back, if necessary,

-for a certain number of days, in order that the "paying load" might

-be made up. But in Great Britain the average trader relies absolutely

-on prompt delivery, however small the consignment, or whatever the

-amount of "working expenses" incurred by the railway in handling it.

-If, however, the trader would show a little more consideration for the

-railway companies--whom he expects to display so much consideration for

-him--he might often arrange to send or to receive his consignments in

-such quantities (at less frequent intervals, perhaps) as would offer

-better loading for the railway waggons, with a consequent decrease of

-working expenses, and a corresponding increase in the ability of the

-railway company to make better terms with him in other directions. Much

-has been done of late years by the railway companies to effect various

-economies in operation, and excellent results have been secured,

-especially through the organisation of transhipping centres for goods

-traffic, and through reductions in train mileage; but still more could

-be done, in the way of keeping down working expenses and improving the

-position of the companies in regard to concessions to traders, if the

-traders themselves would co-operate more with the railways to avoid the

-disadvantages of unremunerative "light-loading."

-

-(_c_) My third and last recommendation is to the agriculturists. I

-have seen repeated assertions to the effect that improved canals would

-be of great advantage to the British farmer; and in this connection

-it may interest the reader if I reproduce the following extract from

-the pamphlet, issued in 1824, by Mr T. G. Cumming, under the title of

-"Illustrations of the Origin and Progress of Rail and Tram Roads and

-Steam Carriages," as already mentioned on p. 21:--

-

- "To the farming interests the advantages of a rail-way will soon

- become strikingly manifest; for, even where the facilities of a

- canal can be embraced, it presents but a slow yet expensive mode of

- conveyance; a whole day will be consumed in accomplishing a distance

- of 20 miles, whilst by the rail-way conveyance, goods will be carried

- the same distance in three or four hours, and perhaps to no class of

- the community is this increased speed of more consideration and value

- than to the farmer, who has occasion to bring his fruit, garden stuff,

- and poultry to market, and still more so to such as are in the habit

- of supplying those great and populous towns with milk and butter,

- whilst with all these additional advantages afforded by a rail-way,

- the expense of conveyance will be found considerably cheaper than by

- canal.

-

- "Notwithstanding the vast importance to the farmer of having the

- produce of his farm conveyed in a cheap and expeditious manner

- to market, it is almost equally essential to him to have a cheap

- conveyance for manure from a large town to a distant farm; and here

- the advantages to be derived from a rail-way are abundantly apparent,

- for by a single loco-motive engine, 50 tons of manure may be conveyed,

- at a comparatively trifling expense, to any farm within the line of

- the road. In the article of lime, also, which is one of the first

- importance to the farmer, there can be no question but the facilities

- afforded by a rail-way will be the means of diminishing the expense in

- a very material degree."

-

-If railways were desirable in 1824 in the interests of agriculture,

-they must be still more so in 1906, and the reversion now to the canal

-transport of former days would be a curious commentary on the views

-entertained at the earlier date. As regards perishables, consigned for

-sale on markets, growers obviously now want the quickest transport

-they can secure, and special fruit and vegetable trains are run

-daily in the summer season for their accommodation. The trader in

-the North who ordered some strawberries from Kent, and got word that

-they were being sent on by canal, would probably use language not fit

-for even a fruit and vegetable market to hear. As for non-perishable

-commodities, consigned to or by agriculturists, the railway is a much

-better distributer than the canal, and, unless a particular farm were

-alongside a canal, the extra cost of cartage therefrom might more than

-outweigh any saving in freight. If greater facilities than the ordinary

-railway are needed by agriculturists, they will be met far better by

-light railways, or by railway road-motors of the kind adopted first by

-the North-Eastern Railway Company at Brandsby, than by any possible

-extension of canals. These road-motors, operated between lines of

-railway and recognised depôts at centres some distance therefrom, are

-calculated to confer on agriculturists a degree of practical advantage,

-in the matter of cheaper transport, limited only by the present

-unfortunate inability of many country roads to bear so heavy a traffic,

-and the equally unfortunate inability of the local residents to bear

-the expense of adapting the roads thereto. If, instead of spending a

-large sum of money on reconstructing canals, the Government devoted

-some of it to grants to County Councils for the reconstruction of rural

-highways, they would do far more good for agriculture, at least. As for

-cheaper rail transport for agricultural commodities in general, I have

-said so much elsewhere as to how these results can be obtained by means

-of combination that I need not enlarge on that branch of the subject

-now, further than to commend it to the attention of the British farmer,

-to whom combination in its various phases will afford a much more

-substantial advantage than any possible resort to inland navigation.

-

-These are the alternatives I offer to proposals which I feel bound

-to regard as more or less quixotic, and I leave the reader to decide

-whether, in view of the actualities of the situation, as set forth in

-the present volume, they are not much more practical than the schemes

-of canal reconstruction for which public favour is now being sought.

-

-

-

-

-APPENDIX

-

-THE DECLINE IN FREIGHT TRAFFIC ON THE MISSISSIPPI

-

-

-Whilst this book is passing through the Press, I have received from

-Mr Stuyvesant Fish, President of the Illinois Central Railroad

-Company--whom I asked to favour me with some additional details

-respecting the decline in freight traffic on the Mississippi River--the

-following interesting notes, drawn up by Mr T. J. Hudson, General

-Traffic Manager of the Illinois Central:--

-

- The traffic on the Mississippi River was established and built up

- under totally different conditions from those now obtaining, and when

- the only other means of travel and transportation was on horseback

- and by waggon, methods not suitable in view of the great distances

- and the general impassibility of the country. In those days the

- principal source of supply was St Louis--and points reached through

- St Louis--for grain, grain products, etc., excepting that vehicles,

- machinery, and iron were brought down the Ohio River from Pittsburg

- and Cincinnati by boat to Cairo, and trans-shipped there, or to

- Memphis, and trans-shipped or re-distributed from that place. The

- distributing points on the Lower Mississippi River were Memphis,

- Vicksburg, Natchez, Bayou Sara, Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Goods

- were shipped to these points and re-shipped from there over small

- railroads to short distances, and also hauled by waggon and re-shipped

- on boats plying in local trade on the Mississippi River and tributary

- streams. For example, there were Boat Lines making small landing

- points above and below Memphis, and above and below Vicksburg; also

- Boat Lines plying the Yazoo and Tallahatchie Rivers on the east, and

- the White, Arkansas and Red Rivers on the west, etc.

-

- All the goods shipped by steamboat were hauled by waggon or dray

- to the steamboat landing, and, when discharged by the boats at

- destination, were again hauled by waggon from the landing to the

- stores and warehouses, even in those cases in which re-shipment was

- made from points like Memphis, Vicksburg, etc. When re-shipped by

- river, the goods were again hauled to the steamboat landing, and, when

- reaching the local landing or point of final consumption, after being

- discharged on the bank, were again hauled by waggon or dray, perhaps

- for considerable distances into the interior.

-

- While the cost of water transportation is primarily low, the frequent

- handling and re-handling made this mode of transportation more or less

- expensive, and in some instances quite costly. River transportation

- again is slow, taking longer time in transit. The frequent handlings,

- further, were damaging and destructive to the packages in the case

- of many kinds of goods. Transportation on the rivers was also at

- times interrupted or delayed from one cause or another, such as high

- water or low water, and the service was, in consequence, more or less

- irregular, thus requiring dealers to carry large stocks on which the

- insurance and interest was a considerable item of expense.

-

- With the development of the railroads through the country, not only

- was competition brought into play to the distributing points along the

- river, such as Memphis, Vicksburg, etc., from St Louis, Cincinnati,

- and Pittsburg, but also from other initial sources of supply which

- were not located on rivers, but were enabled by reason of the

- establishment of rail transportation to consign direct; whereas under

- the old conditions it was necessary for them to consign to some river

- point and trans-ship. What was still more important and effective in

- accomplishing the results since brought about was the material benefit

- conferred by the railroads on most of the communities situated back

- from the river. These communities had previously been obliged to send

- their consignments perhaps many miles by road to some point on the

- river, whence the commodities were carried to some other point, there

- to be taken by waggon or dray to the place of consumption--another

- journey of many miles, perhaps, by road. Progress was slow, and in

- some instances almost impossible, while only small boats could be

- hauled.

-

- Then the construction of railroads led to the development of important

- distributing points in the interior, such as Jackson, (Tennessee), and

- Jackson, (Mississippi), not to mention many others. Goods loaded into

- railroad cars on tracks alongside the mills, factories and warehouses

- could be unloaded at destination into warehouses and stores which also

- had their tracks alongside. By this means drayage was eliminated, and

- the packages could be delivered in clean condition. Neither of these

- conditions was possible where steamboat transportation was employed.

- Interior points are now enabled to buy direct, either in large or

- small quantities, from initial sources of supply, and without the

- delay and expense incident to shipment to river-distributing points,

- and trans-shipment by rail or steamboat or hauling by waggon. Rail

- transportation is also more frequent, regular, rapid and reliable; not

- to mention again the convenience which is referred to above.

-

- The transportation by river of package-freight, such as flour, meal,

- meat, canned goods, dry goods, and other commodities, has been almost

- entirely superseded by rail transportation, except in regard to

- short-haul local landings, where the river is more convenient, and

- the railroad may not be available. There is some south-bound shipment

- of wire, nails, and other iron goods from the Pittsburg district to

- distributing points like Memphis and New Orleans, but in these cases

- the consignments are exclusively in barge-load lots. The only other

- commodity to which these conditions apply is coal. This is taken

- direct from the mines in the Pittsburg district, and dropped into

- barges on the Monongahela River; and these are floated down the river,

- during periods of high water, in fleets of from fifty to several

- hundred barges at a time.

-

- There is no movement of grain in barges from St Louis to New Orleans,

- as was the case a great many years ago. The grain for export _viâ_ New

- Orleans is now largely moved direct in cars from the country elevators

- to the elevators at New Orleans, from which latter the grain is loaded

- direct into ships. There is, also, some movement north-bound in barges

- of lumber and logs from mills and forests not accessible to railroads,

- but very little movement of these or other commodities from points

- that are served by railroad rails. Lumber to be shipped on the river

- must be moved in barge-load quantities, and taken to places like St

- Louis, where it has to be hauled from the barge to lumber yards, and

- then loaded on railroad cars, if it is going to the interior, where a

- considerable proportion of the quantity handled will be wanted. Mills

- reached by railroad tracks can, and do, load in car-load quantities,

- and ship to the final point of use, without the delay incident

- to river transportation, and the expense involved by transfer or

- re-shipment.

-

- It is not to be inferred from the foregoing that all the distributing

- points along the river have dried up since the development of rail

- transportation. In fact, the contrary is the case, because the

- railroads have opened up larger territories to these distributing

- points, and in regard to many kinds of goods these river points

- have become, in a way, initial sources of supply as well as of

- manufacture. Memphis, for example, has grain brought to its elevators

- direct from the farms, the same as St Louis, and can and does ship

- on short notice to the many towns and communities in the territory

- surrounding. There are, also, flour and meal mills, iron foundries,

- waggon and furniture factories, etc., at Memphis, and at other

- places. Many of the points, however, which were once simply landings

- for interior towns and communities have now become comparatively

- insignificant.

-

- To sum up in a few words, I should say that the railroads have

- overcome the steamboat competition on the Mississippi River, not

- only by affording fair and reasonable rates, but also because rail

- transportation is more frequent, rapid, reliable, and convenient, and

- is, on the whole, much cheaper.

-

-

-

-

-FOOTNOTES:

-

-[1] That canals also played their part in the transport of passengers a

-hundred years ago is shown by the following items of news, which I take

-from _The Times_ of 1806:--

-

-  Friday, _December_ 19, 1806.

-

-"The first division of the troops that are to proceed by the Paddington

-Canal for Liverpool, and thence by transports for Dublin, will leave

-Paddington to-day, and will be followed by others to-morrow and Sunday.

-By this mode of conveyance the men will be only seven days in reaching

-Liverpool, and with comparatively little fatigue, as it would take them

-above fourteen days to march that distance. Relays of fresh horses for

-the canal boats have been ordered to be in readiness at all the stages."

-

-  Monday, _December_ 22, 1806.

-

-"Saturday the 8th Regiment embarked at the Paddington Canal for

-Liverpool, in a number of barges, each containing 60 men. This regiment

-consists of 950 men. The 7th Regiment embarked at the same time in

-eighteen barges: they are all to proceed to Liverpool. The Dukes of

-York and Sussex witnessed the embarkation. The remainder of the brigade

-was to follow yesterday, and Friday next another and very considerable

-embarkation will follow."

-

-[2] Illustrations of the Origin and Progress of Rail and Tram Roads,

-and Steam Carriages, or Locomotive Engines. By T. G. Cumming, Surveyor,

-Denbigh, 1824.

-

-[3] A Letter on the subject of the projected Rail-road between

-Liverpool and Manchester, pointing out the necessity for its adoption,

-and the manifest advantages it offers to the public; with an exposure

-of the exorbitant and unjust charges of the Water-Carriers. By Joseph

-Sandars, Esq., Liverpool, 1825.

-

-[4] Mersey and Irwell Navigation.

-

-[5] Another of the speakers, Mr Gordon C. Thomas, engineer to the

-Grand Junction Canal Company, said that "notwithstanding the generous

-expenditure on maintenance, and the large sums recently spent upon

-improvements, the through traffic on the Grand Junction was only

-one-half of what it was fifty years ago, and now the through traffic

-was in many cases unable to pay as high a rate as the local traffic."

-

-[6] In the evidence he gave before the Royal Commission on Canals

-and Waterways on 21st March 1906, Sir Herbert Jekyll, Assistant

-Secretary to the Board of Trade, said (as reported in _The Times_ of

-22nd March):--"One remarkable feature was noticeable--that, although

-the tonnage carried rather increased than diminished between 1838 and

-1848, the receipts fell off enormously, pointing to the conclusion

-that the railway competition had brought about a large reduction in

-canal companies charges. It was also noteworthy that on many canals

-the decrease in receipts had continued out of all proportion to the

-decrease, if any, in the tonnage carried."

-

-[7] In Mr Saner's paper the Birmingham Canal navigations are classed

-among the "Independently-Owned Canals," and Mr Saner says:--"There are

-1,138 miles owned by railway companies, which convey only 6,009,820

-tons per annum, and produce a net profit of only £40 per mile of

-navigation. This," he adds, "appears to afford clear proof that

-the railways do not attempt to make the most of the canals under

-their control." But when the Birmingham Canal, with its 8,000,000

-tons of traffic a year, is transferred (as it ought to be) from

-the independently-owned to the railway-controlled canals, entirely

-different figures are shown.

-

-[8] The fact that coal tipped into a canal boat would have a longer

-drop than coal falling from the colliery screen into railway waggons

-is important because of the greater damage done to the coal, and the

-consequent decrease in value.

-

-[9] Fuller information respecting traffic conditions in Continental

-countries will be found in my book on "Railways and Their Rates."

-

-[10] The figures for the years 1860 to 1890 are taken from the "Report

-of the Committee on Canals of New York State," 1900, General Francis V.

-Greene, chairman; and those for 1900 and 1903 from the "Annual Report

-of Superintendent of Public Works, New York State," 1903.

-

-[11] "The St Lawrence River and the Great Lakes whose waters flow

-through it into the Atlantic form a continuous waterway extending from

-the Fond du Lac, at the head of Lake Superior, to the Straits of Belle

-Isle, a distance of 2,384 miles.... Emptying into the St Lawrence

-... are the Ottawa and Richlieu Rivers, the former bringing it into

-communication with the immense timber forests of Ontario, and the

-latter connecting it with Lake Champion in the United States. These

-rivers were the thoroughfares in peace and the base lines in war for

-the Indian tribes long before the white man appeared in the Western

-Hemisphere.... The early colonists found them the convenient and almost

-the only channels of intercourse among themselves and with the home

-country.... The St Lawrence was navigable for sea-going vessels as far

-as Montreal, but between Montreal and the foot of Lake Ontario there

-was a succession of rapids separated by navigable reaches.... The head

-of navigation on the Ottawa River is the city of Ottawa.... Between

-this city and the mouth of the river there are several impassable

-rapids. The Richlieu was also so much obstructed at various points as

-to be unavailable for navigation.... The canal system of Canada ... has

-been established to overcome these obstructions by artificial channels

-at various points to render freely navigable the national routes of

-transportation."--_"Highways of Commerce," issued by the Bureau of

-Statistics, Department of State, Washington._

-

-[12] The use of a larger type of canal boat is generally regarded

-as an essential part of the resuscitation scheme. But of the narrow

-boats now in active service in the canals of the United Kingdom there

-are from 10,000 to 11,000. What is to be done with these? If they are

-scrap-heaped, and fresh boats substituted, we increase still further

-the sum total of the outlay the scheme will involve.

-

-[13] At the Society of Arts' Conference on Canals, in 1888, Mr L. F.

-Vernon-Harcourt said:--"The statistics show that great caution must be

-exercised in the selection of canal routes for improvement, if they

-are to prove a commercial success, and that the scope for such schemes

-is strictly limited. Any attempt at a general revival and improvement

-of the canal system throughout England cannot prove financially

-successful, as local canals, through thinly populated agricultural

-districts, could not compete with railways. These routes alone should

-be selected for enlargement of waterway which lead direct from the

-sea to large and increasing towns like the proposed canal from the

-Bristol Channel to Birmingham, or which, like the Aire and Calder

-Navigation and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, are suitably set for the

-conveyance of coal and general bulky goods to populous districts. One

-or two through routes to London from manufacturing centres, or from

-coal-mining districts, might have a prospect of success, provided the

-existing canals along the route could be acquired at a small cost, and

-the necessary improvement works were not heavy."

-

-[14] There are even those who argue that the resuscitated canals should

-be toll free.

-

-

-

-

-INDEX

-

-

-  Agriculture and canals, 16, 147-150

-

-  Aire and Calder Navigation, 86, 132, 135

-

-  Allport, Sir James, 37, 81

-

-  Aqueducts, 124

-

-  Association of Chambers of Commerce, 4, 5

-

-

-  Barnsley Canal, 26

-

-  Belgium, waterways in, 93-96, 97

-

-  Birmingham Canal, 26, 37, 57-73, 120, 125

-

-  Boats, size of, 32, 69, 130

-

-  Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal, 26

-

-  Brecon Canal, 45

-

-  Bridgewater Canal, 13-15, 21, 23-24, 124

-

-  Bridgewater, Duke of, 13-15, 23

-

-  Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, 45

-

-  Brindley, James, 14-15, 16, 124

-

-  Brunner, Sir John T., 4

-

-  Buckley, Mr R. B., 141

-

-

-  Caledonian Railway Company, 50-54

-

-  Canada, waterways in, 128-129

-

-  Canals, earliest, in England, 13-22;

-    canal mania, 16;

-    passenger traffic, 18-19;

-    shares and dividends, 21, 26, 27;

-    tolls and charges, 23-25, 27-30;

-    handicapped, 33;

-    attitude towards railways, 34-38;

-    Kennet and Avon, 38-45;

-    Shropshire Union, 47-50;

-    Forth and Clyde, 50-54;

-    "strangulation" theory, 54-55;

-    Birmingham Canal, 57-73;

-    coal traffic, 84-89;

-    canals and waterways on the Continent, 93-103;

-    in the United States, 104-118;

-    in England, 119-141;

-    in Canada, 128-129;

-    conclusions and recommendations, 142-150

-

-  Capitalists, attitude of, 3

-

-  Carnegie, Mr, 110

-

-  Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, 109

-

-  Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 109

-

-  Chesterfield Canal, 46, 123

-

-  Child, Messrs, 15

-

-  Coal, 13, 21, 29-30, 40, 51-53, 81-89

-

-  Consignments, sizes of, 78

-

-  Continental conditions, 11, 93-103, 139, 140, 141

-

-  Cost of reconstruction, 132-136

-

-  Cotton, raw, 89-91

-

-  Coventry Canal, 26

-

-  Cox, M.P., Mr Harold, 140

-

-  Cromford Canal, 123

-

-  Cumming, Mr T. G., 21, 147-148

-

-

-  Dixon, Professor F. H., 110, 117

-

-  Dredging, 43

-

-

-  Electrical installations, 130

-

-  Ellesmere Canal, 26, 47, 124

-

-  Engineers and canal question, 2

-

-  Erie Canal, the, 105-111, 116

-

-

-  Fish, Mr Stuyvesant, 114-115

-

-  Forth and Clyde Navigation, 50-54

-

-  France, waterways in, 100, 102

-

-  Frost on canals, 24, 30, 77

-

-

-  _Gentleman's Magazine_, 26

-

-  Geographical conditions, 11, 94-96, 98-100

-

-  Germany, waterways in, 94, 97, 100-102

-

-  Glass, Mr John, 129

-

-  Government guarantee, 4

-

-  Grand Junction Canal, 26, 39, 120, 123

-

-  Grand Western Canal, 45

-

-  Great Northern Railway, 31, 83

-

-  Great Western Railway Company, 38-45, 67, 68, 70

-

-  Grinling, Mr C. H., 30

-

-

-  Hertslet, Sir E. Cecil, 94

-

-  Holland, waterways in, 77, 94, 96

-

-  Huddersfield Narrow Canal, 120, 123

-

-  Hudson, George, 30

-

-

-  Inglis, Mr J. C., 38-39, 45

-

-

-  Jackson, Mr Luis, 115-117

-

-  Jebb, Mr G. R., 71

-

-  Jekyll, Sir Herbert, 62

-

-

-  Kennet and Avon Canal, 26, 38-45, 121

-

-

-  Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, 46

-

-  Lancaster Canal, 26, 124

-

-  Languedoc Canal, 14

-

-  Leeds and Liverpool Canal, 120, 135

-

-  Leicester and Swinnington Railway, 29

-

-  Lift at Anderton, 122-123

-

-  Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 21, 23-26, 28

-

-  Liverpool merchants, petition from, 25-26

-

-  Local taxation, 9-10, 139, 145-146

-

-  Locks, 32, 33, 43, 50, 66, 120-121, 127

-

-  London and North-Western Railway Company, 37, 46, 48-49, 59-71

-

-  London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company, 128

-

-  London County Council, 5

-

-  Loughborough Canal, 26, 27, 29

-

-

-  Macclesfield Canal, 46

-

-  Manchester and Bury Canal, 46

-

-  Manchester Ship Canal, 133

-

-  McAdam, J. L., 12-13

-

-  Mechanical haulage, 49-50, 121-122, 130-131

-

-  Meiklejohn, Professor, 97

-

-  Mersey and Irwell Navigation, 13, 15, 21, 24

-

-  Mersey Harbour Board, 5

-

-  Midland Railway, 30, 37, 67, 83

-

-  Mining operations and canals, 46, 65-66, 126-127

-

-  Mississippi, the, 111-117

-

-  Monmouthshire Canal, 26, 45

-

-  Morrison, Mr, 27-28

-

-  Manchester, Sheffield and Lincoln Railway Company (Great Central), 46

-

-  Municipalisation schemes, 4-8, 135

-

-

-  Nationalisation of canals, 4, 10, 135

-

-  Neath Canal, 26

-

-  North British Railway, 53

-

-  North-Eastern Railway, 149

-

-

-  Old Union Canal, 26

-

-  Oxford Canal, 26

-

-

-  Packhorse period, the, 12, 16, 18

-

-  Paddington Canal, 18-19

-

-  Physical conditions, 11, 96-99, 119

-

-  Political conditions, 100-102

-

-  Principle, questions of, 9-11

-

-  Private enterprise, 9, 106, 142

-

-  Profits on canals, 15, 16, 21, 26, 27

-

-  Public trusts, 4-6

-

-  Pumping machinery, 42-43, 63

-

-

-  _Quarterly Review_, 17-22, 111

-

-

-  Railways, position of companies as ratepayers, 7-8;

-    cost of railway construction and operation, 9-10;

-    effect on railway rates, 10;

-    advent of, 17-22;

-    Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 21, 25, 28;

-    Leicester and Swinnington Railway, 29;

-    Midland Railway, 30;

-    Great Northern Railway, 31;

-    attitude of canal companies towards, 35-38;

-    control of canals, 38-56, 57-73;

-    railways in Germany, 100-102;

-      in France, 102;

-    recommendations, 145-146

-

-  Ratepayers, liability of, 7-8, 137

-

-  Rates, regulation of, on railways and canals, 27-28

-

-  Regents Canal, 129

-

-  Rennie, 124

-

-  Road-motors, 149

-

-  Rochdale Canal, 26, 120, 132

-

-  Ross, Mr A., 45-47

-

-  Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways, 62

-

-

-  Sandars, Mr Joseph, 21, 23-25, 34, 75

-

-  Saner, Mr J. A., 38, 67, 129

-

-  Sankey Brook and St Helen's Canal, 46

-

-  Saunders, Mr H. J., 39, 44

-

-  Select Committee on Canals (1883), 37

-

-  Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation, 46

-

-  Shropshire Union Canal, 47-50, 69-72, 120

-

-  Somerset Coal Canal, 40

-

-  Speed, 122, 131

-

-  Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, 26

-

-  Stalbridge, Lord, 86

-

-  Stephenson, George, 30

-

-  Stephenson, Robert, 30

-

-  Stourbridge Extension Canal, 45

-

-  "Strangulation" theory, 55, 143

-

-  Stratford-upon-Avon Canal, 45

-

-  Swansea Canal, 26, 45

-

-

-  Taxpayers, how affected, 3, 5, 137

-

-  Telford, 124

-

-  Thames and Severn Canal, 123

-

-  Thames steamboat service, 5

-

-  Thomas, Mr G. C., 39

-

-  Thwaite, Mr, 125

-

-  Trade, changes in, 11, 40-42, 52-54, 61, 74-92, 133-134

-

-  Traders, advice to, 146-147

-

-  Trent and Mersey Navigation, 16, 26, 27, 49, 69, 72, 122, 123

-

-  Troops, transport of, by canal, 18-19

-

-  Tunnels, canal, 123

-

-

-  Ulrich, Herr Franz, 97

-

-  United States, waterways in, 104-118

-

-

-  Vernon-Harcourt, Mr L. F., 135

-

-

-  Walker, Colonel, F. N. T., 5

-

-  Water-supply for canals, 24, 32, 33, 42-43, 62-64, 66, 77, 99, 127-130

-

-  Wheeler, Mr W. H., 99

-

-  Widenings, 66, 70, 71

-

-  Wilts and Berks Canal, 40

-

-  Worcester and Birmingham Canal, 26, 120, 123, 132

-

-

-

-

-WORKS BY EDWIN A. PRATT

-

-

-  THE TRANSITION IN AGRICULTURE

-

-  _Crown 8vo. 350 pp. Illustrations and Plans. 5s. net._

-

- "A book of great value to all interested in farming. Discusses, as

- correctly as possible, the hopeful development of subsidiary branches

- of agriculture, the prospects of co-operation, and the principles on

- which small holdings may be increased."--_The Outlook._

-

-

-  THE ORGANIZATION OF AGRICULTURE

-

-  _Cheaper and Enlarged Edition. Paper covers. 1s. net._

-

- "The first impression produced on the mind of the thoughtful

- reader by a perusal of Mr Pratt's book is that, in one form or

- another, agricultural co-operation is inevitable.... To attempt

- to stand against the pressure of cosmopolitan conditions is as

- futile as Mrs Partington's attempt to keep back the Atlantic with a

- mop."--_Guardian._

-

-

-  RAILWAYS AND THEIR RATES

-

-  WITH AN APPENDIX ON THE BRITISH CANAL PROBLEM

-

-  _Cheap Edition. Paper Covers. 1s. net._

-

- "A valuable book for railwaymen, traders, and others who are

- interested, either theoretically or practically, in the larger

- aspect of the economic problem of how goods are best brought to

- market."--_Scotsman._

-

-

-  OUR WATERWAYS

-

-  A HISTORY OF INLAND NAVIGATION CONSIDERED AS A BRANCH OF

-  WATER CONSERVANCY

-

-  By URQUHART A. FORBES

-  Of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister-at-Law;

-  AND

-  W. H. R. ASHFORD

-

-  _With a Map especially prepared to illustrate the book.

-  Demy 8vo. 12s. net._

-

- "The history of these canals and waterways, and of the law relating to

- them, is clearly set forth in the excellent work. Should become _the_

- standard work of reference upon the subject."--_The Standard._

-

-

-  MUNICIPAL TRADE

-

-  THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES RESULTING FROM THE SUBSTITUTION OF

-  REPRESENTATIVE BODIES FOR PRIVATE PROPRIETORS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF

-  INDUSTRIAL UNDERTAKINGS

-

-  By Major LEONARD DARWIN

-

-  Author of "Bimetallism."

-

-  _Demy 8vo. 12s. net._

-

- "This work should be carefully studied, for there cannot be a

- better guide to the understanding and solution of a difficult

- problem."--_Local Government Chronicle._

-

-

-  MODERN TARIFF HISTORY SHOWING THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF TARIFFS IN

-  GERMANY FRANCE, AND THE UNITED STATES

-

-  By PERCY ASHLEY, M.A.

-

-  Lecturer at the London School of Economics in the University of London

-

-  With an Introduction by the

-  Rt. Hon. R. B. HALDANE, LL.D., K.C., M.P.

-

-  _Demy 8vo. 10s. 6d. net._

-

-

- "... A careful, fair, and accurate review of the modern fiscal history

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-  _With 191 tables, each containing several sections of British or of

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- course of trade from Mr Schooling's clear-sighted methods."--_Times._

-

-

-  THE PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF TAXATION

-

-  By G. ARMITAGE SMITH

-

-  Principal of Birkbeck College.

-

-  _Crown 8vo. 5s._

-

-

-CHAPTER I.--The Grounds and Nature of Public Expenditure. II.--Sources

-of Imperial Revenue, and Theories of Taxation. III.--Principles

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-V.--Indirect Taxation--Taxes on Commodities and Acts. VI.--Incidence

-of Taxation. VII.--National Debts. VIII.--Some other Revenue Systems.

-IX.--Local Taxation.

-

-

-  THE RAILWAYS AND THE TRADERS

-

-  A SKETCH OF THE RAILWAY RATES QUESTION IN THEORY AND PRACTICE

-

-  By W. M. ACWORTH, M.A. (Oxon.),

-

-  And of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law.

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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 47435 ***
+
+BRITISH CANALS
+
+
+[Illustration: AQUEDUCT AT PONTCYSYLLTE (IN THE DISTANCE).
+
+(Constructed by Telford to carry Ellesmere Canal over River Dee. Opened
+1803. Cost £47,000. Length, 1007 feet.)
+
+      [_Frontispiece._
+]
+
+
+
+
+ BRITISH CANALS:
+
+ IS THEIR RESUSCITATION
+ PRACTICABLE?
+
+ BY EDWIN A. PRATT
+
+ AUTHOR OF "RAILWAYS AND THEIR RATES," "THE ORGANIZATION
+ OF AGRICULTURE," "THE TRANSITION IN AGRICULTURE," ETC.
+
+
+ LONDON
+ JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.
+ 1906
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+The appointment of a Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways, which
+first sat to take evidence on March 21, 1906, is an event that should
+lead to an exhaustive and most useful enquiry into a question which has
+been much discussed of late years, but on which, as I hope to show,
+considerable misapprehension in regard to actual facts and conditions
+has hitherto existed.
+
+Theoretically, there is much to be said in favour of canal restoration,
+and the advocates thereof have not been backward in the vigorous and
+frequent ventilation of their ideas. Practically, there are other
+all-important considerations which ought not to be overlooked, though
+as to these the British Public have hitherto heard very little. As a
+matter of detail, also, it is desirable to see whether the theory that
+the decline of our canals is due to their having been "captured" and
+"strangled" by the railway companies--a theory which many people seem
+to believe in as implicitly as they do, say, in the Multiplication
+Table--is really capable of proof, or whether that decline is not,
+rather, to be attributed to wholly different causes.
+
+In view of the increased public interest in the general question, it
+has been suggested to me that the Appendix on "The British Canal
+Problem" in my book on "Railways and their Rates," published in the
+Spring of 1905, should now be issued separately; but I have thought it
+better to deal with the subject afresh, and at somewhat greater length,
+in the present work. This I now offer to the world in the hope that,
+even if the conclusions at which I have arrived are not accepted, due
+weight will nevertheless be given to the important--if not (as I trust
+I may add) the interesting--series of facts, concerning the past and
+present of canals alike at home, on the Continent, and in the United
+States, which should still represent, I think, a not unacceptable
+contribution to the present controversy.
+
+      EDWIN A. PRATT.
+
+London, _April 1906_.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+ CHAP.                                                           PAGE
+
+    I. INTRODUCTORY                                                 1
+
+   II. EARLY DAYS                                                  12
+
+  III. RAILWAYS TO THE RESCUE                                      23
+
+   IV. RAILWAY-CONTROLLED CANALS                                   32
+
+    V. THE BIRMINGHAM CANAL AND ITS STORY                          57
+
+   VI. THE TRANSITION IN TRADE                                     74
+
+  VII. CONTINENTAL CONDITIONS                                      93
+
+ VIII. WATERWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES                             104
+
+   IX. ENGLISH CONDITIONS                                         119
+
+    X. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS                            142
+
+ APPENDIX--THE DECLINE IN FREIGHT TRAFFIC ON THE MISSISSIPPI      151
+
+ INDEX                                                            157
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
+
+
+HALF-TONE ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+ AQUEDUCT AT PONTCYSYLLTE (in the distance)      _Frontispiece_
+
+ WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN:
+ COWLEY TUNNEL AND EMBANKMENTS              _To face page_   32
+
+ LOCKS ON THE KENNET AND AVON CANAL
+ AT DEVIZES                                       "    "     42
+
+ WAREHOUSES AND HYDRAULIC CRANES AT
+ ELLESMERE PORT                                   "    "     48
+
+ WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN:
+ SHROPSHIRE UNION CANAL AT CHESTER                "    "     70
+
+ "FROM PIT TO PORT": PROSPECT PIT, WIGAN          "    "     82
+
+ THE SHIPPING OF COAL: HYDRAULIC TIP ON
+ G.W.R., SWANSEA                                  "    "     88
+
+ A CARGO BOAT ON THE MISSISSIPPI                  "    "    110
+
+ SUCCESSFUL RIVALS OF MISSISSIPPI CARGO
+ BOATS                                            "    "    114
+
+ WATER SUPPLY FOR CANALS: BELVIDE
+ RESERVOIR, STAFFORDSHIRE                         "    "    128
+
+
+MAPS AND DIAGRAMS
+
+ INDEPENDENT CANALS AND INLAND NAVIGATIONS        "    "     54
+
+ CANALS AND RAILWAYS BETWEEN WOLVERHAMPTON
+ AND BIRMINGHAM                                   "    "     56
+
+ SOME TYPICAL BRITISH CANALS                      "    "     98
+
+
+
+
+BRITISH CANALS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+INTRODUCTORY
+
+
+The movement in favour of resuscitating, if not also of reconstructing,
+the British canal system, in conjunction with such improvement as may
+be possible in our natural waterways, is a matter that concerns various
+interests, and gives rise to a number of more or less complicated
+problems.
+
+It appeals in the most direct form to the British trader, from the
+point of view of the possibility of enabling him to secure cheaper
+transit for his goods. Every one must sympathise with him in that
+desire, and there is no need whatever for me to stay here to repeat the
+oft-expressed general reflections as to the important part which cheap
+transit necessarily plays in the development of trade and commerce.
+But when from the general one passes to the particular, and begins to
+consider how these transit questions apply directly to canal revival,
+one comes at once to a certain element of insincerity in the agitation
+which has arisen.
+
+There is no reason whatever for doubt that, whereas one section of
+the traders favouring canal revival would themselves directly benefit
+therefrom, there is a much larger section who have joined in the
+movement, not because they have the slightest idea of re-organising
+their own businesses on a water-transport basis, but simply because
+they think the existence of improved canals will be a means of
+compelling the railway companies to grant reductions of their own
+rates below such point as they now find it necessary to maintain.
+Individuals of this type, though admitting they would not use the
+canals themselves, or very little, would have us believe that there are
+enough of _other_ traders who would patronise them to make them pay. In
+any case, if only sufficient pressure could be brought to bear on the
+railway companies to force them to reduce their rates and charges, they
+would be prepared to regard with perfect equanimity the unremunerative
+outlay on the canals of a large sum of public money, and be quite
+indifferent as to who might have to bear the loss so long as they
+gained what they wanted for themselves.
+
+The subject is, also, one that appeals to engineers. As originally
+constructed, our British canals included some of the greatest
+engineering triumphs of their day, and the reconstruction either of
+these or even of the ordinary canals (especially where the differences
+of level are exceptionally great), would afford much interesting
+work for engineers--and, also, to come to commonplace details, would
+put into circulation a certain number of millions of pounds sterling
+which might lead some of those engineers, at least, to take a still
+keener interest in the general situation. There is absolutely no doubt
+that, from an engineering standpoint, reconstruction, however costly,
+would present no unsurmountable technical difficulties; but I must
+confess that when engineers, looking at the problem exclusively from
+their own point of view, apart from strictly economic and practical
+considerations, advise canal revival as a means of improving British
+trade, I am reminded of the famous remark of Sganerelle, in Molière's
+"L'Amour Médecin"--"Vous êtes orfévre, M. Josse."
+
+The subject strongly appeals, also, to a very large number of patriotic
+persons who, though having no personal or professional interests to
+serve, are rightly impressed with the need for everything that is in
+any way practicable being done to maintain our national welfare, and
+who may be inclined to assume, from the entirely inadequate facts
+which, up to the present, have been laid before them as to the real
+nature and possibilities of our canal system, that great results would
+follow from a generous expenditure of money on canal resuscitation
+here, following on the example already set in Continental countries. It
+is in the highest degree desirable that persons of this class should be
+enabled to form a clear and definite opinion on the subject in all its
+bearings, and especially from points of view that may not hitherto have
+been presented for their consideration.
+
+Then the question is one of very practical interest indeed to the
+British taxpayer. It seems to be generally assumed by the advocates
+of canal revival that it is no use depending on private enterprise.
+England is not yet impoverished, and there is plenty of money still
+available for investment where a modest return on it can be assured.
+But capitalists, large or small, are not apparently disposed to
+risk their own money in the resuscitation of English canals. Their
+expectation evidently is that the scheme would not pay. In the absence,
+therefore, of any willingness on the part of shrewd capitalists--ever
+on the look-out for profitable investments--to touch the business, it
+is proposed that either the State or the local authorities should take
+up the matter, and carry it through at the risk, more or less, either
+of taxpayers or ratepayers.
+
+The Association of Chambers of Commerce, for instance, adopted, by a
+large majority, the following resolution at its annual meeting, in
+London, in February 1905:--
+
+ "This Association recommends that the improvement and extension of
+ the canal system of the United Kingdom should be carried out by means
+ of a public trust, and, if necessary, in combination with local or
+ district public trusts, and aided by a Government guarantee, and that
+ the Executive Council be requested to take all reasonable measures to
+ secure early legislation upon the subject."
+
+Then Sir John T. Brunner has strongly supported a nationalisation
+policy. In a letter to _The Times_ he once wrote:
+
+ "I submit to you that we might begin with the nationalisation of our
+ canals--some for the most part sadly antiquated--and bring them up to
+ one modern standard gauge, such as the French gauge."
+
+Another party favours municipalisation and the creation of public
+trusts, a Bill with the latter object in view being promoted in the
+Session of 1905, though it fell through owing to an informality in
+procedure.
+
+It would be idle to say that a scheme of canal nationalisation, or even
+of public trusts with "Government guarantee" (whatever the precise
+meaning of that term may be) involving millions of public money, could
+be carried through _without_ affecting the British taxpayer. It is
+equally idle to say that if only the canal system were taken in hand by
+the local authorities they would make such a success of it that there
+would be absolutely no danger of the ratepayers being called upon to
+make good any deficiency. The experiences that Metropolitan ratepayers,
+at least, have had as the result of County Council management of the
+Thames steamboat service would not predispose them to any feeling of
+confidence in the control of the canal system of the country by local
+authorities.
+
+At the Manchester meeting of the Association of Chambers of Commerce,
+in September 1904, Colonel F. N. Tannett Walker (Leeds) said, during
+the course of a debate on the canal question: "Personally, he was
+not against big trusts run by local authorities. He knew no more
+business-like concern in the world than the Mersey Harbour Board, which
+was a credit to the country as showing what business men, not working
+for their own selfish profits, but for the good of the community,
+could do for an undertaking. He would be glad to see the Mersey Boards
+scattered all over the country." But, even accepting the principle
+of canal municipalisation, what prospect would there be of Colonel
+Walker's aspiration being realised? The Mersey Harbour Board is an
+exceptional body, not necessarily capable of widespread reproduction on
+the same lines of efficiency. Against what is done in Liverpool may be
+put, in the case of London, the above-mentioned waste of public money
+in connection with the control of the Thames steamboat service by the
+London County Council. If the municipalised canals were to be worked
+on the same system, or any approach thereto, as these municipalised
+steamboats, it would be a bad look-out for the ratepayers of the
+country, whatever benefit might be gained by a small section of the
+traders.
+
+Then one must remember that the canals, say, from the Midlands to one
+of the ports, run through various rural districts which would have
+no interest in the through traffic carried, but might be required,
+nevertheless, to take a share in the cost and responsibility of
+keeping their sections of the municipalised waterways in an efficient
+condition, or in helping to provide an adequate water-supply. It
+does not follow that such districts--even if they were willing to
+go to the expense or the trouble involved--would be able to provide
+representatives on the managing body who would in any way compare, in
+regard to business capacity, with the members of the Mersey Harbour
+Board, even if they did so in respect to public spirit, and the sinking
+of their local interests and prejudices to promote the welfare of
+manufacturers, say, in Birmingham, and shippers in Liverpool, for
+neither of whom they felt any direct concern.
+
+Under the best possible conditions as regards municipalisation, it is
+still impossible to assume that a business so full of complications as
+the transport services of the country, calling for technical or expert
+knowledge of the most pronounced type, could be efficiently controlled
+by individuals who would be essentially amateurs at the business--and
+amateurs they would still be even if assisted by members of Chambers of
+Commerce who, however competent as merchants and manufacturers, would
+not necessarily be thoroughly versed in all these traffic problems. The
+result could not fail to be disastrous.
+
+I come, at this point, in connection with the possible liability of
+ratepayers, to just one matter of detail that might be disposed of
+here. It is certainly one that seems to be worth considering. Assume,
+for the sake of argument, that, in accordance with the plans now being
+projected, (1) public trusts were formed by the local authorities for
+the purpose of acquiring and operating the canals; (2) that these
+trusts secured possession--on some fair system of compensation--of the
+canals now owned or controlled by railway companies; (3) that they
+sought to work the canals in more or less direct competition with the
+railways; (4) that, after spending large sums of money in improvements,
+they found it impossible to make the canals pay, or to avoid heavy
+losses thereon; and (5) that these losses had to be made good by the
+ratepayers. I am merely assuming that all this might happen, not that
+it necessarily would. But, admitting that it did, would the railway
+companies, as ratepayers, be called upon to contribute their share
+towards making good the losses which had been sustained by the local
+authorities in carrying on a direct competition with them?
+
+Such a policy as this would be unjust, not alone to the railway
+shareholders, but also to those traders who had continued to use the
+railway lines, since it is obvious that the heavier the burdens imposed
+on the railway companies in the shape of local rates (which already
+form such substantial items in their "working expenses"), the less
+will the companies concerned be in a position to grant the concessions
+they might otherwise be willing to make. Besides, apart from monetary
+considerations, the principle of the thing would be intolerably unfair,
+and, if only to avoid an injustice, it would surely be enacted that
+any possible increase in local rates, due to the failure of particular
+schemes of canal municipalisation, should fall exclusively on the
+traders and the general public who were to have been benefited, and
+in no way on the railway companies against whom the commercially
+unsuccessful competition had been waged.
+
+This proposition will, I am sure, appeal to that instinct of justice
+and fair play which every Englishman is (perhaps not always rightly),
+assumed to possess. But what would happen if it were duly carried out,
+as it ought to be? Well, in the Chapter on "Taxation of Railways" in
+my book on "Railways and their Rates," I gave one list showing that
+in a total of eighty-two parishes a certain British railway company
+paid an average of 60·25 per cent. of the local rates; while another
+table showed that in sixteen specified parishes the proportion of local
+rates paid by the same railway company ranged from 66·9 per cent. to
+86·1 per cent. of the total, although in twelve parishes out of the
+sixteen the company had not even a railway station in the place. But
+if, in all such parishes as these, the railway companies were very
+properly excused from having to make good the losses incurred by their
+municipalised-canal competitors (in addition to such losses as they
+might have already suffered in meeting the competition), then the full
+weight of the burden would fall upon that smaller--and, in some cases,
+that very small--proportion of the general body of ratepayers in the
+locality concerned.
+
+The above is just a little consideration, _en passant_, which might
+be borne in mind by others than those who look at the subject only
+from a trader's or an engineer's point of view. It will help, also,
+to strengthen my contention that any ill-advised, or, at least,
+unsuccessful municipalisation of the canal system of the country might
+have serious consequences for the general body of the community, who,
+in the circumstances, would do well to "look before they leap."
+
+But, independently of commercial, engineering, rating and other
+considerations, there are important matters of principle to be
+considered. Great Britain is almost the only country in the world where
+the railway system has been constructed without State or municipal
+aid--financial or material--of any kind whatever. The canals were
+built by "private enterprise," and the railways which followed were
+constructed on the same basis. This was recognised as the national
+policy, and private investors were allowed to put their money into
+British railways, throughout successive decades, in the belief and
+expectation that the same principle would be continued. In other
+countries the State has (1) provided the funds for constructing or
+buying up the general railway system; (2) guaranteed payment of
+interest; or (3) has granted land or made other concessions, as a
+means of assisting the enterprise. Not only has the State refrained
+from adopting any such course here, and allowed private investors to
+bear the full financial risk, but it has imposed on British railways
+requirements which may certainly have led to their being the best
+constructed and the most complete of any in the world, but which have,
+also, combined with the extortions of landowners in the first instance,
+heavy expenditure on Parliamentary proceedings, etc., to render their
+construction per mile more costly than those of any other system of
+railways in the world; while to-day local taxation is being levied
+upon them at the rate of £5,000,000 per annum, with an annual increment
+of £250,000.
+
+This heavy expenditure, and these increasingly heavy demands, can
+only be met out of the rates and charges imposed on those who use the
+railways; and one of the greatest grievances advanced against the
+railways, and leading to the agitation for canal revival, is that
+these rates and charges are higher in Great Britain than in various
+other countries, where the railways have cost less to build, where
+State funds have been freely drawn on, and where the State lines
+may be required to contribute nothing to local taxation. The remedy
+proposed, however, is not that anything should be done to reduce the
+burdens imposed on our own railways, so as to place them at least in
+the position of being able to make further concessions to traders, but
+that the State should now itself start in the business, in competition,
+more or less, with the railway companies, in order to provide the
+traders--if it can--with something _cheaper_ in the way of transport!
+
+Whatever view may be taken of the reasonableness and justice of such a
+procedure as this, it would, undoubtedly, represent a complete change
+in national policy, and one that should not be entered upon with
+undue haste. The logical sequel, for instance, of nationalisation of
+the canals would be nationalisation of the railways, since it would
+hardly do for the State to own the one and not the other. Then, of
+course, the nationalisation of all our ports would have to follow,
+as the further logical sequel of the State ownership of the means of
+communication with them, and the consequent suppression of competition.
+From a Socialist standpoint, the successive steps here mentioned would
+certainly be approved; but, even if the financial difficulty could be
+met, the country is hardly ready for all these things at present.
+
+Is it ready, even in principle, for either the nationalisation or
+the municipalisation of canals alone? And, if ready in principle, if
+ready to employ public funds to compete with representatives of the
+private enterprise it has hitherto encouraged, is it still certain
+that, when millions of pounds sterling have been spent on the revival
+of our canals, the actual results will in any way justify the heavy
+expenditure? Are not the physical conditions of our country such that
+canal construction here presents exceptional drawbacks, and that canal
+navigation must always be exceptionally slow? Are not both physical
+and geographical conditions in Great Britain altogether unlike those
+of most of the Continental countries of whose waterways so much is
+heard? Are not our commercial conditions equally dissimilar? Is not
+the comparative neglect of our canals due less to structural or
+other defects than to complete changes in the whole basis of trading
+operations in this country--changes that would prevent any general
+discarding of the quick transit of small and frequent supplies by
+train, in favour of the delayed delivery of large quantities at longer
+intervals by water, however much the canals were improved?
+
+These are merely some of the questions and considerations that arise in
+connection with this most complicated of problems, and it is with the
+view of enabling the public to appreciate more fully the real nature of
+the situation, and to gain a clearer knowledge of the facts on which
+a right solution must be based, that I venture to lay before them the
+pages that follow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+EARLY DAYS
+
+
+It seems to be customary with writers on the subject of canals and
+waterways to begin with the Egyptians, to detail the achievements of
+the Chinese, to record the doings of the Greeks, and then to pass on
+to the Romans, before even beginning their account of what has been
+done in Great Britain. Here, however, I propose to leave alone all this
+ancient history, which, to my mind, has no more to do with existing
+conditions in our own country than the system of inland navigation
+adopted by Noah, or the character of the canals which are supposed to
+exist in the planet of Mars.
+
+For the purposes of the present work it will suffice if I go no further
+back than what I would call the "pack-horse period" in the development
+of transport in England. This was the period immediately preceding the
+introduction of artificial canals, which had their rise in this country
+about 1760-70. It preceded, also, the advent of John Loudon McAdam,
+that great reformer of our roads, whose name has been immortalised in
+the verb "to macadamise." Born in 1756, it was not until the early days
+of the nineteenth century that McAdam really started on his beneficent
+mission, and even then the high-roads of England--and especially of
+Scotland--were, as a rule, deplorably bad, "being at once loose,
+rough, and perishable, expensive, tedious and dangerous to travel on,
+and very costly to repair." Pending those improvements which McAdam
+brought about, adapting them to the better use of stage-coaches and
+carriers' waggons, the few roads already existing were practically
+available--as regards the transport of merchandise--for pack-horses
+only. Even coal was then carried by pack-horse, the cost working out at
+about 2s. 6d. per mile for as much as a horse could carry.
+
+It was from these conditions that canals saved the country--long,
+of course, before the locomotive came into vogue. As it happened,
+too, it was this very question of coal transport that led to their
+earliest development. There is quite an element of romance in the
+story. Francis Egerton, third and last Duke of Bridgewater (born 1736),
+had an unfortunate love affair in London when he reached the age of
+twenty-three, and, apparently in disgust with the world, he retired to
+his Lancashire property, where he found solace to his wounded feelings
+by devoting himself to the development of the Worsley coal mines. As a
+boy he had been so feeble-minded that the doubt arose whether he would
+be capable of managing his own affairs. As a young man disappointed in
+love, he applied himself to business in a manner so eminently practical
+that he deservedly became famous as a pioneer of improved transport. He
+saw that if only the cost of carriage could be reduced, a most valuable
+market for coal from his Worsley mines could be opened up in Manchester.
+
+It is true that, in this particular instance, the pack-horse had been
+supplemented by the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, established as the
+result of Parliamentary powers obtained in 1733. This navigation
+was conducted almost entirely by natural waterways, but it had many
+drawbacks and inconveniences, while the freight for general merchandise
+between Liverpool and Manchester by this route came to 12s. per ton.
+The Duke's new scheme was one for the construction of an artificial
+waterway which could be carried over the Irwell at Barton by means of
+an aqueduct. This idea he got from the aqueduct on the Languedoc Canal,
+in the south of France.
+
+But the Duke required a practical man to help him, and such a man he
+found in James Brindley. Born in 1716, Brindley was the son of a small
+farmer in Derbyshire--a dissolute sort of fellow, who neglected his
+children, did little or no work, and devoted his chief energies to
+the then popular sport of bull-baiting. In the circumstances James
+Brindley's school-teaching was wholly neglected. He could no more have
+passed an examination in the Sixth Standard than he could have flown
+over the Irwell with some of his ducal patron's coals. "He remained to
+the last illiterate, hardly able to write, and quite unable to spell.
+He did most of his work in his head, without written calculations
+or drawings, and when he had a puzzling bit of work he would go to
+bed, and think it out." From the point of view of present day Board
+School inspectors, and of the worthy magistrates who, with varied
+moral reflections, remorselessly enforce the principles of compulsory
+education, such an individual ought to have come to a bad end. But he
+didn't. He became, instead, "the father of inland navigation."
+
+James Brindley had served his apprenticeship to a millwright, or
+engineer; he had started a little business as a repairer of old
+machinery and a maker of new; and he had in various ways given proof of
+his possession of mechanical skill. The Duke--evidently a reader of
+men--saw in him the possibility of better things, took him over, and
+appointed him his right-hand man in constructing the proposed canal.
+After much active opposition from the proprietors of the Mersey and
+Irwell Navigation, and also from various landowners and others, the
+Duke got his first Act, to which the Royal assent was given in 1762,
+and the work was begun. It presented many difficulties, for the canal
+had to be carried over streams and bogs, and through tunnels costly
+to make, and the time came when the Duke's financial resources were
+almost exhausted. Brindley's wages were not extravagant. They amounted,
+in fact, to £1 a week--substantially less than the minimum wage that
+would be paid to-day to a municipal road-sweeper. But the costs of
+construction were heavy, and the landowners had unduly big ideas of the
+value of the land compulsorily acquired from them, so that the Duke's
+steward sometimes had to ride about among the tenantry and borrow a
+few pounds from one and another in order to pay the week's wages. When
+the Worsley section had been completed, and had become remunerative,
+the Duke pledged it to Messrs Child, the London bankers, for £25,000,
+and with the money thus raised he pushed on with the remainder of the
+canal, seeing it finally extended to Liverpool in 1772. Altogether
+he expended on his own canals no less than £220,000; but he lived to
+derive from them a revenue of £80,000 a year.
+
+The Duke of Bridgewater's schemes gave a great impetus to canal
+construction in Great Britain, though it was only natural that a good
+deal of opposition should be raised, as well. About the year 1765
+numerous pamphlets were published to show the danger and impolicy of
+canals. Turnpike trustees were afraid the canals would divert traffic
+from the roads. Owners of pack-horses fancied that ruin stared them in
+the face. Thereupon the turnpike trustees and the pack-horse owners
+sought the further support of the agricultural interests, representing
+that, when the demand for pack-horses fell off, there would be less
+need for hay and oats, and the welfare of British agriculture would be
+prejudiced. So the farmers joined in, and the three parties combined
+in an effort to arouse the country. Canals, it was said, would involve
+a great waste of land; they would destroy the breed of draught horses;
+they would produce noxious or humid vapours; they would encourage
+pilfering; they would injure old mines and works by allowing of new
+ones being opened; and they would destroy the coasting trade, and,
+consequently, "the nursery for seamen."
+
+By arguments such as these the opposition actually checked for some
+years the carrying out of several important undertakings, including
+the Trent and Mersey Navigation. But, when once the movement had
+fairly started, it made rapid progress. James Brindley's energy, down
+to the time of his death in 1772, was especially indomitable. Having
+ensured the success of the Bridgewater Canal, he turned his attention
+to a scheme for linking up the four ports of Liverpool, Hull, Bristol,
+and London by a system of main waterways, connected by branch canals
+with leading industrial centres off the chief lines of route. Other
+projects followed, as it was seen that the earlier ventures were
+yielding substantial profits, and in 1790 a canal mania began. In 1792
+no fewer than eighteen new canals were promoted. In 1793 and 1794 the
+number of canal and navigation Acts passed was forty-five, increasing
+to eighty-one the total number which had been obtained since 1790. So
+great was the public anxiety to invest in canals that new ones were
+projected on all hands, and, though many of them were of a useful
+type, others were purely speculative, were doomed to failure from the
+start, and occasioned serious losses to thousands of investors. In
+certain instances existing canals were granted the right to levy tolls
+upon new-comers, as compensation for prospective loss of traffic--even
+when the new canals were to be 4 or 5 miles away--fresh schemes being
+actually undertaken on this basis.
+
+The canals that paid at all paid well, and the good they conferred on
+the country in the days of their prosperity is undeniable. Failing,
+at that time, more efficient means of transport, they played a most
+important rôle in developing the trade, industries, and commerce of
+our country at a period especially favourable to national advancement.
+For half a century, in fact, the canals had everything their own way.
+They had a monopoly of the transport business--except as regards road
+traffic--and in various instances they helped their proprietors to make
+huge profits. But great changes were impending, and these were brought
+about, at last, with the advent of the locomotive.
+
+The general situation at this period is well shown by the following
+extracts from an article on "Canals and Rail-roads," published in the
+_Quarterly Review_ of March 1825:--
+
+ "It is true that we, who, in this age, are accustomed to roll along
+ our hard and even roads at the rate of 8 or 9 miles an hour, can
+ hardly imagine the inconveniences which beset our great-grandfathers
+ when they had to undertake a journey--forcing their way through deep
+ miry lanes; fording swollen rivers; obliged to halt for days together
+ when 'the waters were out'; and then crawling along at a pace of 2
+ or 3 miles an hour, in constant fear of being set down fast in some
+ deep quagmire, of being overturned, breaking down, or swept away by a
+ sudden inundation.
+
+ "Such was the travelling condition of our ancestors, until the several
+ turnpike Acts effected a gradual and most favourable change, not only
+ in the state of the roads, but the whole appearance of the country;
+ by increasing the facility of communication, and the transport of
+ many weighty and bulky articles which, before that period, no effort
+ could move from one part of the country to another. The pack-horse was
+ now yoked to the waggon, and stage coaches and post-chaises usurped
+ the place of saddle-horses. Imperfectly as most of these turnpike
+ roads were constructed, and greatly as their repairs were neglected,
+ they were still a prodigious improvement; yet, for the conveyance
+ of heavy merchandise the progress of waggons was slow and their
+ capacity limited. This defect was at length remedied by the opening
+ of canals, an improvement which became, with regard to turnpike roads
+ and waggons, what these had been to deep lanes and pack-horses.[1]
+ But we may apply to projectors the observation of Sheridan, 'Give
+ these fellows a good thing and they never know when to have done with
+ it,' for so vehement became the rage for canal-making that, in a few
+ years, the whole surface of the country was intersected by these
+ inland navigations, and frequently in parts of the island where there
+ was little or no traffic to be conveyed. The consequence was, that a
+ large proportion of them scarcely paid an interest of one per cent.,
+ and many nothing at all; while others, judiciously conducted over
+ populous, commercial, and manufacturing districts, have not only amply
+ remunerated the parties concerned, but have contributed in no small
+ degree to the wealth and prosperity of the nation.
+
+ "Yet these expensive establishments for facilitating the conveyance
+ of the commercial, manufacturing and agricultural products of the
+ country to their several destinations, excellent and useful as all
+ must acknowledge them to be, are now likely, in their turn, to give
+ way to the old invention of Rail-roads. Nothing now is heard of but
+ rail-roads; the daily papers teem with notices of new lines of them
+ in every direction, and pamphlets and paragraphs are thrown before
+ the public eye, recommending nothing short of making them general
+ throughout the kingdom. Yet, till within these few months past,
+ this old invention, in use a full century before canals, has been
+ suffered, with few exceptions, to act the part only of an auxiliary
+ to canals, in the conveyance of goods to and from the wharfs, and of
+ iron, coals, limestone, and other products of the mines to the nearest
+ place of shipment....
+
+ "The powers of the steam-engine, and a growing conviction that our
+ present modes of conveyance, excellent as they are, both require and
+ admit of great improvements, are, no doubt, among the chief reasons
+ that have set the current of speculation in this particular direction."
+
+Dealing with the question of "vested rights," the article warns
+"the projectors of the intended railroads ... of the necessity of
+being prepared to meet the most strenuous opposition from the canal
+proprietors," and proceeds:--
+
+ "But, we are free to confess, it does not appear to us that the canal
+ proprietors have the least ground for complaining of a grievance.
+ They embarked their property in what they conceived to be a good
+ speculation, which in some cases was realised far beyond their most
+ sanguine hopes; in others, failed beyond their most desponding
+ calculations. If those that have succeeded should be able to maintain
+ a competition with rail-ways by lowering their charges; what they
+ thus lose will be a fair and unimpeachable gain to the public, and a
+ moderate and just profit will still remain to them; while the others
+ would do well to transfer their interests from a bad concern into one
+ whose superiority must be thus established. Indeed, we understand that
+ this has already been proposed to a very considerable extent, and that
+ the level beds of certain unproductive canals have been offered for
+ the reception of rail-ways.
+
+ "There is, however, another ground upon which, in many instances, we
+ have no doubt, the opposition of the canal proprietors may be properly
+ met--we mean, and we state it distinctly, the unquestionable fact,
+ that our trade and manufactures have suffered considerably by the
+ disproportionate rates of charge upon canal conveyance. The immense
+ tonnage of coal, iron, and earthenware, Mr Cumming tells us,[2] 'have
+ enabled one of the canals, passing through these districts (near
+ Birmingham), to pay an annual dividend to the proprietary of £140 upon
+ an original share of £140, and as such has enhanced the value of each
+ share from £140 to £3,200; and another canal in the same district, to
+ pay an annual dividend of £160 upon the original share of £200, and
+ the shares themselves have reached the value of £4,600 each.'
+
+ "Nor are these solitary instances. Mr Sandars informs us[3] that,
+ of the only two canals which unite Liverpool with Manchester, the
+ thirty-nine original proprietors of one of them, the Old Quay,[4]
+ have been paid for every other year, for nearly half a century, the
+ _total amount of their investment_; and that a share in this canal,
+ which cost only £70, has recently been sold for £1,250; and that, with
+ regard to the other, the late Duke of Bridgewater's, there is good
+ reason to believe that the net income has, for the last twenty years,
+ averaged nearly £100,000 per annum!"
+
+In regard, however, to the supersession of canals in general by
+railways, the writer of the article says:--
+
+ "We are not the advocates for visionary projects that interfere with
+ useful establishments; we scout the idea of a _general_ rail-road as
+ altogether impracticable....
+
+ "As to those persons who speculate on making rail-ways general
+ throughout the kingdom, and superseding all the canals, all the
+ waggons, mail and stage-coaches, post-chaises, and, in short, every
+ other mode of conveyance by land and water, we deem them and their
+ visionary schemes unworthy of notice."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+RAILWAYS TO THE RESCUE
+
+
+It is not a little curious to find that, whereas the proposed
+resuscitation of canals is now being actively supported in various
+quarters as a means of effecting increased competition with the
+railways, the railway system itself originally had a most cordial
+welcome from the traders of this country as a means of relieving
+them from what had become the intolerable monopoly of the canals and
+waterways!
+
+It will have been seen that in the article published in the _Quarterly
+Review_ of March 1825, from which I gave extracts in the last Chapter,
+reference was made to a "Letter on the Subject of the Projected
+Rail-road between Liverpool and Manchester," by Mr Joseph Sandars, and
+published that same year. I have looked up the original "Letter," and
+found in it some instructive reading. Mr Sandars showed that although,
+under the Act of Parliament obtained by the Duke of Bridgewater, the
+tolls to be charged on his canal between Liverpool and Manchester were
+not to exceed 2s. 6d. per ton, his trustees had, by various exactions,
+increased them to 5s. 2d. per ton on all goods carried along the
+canal. They had also got possession of all the available land and
+warehouses along the canal banks at Manchester, thus monopolising the
+accommodation, or nearly so, and forcing the traders to keep to the
+trustees, and not patronise independent carriers. It was, Mr Sandars
+declared, "the most oppressive and unjust monopoly known to the trade
+of this country--a monopoly which there is every reason to believe
+compels the public to pay, in one shape or another, £100,000 more
+per annum than they ought to pay." The Bridgewater trustees and the
+proprietors of the Mersey and Irwell Navigation were, he continued,
+"deaf to all remonstrances, to all entreaties"; they were "actuated
+solely by a spirit of monopoly and extension," and "the only remedy
+the public has left is to go to Parliament and ask for a new line of
+conveyance." But this new line, he said, would have to be a railway. It
+could not take the form of another canal, as the two existing routes
+had absorbed all the available water-supply.
+
+In discussing the advantages of a railway over a canal, Mr Sandars
+continued:--
+
+ "It is computed that goods could be carried for considerably less than
+ is now charged, and for one-half of what has been charged, and that
+ they would be conveyed in one-sixth of the time. Canals in summer are
+ often short of water, and in winter are obstructed by frost; a Railway
+ would not have to encounter these impediments."
+
+Mr Sandars further wrote:--
+
+ "The distance between Liverpool and Manchester, by the three lines
+ of Water conveyance, is upwards of 50 miles--by a Rail-road it would
+ only be 33. Goods conveyed by the Duke and Old Quay [Mersey and
+ Irwell Navigation] are exposed to storms, the delays from adverse
+ winds, and the risk of damage, during a passage of 18 miles in the
+ tide-way of the Mersey. For days together it frequently happens that
+ when the wind blows very strong, either south or north, their vessels
+ cannot move against it. It is very true that when the winds and tides
+ are favourable they can occasionally effect a passage in fourteen
+ hours; but the average is certainly thirty. However, notwithstanding
+ all the accommodation they can offer, the delays are such that the
+ spinners and dealers are frequently obliged to cart cotton on the
+ public high-road, a distance of 36 miles, for which they pay four
+ times the price which would be charged by a Rail-road, and they are
+ three times as long in getting it to hand. The same observation
+ applies to manufactured goods which are sent by land-carriage daily,
+ and for which the rate paid is five times that which they would be
+ subject to by the Rail-road. This enormous sacrifice is made for two
+ reasons--sometimes because conveyance by water cannot be promptly
+ obtained, but more frequently because speed and certainty as to
+ delivery are of the first importance. Packages of goods sent from
+ Manchester, for immediate shipment at Liverpool, often pay two or
+ three pounds per ton; and yet there are those who assert that the
+ difference of a few hours in speed can be no object. The merchants
+ know better."
+
+In the same year that Mr Sandars issued his "Letter," the merchants
+of the port of Liverpool addressed a memorial to the Mayor and Common
+Council of the borough, praying them to support the scheme for the
+building of a railway, and stating:--
+
+ "The merchants of this port have for a long time past experienced
+ very great difficulties and obstructions in the prosecution of their
+ business, in consequence of the high charges on the freight of goods
+ between this town and Manchester, and of the frequent impossibility
+ of obtaining vessels for days together."
+
+It is clear from all this that, however great the benefit which canal
+transport had conferred, as compared with prior conditions, the canal
+companies had abused their monopoly in order to secure what were often
+enormous profits; that the canals themselves, apart from the excessive
+tolls and charges imposed, failed entirely to meet the requirements
+of traders; and that the most effective means of obtaining relief was
+looked for in the provision of railways.
+
+The value to which canal shares had risen at this time is well shown by
+the following figures, which I take from the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for
+December, 1824:--
+
+  +-------------------------------+----------------------+--------+
+  |      Canal.                   |         Shares.      | Price. |
+  +-------------------------------+----------------------+--------+
+  |                               | £ _s._ _d._          |   £    |
+  |Trent and Mersey               | 75  0  0             | 2,200  |
+  |Loughborough                   |197  0  0             | 4,600  |
+  |Coventry                       | 44  0  0 (and bonus) | 1,300  |
+  |Oxford (short shares)          | 32  0  0   "    "    |   850  |
+  |Grand Junction                 | 10  0  0   "    "    |   290  |
+  |Old Union                      |  4  0  0             |   103  |
+  |Neath                          | 15  0  0             |   400  |
+  |Swansea                        | 11  0  0             |   250  |
+  |Monmouthshire                  | 10  0  0             |   245  |
+  |Brecknock and Abergavenny      |  8  0  0             |   175  |
+  |Staffordshire & Worcestershire | 40  0  0             |   960  |
+  |Birmingham                     | 12 10  0             |   350  |
+  |Worcester and Birmingham       |  1 10  0             |    56  |
+  |Shropshire                     |  8  0  0             |   175  |
+  |Ellesmere                      |  3 10  0             |   102  |
+  |Rochdale                       |  4  0  0             |   140  |
+  |Barnsley                       | 12  0  0             |   330  |
+  |Lancaster                      |  1  0  0             |    45  |
+  |Kennet and Avon                |  1  0  0             |    29  |
+  +-------------------------------+----------------------+--------+
+
+These substantial values, and the large dividends that led to them,
+were due in part, no doubt, to the general improvement in trade which
+the canals had helped most materially to effect; but they had been
+greatly swollen by the merciless way in which the traders of those
+days were exploited by the representatives of the canal interest. As
+bearing on this point, I might interrupt the course of my narrative
+to say that in the House of Commons on May 17, 1836, Mr Morrison,
+member for Ipswich, made a speech in which, as reported by Hansard, he
+expressed himself "clearly of opinion" that "Parliament should, when it
+established companies for the formation of canals, railroads, or such
+like undertakings, invariably reserve to itself the power to make such
+periodical revisions of the rates and charges as it may, under the then
+circumstances, deem expedient"; and he proposed a resolution to this
+effect. He was moved to adopt this course in view of past experiences
+in connection with the canals, and a desire that there should be no
+repetition of them in regard to the railways then being very generally
+promoted. In the course of his speech he said:--
+
+ "The history of existing canals, waterways, etc., affords abundant
+ evidence of the evils to which I have been averting. An original share
+ in the Loughborough Canal, for example, which cost £142, 17s. is now
+ selling at about £1,250, and yields a dividend of £90 or £100 a year.
+ The fourth part of a Trent and Mersey Canal share, or £50 of the
+ company's stock, is now fetching £600, and yields a dividend of about
+ £30 a year. And there are various other canals in nearly the same
+ situation."
+
+At the close of the debate which followed, Mr Morrison withdrew his
+resolution, owing to the announcement that the matter to which he had
+called attention would be dealt with in a Bill then being framed. It
+is none the less interesting thus to find that Parliamentary revisions
+of railway rates were, in the first instance, directly inspired by the
+extortions practised on the traders by canal companies in the interest
+of dividends far in excess of any that the railway companies have
+themselves attempted to pay.
+
+Reverting to the story of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway--the
+projection of which, as Mr Sandars' "Letter" shows, represented
+a revolt against "the exorbitant and unjust charges of the
+water-carriers"--the Bill promoted in its favour was opposed so
+vigorously by the canal and other interests that £70,000 was spent in
+the Parliamentary proceedings in getting it through. But it was carried
+in 1826, and the new line, opened in 1830, was so great a success that
+it soon began to inspire many similar projects in other directions,
+while with its opening the building of fresh canals for ordinary inland
+navigation (as distinct from ship canals) practically ceased.
+
+There is not the slightest doubt that, but for the extreme
+dissatisfaction of the trading interests in regard alike to the heavy
+charges and to the shortcomings of the canal system, the Liverpool and
+Manchester Railway--that precursor of the "railway mania"--would not
+have been actually constructed until at least several years later. But
+there were other directions, also, in which the revolt against the then
+existing conditions was to bring about important developments. In the
+pack-horse period the collieries of Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire
+respectively supplied local needs only, the cost of transport by
+road making it practically impossible to send coal out of the county
+in which it was raised. With the advent of canals the coal could be
+taken longer distances, and the canals themselves gained so much
+from the business that at one time shares in the Loughborough Canal,
+on which £142 had been paid, rose, as already shown, to £4,600, and
+were looked upon as being as safe as Consols. But the collapse of a
+canal from the Leicestershire coal-fields to the town of Leicester
+placed the coalowners of that county at a disadvantage, and this they
+overcame, in 1832, by opening the Leicester and Swinnington line of
+railway. Thereupon the disadvantage was thrown upon the Nottinghamshire
+coalowners, who could no longer compete with Leicestershire. In fact,
+the immediate outlook before them was that they would be excluded from
+their chief markets, that their collieries might have to be closed, and
+that the mining population would be thrown out of employment.
+
+In their dilemma they appealed to the canal companies, and asked
+for such a reduction in rates as would enable them to meet the
+new situation; but the canal companies--wedded to their big
+dividends--would make only such concessions as were thought by
+the other side to be totally inadequate. Following on this the
+Nottinghamshire coalowners met in the parlour of a village inn at
+Eastwood, in the autumn of 1832, and formally declared that "there
+remained no other plan for their adoption than to attempt to lay a
+railway from their collieries to the town of Leicester." The proposal
+was confirmed by a subsequent meeting, which resolved that "a railway
+from Pinxton to Leicester is essential to the interests of the
+coal-trade of this district." Communications were opened with George
+Stephenson, the services of his son Robert were secured, the "Midland
+Counties Railway" was duly constructed, and the final outcome of the
+action thus taken--as the direct result of the attitude of the canal
+companies--is to be seen in the splendid system known to-day as the
+Midland Railway.
+
+Once more, I might refer to Mr Charles H. Grinling's "History of the
+Great Northern Railway," in which, speaking of early conditions, he
+says:--
+
+ "During the winter of 1843-44 a strong desire arose among the
+ landowners and farmers of the eastern counties to secure some of the
+ benefits which other districts were enjoying from the new method
+ of locomotion. One great want of this part of England was that of
+ cheaper fuel, for though there were collieries open at this time
+ in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire, the nearest
+ pits with which the eastern counties had practicable transport
+ communication were those of South Yorkshire and Durham, and this was
+ of so circuitous a character that even in places situated on navigable
+ rivers, unserved by a canal, the price of coal often rose as high as
+ 40s. or even 50s. a ton. In remoter places, to which it had to be
+ carted 10, 20, or even 30 miles along bad cross-roads, coal even for
+ house-firing was a positive luxury, quite unattainable by the poorer
+ classes. Moreover, in the most severe weather, when the canals were
+ frozen, the whole system of supply became paralysed, and even the
+ wealthy had not seldom to retreat shivering to bed for lack of fuel."
+
+In this particular instance it was George Hudson, the "Railway King,"
+who was approached, and the first lines were laid of what is now the
+Great Northern Railway.
+
+So it happened that, when the new form of transport came into vogue, in
+succession to the canals, it was essentially a case of "Railways to the
+Rescue."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+RAILWAY-CONTROLLED CANALS
+
+
+Both canals and railways were, in their early days, made according to
+local conditions, and were intended to serve local purposes. In the
+case of the former the design and dimensions of the canal boat used
+were influenced by the depth and nature of the estuary or river along
+which it might require to proceed, and the size of the lock (affecting,
+again, the size of the boat) might vary according to whether the lock
+was constructed on a low level, where there was ample water, or on a
+high level, where economy in the use of water had to be practised.
+Uniformity under these varying conditions would certainly have been
+difficult to secure, and, in effect, it was not attempted. The original
+designers of the canals, in days when the trade of the country was far
+less than it is now and the general trading conditions very different,
+probably knew better what they were about than their critics of to-day
+give them credit for. They realised more completely than most of
+those critics do what were the limitations of canal construction in a
+country of hills and dales, and especially in rugged and mountainous
+districts. They cut their coat, as it were, according to their cloth,
+and sought to meet the actual needs of the day rather than anticipate
+the requirements of futurity. From their point of view this was the
+simplest solution of the problem.
+
+[Illustration: WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN.
+
+(Cowley Tunnel and Embankments, on Shropshire Union Route between
+Wolverhampton and the Mersey.)
+
+      [_To face page 32._
+]
+
+But, though the canals thus made suited local conditions, they became
+unavailable for through traffic, except in boats sufficiently small
+to pass the smallest lock or the narrowest and shallowest canal _en
+route_. Then the lack of uniformity in construction was accompanied by
+a lack of unity in management. Each and every through route was divided
+among, as a rule, from four to eight or ten different navigations, and
+a boat-owner making the journey had to deal separately with each.
+
+The railway companies soon began to rid themselves of their own local
+limitations. A "Railway Clearing House" was set up in 1847, in the
+interests of through traffic; groups of small undertakings amalgamated
+into "great" companies; facilities of a kind unknown before were made
+available, while the whole system of railway operation was simplified
+for traders and travellers. The canal companies, however, made no
+attempt to follow the example thus set. They were certainly in a more
+difficult position than the railways. They might have amalgamated, and
+they might have established a Canal Clearing House. These would have
+been comparatively easy things to do. But any satisfactory linking up
+of the various canal systems throughout the country would have meant
+virtual reconstruction, and this may well have been thought a serious
+proposition in regard, especially, to canals built at a considerable
+elevation above the sea level, where the water supply was limited, and
+where, for that reason, some of the smallest locks were to be found.
+To say the least of it, such a work meant a very large outlay, and at
+that time practically all the capital available for investment in
+transport was being absorbed by new railways. These, again, had secured
+the public confidence which the canals were losing. As Mr Sandars said
+in his "Letter":--
+
+ "Canals have done well for the country, just as high roads and
+ pack-horses had done before canals were established; but the
+ country has now presented to it cheaper and more expeditious means
+ of conveyance, and the attempt to prevent its adoption is utterly
+ hopeless."
+
+All that the canal companies did, in the first instance, was to attempt
+the very thing which Mr Sandars considered "utterly hopeless." They
+adopted a policy of blind and narrow-minded hostility. They seemed to
+think that, if they only fought them vigorously enough, they could
+drive the railways off the field; and fight them they did, at every
+possible point. In those days many of the canal companies were still
+wealthy concerns, and what their opposition might mean has been
+already shown in the case of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The
+newcomers had thus to concentrate their efforts and meet the opposition
+as best they could.
+
+For a time the canal companies clung obstinately to their high tolls
+and charges, in the hope that they would still be able to pay their big
+dividends. But, when the superiority of the railways over the waterways
+became more and more manifest, and when the canal companies saw greater
+and still greater quantities of traffic being diverted from them by
+their opponents, in fair competition, they realised the situation at
+last, and brought down their tolls with a rush. The reductions made
+were so substantial that they would have been thought incredible a few
+years previously.
+
+In the result, benefits were gained by all classes of traders, for
+those who still patronised the canals were charged much more reasonable
+tolls than they had ever paid before. But even the adoption of this
+belated policy by the canal companies did not help them very much.
+The diversion of the stream of traffic to the railways had become too
+pronounced to be checked by even the most substantial of reductions
+in canal charges. With the increasing industrial and commercial
+development of the country it was seen that the new means of transport
+offered advantages of even greater weight than cost of transport,
+namely, speed and certainty of delivery. For the average trader it was
+essentially a case of time meaning money. The canal companies might
+now reduce their tolls so much that, instead of being substantially
+in excess of the railway rates, as they were at first, they would
+fall considerably below; but they still could not offer those other
+all-important advantages.
+
+As the canal companies found that the struggle was, indeed, "utterly
+hopeless," some of them adopted new lines of policy. Either they
+proposed to build railways themselves, or they tried to dispose of
+their canal property to the newcomers. In some instances the route of
+a canal, no longer of much value, was really wanted for the route of a
+proposed railway, and an arrangement was easily made. In others, where
+the railway promoters did not wish to buy, opposition to their schemes
+was offered by the canal companies with the idea of forcing them either
+so to do, or, alternatively, to make such terms with them as would be
+to the advantage of the canal shareholders.
+
+The tendency in this direction is shown by the extract already given
+from the _Quarterly Review_; and I may repeat here the passage in which
+the writer suggested that some of the canal companies "would do well to
+transfer their interests from a bad concern into one whose superiority
+must be thus established," and added: "Indeed, we understand that
+this has already been proposed to a very considerable extent, and
+that the level beds of certain unproductive canals have been offered
+for the reception of rail-ways." This was as early as 1825. Later on
+the tendency became still more pronounced as pressure was put on the
+railway companies, or as promoters, in days when plenty of money was
+available for railway schemes, thought the easiest way to overcome
+actual or prospective opposition was to buy it off by making the best
+terms they could. So far, in fact, was the principle recognised that in
+1845 Parliament expressly sanctioned the control of canals by railway
+companies, whether by amalgamation, lease, purchase, or guarantee, and
+a considerable amount of canal mileage thus came into the possession,
+or under the control, of railway companies, especially in the years
+1845, 1846, and 1847. This sanction was practically repealed by the
+Railway and Traffic Acts of 1873 and 1888. By that time about one-third
+of the existing canals had been either voluntarily acquired by, or
+forced upon, the railway companies. It is obvious, however, that the
+responsibility for what was done rests with Parliament itself, and
+that in many cases, probably, the railway companies, instead of being
+arch-conspirators, anxious to spend their money in killing off moribund
+competitors, who were generally considered to be on the point of dying
+a natural death, were, at times, victims of the situation, being
+practically driven into purchases or guarantees which, had they been
+perfectly free agents, they might not have cared to touch.
+
+The general position was, perhaps, very fairly indicated by the late
+Sir James Allport, at one time General Manager of the Midland Railway
+Company, in the evidence he gave before the Select Committee on Canals
+in 1883.
+
+ "I doubt (he said) if Parliament ever, at that time of day, came
+ to any deliberate decision as to the advisability or otherwise of
+ railways possessing canals; but I presume that they did not do so
+ without the fullest evidence before them, and no doubt canal companies
+ were very anxious to get rid of their property to railways, and they
+ opposed their Bills, and, in the desire to obtain their Bills, railway
+ companies purchased their canals. That, I think, would be found to
+ be the fact, if it were possible to trace them out in every case. I
+ do not believe that the London and North-Western would have bought
+ the Birmingham Canal but for this circumstance. I have no doubt that
+ the Birmingham Canal, when the Stour Valley line was projected, felt
+ that their property was jeopardised, and that it was then that the
+ arrangement was made by which the London and North-Western Railway
+ Company guaranteed them 4 per cent."
+
+The bargains thus effected, either voluntarily or otherwise (and mostly
+otherwise), were not necessarily to the advantage of the railway
+companies, who might often have done better for themselves if they had
+fought out the fight at the time with their antagonists, and left the
+canal companies to their fate, instead of taking over waterways which
+have been more or less of a loss to them ever since. Considering the
+condition into which many of the canals had already drifted, or were
+then drifting, there is very little room for doubt what their fate
+would have been if the railway companies had left them severely alone.
+Indeed, there are various canals whose continued operation to-day, in
+spite of the losses on their wholly unremunerative traffic, is due
+exclusively to the fact that they are owned or controlled by railway
+companies. Independent proprietors, looking to them for dividends, and
+not under any statutory obligations (as the railway companies are) to
+keep them going, would long ago have abandoned such canals entirely,
+and allowed them to be numbered among the derelicts.
+
+As bearing on the facts here narrated, I might mention that, in the
+course of a discussion at the Institution of Civil Engineers, in
+November 1905, on a paper read by Mr John Arthur Saner, "Waterways
+in Great Britain" (reported in the official "Proceedings" of the
+Institution), Mr James Inglis, General Manager of the Great Western
+Railway Company, said that "his company owned about 216 miles of canal,
+not a mile of which had been acquired voluntarily. Many of those
+canals had been forced on the railway as the price of securing Acts,
+and some had been obtained by negotiations with the canal companies.
+The others had been acquired in incidental ways, arising from the fact
+that the traffic had absolutely disappeared." Mr Inglis further told
+the story of the Kennet and Avon Canal, which his company maintain at
+a loss of about £4,000 per annum. The canal, it seems, was constructed
+in 1794 at a cost of £1,000,000, and at one time paid 5 per cent. The
+traffic fell off steadily with the extension of the railway system,
+and in 1846 the canal company, seeing their position was hopeless,
+applied to Parliament for powers to construct a railway parallel with
+the canal. Sanction was refused, though the company were authorised to
+act as common carriers. In 1851 the canal owners approached the Great
+Western Railway Company, and told them of their intention to seek again
+for powers to build an opposition railway. The upshot of the matter
+was that the railway company took over the canal, and agreed to pay
+the canal company £7,773 a year. This they have done, with a loss to
+themselves ever since. The rates charged on the canal were successively
+reduced by the Board of Trade (on appeal being made to that body) to
+1-1/4d., then to 1d., and finally 1/2d. per ton-mile; but there had
+never been a sign, Mr Inglis added, that the reduction had any effect
+in attracting additional traffic.[5]
+
+
+To ascertain for myself some further details as to the past and present
+of the Kennet and Avon Navigation, I paid a visit of inspection to the
+canal in the neighbourhood of Bath, where it enters the River Avon, and
+also at Devizes, where I saw the remarkable series of locks by means
+of which the canal reaches the town of Devizes, at an elevation of 425
+feet above sea level. In conversation, too, with various authorities,
+including Mr H. J. Saunders, the Canals Engineer of the Great Western
+Railway Company, I obtained some interesting facts which throw light
+on the reasons for the falling off of the traffic along the canal.
+
+Dealing with this last mentioned point first, I learned that much
+of the former prosperity of the Kennet and Avon Navigation was due
+to a substantial business then done in the transport of coal from
+a considerable colliery district in Somersetshire, comprising the
+Radstock, Camerton, Dunkerton, and Timsbury collieries. This coal was
+first put on the Somerset Coal Canal, which connected with the Kennet
+and Avon at Dundas--a point between Bath and Bradford-on-Avon--and, on
+reaching this junction, it was taken either to towns directly served
+by the Kennet and Avon (including Bath, Bristol, Bradford, Trowbridge,
+Devizes, Kintbury, Hungerford, Newbury and Reading) or, leaving the
+Kennet and Avon at Semmington, it passed over the Wilts and Berks Canal
+to various places as far as Abingdon. In proportion, however, as the
+railways developed their superiority as an agent for the effective
+distribution of coal, the traffic by canal declined more and more,
+until at last it became non-existent. Of the three canals affected, the
+Somerset Coal Canal, owned by an independent company, was abandoned, by
+authority of Parliament, two years ago; the Wilts and Berks, also owned
+by an independent company, is practically derelict, and the one that
+to-day survives and is in good working order is the Kennet and Avon,
+owned by a railway company.
+
+Another branch of local traffic that has left the Kennet and Avon Canal
+for the railway is represented by the familiar freestone, of which
+large quantities are despatched from the Bath district. The stone
+goes away in blocks averaging 5 tons in weight, and ranging up to 10
+tons, and at first sight it would appear to be a commodity specially
+adapted for transport by water. But once more the greater facilities
+afforded by the railway have led to an almost complete neglect of the
+canal. Even where the quarries are immediately alongside the waterway
+(though this is not always the case) horses must be employed to get the
+blocks down to the canal boat; whereas the blocks can be put straight
+on to the railway trucks on the sidings which go right into the
+quarry, no horses being then required. In calculating, therefore, the
+difference between the canal rate and the railway rate, the purchase
+and maintenance of horses at the points of embarkation must be added
+to the former. Then the stone could travel only a certain distance by
+water, and further cost might have to be incurred in cartage, if not in
+transferring it from boat to railway truck, after all, for transport to
+final destination; whereas, once put on a railway truck at the quarry,
+it could be taken thence, without further trouble, to any town in Great
+Britain where it was wanted. In this way, again, the Kennet and Avon
+(except in the case of consignments to Bristol) has practically lost a
+once important source of revenue.
+
+A certain amount of foreign timber still goes by water from Avonmouth
+or Bristol to the neighbourhood of Pewsey, and some English-grown
+timber is taken from Devizes and other points on the canal to Bristol,
+Reading, and intermediate places; grain is carried from Reading to
+mills within convenient reach of the canal, and there is also a small
+traffic in mineral oils and general merchandise, including groceries
+for shopkeepers in towns along the canal route; but, whereas, in
+former days a grocer would order 30 tons of sugar from Bristol to be
+delivered to him by boat at one time, he now orders by post, telegraph,
+or telephone, very much smaller quantities as he wants them, and these
+smaller quantities are consigned mainly by train, so that there is less
+for the canal to carry, even where the sugar still goes by water at all.
+
+Speaking generally, the actual traffic on the Kennet and Avon at the
+western end would not exceed more than about three or four boats a day,
+and on the higher levels at the eastern end it would not average one
+a day. Yet, after walking for some miles along the canal banks at two
+of its most important points, it was obvious to me that the decline in
+the traffic could not be attributable to any shortcomings in the canal
+itself. Not only does the Kennet and Avon deserve to rank as one of
+the best maintained of any canal in the country, but it still affords
+all reasonable facilities for such traffic as is available, or seems
+likely to be offered. Instead of being neglected by the Great Western
+Railway Company, it is kept in a state of efficiency that could not
+well be improved upon short of a complete reconstruction, at a very
+great cost, in the hope of getting an altogether problematical increase
+of patronage in respect to classes of traffic different from what was
+contemplated when the canal was originally built.
+
+[Illustration: LOCKS ON THE KENNET AND AVON CANAL AT DEVIZES.
+
+(A difference in level of 239 feet in 2-1/2 miles is overcome by 29
+locks. Of these, 17 immediately follow one another in direct line,
+"pounds" being provided to ensure sufficiency of reserve water to work
+boats through.)
+
+  _Photo by Chivers, Devizes._]      [_To face page 42._
+]
+
+Within the last year or two the railway company have spent £3,000 or
+£4,000 on the pumping machinery. The main water supply is derived from
+a reservoir, about 9 acres in extent, at Crofton, this reservoir being
+fed partly by two rivulets (which dry up in the summer) and partly
+by its own springs; and extensive pumping machinery is provided for
+raising to the summit level the water that passes from the reservoir
+into the canal at a lower level, the height the water is thus raised
+being 40 feet. There is also a pumping station at Claverton, near Bath,
+which raises water from the river Avon. Thanks to these provisions, on
+no occasion has there been more than a partial stoppage of the canal
+owing to a lack of water, though in seasons of drought it is necessary
+to reduce the loading of the boats.
+
+The final ascent to the Devizes level is accomplished by means of
+twenty-nine locks in a distance of 2-1/2 miles. Of these twenty-nine
+there are seventeen which immediately follow one another in a direct
+line, and here it has been necessary to supplement the locks with
+"pounds" to ensure a sufficiency of reserve water to work the boats
+through. No one who walks alongside these locks can fail to be
+impressed alike by the boldness of the original constructors of the
+canal and by the thoroughness with which they did their work. The walls
+of the locks are from 3 to 6 feet in thickness, and they seem to have
+been built to last for all eternity. The same remark applies to the
+constructed works in general on this canal. For a boat to pass through
+the twenty-nine locks takes on an average about three hours. The 39-1/2
+miles from Bristol to Devizes require at least two full days.
+
+Considerable expenditure is also incurred on the canal in dredging
+work; though here special difficulties are experienced, inasmuch as
+the geological formation of the bed of the canal between Bath and
+Bradford-on-Avon renders steam dredging inadvisable, so that the more
+expensive and less expeditious system of "dragging" has to be relied on
+instead.
+
+Altogether it costs the Great Western Railway Company about £1 to
+earn each 10s. they receive from the canal; and whether or not,
+considering present day conditions of trade and transport, and the
+changes that have taken place therein, they would get their money
+back if they spent still more on the canal, is, to say the least of
+it, extremely problematical. One fact absolutely certain is that the
+canal is already capable of carrying a much greater amount of traffic
+than is actually forthcoming, and that the absence of such traffic is
+not due to any neglect of the waterway by its present owners. Indeed,
+I had the positive assurance of Mr Saunders that, in his capacity as
+Canals Engineer to the Great Western, he had never yet been refused by
+his Company any expenditure he had recommended as necessary for the
+efficient maintenance of the canals under his charge. "I believe," he
+added, "that any money required to be spent for this purpose would
+be readily granted. I already have power to do anything I consider
+advisable to keep the canals in proper order; and I say without
+hesitation that all the canals belonging to the Great Western Railway
+Company are well maintained, and in no way starved. The decline in the
+traffic is due to obvious causes which would still remain, no matter
+what improvements one might seek to carry out."
+
+
+The story told above may be supplemented by the following extract from
+the report of the Great Western Railway Company for the half-year
+ending December 1905, showing expenses and receipts in connection with
+the various canals controlled by that company:--
+
+GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY CANALS,
+
+for half-year ending 31st December 1905.
+
+          Canal.        To Canal Expenses.  By Canal Traffic.
+
+  Bridgwater and Taunton   £1,991  2  8         £664  8  9
+  Grand Western               197  7  1          119 10 10
+  Kennet and Avon           5,604  0  9        2,034 18  8
+  Monmouthshire             1,557  3  3          886 16  8
+  Stourbridge Extension       450 19  4          765  7  1
+  Stratford-upon-Avon       1,349 11  3          724  1  4
+  Swansea                   1,643 15  7        1,386 14  9
+                         --------------     --------------
+                          £12,793 19 11       £6,581 18  1
+                         --------------     --------------
+
+The capital expenditure on these different canals, to the same date,
+was as follows:--
+
+  Brecon                      £61,217 19  0
+  Bridgwater and Taunton       73,989 12  4
+  Grand Western                30,629  8  7
+  Kennet and Avon             209,509 19  3
+  Stourbridge Extension        49,436 15  0
+  Stratford-on-Avon           172,538  9  7
+  Swansea                     148,711 17  6
+                             --------------
+  Total,                     £746,034  1  3
+                            ---------------
+
+These figures give point to the further remark made by Mr Inglis at the
+meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers when he said, "It was
+not to be imagined that the railway companies would willingly have all
+their canal property lying idle; they would be only too glad if they
+could see how to use the canals so as to obtain a profit, or even to
+reduce the loss."
+
+On the same occasion, Mr A. Ross, who also took part in the debate,
+said he had had charge of a number of railway-owned canals at different
+times, and he was of opinion there was no foundation for the
+allegation that railway-owned canals were not properly maintained. His
+first experience of this kind was with the Sankey Brook and St Helens
+Canal, one of wide gauge, carrying a first-class traffic, connecting
+the two great chemical manufacturing towns of St Helens and Widnes,
+and opening into the Mersey. Early in the seventies the canal became
+practically a wreck, owing to the mortar on the walls having been
+destroyed by the chemicals in the water which the manufactories had
+drained into the canal. In addition, there was an overflow into the
+Sankey Brook, and in times of flood the water flowed over the meadows,
+and thousands of acres were rendered barren. Mr Ross continued (I quote
+from the official report):--
+
+ "The London and North-Western Railway Company, who owned the canal,
+ went to great expense in litigation, and obtained an injunction
+ against the manufacturers, and in the result they had to purchase all
+ the meadows outright, as the quickest way of settling the question
+ of compensation. The company rebuilt all the walls and some of the
+ locks. If that canal had not been supported by a powerful corporation
+ like the London and North-Western Railway, it must inevitably have
+ been in ruins now. The next canal he had to do with, the Manchester
+ and Bury Canal, belonging to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
+ Company, was almost as unfortunate. The coal workings underneath the
+ canal absolutely wrecked it, compelling the railway company to spend
+ many thousands of pounds in law suits and on restoring the works,
+ and he believed that no independent canal could have survived the
+ expense. Other canals he had had to do with were the Peak Forest, the
+ Macclesfield and the Chesterfield canals, and the Sheffield and South
+ Yorkshire Navigation, which belonged to the old Manchester Sheffield
+ and Lincolnshire Railway. Those canals were maintained in good order,
+ although the traffic was certainly not large."
+
+On the strength of these personal experiences Mr Ross thought that
+"if a company came forward which was willing to give reasonable
+compensation, the railway companies would not be difficult to deal
+with."
+
+
+The "Shropshire Union" is a railway-controlled canal with an especially
+instructive history.
+
+This system has a total mileage of just over 200 miles. It extends from
+Wolverhampton to Ellesmere Port on the river Mersey, passing through
+Market Drayton, Nantwich and Chester, with branches to Shrewsbury,
+Newtown (Montgomeryshire), Llangollen, and Middlewich (Cheshire). Some
+sections of the canal were made as far back as 1770, and others as
+recently as 1840. At one time it was owned by a number of different
+companies, but by a process of gradual amalgamation, most of these
+were absorbed by the Ellesmere and Chester Canal Company. In 1846
+this company obtained Acts of Parliament which authorised them to
+change their name to that of "The Shropshire Union Railways and Canal
+Company," and gave them power to construct three lines of railway:
+(1) from the Chester and Crewe Branch of the Grand Junction Railway
+at Calveley to Wolverhampton; (2) from Shrewsbury to Stafford, with a
+branch to Stone; and (3) from Newtown (Montgomeryshire) to Crewe. Not
+only do we get here a striking instance of the tendency shown by canal
+companies to start railways on their own account, but in each one of
+the three Acts authorising the lines mentioned I find it provided that
+"it shall be lawful for the Chester and Holyhead Railway Company and
+the Manchester and Birmingham Railway Company, or either of them, to
+subscribe towards the undertaking, and hold shares in the Shropshire
+Union Railways and Canal Company."
+
+Experience soon showed that the Shropshire Union had undertaken more
+than it could accomplish. In 1847 the company obtained a fresh Act
+of Parliament, this time to authorise a lease of the undertakings of
+the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company to the London and
+North-Western Railway Company. The Act set forth that the capital
+of the Shropshire Union Company was £482,924, represented by shares
+on which all the calls had been paid, and that the indebtedness on
+mortgages, bonds and other securities amounted to £814,207. Under these
+adverse conditions, "it has been agreed," the Act goes on to say,
+"between the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company and the London
+and North-Western Railway Company, with a view to the economical and
+convenient working" of the three railways authorised, "that a lease
+in perpetuity of the undertaking of the Shropshire Union Railways and
+Canal Company should be granted to the London and North-Western Railway
+Company, and accepted by them, at a rent which shall be equal to ...
+half the rate per cent. per annum of the dividend which shall from time
+to time be payable on the capital stock of the London and North-Western
+Railway Company."
+
+[Illustration: WAREHOUSES AND HYDRAULIC CRANES AT ELLESMERE PORT.
+
+      [_To face page 48._
+]
+
+We have in this another example of the way in which a railway company
+has saved a canal system from extinction, while under the control
+of the London and North-Western the Shropshire Union Canal is still
+undoubtedly one of the best maintained of any in the country.
+There may be sections of it, especially in out-lying parts, where
+the traffic is comparatively small, but a considerable business is
+still done in the conveyance of sea-borne grain from the Mersey to
+the Chester district, or in that of tinplates, iron, and manufactured
+articles from the Black Country to the Mersey for shipment. For
+traffic such as this the canal already offers every reasonable
+facility. The Shropshire Union is also a large carrier of goods to
+and from the Potteries district, in conjunction with the Trent and
+Mersey. So little has the canal been "strangled," or even neglected,
+by the London and North-Western Railway Company that, in addition
+to maintaining its general efficiency, the expenditure incurred by
+that company of late years for the development of Ellesmere Port--the
+point where the Shropshire Union Canal enters the Manchester Ship
+Canal--amounts to several hundred thousand pounds, this money having
+been spent mainly in the interest of the traffic along the Shropshire
+Union Canal. Deep-water quay walls of considerable length have
+been built; warehouses for general merchandise, with an excellent
+system of hydraulic cranes, have been provided; a large grain depôt,
+fully equipped with grain elevators and other appliances, has been
+constructed at a cost of £80,000 to facilitate, more especially, the
+considerable grain transport by canal that is done between the River
+Mersey and the Chester district; and at the present time the dock area
+is being enlarged, chiefly for the purpose of accommodating deeper
+barges, drawing about 7 feet of water.
+
+Another fact I might mention in regard to the Shropshire Union Canal
+is in connection with mechanical haulage. Elaborate theories, worked
+out on paper, as to the difference in cost between rail transport and
+water transport, may be completely upset where the water transport is
+to be conducted, not on a river or on a canal crossing a perfectly
+level plain, but along a canal which is raised, by means of locks,
+several hundred feet on one side of a ridge, or of some elevated
+table-land, and must be brought down in the same way on the other side.
+So, again, the value of what might otherwise be a useful system of
+mechanical haulage may be completely marred owing to the existence of
+innumerable locks.
+
+This conclusion is the outcome of a series of practical experiments
+conducted on the Shropshire Union Canal at a time when the theorists
+were still working out their calculations on paper. The experiments
+in question were directed to ascertaining whether economy could be
+effected by making up strings of narrow canal boats, and having them
+drawn by a tug worked by steam or other motive power, instead of
+employing man and horse for each boat. The plan answered admirably
+until the locks were reached. There the steam-tug was, temporarily, no
+longer of any service. It was necessary to keep a horse at every lock,
+or flight of locks, to get the boats through, so that, apart from the
+tedious delays (the boats that passed first having to wait for the
+last-comers before the procession could start again), the increased
+expense at the locks nullified any saving gained from the mechanical
+haulage.
+
+
+As a further illustration--drawn this time from Scotland--of the
+relations of railway companies to canals, I take the case of the Forth
+and Clyde Navigation, controlled by the Caledonian Railway Company.
+
+This navigation really consists of two sections--the Forth and Clyde
+Navigation, and the Monkland Navigation. The former, authorised in
+1768, and opened in 1790, commences at Grangemouth on the Firth of
+Forth, crosses the country by Falkirk and Kirkintilloch, and terminates
+at Bowling on the Clyde. It has thirty-nine locks, and at one point has
+been constructed through 3 miles of hard rock. The original depth of 8
+feet was increased to 10 feet in 1814. In addition to the canal proper,
+the navigation included the harbours of Grangemouth and Bowling, and
+also the Grangemouth Branch Railway, and the Drumpeller Branch Railway,
+near Coatbridge. The Monkland Canal, also opened in 1790, was built
+from Glasgow _viâ_ Coatbridge to Woodhall in Lanarkshire, mainly for
+the transport of coal from the Lanarkshire coal-fields to Glasgow and
+elsewhere. Here the depth was 6 feet. The undertakings of the Forth and
+Clyde and the Monkland Navigations were amalgamated in 1846.
+
+Prior to 1865, the Caledonian Railway did not extend further north than
+Greenhill, about 5 miles south of Falkirk, where it joined the Scottish
+Central Railway. This undertaking was absorbed by the Caledonian in
+1865, and the Caledonian system was thus extended as far north as
+Perth and Dundee. The further absorption of the Scottish North-Eastern
+Railway Company, in 1866, led to the extension of the Caledonian system
+to Aberdeen.
+
+At this time the Caledonian Railway Company owned no port or harbour
+in Scotland, except the small and rather shallow tidal harbour of
+South Alloa. Having got possession of the railway lines in Central
+Scotland, they thought it necessary to obtain control of some port on
+the east coast, in the interests of traffic to or from the Continent,
+and especially to facilitate the shipment to the Continent of coal
+from the Lanarkshire coal-fields, chiefly served by them. The port of
+Grangemouth being adapted to their requirements, they entered into
+negotiations with the proprietors of the Forth and Clyde Navigation,
+who were also proprietors of the harbour of Grangemouth, and acquired
+the whole undertaking in 1867, guaranteeing to the original company a
+dividend of 6-1/4 per cent.
+
+Since their acquisition of the canal, the Caledonian Railway Company
+have spent large sums annually in maintaining it in a state of
+efficiency, and its general condition to-day is better than when it
+was taken over. Much of the traffic handled is brought into or sent
+out from Grangemouth, and here the Caledonian Railway Company have
+more than doubled the accommodation, with the result that the imports
+and exports have enormously increased. All the same, there has been a
+steady decrease in the actual canal traffic, due to various causes,
+such as (_a_) the exhaustion of several of the coal-fields in the
+Monkland district; (_b_) the extension of railways; and (_c_) changes
+in the sources from which certain classes of traffic formerly carried
+on the canal are derived.
+
+In regard to the coal-fields, the closing of pits adjoining the canal
+has been followed by the opening of others at such a distance from the
+canal that it was cheaper to consign by rail.
+
+In the matter of railway extensions, when the Caledonian took over
+the canal in 1867, there were practically no railways in the district
+through which it runs, and the coal and other traffic had, perforce,
+to go by water. But, year by year, a complete network of railways
+was spread through the district by independent railway companies,
+notwithstanding the efforts made by the Caledonian to protect the
+interests of the canal-efforts that led, in some instances, to
+Parliament refusing assent to the proposed lines. Those that were
+constructed (over a dozen lines and branches altogether), were almost
+all absorbed by the North British Railway Company, who are strong
+competitors with the Caledonian Railway Company, and have naturally
+done all they could to get traffic for the lines in question. This, of
+course, has been at the expense of the canal and to the detriment of
+the Caledonian Railway Company, who, in view of their having guaranteed
+a dividend to the original proprietors, would prefer that the traffic
+in question should remain on the canal instead of being diverted to an
+opposition line of railway. Other traffic which formerly went by canal,
+and is now carried on the Caledonian Railway, is of a character that
+would certainly go by canal no longer, and for this the Caledonian and
+the North British Companies compete.
+
+The third factor in the decline of the canal relates to the general
+consideration that, during the last thirty or forty years, important
+works have no longer been necessarily built alongside canal banks,
+but have been constructed wherever convenient, and connected with the
+railways by branch lines or private sidings, expense of cartage to or
+from the canal dock or basin thus being saved. On the Forth and Clyde
+Canal a good deal of coal is still carried, but mainly to adjoining
+works. Coal is also shipped in vessels on the canal for transport to
+the West Highlands and Islands, where the railways cannot compete;
+but even here there is an increasing tendency for the coal to be
+bought in Glasgow (to which port it is carried by rail), so that the
+shippers can have a wider range of markets when purchasing. Further
+changes affecting the Forth and Clyde Canal are illustrated by the
+fact that whereas, at one time, large quantities of grain were brought
+into Grangemouth from Russian and other Continental ports, transhipped
+into lighters, and sent to Glasgow by canal, the grain now received at
+Glasgow comes mainly from America by direct steamer.
+
+That the Caledonian Railway Company have done their duty towards the
+Forth and Clyde Canal is beyond all reasonable doubt. It is true
+that they are not themselves carriers on the canal. They are only
+toll-takers. Their business has been to maintain the canal in efficient
+condition, and allow any trader who wishes to make use of it so to do,
+on paying the tolls. This they have done, and, if the traders have not
+availed themselves of their opportunities, it must naturally have been
+for adequate reasons, and especially because of changes in the course
+of the country's business which it is impossible for a railway company
+to control, even where, as in this particular case, they are directly
+interested in seeing the receipts from tolls attain to as high a figure
+as practicable.
+
+
+I reserve for another chapter a study of the Birmingham Canal system,
+which, again, is "railway controlled"; but I may say here that I
+think the facts already given show it is most unfair to suggest,
+as is constantly being done in the Press and elsewhere, that the
+railway companies bought up canals--"of malice aforethought," as it
+were--for the express purpose of killing such competition as they
+represented--a form of competition in which, as we have seen, public
+confidence had already practically disappeared. One of the witnesses at
+the canal enquiry in 1883 even went so far as to assert:
+
+ "The railway companies have been enabled, in some cases by means of
+ very questionable legality, to obtain command of 1,717 miles of canal,
+ so adroitly selected as to strangle the whole of the inland water
+ traffic, which has thus been forced upon the railways, to the great
+ interruption of their legitimate and lucrative trade."
+
+The assertions here made are constantly being reproduced in one form
+or another by newspaper writers, public speakers, and others, who have
+gone to no trouble to investigate the facts for themselves, who have
+never read, or, if they have read, have disregarded, the important
+evidence of Sir James Allport, at the same enquiry, in reference to the
+London coal trade (I shall revert to this subject later on), and who
+probably have either not seen a map of British canals and waterways
+at all, or else have failed to notice the routes that still remain
+independent, and are in no way controlled by railway companies.
+
+[Illustration: INDEPENDENT CANALS
+
+AND
+
+INLAND NAVIGATIONS
+
+IN
+
+ENGLAND
+
+Which are not controlled by railway companies]
+
+1. River Ouse Navigation (Yorkshire).
+
+2. River Wharfe Navigation.
+
+3. Aire and Calder Navigation.
+
+4. Market Weighton Navigation.
+
+5. Driffield Navigation.
+
+6. Beverley Beck Navigation.
+
+7. Leven Navigation.
+
+8. Leeds and Liverpool Canal.
+
+9. Manchester Ship Canal.
+
+10. Bridgewater portion of Manchester Ship Canal.
+
+11. Rochdale Canal.
+
+12. Calder and Hebble Navigation.
+
+13. Weaver Navigation.
+
+14. Idle Navigation.
+
+15. Trent Navigation Co.
+
+16. Aucholme Navigation.
+
+17. Caistor Canal.
+
+18. Louth Canal (Lincolnshire).
+
+19. Derby Canal.
+
+20. Nutbrook Canal.
+
+21. Erewash Canal.
+
+22. Loughborough Navigation.
+
+23. Leicester Navigation.
+
+24. Leicestershire Union Canal.
+
+25. Witham Navigation.
+
+26. Witham Navigation.
+
+27. Glen Navigation.
+
+28. Welland Navigation.
+
+29. Nen Navigation.
+
+30. Wisbech Canal.
+
+31. Nar Navigation.
+
+32. Ouse and Tributaries (Bedfordshire).
+
+33. North Walsham Canal.
+
+34. Bure Navigation.
+
+35. Blyth Navigation.
+
+36. Ipswich and Stowmarket Navigation.
+
+37. Stour Navigation.
+
+38. Colne Navigation.
+
+39. Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation.
+
+40. Roding Navigation.
+
+41. Stort Navigation.
+
+42. Lea Navigation.
+
+43. Grand Junction Canal.
+
+44. Grand Union Canal.
+
+45. Oxford Canal.
+
+46. Coventry Canal.
+
+47. Warwick and Napton Canal.
+
+48. Warwick and Birmingham Canal.
+
+49. Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal.
+
+30. Worcester and Birmingham Canal.
+
+51. Stafford and Worcester Canal.
+
+52. Severn (Lower) Navigation.
+
+53. Gloucester and Berkeley Ship Canal.
+
+54. Lower Avon Navigation.
+
+55. Stroudwater Canal.
+
+56. Wye Navigation.
+
+57. Axe Navigation.
+
+58. Parrett Navigation.
+
+59. Tone Navigation.
+
+60. Wilts and Berks Canal.
+
+61. Thames Navigation.
+
+62. London and Hampshire Canal.
+
+63. Wey Navigation.
+
+64. Medway Navigation.
+
+65. Canterbury Navigation.
+
+66. Ouse Navigation (Sussex).
+
+67. Adur Navigation.
+
+68. Arun and Wey Canal.
+
+69. Portsmouth and Arunder Canal.
+
+70. Itchen Navigation.
+
+      [To face page 54.
+
+I give, facing p. 54, a sketch which shows the nature and extent of
+these particular waterways, and the reader will see from it that they
+include entirely free and independent communication (_a_) between
+Birmingham and the Thames; (_b_) from the coal-fields of the Midlands
+and the North to London; and (_c_) between the west and east coasts,
+_viâ_ Liverpool, Leeds, and Goole. To say, therefore, in these
+circumstances, that "the whole of the inland water traffic" has been
+strangled by the railway companies because the canals or sections of
+which they "obtained command" were "so adroitly selected," is simply to
+say what is not true.
+
+The point here raised is not one that merely concerns the integrity
+of the railway companies--though in common justice to them it is only
+right that the truth should be made known. It really affects the whole
+question at issue, because, so long as public opinion is concentrated
+more or less on this strangulation fiction, due attention will not
+be given to the real causes for the decay of the canals, and undue
+importance will be attached to the suggestions freely made that if only
+the one-third of the canal mileage owned or controlled by the railway
+companies could be got out of their hands, the revival schemes would
+have a fair chance of success.
+
+Certain it is, therefore, as the map I give shows beyond all possible
+doubt, that the causes for the failure of the British canal system must
+be sought for elsewhere than in the fact of a partial railway-ownership
+or control. Some of these alternative causes I propose to discuss in
+the Chapters that follow my story of the Birmingham Canal, for which
+(inasmuch as Birmingham and district, by reason of their commercial
+importance and geographical position, have first claim to consideration
+in any scheme of canal resuscitation) I would beg the special attention
+of the reader.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE BIRMINGHAM CANAL AND ITS STORY
+
+
+What is known as the "Birmingham Canal" is really a perfect network
+of waterways in and around Birmingham and South Staffordshire,
+representing a total length of about 160 miles, exclusive of some
+hundreds of private sidings in connection with different works in the
+district.
+
+[Illustration: Map of the Canals & Railways between
+
+WOLVERHAMPTON & BIRMINGHAM
+
+      [_To face page 56._
+]
+
+The system was originally constructed by four different canal companies
+under Acts of Parliament passed between 1768 and 1818. These companies
+subsequently amalgamated and formed the Birmingham Canal Navigation,
+known later on as the Birmingham Canal Company. From March 1816 to
+March 1818 the company paid £36 per annum per share on 1,000 shares,
+and in the following year the amount paid on the same number of shares
+rose to £40 per annum. In 1823 £24 per annum per share was paid on
+2,000 shares, in 1838 £9 to £16 on 8,000, in 1844 £8 on 8,800, and from
+May 1845 to December 1846 £4 per annum per share on 17,600 shares.
+
+The year 1845 was a time of great activity in railway promotion, and
+the Birmingham Canal Company, who already had a canal between that town
+and Wolverhampton, proposed to supplement it by a railway through the
+Stour Valley, using for the purpose a certain amount of spare land
+which they already owned. A similar proposal, however, in respect to a
+line of railway to take practically the same route between Birmingham
+and Wolverhampton, was brought forward by an independent company, who
+seem to have had the support of the London and Birmingham Railway
+Company; and in the result it was arranged among the different parties
+concerned (1) that the Birmingham Canal Company should not proceed
+with their scheme, but that they and the London and Birmingham Railway
+Company should each subscribe a fourth part of the capital for the
+construction of the line projected by the independent Birmingham,
+Wolverhampton, and Stour Valley Railway Company; and (2) that the
+London and Birmingham Railway Company should, subject to certain terms
+and conditions, guarantee the future dividend of the Canal Company,
+whenever the net income was insufficient to produce a dividend of £4
+per share on the capital, the Canal Company thus being insured against
+loss resulting from competition.
+
+The building of the Stour Valley Line between Birmingham and
+Wolverhampton, with a branch to Dudley, was sanctioned by an Act of
+1846, which further authorised the Birmingham Canal Company and the
+London and Birmingham Railway Company to contribute each one quarter
+of the necessary capital. The canal company raised their quarter,
+amounting to £190,087, by means of mortgages. In return for their
+guarantee of the canal company's dividend, the London and Birmingham
+Railway Company obtained certain rights and privileges in regard to
+the working of the canal. These were authorised by the London and
+Birmingham Railway and Birmingham Canal Arrangement Act, 1846, which
+empowered the two companies each to appoint five persons as a committee
+of management of the Birmingham Canal Company. Those members of the
+committee chosen by the London and Birmingham Railway Company were
+to have the same powers, etc., as the members elected by the canal
+company; but the canal company were restricted from expending, without
+the consent of the railway company, "any sum which shall exceed the sum
+of five hundred pounds in the formation of any new canal, or extension,
+or branch canal or otherwise, for the purpose of any single work to be
+hereafter undertaken by the same company"; nor, without consent of the
+railway company, could the canal company make any alterations in the
+tolls, rates, or dues charged. In the event of differences of opinion
+arising between the two sections of the committee of management, the
+final decision was to be given by the railway representatives in such
+year or years as the railway company was called upon to make good a
+deficiency in the dividends, and by the canal representatives when no
+such demand had been made upon the railway company. In other words the
+canal company retained the deciding vote so long as they could pay
+their way, and in any case they could spend up to £500 on any single
+work without asking the consent of the railway company.
+
+In course of time the Stour Valley Line, as well as the London
+and Birmingham Company, became part of the system of the London
+and North-Western Railway Company, which thus took over the
+responsibilities and obligations, in regard to the waterways, already
+assumed; while the mortgages issued by the Birmingham Canal Company,
+when they undertook to raise one-fourth of the capital for the Stour
+Valley Railway, were exchanged for £126,725 of ordinary stock in the
+London and North-Western Railway.
+
+The Birmingham Canal Company was able down to 1873 (except only in one
+year, 1868, when it required £835 from the London and North-Western
+Company) to pay its dividend of £4 per annum on each share, without
+calling on the railway company to make good a deficiency. In 1874,
+however, there was a substantial shortage of revenue, and since that
+time the London and North-Western Railway Company, under the agreement
+already mentioned, have had to pay considerable sums to the canal
+company, as the following table shows:--
+
+  Year
+
+  1874          £10,528 18  0
+  1875                 nil.
+  1876            4,796 10  9
+  1877              361  7  9
+  1878           11,370  5  7
+  1879           20,225  0  5
+  1880           13,534 19  6
+  1881           15,028  9  3
+  1882            6,826  7  1
+  1883            8,879  4  7
+  1884           14,196  7  9
+  1885           25,460 19 10
+  1886           35,169  9  6
+  1887           31,491 14  1
+  1888           15,350 10 11
+  1889            5,341 19  3
+  1890           22,069  9  8
+  1891           17,626  2  3
+  1892           29,508  4  2
+  1893           31,618 19  4
+  1894           27,935  8  9
+  1895           39,065 15  2
+  1896           22,994  0 10
+  1897           10,186 19  7
+  1898           10,286 13  3
+  1899           18,470 18  1
+  1900           34,075 19  6
+  1901           62,644  2  8
+  1902           27,645  2  3
+  1903           34,047  4  6
+  1904           37,832  5  8
+  1905           39,860 13  0
+
+The sum total of these figures is £685,265, 2s. 11d.
+
+It will have been seen, from the facts already narrated, that for a
+period of over twenty years from the date of the agreement the canal
+company continued to earn their own dividend without requiring any
+assistance from the railway company. Meantime, however, various
+local, in addition to general, causes had been in operation tending
+to affect the prosperity of the canals. The decline of the pig-iron
+industry in the Black Country had set in, while though the conversion
+of manufactured iron into plates, implements, etc., largely took
+its place, the raw materials came more and more from districts not
+served by the canals, and the finished goods were carried mainly by
+the railways then rapidly spreading through the district, affording
+facilities in the way of sidings to a considerable number of
+manufacturers whose works were not on the canal route. Then the local
+iron ore deposits were either worked out or ceased to be remunerative,
+in view of the competition of other districts, again facilitated by the
+railways; and the extension of the Bessemer process of steel-making
+also affected the Staffordshire iron industry.
+
+These changes were quite sufficient in themselves to account for
+the increasing unprofitableness of the canals, without any need for
+suggestions of hostility towards them on the part of the railways.
+In point of fact, the extension of the railways and the provision of
+"railway basins" brought the canals a certain amount of traffic they
+might not otherwise have got. It was, indeed, due less to an actual
+decrease in the tonnage than to a decrease in the distance carried
+that the amount received in tolls fell off, that the traffic ceased to
+be remunerative, and that the deficiencies arose which, under their
+statutory obligations, the London and North-Western Railway Company
+had to meet. The more that the traffic actually left the canals, the
+greater was the deficiency which, as shown by the figures I have
+given, the railway company had to make good.[6]
+
+The condition of the canals in 1874, when the responsibilities
+assumed by the London and North-Western Railway Company began to
+fall more heavily upon them, left a good deal to be desired, and the
+railway company found themselves faced with the necessity of finding
+money for improvements which eventually represented a very heavy
+expenditure, apart altogether from the making up of a guaranteed
+dividend. They proceeded, all the same, to acquit themselves of these
+responsibilities, and it is no exaggeration to say that, during the
+thirty years which have since elapsed, they have spent enormous sums in
+improving the canals, and in maintaining them in what--adverse critics
+notwithstanding--is their present high state of efficiency, considering
+the peculiarities of their position.
+
+One of the greatest difficulties in the situation was in regard to
+water supply. At Birmingham, portions of the canal are 453 feet above
+ordnance datum; Wolverhampton, Wednesfield, Tipton, Dudley, and Oldbury
+are higher still, for their elevation is 473 feet, while Walsall,
+Darlaston, and Wednesbury are at a height of 408 feet. On high-lands
+like these there are naturally no powerful streams, and such is the
+lack of local water supplies that, as every one knows, the city of
+Birmingham has recently had to go as far as Wales in order to obtain
+sufficient water to meet the needs of its citizens.
+
+In these circumstances special efforts had to be made to obtain water
+for the canals in the district, and to ensure a due regard for economy
+in its use. The canals have, in fact, had to depend to a certain extent
+on water pumped from the bottom of coal pits in the Black Country, and
+stored in reservoirs on the top levels; the water, also, temporarily
+lost each time a canal boat passed through one of the many locks in the
+district being pumped back to the top to be used over again.
+
+To this end pumping machinery had already been provided by the old
+canal companies, but the London and North-Western Railway Company, on
+taking over the virtual direction of the canals for which they were
+financially responsible, substituted new and improved plant, and added
+various new pumping stations. Thanks to the changes thus effected--at,
+I need hardly say, very considerable cost--the average amount of water
+now pumped from lower to higher levels, during an average year, is
+25,000,000 gallons per day, equal to 1,000 locks of water. On occasions
+the actual quantity dealt with is 50,000,000 gallons per day, while
+the total capacity of the present pumping machinery is equal to about
+102,000,000 gallons, or 4,080 locks, per day. There is absolutely no
+doubt that, but for the special provisions made for an additional
+water supply, the Birmingham Canal would have had to cease operations
+altogether in the summer of 1905--probably for two months--because
+of the shortage of water. The reservoirs on the top level were
+practically empty, and it was solely owing to the company acquiring new
+sources of supply, involving a very substantial expenditure indeed,
+that the canal system was kept going at all. A canal company with no
+large financial resources would inevitably have broken down under the
+strain.
+
+Then the London and North-Western Company are actively engaged in
+substituting new pumping machinery--representing "all the latest
+improvements"--for old, the special aim, here, being the securing of a
+reduction of more than 50 per cent. over the former cost of pumping. An
+expenditure of from £15,000 to £16,000 was, for example, incurred by
+them so recently as 1905 at the Ocker Hill pumping station. In this way
+the railway company are seeking both to maintain the efficiency of the
+canal and to reduce the heavy annual demands made upon them in respect
+to the general cost of operation and shareholders' dividend.
+
+For reasons which will be indicated later on, it is impossible to
+improve the Black Country canals on any large scale; but, in addition
+to what I have already related, the London and North-Western Railway
+Company are constantly spending money on small improvements, such as
+dredging, widening waterway under-bridges, taking off corners, and
+putting in side walls in place of slopes, so as to give more space for
+the boats. In the latter respect many miles have been so treated, to
+the distinct betterment of the canal.
+
+All this heavy outlay by the railway company, carried on for a series
+of years, is now beginning to tell, to the advantage alike of the
+traders and of the canal as a property, and if any scheme of State
+or municipal purchase were decided on by the country the various
+substantial items mentioned would naturally have to be taken into
+account in making terms.
+
+Another feature of the Birmingham Canal system is that it passes to a
+considerable extent through the mining districts of the Black Country.
+This means, in the first place, that wherever important works have been
+constructed, as in the case of tunnels, (and the system passes through
+a number of tunnels, three of these being 3,172 yards, 3,027 yards,
+and 3,785 yards respectively in length) the mineral rights underneath
+have to be bought up in order to avoid subsidences. In one instance
+the railway company paid no less than £28,500 for the mining rights
+underneath a short length (754 yards) of a canal tunnel. In other
+words, this £28,500 was practically buried in the ground, not in order
+to work the minerals, but with a view to maintain a secure foundation
+for the canal. Altogether the expenditure of the company in this one
+direction, and for this one special purpose alone, in the Black Country
+district, must amount by this time to some hundreds of thousands of
+pounds.
+
+Actual subsidences represent a great source of trouble. There are
+some parts of the Birmingham Canal where the waterway was originally
+constructed on a level with the adjoining ground, but, as more and
+more coal has been taken from the mines underneath, and especially as
+more and more of the ribs of coal originally left to support the roof
+have been removed, the land has subsided from time to time, rendering
+necessary the raising of the canal. So far has this gone that to-day
+the canal, at certain of these points, instead of being on a level with
+the adjoining ground, is on an embankment 30 feet above. Drops of from
+10 to 20 feet are of frequent occurrence, even with narrow canals, and
+the cost involved in repairs and restoration is enormous, as the reader
+may well suppose, considering that the total length of the Birmingham
+Canal subject to subsidences from mining is about 90 miles.
+
+I come next to the point as to the comparative narrowness of
+the Birmingham Canal system and the small capacity of the
+locks--conditions, as we are rightly told, which tell against the
+possibility of through, or even local, traffic in a larger type of
+boat. Such conditions as these are generally presented as one of the
+main reasons why the control should be transferred to the State, to
+municipalities, or to public trusts, who, it is assumed, would soon get
+rid of them.
+
+The reader must have fully realised by this time that the original
+size of the waterways and locks on the Birmingham Canal was determined
+by the question of water supply. But any extensive scheme of widening
+would involve much beyond the securing of more water.
+
+During the decades the Birmingham Canal has been in existence important
+works of all kinds have been built alongside its banks, not only in
+and around Birmingham itself, but all through the Black Country. There
+are parts of the canal where almost continuous lines of such works on
+each side of the canal, flush up to the banks or towing path, are to be
+seen for miles together. Any general widening, therefore, even of the
+main waterways, would involve such a buying up, reconstruction of, or
+interference with extremely valuable properties that the expenditure
+involved--in the interests of a problematical saving in canal
+tolls--would be alike prodigious and prohibitive.
+
+There is the less reason for incurring such expenditure when we
+consider the special purposes which the canals of the district already
+serve, and, I may even say, efficiently serve. The total traffic
+passing over the Birmingham Canal system amounts to about 8,000,000
+tons per annum,[7] and of this a considerable proportion is collected
+for eventual transport by rail. Every few miles along the canal in
+the Black Country there is a "railway-basin" put in either by the
+London and North-Western Railway Company, who have had the privilege
+of finding the money to keep the canal going since 1874, or by the
+Great Western or the Midland Railway Companies. Here, again, very
+considerable expenditure has been incurred by the railway companies
+in the provision alike of wharves, cranes, sheds, etc., and of branch
+railways connecting with the main lines of the company concerned.
+From these railway-basins narrow boats are sent out to works all over
+the district to collect iron, hardware, tinplates, bricks, tiles,
+manufactured articles, and general merchandise, and bring them in for
+loading into the railway trucks alongside. So complete is the network
+of canals, with their hundreds of small "special" branches, that for
+many of the local works their only means of communication with the
+railway is by water, and the consignments are simply conveyed to the
+railway by canal boat, instead of, as elsewhere, by collecting van or
+road lorry.
+
+The number of these railway-basins--the cost of which is distinctly
+substantial--is constantly being increased, for the traffic through
+them grows almost from day to day.
+
+The Great Western Railway Company, for example, have already several
+large transhipping basins on the canals of the Black Country. They
+have one at Wolverhampton, and another at Tipton, only 5 miles away;
+yet they have now decided to construct still another, about half-way
+between the two. The matter is thus referred to in the _Great Western
+Railway Magazine_ for March, 1906:--
+
+ "The Directors have approved a scheme for an extensive depôt adjoining
+ the Birmingham Canal at Bilston, the site being advantageously central
+ in the town. It will comprise a canal basin and transfer shed, sidings
+ for over one hundred and twenty waggons, and a loop for made-up
+ trains. A large share of the traffic of the district, mainly raw
+ material and manufactured articles of the iron trade, will doubtless
+ be secured as a result of this important step--the railway and canal
+ mutually serving each other as feeders."
+
+The reader will see from this how the tendency, even on canals that
+survive, is for the length of haul to become shorter and shorter, so
+that the receipts of the canal company from tolls may decline even
+where there is no actual decrease in the weight of the traffic handled.
+
+In the event of State or municipal purchase being resorted to, the
+expenditure on all these costly basins and the works connected
+therewith would have to be taken into consideration, equally with the
+pumping machinery and general improvements, and, also, the purchase of
+mining rights, already spoken of; but I fail to see what more either
+Government or County Council control could, in the circumstances, do
+for the Birmingham system than is being done already. Far more for
+the purposes of maintenance has been spent on the canal by the London
+and North-Western Railway Company than had been so spent by the canal
+company itself; and, although a considerable amount of traffic arising
+in the district does find its way down to the Mersey, the purpose
+served by the canal is, and must necessarily be, mainly a local one.
+
+That Birmingham should become a sort of half-way stage on a continuous
+line of widened canals across country from the Thames to the Mersey
+is one of the most impracticable of dreams. Even if there were not
+the question of the prodigious cost that widenings of the Birmingham
+Canal would involve, there would remain the equally fatal drawback
+of the elevation of Birmingham and Wolverhampton above sea level. In
+constructing a broad cross-country canal, linking up the two rivers in
+question, it would be absolutely necessary to avoid alike Birmingham
+and the whole of the Black Country. That city and district, therefore,
+would gain no direct advantage from such a through route. They would
+have to be content to send down their commodities in the existing
+small boats to a lower level, and there, in order to reach the Mersey,
+connect with either the Shropshire Union Canal or the Trent and Mersey.
+One of these two waterways would certainly have to be selected for a
+widened through route to the Mersey.
+
+Assume that the former were decided upon, and that, to meet the
+present-day agitation, the State, or some Trust backed by State or
+local funds, bought up the Shropshire Union, and resolved upon a
+substantial widening of this particular waterway, so as to admit of a
+larger type of boat and the various other improvements now projected.
+In this case the _crux_ of the situation (apart from Birmingham and
+Black Country conditions), would be the city of Chester.
+
+For a distance of 1-1/2 miles the Shropshire Union Canal passes
+through the very heart of Chester. Right alongside the canal one sees
+successively very large flour mills or lead works, big warehouses, a
+school, streets which border it for some distance, masses of houses,
+and, also, the old city walls. At one point the existing canal makes
+a bend that is equal almost to a right angle. Here there would have
+to be a substantial clearance if boats much larger than those now in
+use were to get round so ugly a corner in safety. This bend, too, is
+just where the canal goes underneath the main lines of the London and
+North-Western and the Great Western Railways, the gradients of which
+would certainly have to be altered if it were desired to employ larger
+boats.
+
+[Illustration: WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN.
+
+(The Shropshire Union Canal at the Northgate, Chester, looking East.)
+
+      [_To face page 70._
+]
+
+The widening of the Shropshire Union Canal at Chester would, in effect,
+necessitate a wholesale destruction of, or interference with, valuable
+property (even if the city walls were spared), and an expenditure of
+hundreds of thousands of pounds. Such a thing is clearly not to be
+thought of. The city of Chester would have to be avoided by the through
+route from the Midlands to the Mersey, just as the canals of Birmingham
+and the Black Country would have to be avoided in a through route
+from the Thames. If the Shropshire Union were still kept to, a new
+branch canal would have to be constructed from Waverton to connect
+again with the Shropshire Union at a point half-way between Chester and
+Ellesmere Port, leaving Chester in a neglected bend on the south.
+
+On this point as to the possibility of enlarging the Shropshire Union
+Canal, I should like to quote the following from some remarks made by
+Mr G. R. Jebb, engineer to the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal
+Company, in the discussion on Mr Saner's paper at the Institution of
+Civil Engineers:--
+
+ "As to the suggestion that the railway companies did not consider
+ it possible to make successful commercial use of their canals in
+ conjunction with their lines, and that the London and North-Western
+ Railway Company might have improved the main line of the Shropshire
+ Union Canal between Ellesmere Port and Wolverhampton, and thus have
+ relieved their already overburdened line, as a matter of fact about
+ twenty years ago he went carefully into the question of enlarging
+ that particular length of canal, which formed the main line between
+ the Midlands and the sea. He drew up estimates and plans for wide
+ canals, of different cross sections, one of which was almost identical
+ with the cross section proposed by Mr Saner. After very careful
+ consideration with a disposition to improve the canal if possible, it
+ was found that the cost of the necessary works would be too heavy.
+ Bridges of wide span and larger headway--entailing approaches which
+ could not be constructed without destroying valuable property on
+ either side--new locks and hydraulic lifts would be required, and
+ a transhipping depôt would have been necessary where each of the
+ narrow canals joined. The company were satisfied, and he himself was
+ satisfied, that no reasonable return for that expenditure could be
+ expected, and therefore the work was not proceeded with.... He was
+ satisfied that whoever found the money for canal improvements would
+ get no fair return for it."
+
+The adoption of the alternative route, _viâ_ the Trent and Mersey,
+would involve (1) locking-up to and down a considerable summit, and (2)
+a continuous series of widenings (except along the Weaver Canal), the
+cost of which, especially in the towns of Stoke, Etruria, Middlewich,
+and Northwich, would attain to proportions altogether prohibitive.
+
+The conclusion at which I arrive in regard to the Birmingham Canal
+system is that it cannot be directly included in any scheme of
+cross-country waterways from river to river; that by reason alike
+of elevation, water supply, and the existence of a vast amount of
+valuable property immediately alongside, any general widening of the
+present system of canals in the district is altogether impracticable;
+that, within the scope of their unavoidable limitations, those
+particular canals already afford every reasonable facility to the real
+requirements of the local traders; that, instead of their having been
+"strangled" by the railways, they have been kept alive and in operation
+solely and entirely because of the heavy expenditure upon them by the
+London and North-Western Railway Company, following on conditions which
+must inevitably have led to collapse (with serious disadvantages to the
+traders dependent on them for transport) if the control had remained
+with an independent but impoverished canal company; and that very
+little, if anything, more--with due regard both for what is practical,
+and for the avoidance of any waste of public money--could be done than
+is already being done, even if State or municipal authorities made the
+costly experiment of trying what they could do for them with their own
+'prentice hands.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE TRANSITION IN TRADE
+
+
+Of the various causes which have operated to bring about the
+comparative decay of the British canal system (for, as already shown,
+there are sections that still retain a certain amount of vitality), the
+most important are to be found in the great changes that have taken
+place in the general conditions of trade, manufacture and commerce.
+
+The tendency in almost every branch of business to-day is for the
+trader to have small, or comparatively small, stocks of any particular
+commodity, which he can replenish speedily at frequent intervals as
+occasion requires. The advantages are obvious. A smaller amount of
+capital is locked up in any one article; a larger variety of goods
+can be dealt in; less accommodation is required for storage; and men
+with limited means can enter on businesses which otherwise could be
+undertaken only by individuals or companies possessed of considerable
+resources. If a draper or a grocer at Plymouth finds one afternoon that
+he has run short of a particular article, he need only telegraph to
+the wholesale house with which he deals in London, and a fresh supply
+will be delivered to him the following morning. A trader in London
+who wanted something from Dublin, and telegraphed for it one day,
+would expect as a matter of course to have it the next. What, again,
+would a London shopkeeper be likely to say if, wanting to replenish
+his limited stock with some Birmingham goods, he was informed by the
+manufacturer:--"We are in receipt of your esteemed order, and are
+sending the goods on by canal. You may hope to get them in about a
+week"?
+
+With a little wider margin in the matter of delivery, the
+same principle applies to those trading in, or requiring, raw
+materials--coal, steel, ironstone, bricks, and so on. Merchants,
+manufacturers, and builders are no more anxious than the average
+shopkeeper to keep on hand stocks unnecessarily large, and to have so
+much money lying idle. They calculate the length of time that will be
+required to get in more supplies when likely to be wanted, and they
+work their business accordingly.
+
+From this point of view the railway is far superior to the canal in two
+respects, at least.
+
+First, there is the question of speed. The value of this factor was
+well recognised so far back as 1825, when, as I have told on page 25,
+Mr Sandars related how speed and certainty of delivery were regarded as
+"of the first importance," and constituted one of the leading reasons
+for the desired introduction of railways. But speed and certainty of
+delivery become absolutely essential when the margin in regard to
+supplies on hand is habitually kept to a working minimum. The saving in
+freight effected as between, on the one hand, waiting at least several
+days, if not a full week, for goods by canal boat, and, on the other,
+receiving them the following day by train, may be more than swallowed
+up by the loss of profit or the loss of business in consequence of
+the delay. If the railway transport be a little more costly than the
+canal transport, the difference should be fully counterbalanced by the
+possibility of a more rapid turnover, as well as the other advantages
+of which I have spoken.
+
+In cases, again, where it is not a matter of quickly replenishing
+stocks but of effecting prompt delivery even of bulky goods, time may
+be all-important. This fact is well illustrated in a contribution, from
+Birmingham, published in the "Engineering Supplement" of _The Times_ of
+February 14, 1906, in which it was said:--
+
+ "Makers of wheels, tires, axles, springs, and similar parts are busy.
+ Of late the South African colonies have been larger buyers, while
+ India and the Far Eastern markets, including China and Japan, South
+ America, and some other shipping markets are providing very good and
+ valuable indents. In all cases, it is especially remarked, very early
+ execution of contracts and urgent delivery is impressed by buyers. The
+ leading firms have learned a good deal of late from German, American,
+ Belgian, and other foreign competitors in the matter of rapid output.
+ By the improvement of plant, the laying down of new and costly machine
+ tools, and by other advances in methods of production, delivery is now
+ made of contracts of heavy tonnage within periods which not so long
+ ago would have been deemed by these same producers quite impossible.
+ In no branch of the engineering trades is this expedition more
+ apparent than in the constructional engineering department, such as
+ bridges, roofs, etc., also in steam boiler work."
+
+Now where, in cases such as these, "urgent delivery is impressed by
+buyers," and the utmost energy is probably being enforced on the
+workers, is it likely that even the heavy goods so made would be
+sent down to the port by the tediously slow process of canal boat,
+taking, perhaps, as many days as even a goods train would take hours?
+Alternatively, would the manufacturers run the risk of delaying urgent
+work by having the raw materials delivered by canal boat in order to
+effect a small saving on cost of transport?
+
+Certainty of delivery might again be seriously affected in the case
+of canal transport by delays arising either from scarcity of water
+during dry seasons, or from frost in winter. The entire stoppage
+of a canal system, from one or other of these causes, for weeks
+together, especially on high levels, is no unusual occurrence, and the
+inconvenience which would then result to traders who depended on the
+canals is self-evident. In Holland, where most of the goods traffic
+goes by the canals that spread as a perfect network throughout the
+whole country, and link up each town with every other town, the advent
+of a severe frost means that the whole body of traffic is suddenly
+thrown on the railways, which then have more to get through than they
+can manage. Here the problem arises: If waterways take traffic from the
+railways during the greater part of the year, should the railways still
+be expected to keep on hand sufficient rolling stock, etc., not only
+for their normal conditions, but to meet all the demands made upon them
+during such periods as their competitors cannot operate?
+
+There is an idea in some quarters that stoppage from frost need not be
+feared in this country because, under an improved system of waterways,
+measures would be taken to keep the ice on the canals constantly
+broken up. But even with this arrangement there comes a time, during a
+prolonged frost, when the quantity of broken ice in the canal is so
+great that navigation is stopped unless the ice itself is removed from
+the water. Frost must, therefore, still be reckoned with as a serious
+factor among the possibilities of delay in canal transport.
+
+Secondly, there is the question of quantities. For the average trader
+the railway truck is a much more convenient unit than the canal boat.
+It takes just such amount as he may want to send or receive. For some
+commodities the minimum load for which the lowest railway rate is
+quoted is as little as 2 tons; but many a railway truck has been run
+through to destination with a solitary consignment of not more than
+half-a-ton. On the other hand, a vast proportion of the consignments
+by rail are essentially of the "small" type. From the goods depôt at
+Curzon Street, Birmingham, a total of 1,615 tons dealt with, over a
+certain period, represented 6,110 consignments and 51,114 packages,
+the average weight per consignment being 5 cwts. 1 qr. 4 lbs., and
+the average weight per package, 2 qrs. 14 lbs. At the Liverpool goods
+depôts of the London and North-Western Railway, a total weight of 3,895
+tons handled consisted of 5,049 consignments and 79,513 packages, the
+average weight per consignment being 15 cwts. 1 qr. 20 lbs., and the
+average weight per package 3 qrs. 26 lbs. From the depôt at Broad
+Street, London, 906 tons represented 6,201 consignments and 23,067
+packages, with an average weight per consignment of 2 cwts. 3 qrs. 19
+lbs., and per package, 3 qrs. 4 lbs.; and so on with other important
+centres of traffic.
+
+There is little room for doubt that a substantial proportion of these
+consignments and packages consisted partly of goods required by traders
+either to replenish their stocks, or, as in the case of tailors
+and dressmakers, to enable them to execute particular orders; and
+partly of commodities purchased from traders, and on their way to the
+customers. In regard to the latter class of goods, it is a matter of
+common knowledge that there has been an increasing tendency of late
+years to eliminate the middleman, and establish direct trading between
+producer and consumer. Just as the small shopkeeper will purchase from
+the manufacturer, and avoid the wholesale dealer, so, also, there are
+individual householders and others who eliminate even the shopkeeper,
+and deal direct with advertising manufacturers willing to supply to
+them the same quantities as could be obtained from a retail trader.
+
+For trades and businesses conducted on these lines, the railway--taking
+and delivering promptly consignments great or small, penetrating to
+every part of the country, and supplemented by its own commodious
+warehouses, in which goods can be stored as desired by the trader
+pending delivery or shipment--is a far more convenient mode of
+transport than the canal boat; and to the railway the perfect
+revolution that has been brought about in the general trade of this
+country is mainly due. Business has been simplified, subdivided, and
+brought within the reach of "small" men to an extent that, but for the
+railway, would have been impossible; and it is difficult to imagine
+that traders in general will forego all these advantages now, and
+revert once more to the canal boat, merely for the sake of a saving in
+freight which, in the long run, might be no saving at all.
+
+Here it may be replied by my critics that there is no idea of reviving
+canals in the interests of the general trader, and that all that is
+sought is to provide a cheaper form of transport for those heavier
+or bulkier minerals or commodities which, it is said, can be carried
+better and more economically by water than by rail.
+
+Now this argument implies the admission that canal resuscitation, on
+a national basis, or at the risk more or less of the community, is
+to be effected, not for the general trader, but for certain special
+classes of traders. As a matter of fact, however, such canal traffic
+as exists to-day is by no means limited to heavy or bulky articles. In
+their earlier days canal companies simply provided a water-road, as
+it were, along which goods could be taken by other persons on payment
+of certain tolls. To enable them to meet better the competition of
+the railways, Parliament granted to the canal companies, in 1846,
+the right to become common carriers as well, and, though only a very
+small proportion of them took advantage of this concession, those that
+did are indebted in part to the transport of general merchandise for
+such degree of prosperity as they have retained. The separate firms
+of canal carriers ("by-traders") have adopted a like policy, and,
+notwithstanding the changes in trade of which I have spoken, a good
+deal of general merchandise does go by canal to or from places that
+happen to be situated in the immediate vicinity of the waterways. It is
+extremely probable that if some of the canals which have survived had
+depended entirely on the transport of heavy or bulky commodities, their
+financial condition to-day would have been even worse than it really is.
+
+But let us look somewhat more closely into this theory that canals are
+better adapted than railways for the transport of minerals or heavy
+merchandise, calling for the payment of a low freight. At the first
+glance such a commodity as coal would claim special attention from this
+point of view; yet here one soon learns that not only have the railways
+secured the great bulk of this traffic in fair and open competition
+with the canals, but there is no probability of the latter taking it
+away from them again to any appreciable extent.
+
+Some interesting facts in this connection were mentioned by the late
+Sir James Allport in the evidence he gave before the Select Committee
+on Canals in 1883. Not a yard, he said, of the series of waterways
+between London and Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, part of Staffordshire,
+Warwickshire and Leicestershire--counties which included some of the
+best coal districts in England for supplying the metropolis--was owned
+by railway companies, yet the amount of coal carried by canal to London
+had steadily declined, while that by rail had enormously increased.
+To prove this assertion, he took the year 1852 as one when there was
+practically no competition on the part of the railways with the canals
+for the transport of coal, and he compared therewith the year 1882,
+giving for each the total amount of coal received by canal and railway
+respectively, as follows:--
+
+                              1852             1882
+
+  Received by canal        33,000 tons    7,900     tons
+      "    "  railway      317,000 "      6,546,000  "
+
+The figures quoted by Sir James Allport were taken from the official
+returns in respect to the dues formerly levied by the City of London
+and the late Metropolitan Board of Works on all coal coming within
+the Metropolitan Police Area, representing a total of 700 square
+miles; though at an earlier period the district in which the dues were
+enforced was that included in a 20-mile radius. The dues were abolished
+in 1889, and since then the statistics in question have no longer been
+compiled. But the returns for 1889 show that the imports of coal, by
+railway and by canal respectively, into the Metropolitan Police Area
+for that year were as follows:--
+
+                           BY RAILWAY
+
+                                        Tons.         Cwts.
+
+  Midland                               2,647,554       0
+  London and North-Western              1,735,067      13
+  Great Northern                        1,360,205       0
+  Great Eastern                         1,077,504      13
+  Great Western                           940,829       0
+  London and South-Western                 81,311       2
+  South-Eastern                            27,776      18
+                                       ------------------
+  Total by Railway                      7,870,248       6
+                                       ------------------
+
+                           BY CANAL
+
+  Grand Junction                           12,601      15
+                                   ----------------------
+  Difference                            7,857,646      11
+                                   ----------------------
+
+If, therefore, the independent canal companies, having a waterway from
+the colliery district of the Midlands and the North through to London
+(without, as already stated, any section thereof being controlled by
+railway companies), had improved their canals, and doubled, trebled,
+or even quadrupled the quantity of coal they carried in 1889, their
+total would still have been insignificant as compared with the quantity
+conveyed by rail.
+
+[Illustration: "FROM PIT TO PORT."
+
+(Prospect Pit, Wigan Coal and Iron Company. Raised to the surface,
+the coal is emptied on to a mechanical shaker, which grades it into
+various sizes--lumps, cobbles, nuts, and slack. These sizes then each
+pass along a picking belt--so that impurities can be removed--and fall
+into the railway trucks placed at the end ready to receive them. The
+coal can thus be taken direct from the mouth of the pit to any port or
+town in Great Britain.)
+
+      [_To face page 82._
+]
+
+The reasons for this transition in the London coal trade (and the
+same general principle applies elsewhere) can be readily stated. They
+are to be found in the facilities conferred by the railway companies,
+and the great changes that, as the direct result thereof, have taken
+place in the coal trade itself. Not only are most of the collieries in
+communication with the railways, but the coal waggons are generally
+so arranged alongside the mouth of each pit that the coal, as raised,
+can be tipped into them direct from the screens. Coal trains, thus
+made up, are next brought to certain sidings in the neighbourhood of
+London, where the waggons await the orders of the coal merchants to
+whom they have been consigned. At Willesden, for example, there is
+special accommodation for 2,000 coal waggons, and the sidings are
+generally full. Liberal provision of a like character has also been
+made in London by the Midland, the Great Northern, and other railway
+companies in touch with the colliery districts. An intimation as to the
+arrival of the consignments is sent by the railway company to the coal
+merchant, who, in London, is allowed three "free" days at these coal
+sidings in which to give instructions where the coal is to be sent.
+After three days he is charged the very modest sum of 6d. per day per
+truck. Assuming that the coal merchant gives directions, either within
+the three days or later, for a dozen trucks, containing particular
+qualities of coal, to be sent to different parts of London, north,
+south, east and west, those dozen trucks will have to be picked out
+from the one or two thousand on the sidings, shunted, and coupled on
+to trains going through to the stated destination. This represents in
+itself a considerable amount of work, and special staffs have to be
+kept on duty for the purpose.
+
+Then, at no fewer than one hundred and thirty-five railway stations in
+London and the suburbs thereof, the railway companies have provided
+coal depôts on such vacant land as may be available close to the local
+sidings, and here a certain amount of space is allotted to the use
+of coal merchants. For this accommodation no charge whatever is made
+in London, though a small rent has to be paid in the provinces. The
+London coal merchant gets so many feet, or yards, allotted to him
+on the railway property; he puts up a board with his name, or that
+of his firm; he stores on the said space the coal for which he has
+no immediate sale; and he sends his men there to fetch from day to
+day just such quantities as he wants in order to execute the orders
+received. With free accommodation such as this at half a dozen, or even
+a score, of suburban railway stations, all that the coal merchant of
+to-day requires in addition is a diminutive little office immediately
+adjoining each railway station, where orders can be received, and
+whence instructions can be sent. Not only, also, do the railway
+companies provide him with a local coal depôt which serves his every
+purpose, but, after allowing him three "free" days on the great coal
+sidings, to which the waggons first come, they give him, on the local
+sidings, another seven "free" days in which to arrange his business.
+He thus gets ten clear days altogether, before any charge is made for
+demurrage, and, if then he is still awaiting orders, he has only to
+have the coal removed from the trucks on to the depôt, or "wharf" as
+it is technically called, so escaping any payment beyond the ordinary
+railway rate, in which all these privileges and advantages are included.
+
+If canal transport were substituted for rail transport, the coal would
+first have to be taken from the mouth of the pit to the canal, and,
+inasmuch as comparatively few collieries (except in certain districts)
+have canals immediately adjoining, the coal would have to go by rail to
+the canal, unless the expense were incurred of cutting a branch of the
+canal to the colliery--a much more costly business, especially where
+locks are necessary, than laying a railway siding. At the canal the
+coal would be tipped from the railway truck into the canal boat,[8]
+which would take it to the canal terminus, or to some wharf or basin on
+the canal banks. There the coal would be thrown up from the boat into
+the wharf (in itself a more laborious and more expensive operation than
+that of shovelling it down, or into sacks on the same level, from a
+railway waggon), and from the wharf it would have to be carted, perhaps
+several miles, to final destination.
+
+Under this arrangement the coal would receive much more handling--and
+each handling means so much additional slack and depreciation in value;
+a week would have to be allowed for a journey now possible in a day;
+the coal dealers would have to provide their own depôts and pay more
+for cartage, and they would have to order particular kinds of coal by
+the boat load instead of by the waggon load.
+
+This last necessity would alone suffice to render the scheme abortive.
+Some years ago when there was so much discussion as to the use of a
+larger size of railway waggon, efforts were made to induce the coal
+interests to adopt this policy. But the 8-ton truck was so convenient
+a unit, and suited so well the essentially retail nature of the coal
+trade to-day, that as a rule the coal merchants would have nothing to
+do with trucks even of 15 or 20 tons. Much less, therefore, would they
+be inclined to favour barge loads of 200 or 250 tons.
+
+Exceptions might be made in the case of gas works, or of factories
+already situated alongside the banks of canals which have direct
+communication with collieries. In the Black Country considerable
+quantities of coal thus go by canal from the collieries to the many
+local ironworks, etc., which, as I have shown, are still actively
+served by the Birmingham Canal system. But these exceptions can
+hardly be offered as an adequate reason for the nationalisation of
+British canals. The general conditions, and especially the nature of
+the coal trade transition, will be better realised from some figures
+mentioned by the chairman of the London and North-Western Railway
+Company, Lord Stalbridge, at the half-yearly meeting in February 1903.
+Notwithstanding the heavy coal traffic--in the aggregate--the average
+consignment of coal, he showed, on the London and North-Western Railway
+is only 17-1/2 tons, and over 80 per cent. of the total quantity
+carried represents consignments of less than 20 tons, the actual
+weights ranging from lots of 2 tons 14 cwts. to close upon 1,000 tons
+for shipment.
+
+"But," the reader may say, "if coal is taken in 1,000-ton lots to a
+port for shipment, surely canal transport could be resorted to here!"
+This course is adopted on the Aire and Calder Navigation, which is very
+favourably situated, and goes over almost perfectly level ground. The
+average conditions of coal shipment in the United Kingdom are, however,
+much better met by the special facilities which rail transport offers.
+
+Of the way in which coal is loaded into railway trucks direct from the
+colliery screens I have already spoken; but, in respect to steam coal,
+it should be added that anthracite is sold in about twelve different
+sizes, and that one colliery will make three or four of these sizes,
+each dropped into separate trucks under the aforesaid screens. The
+output of an anthracite colliery would be from 200 to 300 tons a day,
+in the three or four sizes, as stated, this total being equal to from
+20 to 30 truck-loads. An order received by a coal factor for 2,000 or
+3,000 tons of a particular size would, therefore, have to be made up
+with coal from a number of different collieries.
+
+The coal, however, is not actually sold at the collieries. It is
+sent down to the port, and there it stands about for weeks, and
+sometimes for months, awaiting sale or the arrival of vessels. It must
+necessarily be on the spot, so that orders can be executed with the
+utmost expedition, and delays to shipping avoided. Consequently it is
+necessary that ample accommodation should be provided at the port for
+what may be described as the coal-in-waiting. At Newport, for example,
+where about 4,000,000 tons of coal are shipped in the course of the
+year (independently of "bunkers,") there are 50 miles of coal sidings,
+capable of accommodating from 40,000 to 50,000 tons of coal sent there
+for shipment. A record number of loaded coal trucks actually on these
+sidings at any one time is 3,716. The daily average is 2,800.
+
+Now assume that the coal for shipment from Newport had been brought
+there by canal boat. To begin with, it would have been first loaded,
+by means of the colliery screens, into railway trucks, taken in these
+to the canal, and then tipped into the boats. This would mean further
+breakage, and, in the case of steam coal especially, a depreciation in
+value. But suppose that the coal had duly arrived at the port in the
+canal boats, where would it be stored for those weeks and months to
+await sale or vessels? Space for miles of sidings on land can easily be
+found; but the water area in a canal or dock in which barges can wait
+is limited, and, in the case of Newport at least, it would hardly be
+equal to the equivalent of 3,000 truck-loads of coal.
+
+There comes next the important matter of detail as to the way in which
+coal brought to a port is to be shipped. Nothing could be simpler and
+more expeditious than the practice generally adopted in the case of
+rail-borne coal. When a given quantity of coal is to be despatched, the
+vessel is brought alongside a hydraulic coal-tip, such as that shown
+in the illustration facing this page, and the loaded coal trucks are
+placed in succession underneath the tip. Raised one by one to the level
+of the shoot, the trucks are there inclined to such an angle that the
+entire contents fall on to the shoot, and thence into the hold of the
+ship. Brought to the horizontal again, the empty truck passes on to a
+viaduct, down which it goes, by gravitation, back to the sidings, the
+place it has vacated on the tip being at once taken by another loaded
+truck.
+
+[Illustration: THE SHIPPING OF COAL: HYDRAULIC TIP ON G.W.R., SWANSEA.
+
+(The loaded truck is hoisted to level of shoot, and is there inclined
+to necessary angle to "tip" the coal, which falls from shoot into hold
+of vessel. Empty truck passes by gravitation along viaduct, on left,
+to sidings.)
+
+      [_To face page 88._
+]
+
+Substitute coal barges for coal trucks, and how will the loading then
+be accomplished? Under any possible circumstances it would take longer
+to put a series of canal barges alongside a vessel in the dock than
+to place a series of coal trucks under the tip on shore. Nor could
+the canal barge itself be raised to the level of a shoot, and have
+its contents tipped bodily into the collier. What was done in the
+South Wales district by one colliery some years ago was to load up a
+barge with iron tubs, or boxes, filled with coal, and placed in pairs
+from end to end. In dock one of these would be lifted out of the
+barge by a crane, and lowered into the hold, where the bottom would
+be knocked out, the emptied tub being then replaced in the barge by
+the crane, and the next one to it raised in turn. But, apart from the
+other considerations already presented, this system of shipment was
+found more costly than the direct tipping of railway trucks, and was
+consequently abandoned.
+
+Although, therefore, in theory coal would appear to be an ideal
+commodity for transport by canal, in actual practice it is found
+that rail transport is both more convenient and more economical, and
+certainly much better adapted to the exigences of present day trade in
+general, in the case alike of domestic coal and of coal for shipment.
+Whether or not the country would be warranted in going to a heavy
+expense for canal resuscitation for the special benefit of a limited
+number of traders having works or factories alongside canal banks is a
+wholly different question.
+
+I take next the case of raw cotton as another bulky commodity carried
+in substantial quantities. At one time it was the custom in the
+Lancashire spinning trade for considerable supplies to be bought in
+Liverpool, taken to destination by canal, and stored in the mills for
+use as required. A certain proportion is still handled in this way;
+but the Lancashire spinners who now store their cotton are extremely
+few in number, and represent the exception rather than the rule. It is
+found much more convenient to receive from Liverpool from day to day
+by rail the exact number of bales required to meet immediate wants.
+The order can be sent, if necessary, by post, telegraph, or telephone,
+and the cotton may be expected at the mill next day, or as desired. If
+barge-loads of cotton were received at one time, capital would at least
+have to be sunk in providing warehousing accommodation, and the spinner
+thinks he can make better use of his money.
+
+The day-by-day arrangement is thus both a convenience and a saving to
+the trader; though it has one disadvantage from a railway standpoint,
+for cotton consignments by rail are, as a rule, so small that there is
+difficulty in making up a "paying load" for particular destinations. As
+the further result of the agitation a few years ago for the use of a
+larger type of railway waggons, experiments have been made at Liverpool
+with large trucks for the conveyance especially of raw cotton. But,
+owing to the day-by-day policy of the spinners, it is no easy matter
+to make up a 20-ton truck of cotton for many of the places to which
+consignments are sent, and the shortage in the load represents so
+much dead weight. Consignments ordered forward by rail must, however,
+be despatched wholly, or at any rate in part, on day of receipt. Any
+keeping of them back, with the idea of thus making up a better load for
+the railway truck, would involve the risk of a complaint, if not of a
+claim, against the railway company, on the ground that the mill had had
+to stop work owing to delay in the arrival of the cotton.
+
+If the spinners would only adopt a two- or three-days-together policy,
+it would be a great advantage to the railways; but even this might
+involve the provision of storage accommodation at the mills, and they
+accordingly prefer the existing arrangement. What hope could there be,
+therefore, except under very special circumstances, that they would be
+willing to change their procedure, and receive their raw cotton in bulk
+by canal boat?
+
+Passing on to other heavy commodities carried in large quantities, such
+as bricks, stone, drain-pipes, manure, or road-making materials, it
+is found, in practice, that unless both the place whence these things
+are despatched and the place where they are actually wanted are close
+to a waterway, it is generally more convenient and more economical to
+send by rail. The railway truck is not only (once more) a better unit
+in regard to quantity, but, as in the case of domestic coal, it can go
+to any railway station, and can often be brought miles nearer to the
+actual destination than if the articles or materials in question are
+forwarded by water; while the addition to the canal toll of the cost of
+cartage at either end, or both, may swell the total to the full amount
+of the railway rate, or leave so small a margin that conveyance by
+rail, in view of the other advantages offered, is naturally preferred.
+Here we have further reasons why commodities that seem to be specially
+adapted for transport by canal so often go by rail instead.
+
+There are manufacturers, again, who, if executing a large shipping
+order, would rather consign the goods, as they are ready, to a railway
+warehouse at the port, there to await shipment, than occupy valuable
+space with them on their own premises. Assuming that it might be
+possible and of advantage to forward to destination by canal boat, they
+would still prefer to send off 25 or 30 tons at a time, in a narrow
+boat (and 25 to 30 tons would represent a big lot in most industries),
+rather than keep everything back (with the incidental result of
+blocking up the factory) until, in order to save a little on the
+freight, they could fill up a barge of 200 or 300 tons.
+
+So the moral of this part of my story is that, even if the canals of
+the country were thoroughly revived, and made available for large
+craft, there could not be any really great resort to them unless there
+were, also, brought about a change in the whole basis of our general
+trading conditions.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+CONTINENTAL CONDITIONS
+
+
+The larger proportion of the arguments advanced in the Press or in
+public in favour of a restoration of our own canal system is derived
+from the statements which are unceasingly being made as to what our
+neighbours on the Continent of Europe are doing.
+
+Almost every writer or speaker on the subject brings forward the same
+stock of facts and figures as to the large sums of money that are
+being expended on waterways in Continental countries; the contention
+advanced being, in effect, that because such and such things are done
+on the Continent of Europe, therefore they ought to be done here. In
+the "Engineering Supplement" of _The Times_, for instance--to give only
+one example out of many--there appeared early in 1906 two articles on
+"Belgian Canals and Waterways" by an engineering contributor who wrote,
+among other things, that, in view of "the well-directed efforts now
+being made with the object of effecting the regeneration of the British
+canal system, the study of Belgian canals and other navigable waterways
+possesses distinct interest"; and declared, in concluding his account
+thereof, that "if the necessary powers, money, and concentrated effort
+were available, there is little doubt that equally satisfactory results
+could be obtained in Great Britain." Is this really the case? Could
+we possibly hope to do all that can be done either in Belgium or in
+Continental countries generally, even if we had the said powers and
+money, and showed the same concentrated effort? For my part I do not
+think we could, and these are my reasons for thinking so:--
+
+Taking geographical considerations first, a glance at the map of Europe
+will show that, apart from their national requirements, enterprises,
+and facilities, Germany, Belgium, and Holland are the gateways to vast
+expanses producing, or receiving, very large quantities of merchandise
+and raw materials, much of which is eminently suitable for water
+transport on long journeys that have absolutely no parallel in this
+country. In the case of Belgium, a good idea of the general position
+may be gained from some remarks made by the British Consul-General at
+Antwerp, Sir E. Cecil Hertslet, in a report ("Miscellaneous Series,"
+604) on "Canals and other Navigable Waterways of Belgium," issued by
+the Foreign Office in 1904. Referring to the position of Antwerp he
+wrote:--
+
+ "In order to form a clear idea of the great utility of the canal
+ system of Belgium, it is from its heart, from the great port of
+ Antwerp, as a centre, that the survey must be taken.... Antwerp
+ holds a leading position among the great ports of the world, and
+ this is due, not only to her splendid geographical situation at the
+ centre of the ocean highways of commerce, but, also, and perhaps more
+ particularly, to her practically unique position as a distributing
+ centre for a large portion of North-Eastern Europe."
+
+Thus the canals and waterways of Belgium do not serve merely local,
+domestic, or national purposes, but represent the first or final links
+in a network of water communications by means of which merchandise
+can be taken to, or brought from, in bulk, "a large portion of
+North-Eastern Europe." Much of this traffic, again, can just as well
+pass through one Continental country, on its way to or from the coast,
+as through another. In fact, some of the most productive of German
+industrial centres are much nearer to Antwerp or Rotterdam than they
+are to Hamburg or Bremen. Hence the extremely keen rivalry between
+Continental countries having ports on the North Sea for the capture
+of these great volumes of trans-Continental traffic, and hence, also,
+their low transport rates, and, to a certain extent, their large
+expenditure on waterways.
+
+Comparing these with British conditions, we must bear in mind the
+fact that we dwell in a group of islands, and not in a country which
+forms part of a Continent. We have, therefore, no such transit
+traffic available for "through" barges as that which is handled on
+the Continent. Traffic originating in Liverpool, and destined say,
+for Austria, would not be put in a canal boat which would first go to
+Goole, or Hull, then cross the North Sea in the same boat to Holland
+or Belgium, and so on to its destination. Nor would traffic in bulk
+from the United States for the Continent--or even for any of our East
+Coast ports--be taken by boat across England. It would go round by sea.
+Traffic, again, originating in Birmingham, might be taken to a port
+by boat. But it would there require transhipment into an ocean-going
+vessel, just as the commodities received from abroad would have to be
+transferred to a canal boat--unless Birmingham could be converted into
+a sea-port.
+
+If Belgium and Holland, especially, had had no chance of getting more
+than local, as distinct from through or transit traffic--if, in other
+words, they had been islands like our own, with the same geographical
+limitations as ourselves, and with no trans-Continental traffic to
+handle, is there the slightest probability that they would have spent
+anything like the same amount of money on the development of their
+waterways as they have actually done? In the particular circumstances
+of their position they have acted wisely; but it does not necessarily
+follow that we, in wholly different circumstances, have acted foolishly
+in not following their example.
+
+It might further be noted, in this connection, that while in the
+case of Belgium all the waterways in, or leading into, the country
+converge to the one great port of Antwerp, in England we have great
+ports, competing more or less the one with the other, all round our
+coasts, and the conferring of special advantages on one by the State
+would probably be followed by like demands on the part of all the
+others. As for communication between our different ports, this is
+maintained so effectively by coasting vessels (the competition of which
+already powerfully influences railway rates) that heavy expenditure on
+canal improvement could hardly be justified on this account. However
+effectively the Thames might be joined to the Mersey, or the Humber
+to the Severn, by canal, the vast bulk of port-to-port traffic would
+probably still go by sea.
+
+Then there are great differences between the physical conditions of
+Great Britain and those parts of the Continent of Europe where the
+improvement of waterways has undergone the greatest expansion. Portions
+of Holland--as everybody knows--are below the level of the sea, and
+the remainder are not much above it. A large part of Belgium is flat;
+so is most of Northern Germany. In fact there is practically a level
+plain right away from the shores of the North Sea to the steppes of
+Russia. Canal construction in these conditions is a comparatively
+simple and a comparatively inexpensive matter; though where such
+conditions do not exist to the same extent--as in the south of Germany,
+for example--the building of canals becomes a very different problem.
+This fact is well recognised by Herr Franz Ulrich in his book on
+"Staffeltarife und Wasserstrassen," where he argues that the building
+of canals is practicable only in districts favoured by Nature, and that
+hilly and backward country is thus unavoidably handicapped.
+
+Much, again, of the work done on the Continent has been a matter either
+of linking up great rivers or of canalising these for navigation
+purposes. We have in England no such rivers as the Rhine, the Weser,
+the Elbe, and the Oder, but the very essence of the German scheme of
+waterways is to connect these and other rivers by canals, a through
+route by water being thus provided from the North Sea to the borders
+of Russia. Further south there is already a small canal, the Ludwigs
+Canal, connecting the Rhine and the Danube, and this canal--as distinct
+from those in the northern plains--certainly does rise to an elevation
+of 600 feet from the River Main to its summit level. A scheme has now
+been projected for establishing a better connection between the Rhine
+and the Danube by a ship canal following the route either of the Main
+or of the Neckar. In describing these two powerful streams Professor
+Meiklejohn says, in his "New Geography":--
+
+ "The two greatest rivers of Europe--greatest from almost every point
+ of view--are the Danube and the Rhine. The Danube is the largest river
+ in Europe in respect of its volume of water; it is the only large
+ European river that flows due east; and it is therefore the great
+ highway to the East for South Germany, for Austria, for Hungary, and
+ for the younger nations in its valley. It flows through more lands,
+ races, and languages than any other European river. The Rhine is the
+ great water-highway for Western Europe; and it carries the traffic and
+ the travellers of many countries and peoples. Both streams give life
+ to the whole Continent; they join many countries and the most varied
+ interests; while the streams of France exist only for France itself.
+ The Danube runs parallel with the mighty ranges of the Alps; the Rhine
+ saws its way through the secondary highlands which lie between the
+ Alps and the Netherlands."
+
+The construction of this proposed link would give direct water
+communication between the North Sea and the Black Sea, a distance, as
+the crow flies, and not counting river windings, of about 1,300 miles.
+Such an achievement as this would put entirely in the shade even the
+present possible voyage, by canal and river, of 300 miles from Antwerp
+to Strasburg.
+
+What are our conditions in Great Britain, as against all these?
+
+In place of the "great lowland plain" in which most of the Continental
+canal work we hear so much about has been done, we possess an
+undulating country whose physical conditions are well indicated by
+the canal sections given opposite this page. Such differences of
+level as those that are there shown must be overcome by locks, lifts,
+or inclined planes, together with occasional tunnels or viaducts.
+In the result the construction of canals is necessarily much more
+costly in Great Britain than on the aforesaid "great lowland plain"
+of Continental Europe, and dimensions readily obtainable there become
+practically impossible here on account alike of the prohibitive cost
+of construction and the difficulties that would arise in respect to
+water supply. A canal connecting the Rhine, the Weser, and the Elbe, in
+Germany, is hardly likely to run short of water, and the same may be
+said of the canals in Holland, and of those in the lowlands of Belgium.
+This is a very different matter from having to pump water from low
+levels to high levels, to fill reservoirs for canal purposes, as must
+be done on the Birmingham and other canals, or from taking a fortnight
+to accomplish the journey from Hull to Nottingham as once happened
+owing to insufficiency of water.
+
+[Illustration: SOME TYPICAL BRITISH CANALS.
+
+      [_To face page 98._
+]
+
+There is, also, that very important consideration, from a transport
+standpoint, of the "length of haul." Assuming, for the sake of argument
+(1) that the commercial conditions were the same in Great Britain as
+they are on the Continent; (2) that our country, also, consisted of
+a "great lowland plain"; and (3) that we, as well, had great natural
+waterways, like the Rhine, yielding an abundant water supply;--assuming
+all this, it would still be impossible, in the circumscribed dimensions
+of our isles, to get a "length of haul" in any way approaching the
+barge-journeys that are regularly made between, say, North Sea ports
+and various centres in Germany.
+
+The geographical differences in general between Great Britain and
+Continental countries were thus summed up by Mr W. H. Wheeler in the
+discussion on Mr Saner's paper at the Institution of Civil Engineers:--
+
+
+ "There really did not seem to be any justification for Government
+ interference with the canals. England was in an entirely different
+ situation from Continental countries. She was a sea-girt nation, with
+ no less than eight first-class ports on a coast-line of 1,820 miles.
+ Communication between these by coasting steamers was, therefore,
+ easy, and could be accomplished in much less time and at less cost
+ than by canal. There was no large manufacturing town in England that
+ was more than about 80 miles in a direct line from a first-class
+ seaport; and taking the country south of the Firth of Forth, there
+ were only 42-1/2 square miles to each mile of coast. France, on the
+ other hand, had only two first-class ports, one in the north and the
+ other in the extreme south, over a coast-line of 1,360 miles. Its
+ capital was 100 miles from the nearest seaport, and the towns in
+ the centre of the country were 250 to 300 miles from either Havre
+ or Marseilles. For every mile of coast-line there were 162 square
+ miles of country. Belgium had one large seaport and only 50 miles of
+ coast-line, with 227 square miles of country to every square mile.
+ Germany had only two first-class ports, both situated on its northern
+ coast; Frankfort and Berlin were distant from those ports about 250
+ miles, and for every mile of coast-line there were 231 square miles
+ of country. The necessity of an extended system of inland waterways
+ for the distribution of produce and materials was, therefore, far more
+ important in those countries than it was in England."
+
+Passing from commercial and geographical to political conditions, we
+find that in Germany the State owns or controls alike railways and
+waterways. Prussia bought up most of the former, partly with the idea
+of safeguarding the protective policy of the country (endangered by
+the low rates charged on imports by independent railway companies),
+and partly in order that the Government could secure, in the profits
+on railway operation, a source of income independent of Parliamentary
+votes. So well has the latter aim been achieved that a contribution
+to the Exchequer of from £10,000,000 to £15,000,000 a year has been
+obtained, and, rather than allow this source of income to be checked
+by heavy expenditure, the Prussian Government have refrained from
+carrying out such widenings and improvements of their State system of
+railways as a British or an American railway company would certainly
+have adopted in like circumstances, and have left the traders to find
+relief in the waterways instead. The increased traffic the waterways
+of Germany are actually getting is mainly traffic which has either
+been diverted from the railways, or would have been handled by the
+railways in other countries in the natural course of their expansion.
+Whatever may be the case with the waterways, the railways of Prussia,
+especially, are comparatively unprogressive, and, instead of developing
+through traffic at competitive rates, they are reverting more and more
+to the original position of railways as feeders to the waterways. They
+get a short haul from place of origin to the waterway, and another
+short haul, perhaps, from waterway again to final destination; but the
+greater part of the journey is done by water.
+
+These conditions represent one very material factor in the substantial
+expansion of water-borne traffic in Germany--and most of that traffic,
+be it remembered, has been on great rivers rather than on artificial
+canals. The latter are certainly being increased in number, especially,
+as I have said, where they connect the rivers; and the Government are
+the more inclined that the waterways should be developed because then
+there will be less need for spending money on the railways, and for
+any interference with the "revenue-producing machine" which those
+railways represent.
+
+In France the railways owned and operated by the State are only a
+comparatively small section of the whole; but successive Governments
+have advanced immense sums for railway construction, and the State
+guarantees the dividends of the companies; while in France as in
+Germany railway rates are controlled absolutely by the State. In
+neither country is there free competition between rail and water
+transport. If there were, the railways would probably secure a
+much greater proportion of the traffic than they do. Still another
+consideration to be borne in mind is that although each country has
+spent great sums of money--at the cost of the general taxpayer--on the
+provision of canals or the improvement of waterways, no tolls are,
+with few exceptions, imposed on the traders. The canal charges include
+nothing but actual cost of carriage, whereas British railway rates may
+cover various other services, in addition, and have to be fixed on a
+scale that will allow of a great variety of charges and obligations
+being met. Not only, both in Germany and France, may the waterway be
+constructed and improved by the State, but the State also meets the
+annual expenditure on dredging, lighting, superintendence and the
+maintenance of inland harbours. Here we have further reasons for the
+growth of the water-borne traffic on the Continent.
+
+Where the State, as railway owner or railway subsidiser, spends money
+also on canals, it competes only, to a certain extent, with itself;
+but this would be a very different position from State-owned or
+State-supported canals in this country competing with privately-owned
+railways.[9]
+
+If then, as I maintain is the case, there is absolutely no basis for
+fair comparison between Continental and British conditions--whether
+commercial, geographical, or political--we are left to conclude that
+the question of reviving British canals must be judged and decided
+strictly from a British standpoint, and subject to the limitations of
+British policy, circumstances, and possibilities.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+WATERWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES
+
+
+In some respects conditions in the United States compare with those of
+Continental Europe, for they suggest alike powerful streams, artificial
+canals constructed on (as a rule) flat or comparatively flat surfaces,
+and the possibilities of traffic in large quantities for transport
+over long distances before they can reach a seaport. In other respects
+the comparison is less with Continental than with British conditions,
+inasmuch as, for the last half century at least, the American railways
+have been free to compete with the waterways, and fair play has been
+given to the exercise of economic forces, with the result that, in
+the United States as in the United Kingdom, the railways have fully
+established their position as the factors in inland transport best
+suited to the varied requirements of trade and commerce of to-day,
+while the rivers and canals (I do not here deal with the Great Lakes,
+which represent an entirely different proposition) have played a rôle
+of steadily diminishing importance.
+
+The earliest canal built in the United States was that known as
+the Erie Canal. It was first projected in 1768, with the idea of
+establishing a through route by water between Lake Erie and the River
+Hudson at Albany, whence the boats or barges employed would be able
+to reach the port of New York. The Act for its construction was not
+passed, however, by the Provincial Legislature of the State of New York
+until 1817. The canal itself was opened for traffic in 1825. It had a
+total length from Cleveland to Albany of 364 miles, included therein
+being some notable engineering work in the way of aqueducts, etc.
+
+At the date in question there were four North Atlantic seaports,
+namely, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, all of about
+equal importance. Boston, however, had appeared likely to take the
+lead, by reason both of her comparatively dense population and of her
+substantial development of manufactures. Philadelphia was also then
+somewhat in advance of New York in trade and population. The effect of
+the Erie Canal, however, was to concentrate all the advantages, for
+the time being, on New York. Thanks to the canal, New York secured the
+domestic trade of a widespread territory in the middle west, while
+her rivals could not possess themselves of like facilities, because
+of the impracticability of constructing canals to cross the ranges
+of mountains separating them from the valley of the Mississippi and
+the basin of the Great Lakes--ranges broken only by the Hudson and
+the Mohawk valleys, of which the constructors of the Erie Canal had
+already taken advantage. So New York, with its splendid harbour, made
+great progress alike in trade, wealth, and population, completely
+outdistancing her rivals, and becoming, as a State, "the Empire
+State," and, as a city, "the financial and commercial centre of the
+Western Hemisphere."
+
+While, again, the Erie Canal was "one of the most efficient factors"
+in bringing about these results, it was also developing the north-west
+by giving an outlet to the commerce of the Great Lakes, and during
+the second quarter of the nineteenth century it represented what has
+been well described as "the most potent influence of American progress
+and civilisation." Not only did the traffic it carried increase from
+1,250,000 tons, in 1837, to 3,000,000 tons in 1847, but it further
+inspired the building of canals in other sections of the United States.
+In course of time the artificial waterways of that country represented
+a total length of 5,000 miles.
+
+With the advent of the railways there came revolutionary changes
+which were by no means generally appreciated at first. The cost of
+the various canals had been defrayed mostly by the different States,
+and, though financial considerations had thus been more readily met,
+the policy pursued had committed the States concerned to the support
+of the canals against possible competition. When, therefore, "private
+enterprise" introduced railways, in which the doom of the canals was
+foreseen, there was a wild outburst of indignant protest. The money of
+the taxpayers, it was said, had been sunk in building the canals, and,
+if the welfare of these should be prejudiced by the railways, every
+taxpayer in the State would suffer. When it was seen that the railways
+had come to stay, the demand arose that, while passengers might
+travel by rail, the canals should have the exclusive right to convey
+merchandise.
+
+The question was even discussed by the Legislature of the State of
+New York, in 1857, whether the railways should not be prevented from
+carrying goods at all, or, alternatively, whether heavy taxes should
+not be imposed on goods traffic carried by rail in order to check the
+considerable tendency then being shown for merchandise to go by rail
+instead of by canal, irrespective of any difference in rates. The
+railway companies were further accused of conspiring to "break down
+those great public works upon which the State has spent forty years
+of labour," and so active was the campaign against them--while it
+lasted--that one New York paper wrote:--"The whole community is aroused
+as it never was before."
+
+Some of the laws which had been actually passed to protect the
+State-constructed canals against the railways were, however, repealed
+in 1851, and the agitation itself was not continued beyond 1857, from
+which year the railways had free scope and opportunity to show what
+they could do. The contest was vigorous and prolonged, but the railways
+steadily won.
+
+In the first instance the Erie Canal had a depth of 4 feet, and could
+be navigated only by 30-ton boats. In 1862 it was deepened to 7 feet,
+in order that boats of 240 tons, with a capacity of 8,000 tons of
+wheat, could pass, the cost of construction being thus increased from
+$7,000,000 to $50,000,000. Then, in 1882, all tolls were abolished, and
+the canal has since been maintained out of the State treasury. But how
+the traffic on the New York canals as a whole (including the Erie, the
+Oswego, the Champlain, etc.) has declined, in competition with the
+railroads, is well shown by the following table:--[10]
+
+  +-------------+---------------------------+-------------------+
+  |    Year.    | Total Traffic on New York |   Percentage on   |
+  |             |   Canals and Railroads.   |    Canals only.   |
+  +-------------+---------------------------+-------------------+
+  |             |           Tons.           |     Per cent.     |
+  |    1860     |         7,155,803         |        65         |
+  |    1870     |        17,488,469         |        35         |
+  |    1880     |        29,943,633         |        21         |
+  |    1890     |        56,327,661         |         9.3       |
+  |    1900     |        84,942,988         |         4.1       |
+  |    1903     |        93,248,299         |         3.9       |
+  +-------------+---------------------------+-------------------+
+
+The falling off in the canal traffic has been greatest in just those
+heavy or bulky commodities that are generally assumed to be specially
+adapted for conveyance by water. Of the flour and grain, for instance,
+received at New York, less than 10 per cent. in 1899, and less than 8
+per cent. in 1900, came by the Erie Canal.
+
+The experiences of the New York canals have been fully shared by other
+canals in other States. Of the sum total of 5,000 miles of canals
+constructed, 2,000 had been abandoned by 1890 on the ground that the
+traffic was insufficient to cover working expenses. Since then most
+of the remainder have shared the same fate, one of the last of the
+survivors, the Delaware and Hudson, being converted into a railway
+a year or two ago. In fact the only canals in the United States
+to-day, besides those in the State of New York, whose business is
+sufficiently regular to warrant the inclusion of their traffic in the
+monthly reports of the Government are the Chesapeake and Delaware
+(connecting Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, and having an annual traffic
+of about 700,000 tons, largely lumber); and the Chesapeake and Ohio
+(from Cumberland to Georgetown, owned by the State of Maryland, and
+transporting coal almost exclusively, the amount depending on the state
+of congestion of traffic on the railroads).
+
+It is New York that has been most affected by this decline in American
+canals. When the railways began to compete severely with the Erie
+Canal, New York's previous supremacy over rival ports in the Eastern
+States was seriously threatened. Philadelphia and Baltimore, and
+various smaller ports also, started to make tremendous advance. Then
+the Gulf ports--notably New Orleans and Galveston--were able to
+capture a good deal of ocean traffic that might otherwise have passed
+through New York. Not only do the railway lines to those ports have
+the advantage of easy grades, so that exceptionally heavy train-loads
+can be handled with ease, and not only is there no fear of snow or
+ice blocks in winter, but the improvements effected in the ports
+themselves--as I had the opportunity of seeing and judging, in the
+winter of 1902-3, during a visit to the United States--have made these
+southern ports still more formidable competitors of New York. While,
+therefore, the trade of the United States has undergone great expansion
+of late years, that proportion of it which passes through the port of
+New York has seriously declined. "In less than ten years," says a
+pamphlet on "The Canal System of New York State," issued by the Canal
+Improvement State Committee, City of New York, "Pennsylvania or some
+other State may be the Empire State, which title New York has held
+since the time of the Erie Canal."
+
+So a movement has been actively promoted in New York State for the
+resuscitation of the Erie and other canals there, with a view to
+assuring the continuance of New York's commercial supremacy, and
+giving her a better chance--if possible--of competing with rivals
+now flourishing at her expense. At first a ship canal between New
+York and Lake Erie was proposed; but this idea has been rejected as
+impracticable. Finally, the Legislature of the State of New York
+decided on spending $101,000,000 on enlarging the Erie and other
+canals in the State, so as to give them a depth of 12 feet, and allow
+of the passage of 1,000-ton barges, arrangements being also made for
+propulsion by electric or steam traction.
+
+In addition to this particular scheme, "there are," says Mr F. H.
+Dixon, Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College, in an address
+on "Competition between Water and Railway Transportation Lines in
+the United States," read by him before the St Louis Railway Club,
+and reported in the _Engineering News_ (New York) of March 22,
+1906, "many other proposals for canals in different sections of the
+country, extending all the way from projects that have some economic
+justification to the crazy and impracticable schemes of visionaries."
+But the general position in regard to canal resuscitation in the United
+States does not seem to be very hopeful, judging from a statement made
+by Mr Carnegie--once an advocate of the proposed Pittsburg-Lake Erie
+Canal--before the Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce in 1898.
+
+ "Such has been the progress of railway development," he said, "that
+ if we had a canal to-day from Lake Erie through the Ohio Valley to
+ Beaver, free of toll, we could not afford to put boats on it. It is
+ cheaper to-day to transfer the ore to 50-ton cars, and bring it to our
+ works at Pittsburg over our railway, than it would be to bring it by
+ canal."
+
+Turning from artificial to natural waterways in the United States, I
+find the story of the Mississippi no less instructive.
+
+[Illustration: A CARGO BOAT ON THE MISSISSIPPI.
+
+      [_To face page_ 110.
+]
+
+This magnificent stream has, in itself, a length of 2,485 miles. But
+the Missouri is really only an upper prolongation of the same river
+under another name, and the total length of the two, from mouth to
+source, is 4,190 miles, of which the greater distance is navigable.
+The Mississippi and its various tributaries drain, altogether, an area
+of 1,240,000 square miles, or nearly one-third of the territory of the
+United States. If any great river in the world had a chance at all
+of holding its own against the railroads as a highway of traffic it
+should, surely, be the Mississippi, to which British theorists ought
+to be able to point as a powerful argument in support of their general
+proposition concerning the advantages of water over rail-transport. But
+the actual facts all point in the other direction.
+
+The earliest conditions of navigation on the Mississippi are well shown
+in the following extract from an article published in the _Quarterly
+Review_ of March 1830, under the heading, "Railroads and Locomotive
+Steam-carriages":--
+
+ "As an example of the difficulties of internal navigation, it may
+ be mentioned that on the great river Mississippi, which flows at
+ the rate of 5 or 6 miles an hour, it was the practice of a certain
+ class of boatmen, who brought down the produce of the interior to New
+ Orleans, to break up their boats, sell the timber, and afterwards
+ return home slowly by land; and a voyage up the river from New
+ Orleans to Pittsburg, a distance of about 2,000 miles, could hardly
+ be accomplished, with the most laborious efforts, within a period of
+ four months. But the uncertain and limited influence, both of the
+ wind and the tide, is now superseded by a new agent, which in power
+ far surpassing the raging torrent, is yet perfectly manageable, and
+ acts with equal efficacy in any direction.... Steamboats of every
+ description, and on the most approved models, ply on all the great
+ rivers of the United States; the voyage from New Orleans to Pittsburg,
+ which formerly occupied four months, is accomplished with ease in
+ fifteen or twenty days, and at the rate of not less than 5 miles an
+ hour."
+
+Since this article in the _Quarterly Review_ was published, enormous
+sums of money have been spent on the Mississippi--partly with a view
+to the prevention of floods, but partly, also, to improve the river
+for the purposes of navigation. Placed in charge of a Mississippi
+Commission and of the Chief of Engineers in the United States Army,
+the river has been systematically surveyed; special studies and
+reports have been drawn up on every possible aspect of its normal or
+abnormal conditions and circumstances; the largest river dredges in
+the world have been employed to ensure an adequate depth of the river
+bed; engineering works in general on the most complete scale have been
+carried out--in fact, nothing that science, skill, or money could
+accomplish has been left undone.
+
+The difficulties were certainly considerable. There has always been
+a tendency for the river bed to get choked up by the sediment the
+stream failed to carry on; the banks are weak; while the variation in
+water level is sometimes as much as 10 feet in a single month. None
+the less, the Mississippi played for a time as important a rôle in the
+west and the south as the Erie Canal played in the north. Steamboats on
+the western rivers increased in number from 20, in 1818, to 1,200, in
+1848, and there was a like development in flat boat tonnage. With the
+expansion of the river traffic came a growth of large cities and towns
+alongside. Louisville increased in population from 4,000, in 1820, to
+43,000, in 1850, and St Louis from 4,900 to 77,000 in the same period.
+
+With the arrival of the railroads began the decline of the river,
+though some years were to elapse before the decline was seriously felt.
+It was the absolute perfection of the railway system that eventually
+made its competition irresistible. The lines paralleled the river; they
+had, as I have said, easy grades; they responded to that consideration
+in regard to speedy delivery of consignments which is as pronounced in
+the United States as it is in Great Britain; they were as free from
+stoppages due to variations in water level as they were from stoppages
+on account of ice or snow; and they could be provided with branch
+lines as "feeders," going far inland, so that the trader did not have
+either to build his factory on the river bank or to pay cost of cartage
+between factory and river. The railway companies, again, were able to
+provide much more efficient terminal facilities, especially in the
+erection of large wharves, piers, and depôts which allow of the railway
+waggons coming right alongside the steamers. At Galveston I saw cargo
+being discharged from the ocean-going steamers by being placed on
+trucks which were raised from the vessel by endless moving-platforms
+to the level of the goods station, where stood, along parallel
+series of lines, the railway waggons which would take them direct to
+Chicago, San Francisco, or elsewhere. With facilities such as these
+no inland waterway can possibly compete. The railways, again, were
+able, in competition with the river, to reduce their charges to "what
+the traffic would bear," depending on a higher proportion of profit
+elsewhere. The steamboats could adopt no such policy as this, and the
+traders found that, by the time they had paid, not only the charges for
+actual river transport, but insurance and extra cartage, as well, they
+had paid as much as transport by rail would have cost, while getting a
+much slower and more inconvenient service.
+
+[Illustration: SUCCESSFUL RIVALS OF MISSISSIPPI CARGO BOATS.
+
+  (1) Illinois Central Freight Train; 43 cars; 2,100 tons.
+
+  (2)    "       "     Banana Express, New Orleans to Chicago; 34 cars;
+      433 tons of bananas.
+
+      [_To face page 114._
+]
+
+The final outcome of all these conditions is indicated by some remarks
+made by Mr Stuyvesant Fish, President of the Illinois Central Railroad
+Company (the chief railway competitors of the Mississippi steamboats),
+in the address he delivered as President of the Seventh Session of the
+International Railway Congress at Washington, in May 1905:--
+
+ "It is within my knowledge that twenty years ago there were annually
+ carried by steamboats from Memphis to New Orleans over 100,000 bales
+ of cotton, and that in almost every year since the railroads between
+ Memphis and New Orleans passed under one management, not a single bale
+ has been carried down the Mississippi River from Memphis by boat, and
+ in no one year have 500 bales been thus carried; the reason being
+ that, including the charges for marine and fire insurance, the rates
+ by water are higher than by rail."
+
+To this statement Mr Fish added some figures which may be tabulated as
+follows:--
+
+TONNAGE OF FREIGHT RECEIVED AT OR DESPATCHED FROM NEW ORLEANS.
+
+  +----------------------------------------+-------------+-------------+
+  |                                        |     1890    |     1900    |
+  +----------------------------------------+-------------+-------------+
+  | By the Mississippi River (all sources) |  2,306,290  |    450,498  |
+  | By rail                                |  3,557,742  |  6,852,064  |
+  +----------------------------------------+-------------+-------------+
+
+  Decline of river traffic in ten years        1,855,792 tons
+  Increase of rail    "      "      "          3,294,322  "
+
+These figures bear striking testimony to the results that may be
+brought about in a country where railways are allowed a fair chance of
+competing with even the greatest of natural waterways--a chance, as I
+have said, denied them in Germany and France. Looking, too, at these
+figures, I understand better the significance of what I saw at Memphis,
+where a solitary Mississippi steamboat--one of the survivals of those
+huge floating warehouses now mostly rusting out their existence at New
+Orleans--was having her cargo discharged on the river banks by a few
+negroes, while the powerful locomotives of the Illinois Central were
+rushing along on the adjoining railway with the biggest train-loads it
+was possible for them to haul.
+
+On the general position in the United States I might quote the
+following from a communication with which I have been favoured by Mr
+Luis Jackson, an Englishman by birth, who, after an early training on
+British railways, went to the United States, created there the rôle of
+"industrial commissioner" in connection with American railways, and
+now fills that position on the Erie Railroad:--
+
+ "When I was in the West the question of water transportation down the
+ Mississippi was frequently remarked upon. The Mississippi is navigable
+ from St Paul to New Orleans. In the early days the towns along the
+ Mississippi, especially those from St Paul to St Louis, depended upon,
+ and had their growth through, the river traffic. It was a common
+ remark among our railroad people that 'we could lick the river.' The
+ traffic down the Mississippi, especially from St Paul to St Louis
+ (I can only speak of the territory with which I am well acquainted)
+ perceptibly declined in competition with the railroads, and the river
+ towns have been revived by, and now depend more for their growth on,
+ the railroads than on the river.... Figures do not prove anything.
+ If the Erie Canal and the Mississippi River traffic had increased,
+ doubled, trebled, or quadrupled in the past years, instead of actually
+ dwindling by tonnage figures, it would prove nothing as against the
+ tremendous tonnage hauled by the trunk line railroads. The Erie
+ Railroad Company, New York to Chicago, last year carried 32,000,000
+ tons of revenue freights. It would take a pretty good canal to handle
+ that amount of traffic; and the Erie is only one of many lines between
+ New York and Chicago.
+
+ "A canal, paralleling great railroads, to some extent injures them
+ on through traffic. The tendency of all railroads is in the line of
+ progress. As the tonnage increases the equipment becomes larger, and
+ the general tendency of railroad rates is downwards; in other words,
+ the public in the end gets from the railroad all that can be expected
+ from a canal, and much more. The railroad can expand right and left,
+ and reach industries by side tracks; with canals every manufacturer
+ must locate on the banks of the canal. Canals for internal commerce,
+ in my mind, are out of date; they belong to the 'slow.' Nor do I
+ believe that the traffic management of canals by the State has the
+ same conception of traffic measures which is adopted by the modern
+ managers of railroads.
+
+ "Canals affect rates on heavy commodities, and play a part mostly
+ injurious, to my mind, to the proper development of railroads,
+ especially on the Continent of Europe. They may do local business, but
+ the railroad is the real handmaid of commerce."
+
+By way of concluding this brief sketch of American conditions, I cannot
+do better than adopt the final sentences in Professor Dixon's paper at
+the St Louis Railway Club to which I have already referred:--
+
+ "Two considerations should, above all others, be kept in mind in
+ determination of the feasibility of any project: first, the very
+ positive limitations to the efficiency of rivers and canals as
+ transportation agencies because of their lack of flexibility and the
+ natural disabilities under which they suffer; and secondly, that water
+ transportation is not necessarily cheap simply because the Government
+ constructs and maintains the channels. Nothing could be more delusive
+ than the assertion so frequently made, which is found in the opening
+ pages of the report of the New York Committee on Canals of 1899, that
+ water transportation is inherently cheaper than rail transportation.
+ Such an assertion is true only of ocean transportation, and possibly
+ also of large bodies of water like the lakes, although this last is
+ doubtful.
+
+ "By all means let us have our waterways developed when such
+ development is economically justifiable. What is justifiable must be
+ a matter of judgment, and possibly to some extent of experimentation,
+ but the burden of proof rests on its advocates. Such projects should
+ be carried out by the localities interested and the burden should
+ be borne by those who are to derive the benefit. Only in large
+ undertakings of national concern should the General Government be
+ called upon for aid.
+
+ "But I protest most vigorously against the deluge of schemes poured in
+ upon Congress at every session by reckless advocates who, disregarding
+ altogether the cost of their crazy measures in the increased burden
+ of general taxation, argue for the inherent cheapness of water
+ transportation, and urge the construction at public expense of works
+ whose traffic will never cover the cost of maintenance."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+ENGLISH CONDITIONS
+
+
+I have already spoken in Chapter VII. of some of the chief differences
+between Continental and English conditions, but I revert to the latter
+because it is essential that, before approving of any scheme of canal
+restoration here, the British public should thoroughly understand the
+nature of the task that would thus be undertaken.
+
+The sections of actual canal routes, given opposite page 98, will
+convey some idea of the difficulties which faced the original builders
+of our artificial waterways. The wonder is that, since water has not
+yet been induced to flow up-hill, canals were ever constructed over
+such surfaces at all. Most probably the majority of them would not
+have been attempted if railways had come into vogue half a century
+earlier than they did. Looking at these diagrams, one can imagine how
+the locomotive--which does not disdain hill-climbing, and can easily be
+provided with cuttings, bridges, viaducts, and tunnels--could follow
+the canal; but one can hardly imagine that in England, at least, the
+canal would have followed the railway.
+
+The whole proposition in regard to canal revival would be changed if
+only the surfaces in Great Britain were the same as they are, say,
+between Hamburg and Berlin, where in 230 miles of waterway there are
+only three locks. In this country there is an average of one lock for
+every 1-1/4 mile of navigation. The sum total of the locks on British
+canals is 2,377, each representing, on an average, a capitalised cost
+of £1,360. Instead of a "great central plain," as on the Continent of
+Europe, we have a "great central ridge," extending the greater length
+of England. In the 16 miles between Worcester and Tardebigge on the
+Worcester and Birmingham Canal, there are fifty-eight locks to be
+passed through by a canal boat going from the Severn to Birmingham. At
+Tardebigge there is a difference in level of about 250 feet in 3 miles
+or so. This is overcome by a "flight" of thirty locks, which a 25-ton
+boat may hope to get through in four hours. Between Huddersfield and
+Ashton, on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, there are seventy-four locks
+in 20 miles; between Manchester and Sowerby Bridge, on the Rochdale
+Canal, there are ninety-two locks in 32 miles, to enable the boats to
+pass over an elevation 600 feet above sea level; and at Bingley, on the
+Leeds and Liverpool Canal, five "staircase" locks give a total lift of
+59 feet 2 inches.
+
+Between London and Liverpool there are three canal routes, each passing
+through either ten or eleven separate navigations, and covering
+distances of from 244 to 267 miles. By one of these routes a boat has
+to pass through such series of locks as ninety in 100 miles on the
+Grand Junction Canal, between Paddington and Braunston; forty-three in
+17 miles on the Birmingham Canal, between Birmingham and Aldersley; and
+forty-six in 66 miles on the Shropshire Union Canal, between Autherley
+and Ellesmere Port. Proceeding by an alternative route, the boat would
+pass through fifty-nine locks in 67 miles on the Trent and Mersey;
+while a third route would give two hundred and eighty-two locks in a
+total of 267 miles. The number of separate navigations is ten by Routes
+I. and II., and eleven by Route III.
+
+Between London and Hull there are two routes, one 282 miles with one
+hundred and sixty-four locks, and the other 305 miles with one hundred
+and forty-eight locks. On the journey from London to the Severn, a boat
+would pass through one hundred and thirty locks in 177 miles in going
+to the Avonmouth Docks (this total including one hundred and six locks
+in 86 miles between Reading and Hanham, on the Kennet and Avon Canal);
+and either one hundred and two locks in 191 miles, or two hundred and
+thirty in 219 miles, if the destination were Sharpness Docks. Between
+Liverpool and Hull there are one hundred and four locks in 187 miles by
+one route; one hundred and forty-nine in 159 miles by a second route;
+and one hundred and fifty-two in 149 miles by a third. In the case of
+a canal boat despatched from Birmingham, the position would be--to
+London, one hundred and fifty-five locks in 147 miles; to Liverpool (1)
+ninety-nine locks in 114 miles, (2) sixty-nine locks in 94 miles; to
+Hull, sixty-six locks in 164 miles; to the Severn, Sharpness Docks (1)
+sixty-one locks in 75 miles, (2) forty-nine locks in 89 miles.
+
+Early in 1906 a correspondent of _The Standard_ made an experimental
+canal journey from the Thames, at Brentford, to Birmingham, to test
+the qualities of a certain "suction-producer gas motor barge." The
+barge itself stood the test so well that the correspondent was able to
+declare:--"In the new power may be found a solution of the problem
+of canal traction." He arrived at this conclusion notwithstanding the
+fact that the motor barge was stopped at one of the locks by a drowned
+cat being caught between the barge and the incoming "butty" boat. The
+journey from London to Birmingham occupied, "roughly," six and a half
+days--a journey, that is, which London and North-Western express trains
+accomplish regularly in two hours. The 22-1/2 miles of the Warwick and
+Birmingham Canal, which has thirty-four locks, alone took ten hours and
+a half. From Birmingham the correspondent made other journeys in the
+same barge, covering, altogether, 370 miles. In that distance he passed
+through three hundred and twenty-seven locks, various summits "several
+hundred feet" in height being crossed by this means.
+
+At Anderton, on the Trent and Mersey Canal, there is a vertical
+hydraulic lift which raises or lowers two narrow boats 50 feet to
+enable them to pass between the canal and the River Mersey, the
+operation being done by means of troughs 75 feet by 14-1/2 feet.
+Inclined planes have also been made use of to avoid a multiplicity
+of locks. It is assumed that in the event of any general scheme of
+resuscitation being undertaken, the present flights of locks would, in
+many instances, be done away with, hydraulic lifts being substituted
+for them. Where this could be done it would certainly effect a saving
+in time, though the provision of a lift between series of locks would
+not save water, as this would still be required for the lock below.
+Hydraulic lifts, however, could not be used in mining districts, such
+as the Black Country, on account of possible subsidences. Where that
+drawback did not occur there would still be the question of expense.
+The cost of construction of the Anderton lift was £50,000, and the cost
+of maintenance is £500 a year. Would the traffic on a particular route
+be always equal to the outlay? In regard to inclined planes, it was
+proposed some eight or ten years ago to construct one on the Birmingham
+Canal in order to do away with a series of locks at a certain point
+and save one hour on the through journey. Plans were prepared, and a
+Bill was deposited in Parliament; but just at that time a Board of
+Trade enquiry into canal tolls and charges led to such reductions being
+enforced that there no longer appeared to be any security for a return
+on the proposed expenditure, and the Bill was withdrawn.
+
+In many instances the difference in level has been overcome by the
+construction of tunnels. There are in England and Wales no fewer than
+forty-five canal tunnels each upwards of 100 yards in length, and of
+these twelve are over 2,000 yards in length, namely, Standidge Tunnel,
+on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, 5,456 yards; Sapperton, Thames and
+Severn, 3,808; Lappal, Birmingham Canal navigations, 3,785; Dudley,
+Birmingham Canal, 3,672; Norwood, Chesterfield Canal, 3,102; Butterley,
+Cromford, 3,063; Blisworth, Grand Junction, 3,056; Netherton,
+Birmingham Canal, 3,027; Harecastle (new), Trent and Mersey, 2,926;
+Harecastle (old), Trent and Mersey, 2,897; West Hill, Worcester and
+Birmingham, 2,750; and Braunston, Grand Junction, 2,042.
+
+The earliest of these tunnels were made so narrow (in the interests of
+economy) that no space was left for a towing path alongside, and the
+boats were passed through by the boatmen either pushing a pole or shaft
+against the roof or sides, and then walking from forward to aft of the
+boat, or else by the "legging" process in which they lay flat on their
+backs in the boat, and pushed with their feet against the sides of the
+tunnel. At one time even women engaged in work of this kind. Later
+tunnels were provided with towing paths, while in some of them steam
+tugs have been substituted for shafting and legging.
+
+Resort has also been had to aqueducts, and these represent some of the
+best work that British canal engineers have done. The first in England
+was the one built at Barton by James Brindley to carry the Bridgewater
+Canal over the Irwell. It was superseded by a swing aqueduct in
+1893, to meet the requirements of the Manchester Ship Canal. But the
+finest examples are those presented by the aqueducts of Chirk and
+Pontcysyllte on the Ellesmere Canal in North Wales, now forming part
+of the Shropshire Union Canal. Each was the work of Telford, and the
+two have been aptly described as "among the boldest efforts of human
+invention of modern times." The Chirk aqueduct (710 feet long) carries
+the canal over the River Ceriog. It was completed in 1801 and cost
+£20,898. The Pontcysyllte aqueduct, of which a photograph is given as
+a frontispiece, carries the canal in a cast-iron trough a distance
+of 1,007 feet across the valley of the River Dee. It was opened for
+traffic in 1803, and involved an outlay of £47,000. Another canal
+aqueduct worthy of mention is that which was constructed by Rennie in
+1796, at a cost of £48,000, to carry the Lancaster Canal over the River
+Lune.
+
+These facts must surely convince everyone who is in any way open to
+conviction of the enormous difference between canal construction as
+carried on in bygone days in Great Britain--involving as it did all
+these costly, elaborate, and even formidable engineering works--and
+the building of canals, or the canalisation of rivers, on the flat
+surfaces of Holland, Belgium, and Northern Germany. Reviewing--even
+thus inadequately--the work that had been already done, one ceases to
+wonder that, when the railways began to establish themselves in this
+country, the canal companies of that day regarded with despair the
+idea of practically doing the greater part of their work over again,
+in order to carry on an apparently hopeless struggle with a powerful
+competitor who had evidently come not only to stay but to win. It is
+not surprising, after all, that many of them thought it better to
+exploit the enemy by inducing or forcing him to buy them out!
+
+The average reader who may not hitherto have studied the question so
+completely as I am here seeking to do, will also begin by this time to
+understand what the resuscitation of the British canal system might
+involve in the way of expense. The initial purchase--presumably on fair
+and equitable terms--would in itself cost much more than is supposed
+even by the average expert.
+
+ "Assuming," says one authority, Mr Thwaite, "that 3,500 miles of the
+ canal system were purchasable at two-thirds of their original cost of
+ construction, say £2,350 per mile of length, then the capital required
+ would be £8,225,000."
+
+This looks very simple. But is the original cost of construction
+of canals passing through tunnels, over viaducts, and up and down
+elevations of from 400 to 600 feet, calculated here on the same basis
+as canals on the flat-lands? Is allowance made for costly pumping
+apparatus--such as that provided for the Birmingham Canal--for the
+docks and warehouses recently constructed at Ellesmere Port, and for
+other capital expenditure for improvements, or are these omitted from
+the calculation of so much "per mile of length"? Items of this kind
+might swell even "cost of construction" to larger proportions than
+those assumed by Mr Thwaite. That gentleman, also, evidently leaves
+out of account the very substantial sums paid by the present owners or
+controllers of canals for the mining rights underneath the waterways in
+districts such as Staffordshire or Lancashire.
+
+This last-mentioned point is one of considerable importance, though
+very few people seem to know that it enters into the canal question at
+all. When canals were originally constructed it was assumed that the
+companies were entitled to the land they had bought from the surface to
+the centre of the earth. But the law decided they could claim little
+more than a right of way, and that the original landowners might still
+work the minerals underneath. This was done, with the result that there
+were serious subsidences of the canals, involving both much loss of
+water and heavy expenditure in repairs. The stability of railways was
+also affected, but the position of the canals was much worse on account
+of the water.
+
+To maintain the efficiency of the canals (and of railways in addition)
+those responsible for them--whether independent companies or railway
+companies--have had to spend enormous sums of money in the said mining
+districts on buying up the right to work the minerals underneath. In
+some instances the landowner has given notice of his intention to
+work the minerals himself, and, although he may in reality have had
+no such intention, the canal company or the railway company have been
+compelled to come to terms with him, to prevent the possibility of the
+damage that might otherwise be done to the waterway. The very heavy
+expenditure thus incurred would hardly count as "cost of construction,"
+and it would represent money sunk with no prospect of return. Yet, if
+the State takes over the canals, it will be absolutely bound to reckon
+with these mineral rights as well--if it wants to keep the canals
+intact after improving them--and, in so doing, it must allow for a
+considerably larger sum for initial outlay than is generally assumed.
+
+But the actual purchase of canals _and_ mineral rights would be only
+the beginning of the trouble. There would come next the question of
+increasing the capacity of the canals by widening, and what this might
+involve I have already shown. Then there are the innumerable locks by
+which the great differences in level are overcome. A large proportion
+of these would have to be reconstructed (unless lifts or inclined
+planes were provided instead) to admit either the larger type of boat
+of which one hears so much, or, alternatively, two or four of the
+existing narrow boats. Assuming this to be done, then, when a single
+narrow boat came up to each lock in the course of the journey it was
+making, either it would have to wait until one or three others arrived,
+or, alternatively, the water in a large capacity lock would be used for
+the passage of one small boat. The adoption of the former course would
+involve delay; and either would necessitate the provision of a much
+larger water supply, together with, for the highest levels, still more
+costly pumping machinery.
+
+The water problem would, indeed, speedily become one of the most
+serious in the whole situation--and that, too, not alone in regard to
+the extremely scanty supplies in the high levels. The whole question
+has been complicated, since canals were first built, by the growing
+needs of the community, towns large and small having tapped sources of
+water supply which otherwise might have been available for the canals.
+
+Even as these lines are being written, I see from _The Times_ of March
+17, 1906, that, because the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
+Company are sinking a well on land of their own adjoining the railway
+near the Carshalton springs of the River Wandle, with a view to getting
+water for use in their Victoria Station in London, all the public
+authorities in that part of Surrey, together with the mill-owners and
+others interested in the River Wandle, are petitioning Parliament in
+support of a Bill to restrain them, although it is admitted that "the
+railway company do not appear to be exceeding their legal rights."
+This does not look as if there were too much water to spare for canal
+purposes in Great Britain; and yet so level-headed a journal as _The
+Economist_, in its issue of March 3, 1906, gravely tells us, in an
+article on "The New Canal Commission," that "the experience of Canada
+is worth studying." What possible comparison can there be, in regard to
+canals, between a land of lakes and great rivers and a country where a
+railway company may not even sink a well on their own property without
+causing all the local authorities in the neighbourhood to take alarm,
+and petition Parliament to stop them![11]
+
+[Illustration: WATER SUPPLY FOR CANALS.
+
+  (Belvide Reservoir, Staffordshire, Shropshire Union Canal.)
+
+      [_To face page 128._
+]
+
+On this question of water supply, I may add, Mr John Glass, manager
+of the Regents Canal, said at the meeting of the Institution of Civil
+Engineers in November 1905:--
+
+ "In his opinion Mr Saner had treated the water question, upon which
+ the whole matter depended, in too airy a manner. Considering, for
+ instance, the route to Birmingham, it would be seen that to reach
+ Birmingham the waterway was carried over one summit of 400 feet, and
+ another of 380 feet, descended 200 feet, and eventually arrived at
+ Birmingham, which was about 350 feet above sea level. The proposed
+ standard lock, with a small allowance for the usual leakage in
+ filling, would consume about 50,000 cubic feet of water, and the two
+ large crafts which Mr Saner proposed to accommodate in the lock[12]
+ would carry together, he calculated, about 500 tons. Supposing it
+ were possible to regulate the supply and demand so as to spread that
+ traffic economically over the year, and to permit of twenty-five pairs
+ of boats passing from Birmingham to the Thames, or in the opposite
+ direction, on 300 days in the year, the empty boats going into the
+ same locks as the laden boats, it would be necessary to provide
+ 1,250,000 cubic feet of water daily, at altitudes of 300 to 400 feet;
+ and in addition it would be necessary to have water-storage for at
+ least 120 days in the year, which would amount to about 150,000,000
+ cubic feet. When it was remembered that the districts in which the
+ summit-levels referred to were situated were ill-supplied with water,
+ he thought it was quite impossible that anything like that quantity of
+ water could be obtained for the purpose. Canal-managers found that the
+ insufficiency of water in all districts supplied by canals increased
+ every year, and the difficulty of acquiring proper water-storage
+ became enhanced."
+
+Not only the ordinary waterway and the locks, but the tunnels and
+viaducts, also, might require widening. Then the adoption of some
+system of mechanical haulage is spoken of as indispensable. But a
+resort to tugs, however propelled, is in no way encouraged by the
+experiments made on the Shropshire Union, as told on p. 50. An overhead
+electrical installation, with power houses and electric lighting, so
+that navigation could go on at night, would be an especially costly
+undertaking. But the increased speed which it is hoped to gain from
+mechanical haulage on the level would also necessitate a general
+strengthening of the canal banks to avoid damage by the wash, and
+even then the possible speed would be limited by the breadth of the
+waterway. On this particular point I cannot do better than quote the
+following from an article on "Canals and Waterways" published in _The
+Field_ of March 10, 1906:--
+
+ "Among the arguments in favour of revival has been that of anticipated
+ rapid steam traffic on such re-opened waterways. Any one who
+ understands the elementary principles of building and propulsion of
+ boats will realise that volume of water of itself fixes limits for
+ speed of vessels in it. Any vessel of certain given proportions has
+ its limit of speed (no matter what horse-power may be employed to move
+ it) according to the relative limit (if any) of the volume of water
+ in which it floats. Our canals are built to allow easy passage of the
+ normal canal barge at an average of 3 to 3-1/2 miles an hour. A barge
+ velocity of even 5 miles, still more of 6 or 7, would tend to wash
+ banks, and so to wreck (to public danger) embankments where canals are
+ carried higher than surrounding land. A canal does not lie in a valley
+ from end to end like a river. It would require greater horse-power
+ to tow one loaded barge 6 miles an hour on normal canal water than
+ to tow a string of three or even four such craft hawsered 50 or more
+ feet apart at the pace of 3-1/2 miles. The reason would be that the
+ channel is not large enough to allow the wave of displacement forward
+ to find its way aft past the advancing vessel, so as to maintain an
+ approximate level of water astern to that ahead, unless either the
+ channel is more than doubled or else the speed limited to something
+ less than 4 miles. It therefore comes to this, that increased speed on
+ our canals, to any tangible extent, does not seem to be attainable,
+ even if all barges shall be screw steamers, unless the entire channel
+ can be reconstructed to far greater depth and also width."
+
+What the actual cost of reconstruction would be--as distinct from
+cost of purchase--I will not myself undertake to estimate; and merely
+general statements, based on the most favourable sections of the
+canals, may be altogether misleading. Thus, a writer in the _Daily
+Chronicle_ of March 21, 1906, who has contributed to that journal a
+series of articles on the canal question, "from an expert point of
+view," says:--
+
+ "If the Aire and Calder navigation, which is much improved in recent
+ years, be taken as a model, it has been calculated that £1,000,000 per
+ 100 miles would fit the trunk system for traffic such as is dealt with
+ on the Yorkshire navigation."
+
+How can the Aire and Calder possibly be taken as a model--from the
+point of view of calculating cost of improvements or reconstruction?
+Let the reader turn once more to the diagrams given opposite p. 98. He
+will see that the Aire and Calder is constructed on land that is almost
+flat, whereas the Rochdale section on the same trunk route between the
+Mersey and the Humber reaches an elevation of 600 feet. How can any
+just comparison be made between these two waterways? If the cost of
+"improving" a canal of the "model" type of the Aire and Calder be put
+at the rate of £1,000,000 per 100 miles, what would it come to in the
+case of the Rochdale Canal, the Tardebigge section of the Worcester
+and Birmingham Canal, or the series of independent canals between
+Birmingham and London? That is a practical question which I will
+leave--to the experts!
+
+Supposing, however, that the canals have been purchased, taken
+possession of, and duly improved (whatever the precise cost) by State,
+municipalities, or public trust, as the case may be. There will then be
+the almost exact equivalent of a house without furniture, or a factory
+without machinery. Before even the restored canals could be adapted to
+the requirements of trade and commerce there would have to be a very
+considerable expenditure, also, on warehouses, docks, appliances, and
+other indispensable adjuncts to mere haulage.
+
+After all the money that has been spent on the Manchester Ship Canal
+it is still found necessary to lay out a great deal more on warehouses
+which are absolutely essential to the full and complete development of
+the enterprise. The same principle would apply to any scheme of revived
+inland navigation. The goods depôts constructed by railway companies
+in all large towns and industrial centres have alone sufficed to bring
+about a complete revolution in trade and commerce since the days when
+canals were prosperous. There are many thousands of traders to-day who
+not only order comparatively small quantities of supplies at a time
+from the manufacturer, but leave even these quantities to be stored
+locally by the railway company, having delivered to them from day to
+day, or week by week, just as much as they can do with. A certain
+"free" period is allowed for warehousing, and, if they remove the goods
+during that period, they pay nothing to the railway company beyond the
+railway rate. After the free period a small "rent" is charged--a rent
+which, while representing no adequate return to the railway company
+for the heavy capital outlay in providing the depôts, is much less than
+it would cost the trader if he had to build store-rooms for himself,
+or pay for accommodation elsewhere. Other traders, as mentioned in
+the chapter on "The Transition in Trade," send goods to the railway
+warehouses as soon as they are ready, to wait there until an order is
+completed, and the whole consignment can be despatched; while others
+again, agents and commission men, carry on a considerable business from
+a small office, leaving all the handling of the commodities in which
+they deal to be done by the railway companies. In fact, the situation
+might be summed up by saying that, under the trading conditions of
+to-day, railway companies are not only common carriers, but general
+warehousemen in addition.
+
+If inland canals are to take over any part of the transport at present
+conducted by the railways, they will have to provide the traders with
+like facilities. So, in addition to buying up and reconstructing the
+canals; in addition to widenings, and alterations of the gradients of
+roads and railways passed under; and in addition to the maintenance
+of towing paths, locks, bridges, tunnels, aqueducts, culverts,
+weirs, sluices, cranes, wharves, docks, and quay walls, reservoirs,
+pumping machinery, and so on, there would still be all the subsidiary
+considerations in regard to warehousing, etc., which would arise when
+it became a question with the trader whether or not he should avail
+himself of the improved water transport thus placed at his disposal.
+
+For the purposes of reasonable argument I will assume that no
+really sensible person, knowing anything at all of actual facts and
+conditions, would attempt to revive the entire canal system of the
+country.[13] I have shown on p. 19, that even in the year 1825 it was
+recognised that some of the canals had been built by speculators simply
+as a means of abstracting money from the pockets of foolish investors,
+victims of the "canal mania," and that no useful purpose could be
+served by them even at a time when there were no competing railways.
+Yet to-day sentimental individuals who, in wandering about the
+country, come across some of these absolutely useless, though still,
+perhaps, picturesque survivals, write off to the newspapers to lament
+over "our neglected waterways," to cast the customary reflections
+on the railway companies, and to join their voice to the demand for
+immediate nationalisation or municipalisation, according to their
+individual leanings, and regardless of all considerations of cost or
+practicability.
+
+Derelicts of the type here referred to are not worth considering at
+all. It is a pity they were not drained and filled in long ago, and
+given, as it were, a decent burial, if only out of consideration for
+the feelings of sentimentalists. Much more deserving of study are
+those particular systems which either still carry a certain amount
+of traffic, or are situated on routes along which traffic might be
+reasonably expected to flow. But, taking even canals of this type,
+the reader must see from the considerations I have already presented
+that resuscitation would be a very costly business indeed. Estimates
+of which I have read in print range from £20,000,000 to £50,000,000;
+but even these omit various important items (mining rights, etc.),
+which would certainly have to be added, while the probability is that,
+however high the original estimate in regard to work of this kind, a
+good deal more would have to be expended before it was finished.
+
+The remarks I have here made are based on the supposition that all
+that is aimed at is such an improvement as would allow of the use of a
+larger type of canal boat than that now in vogue. But, obviously, the
+expenditure would be still heavier if there were any idea of adapting
+the canals to the use of barges similar in size to those employed on
+the waterways of Germany, or craft which, starting from an inland
+manufacturing town in the Midlands, could go on a coasting trip, or
+make a journey across to the Continent. Here the capital expenditure
+would be so great that the cost would be absolutely prohibitive.
+
+Whatever the precise number of millions the resuscitation scheme might
+cost, the inevitable question would present itself--How is the money to
+be raised?
+
+The answer thereto would be very simple if the entire expense were
+borne by the country--that is to say, thrown upon the taxpayers or
+ratepayers. The problem would then be solved at once. The great
+drawback to this solution is that most of the said taxpayers or
+ratepayers would probably object. Besides, there is the matter
+of detail I mentioned in the first Chapter: if the State or the
+municipalities buy up the canals on fair terms, including the canals
+owned or controlled by the railways, and, in operating them in
+competition with the railways, make heavy losses which must eventually
+fall on the taxpayers or ratepayers, then it would be only fair that
+the railway companies should be excused from such direct increase
+in taxation as might result from the said losses. In that case the
+burden would fall still more heavily on the general body of the tax or
+ratepayers, independently of the railway companies.
+
+It would fall, too, with especial severity on those traders who were
+themselves unable to make use of the canals, but might have to pay
+increased local rates in order that possible competitors located
+within convenient reach of the improved waterways could have cheaper
+transport. It might also happen that when the former class of traders,
+bound to keep to the railways, applied to the railway companies for
+some concession to themselves, the reply given would be--"What you
+suggest is fair and reasonable, and under ordinary circumstances we
+should be prepared to meet your wishes; but the falling off in our
+receipts, owing to the competition of State-aided canals, makes it
+impossible for us to grant any further reductions." An additional
+disadvantage would thus have to be met by the trader who kept to the
+railway, while his rival, using the canals, would practically enjoy the
+benefit of a State subsidy.
+
+The alternative to letting the country bear the burden would be to
+leave the resuscitated canal system to pay for itself. But is there any
+reasonable probability that it could? The essence of the present day
+movement is that the traders who would be enabled to use the canals
+under the improved conditions should have cheaper transport; but if
+the twenty, fifty, or any other number of millions sterling spent
+on the purchase and improvement of the canals, and on the provision
+of indispensable accessories thereto, are to be covered out of the
+tolls and charges imposed on those using the canals, there is every
+probability that (if the canals are to pay for themselves) the tolls
+and charges would have to be raised to such a figure that any existing
+difference between them and the present railway rates would disappear
+altogether. That difference is already very often slight enough, and it
+may be even less than appears to be the case, because the railway rate
+might include various services, apart from mere haulage--collection,
+delivery, warehousing, use of coal depôt, etc.--which are not covered
+by the canal tolls and charges, and the cost of which would have to be
+added thereto. A very small addition, therefore, to the canal tolls,
+in order to meet interest on heavy capital expenditure on purchase and
+reconstruction, would bring waterways and railways so far on a level in
+regard to rates that the railways, with the superior advantages they
+offer in many ways, would, inevitably, still get the preference.
+
+The revival movement, however, is based on the supposition that no
+increase in the canal tolls now charged would be necessary.[14] Canal
+transport, it is said, is already much higher in this country than
+it is on the Continent--and that may well be so, considering (1)
+that canals such as ours, with their numerous locks, etc., cost more
+to construct, operate and maintain than canals on the flat lands of
+Continental Europe; (2) that British canals are still supposed to
+maintain themselves; and (3) that canal traffic as well as railway
+traffic is assessed in the most merciless way for the purposes of local
+taxation. In the circumstances it is assumed that the canal traffic
+in England could not pay higher tolls and charges than those already
+imposed, and that the interest on the aforesaid millions, spent on
+purchase and improvements, would all be met out of the expanded traffic
+which the restored canals would attract.
+
+Again I may ask--Is there any reasonable probability of this? Bearing
+in mind the complete transition in trade of which I have already
+spoken--a transition which, on the one hand, has enormously increased
+the number of individual traders, and, on the other, has brought
+about a steady and continuous decrease in the weight of individual
+consignments--is there the slightest probability that the conditions of
+trade are going to be changed, and that merchants, manufacturers, and
+other traders will forego the express delivery of convenient quantities
+by rail, in order to effect a problematical saving (and especially
+problematical where extra cartage has to be done) on the tedious
+delivery of wholesale quantities by canal?
+
+Nothing short of a very large increase indeed in the water-borne
+traffic would enable the canals to meet the heavy expenditure
+foreshadowed, and, even if such increase were secured, the greater part
+of it would not be new traffic, but simply traffic diverted from the
+railways. More probably, however, the very large increase would not be
+secured, and no great diversion from the railways would take place. The
+paramount and ever-increasing importance attached by the vast majority
+of British traders to quick delivery (an importance so great that on
+some lines there are express goods trains capable of running from 40
+to 60 miles an hour) will keep them to the greater efficiency of the
+railway as a carrier of goods; while, if a serious diversion of traffic
+were really threatened, the British railways would not be handicapped
+as those of France and Germany are in any resort to rates and charges
+which would allow of a fair competition with the waterways.
+
+In practice, therefore, the theory that the canals would become
+self-supporting, as soon as the aforesaid millions had been spent, must
+inevitably break down, with the result that the burden of the whole
+enterprise would then necessarily fall upon the community; and why the
+trader who consigns his goods by rail, or the professional man who
+has no goods to consign at all, should be taxed to allow of cheaper
+transport being conferred on the minority of persons or firms likely to
+use the canals even when resuscitated, is more than I can imagine, or
+than they, probably, will be able to realise.
+
+The whole position was very well described in some remarks made by
+Mr Harold Cox, M.P., in the course of a discussion at the Society of
+Arts in February 1906, on a paper read by Mr R. B. Buckley, on "The
+Navigable Waterways of India."
+
+ "There was," he said, "a sort of feeling current at the present time
+ in favour of spending large amounts of the taxpayer's money in order
+ to provide waterways which the public did not want, or at any rate
+ which the public did not want sufficiently to pay for them, which
+ after all was the test. He noticed that everybody who advocated
+ the construction of canals always wanted them constructed with the
+ taxpayer's money, and always wanted them to be worked without a toll.
+ Why should not the same principle be applied to railways also? A
+ railway was even more useful to the public than a canal; therefore,
+ construct it with the taxpayer's money, and allow everybody to use
+ it free. It was always possible to get plenty of money subscribed
+ with which to build a railway, but nobody would subscribe a penny
+ towards the building of canals. An appeal was always made to the
+ government. People had pointed to France and Germany, which spent
+ large sums of money on their canals. In France that was done because
+ the French Parliamentary system was such that it was to the interest
+ of the electorate and the elected to spend the public money on local
+ improvements or non-improvements.... He had been asked, Why make any
+ roads? The difference between roads and canals was that on a canal a
+ toll could be levied on the people who used it, but on a road that
+ was absolutely impossible. Tolls on roads were found so inconvenient
+ that they had to be given up. There was no practical inconvenience in
+ collecting tolls on canals; and, therefore, the principle that was
+ applied to everything else should apply to canals--namely, that those
+ who wanted them should pay for them."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
+
+
+Taking into consideration all the facts and arguments here presented, I
+may summarise as follows the conclusions at which I have arrived:--
+
+(1) That, alike from a geographical, physical, and economic point
+of view, there is no basis for fair comparison between British and
+Continental conditions; consequently our own position must be judged on
+its own merits or demerits.
+
+(2) That, owing to the great changes in British trade, manufacture, and
+commerce, giving rise to widespread and still increasing demands for
+speedy delivery of comparatively small consignments for a great number
+of traders of every possible type, canal transport in Great Britain is
+no longer suited to the general circumstances of the day.
+
+(3) That although a comparatively small number of traders, located
+in the immediate neighbourhood of the canals, might benefit from a
+canal-resuscitation scheme, the carrying out of such scheme at the
+risk, if not at the cost, of the taxpayers, would virtually amount to
+subsidising one section of the community to the pecuniary disadvantage
+of other sections.
+
+(4) That the nationalisation or the municipalisation of British
+canals would introduce a new principle inconsistent with the "private
+enterprise" hitherto recognised in the case of railways, in which such
+large sums have been sunk by investors, but with which State-aided
+canals would compete.
+
+(5) That, in view both of the physical conditions of our land
+(necessitating an extensive resort to locks, etc., to overcome great
+differences in level) and of the fact that many of the most important
+of the canals are now hemmed in by works, houses, or buildings, any
+general scheme of purchase and improvement, in regard even to main
+routes (apart from hopeless derelicts), would be extremely costly, and,
+in most instances, entirely outside the scope of practicability.
+
+(6) That such a scheme, involving an expenditure of many millions,
+could not fail to affect our national finances.
+
+(7) That there is no ground for expecting so large an outlay could be
+recouped by increased receipts from the canals, and that the cost would
+thus inevitably fall upon the community.
+
+(8) That the allegation as to the chief canals of the country, or
+sections thereof, having been "captured" and "strangled" by the
+railway companies, in the interests of their own traffic, is entirely
+unsupported by evidence, the facts being, rather, that in most cases
+the canals were more or less forced upon the railway companies, who
+have spent money liberally on such of them as offered reasonable
+prospect of traffic, and, in that way, have kept alive and in active
+working condition canals that would inevitably have been added to the
+number of derelicts had they remained in the hands of canal companies
+possessed of inadequate capital for the purposes of their efficient
+maintenance.
+
+(9) That certain of these canals (as, for example, the Birmingham
+and the Shropshire Union Canals) are still offering to traders all
+reasonable facilities within the limitations of their surroundings and
+physical possibilities; and that if such canals were required to bear
+the expense of extremely costly widenings, of lock reconstruction, of
+increased water supply, and of general improvements, the tolls and
+charges would have to be raised to such a point that the use of the
+canals would become prohibitive even to those local traders who now
+fully appreciate the convenience they still afford.
+
+(10) That, in effect, whatever may be done in the case of navigable
+rivers, any scheme which aimed at a general resuscitation of canals in
+this country, at the risk, if not at the expense, of the community,
+is altogether impracticable; and that, inasmuch as the only desire
+of the traders, in this connection, is to secure cheaper transport,
+it is desirable to see whether the same results could not be more
+effectively, more generally, and more economically obtained in other
+directions.
+
+Following up this last conclusion, I beg to recommend:--
+
+(_a_) The desirability of increasing the usefulness of the railway
+system, which can go anywhere, serve everybody, and carry and deliver
+consignments, great and small, with that promptness and despatch which
+are all-important to the welfare of the vast majority of industries
+and enterprises, as conducted under the trading conditions of to-day.
+This usefulness, some of the traders allege, is marred by rates and
+charges which they consider unduly heavy, especially in the case of
+certain commodities calling for exceptionally low freight, and canal
+transport is now asked for by them, as against rail transport, just
+as the traders of 1825 wanted the railways as a relief from the
+waterways. The rates and charges, say the railway companies, are not
+unreasonable in themselves, considering all the circumstances of the
+case and the nature of the various services represented, while the
+actual amount thereof is due, to a certain extent, not so much to any
+seeking on the part of the companies to pay dividends of abnormal
+proportions, akin to those of the canal companies of old (the average
+railway dividend to-day, on over one thousand millions of actual
+capital, being only about 3-1/2 per cent.), but to a combination of
+causes which have increased unduly capital outlay and working expenses,
+only to be met out of the rates, fares, and charges that are imposed
+on traders and travellers. Among these causes may be mentioned the
+heavy price the companies have had to pay for their land; the cost of
+Parliamentary proceedings; various requirements imposed by Parliament
+or by Government departments; and the heavy burden of the contribution
+that railway companies make to local rates. (See p. 10.) These various
+conditions must necessarily influence the rates and charges to be paid
+by traders. Some of them--such as cost of land--belong to the past;
+others--like the payments for local taxation--still continue, and tend
+to increase rather than decrease. In any case, the power of the railway
+companies to concede to the traders cheaper transport is obviously
+handicapped. But if, to obtain such cheaper transport, the country is
+prepared to risk (at least) from £20,000,000 to £50,000,000 on a scheme
+of canal reconstruction which, as I have shown, is of doubtful utility
+and practicability, would it not be much more sensible, and much more
+economical, if the weight of the obligations now cast upon railways
+were reduced, thus enabling the companies to make concessions in the
+interests of traders in general, and especially in the interests of
+those consigning goods to ports for shipment abroad, for whose benefit
+the canal revival is more particularly sought?
+
+(_b_) My second recommendation is addressed to the general trader.
+His policy of ordering frequent small consignments to meet immediate
+requirements, and of having, in very many instances, practically no
+warehouse or store-rooms except the railway goods depôts, is one that
+suits him admirably. It enables him either to spend less capital or
+else to distribute his capital over a larger area. He is also spared
+expense in regard to the provision of warehouse accommodation of his
+own. But to the railway companies the general adoption of this policy
+has meant greater difficulty in the making up of "paying loads." To
+suit the exigencies of present-day trade, they have reduced their
+_minima_ to as low, for some commodities, as 2-ton lots, and it is
+assumed by many of the traders that all they need do is to work up to
+such _minima_. But a 2-ton lot for even an 8-ton waggon is hardly a
+paying load. Still less is a 10-cwt. consignment a paying load for a
+similarly sized waggon. Where, however, no other consignments for the
+same point are available, the waggon goes through all the same. In
+Continental countries consignments would be kept back, if necessary,
+for a certain number of days, in order that the "paying load" might
+be made up. But in Great Britain the average trader relies absolutely
+on prompt delivery, however small the consignment, or whatever the
+amount of "working expenses" incurred by the railway in handling it.
+If, however, the trader would show a little more consideration for the
+railway companies--whom he expects to display so much consideration for
+him--he might often arrange to send or to receive his consignments in
+such quantities (at less frequent intervals, perhaps) as would offer
+better loading for the railway waggons, with a consequent decrease of
+working expenses, and a corresponding increase in the ability of the
+railway company to make better terms with him in other directions. Much
+has been done of late years by the railway companies to effect various
+economies in operation, and excellent results have been secured,
+especially through the organisation of transhipping centres for goods
+traffic, and through reductions in train mileage; but still more could
+be done, in the way of keeping down working expenses and improving the
+position of the companies in regard to concessions to traders, if the
+traders themselves would co-operate more with the railways to avoid the
+disadvantages of unremunerative "light-loading."
+
+(_c_) My third and last recommendation is to the agriculturists. I
+have seen repeated assertions to the effect that improved canals would
+be of great advantage to the British farmer; and in this connection
+it may interest the reader if I reproduce the following extract from
+the pamphlet, issued in 1824, by Mr T. G. Cumming, under the title of
+"Illustrations of the Origin and Progress of Rail and Tram Roads and
+Steam Carriages," as already mentioned on p. 21:--
+
+ "To the farming interests the advantages of a rail-way will soon
+ become strikingly manifest; for, even where the facilities of a
+ canal can be embraced, it presents but a slow yet expensive mode of
+ conveyance; a whole day will be consumed in accomplishing a distance
+ of 20 miles, whilst by the rail-way conveyance, goods will be carried
+ the same distance in three or four hours, and perhaps to no class of
+ the community is this increased speed of more consideration and value
+ than to the farmer, who has occasion to bring his fruit, garden stuff,
+ and poultry to market, and still more so to such as are in the habit
+ of supplying those great and populous towns with milk and butter,
+ whilst with all these additional advantages afforded by a rail-way,
+ the expense of conveyance will be found considerably cheaper than by
+ canal.
+
+ "Notwithstanding the vast importance to the farmer of having the
+ produce of his farm conveyed in a cheap and expeditious manner
+ to market, it is almost equally essential to him to have a cheap
+ conveyance for manure from a large town to a distant farm; and here
+ the advantages to be derived from a rail-way are abundantly apparent,
+ for by a single loco-motive engine, 50 tons of manure may be conveyed,
+ at a comparatively trifling expense, to any farm within the line of
+ the road. In the article of lime, also, which is one of the first
+ importance to the farmer, there can be no question but the facilities
+ afforded by a rail-way will be the means of diminishing the expense in
+ a very material degree."
+
+If railways were desirable in 1824 in the interests of agriculture,
+they must be still more so in 1906, and the reversion now to the canal
+transport of former days would be a curious commentary on the views
+entertained at the earlier date. As regards perishables, consigned for
+sale on markets, growers obviously now want the quickest transport
+they can secure, and special fruit and vegetable trains are run
+daily in the summer season for their accommodation. The trader in
+the North who ordered some strawberries from Kent, and got word that
+they were being sent on by canal, would probably use language not fit
+for even a fruit and vegetable market to hear. As for non-perishable
+commodities, consigned to or by agriculturists, the railway is a much
+better distributer than the canal, and, unless a particular farm were
+alongside a canal, the extra cost of cartage therefrom might more than
+outweigh any saving in freight. If greater facilities than the ordinary
+railway are needed by agriculturists, they will be met far better by
+light railways, or by railway road-motors of the kind adopted first by
+the North-Eastern Railway Company at Brandsby, than by any possible
+extension of canals. These road-motors, operated between lines of
+railway and recognised depôts at centres some distance therefrom, are
+calculated to confer on agriculturists a degree of practical advantage,
+in the matter of cheaper transport, limited only by the present
+unfortunate inability of many country roads to bear so heavy a traffic,
+and the equally unfortunate inability of the local residents to bear
+the expense of adapting the roads thereto. If, instead of spending a
+large sum of money on reconstructing canals, the Government devoted
+some of it to grants to County Councils for the reconstruction of rural
+highways, they would do far more good for agriculture, at least. As for
+cheaper rail transport for agricultural commodities in general, I have
+said so much elsewhere as to how these results can be obtained by means
+of combination that I need not enlarge on that branch of the subject
+now, further than to commend it to the attention of the British farmer,
+to whom combination in its various phases will afford a much more
+substantial advantage than any possible resort to inland navigation.
+
+These are the alternatives I offer to proposals which I feel bound
+to regard as more or less quixotic, and I leave the reader to decide
+whether, in view of the actualities of the situation, as set forth in
+the present volume, they are not much more practical than the schemes
+of canal reconstruction for which public favour is now being sought.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+THE DECLINE IN FREIGHT TRAFFIC ON THE MISSISSIPPI
+
+
+Whilst this book is passing through the Press, I have received from
+Mr Stuyvesant Fish, President of the Illinois Central Railroad
+Company--whom I asked to favour me with some additional details
+respecting the decline in freight traffic on the Mississippi River--the
+following interesting notes, drawn up by Mr T. J. Hudson, General
+Traffic Manager of the Illinois Central:--
+
+ The traffic on the Mississippi River was established and built up
+ under totally different conditions from those now obtaining, and when
+ the only other means of travel and transportation was on horseback
+ and by waggon, methods not suitable in view of the great distances
+ and the general impassibility of the country. In those days the
+ principal source of supply was St Louis--and points reached through
+ St Louis--for grain, grain products, etc., excepting that vehicles,
+ machinery, and iron were brought down the Ohio River from Pittsburg
+ and Cincinnati by boat to Cairo, and trans-shipped there, or to
+ Memphis, and trans-shipped or re-distributed from that place. The
+ distributing points on the Lower Mississippi River were Memphis,
+ Vicksburg, Natchez, Bayou Sara, Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Goods
+ were shipped to these points and re-shipped from there over small
+ railroads to short distances, and also hauled by waggon and re-shipped
+ on boats plying in local trade on the Mississippi River and tributary
+ streams. For example, there were Boat Lines making small landing
+ points above and below Memphis, and above and below Vicksburg; also
+ Boat Lines plying the Yazoo and Tallahatchie Rivers on the east, and
+ the White, Arkansas and Red Rivers on the west, etc.
+
+ All the goods shipped by steamboat were hauled by waggon or dray
+ to the steamboat landing, and, when discharged by the boats at
+ destination, were again hauled by waggon from the landing to the
+ stores and warehouses, even in those cases in which re-shipment was
+ made from points like Memphis, Vicksburg, etc. When re-shipped by
+ river, the goods were again hauled to the steamboat landing, and, when
+ reaching the local landing or point of final consumption, after being
+ discharged on the bank, were again hauled by waggon or dray, perhaps
+ for considerable distances into the interior.
+
+ While the cost of water transportation is primarily low, the frequent
+ handling and re-handling made this mode of transportation more or less
+ expensive, and in some instances quite costly. River transportation
+ again is slow, taking longer time in transit. The frequent handlings,
+ further, were damaging and destructive to the packages in the case
+ of many kinds of goods. Transportation on the rivers was also at
+ times interrupted or delayed from one cause or another, such as high
+ water or low water, and the service was, in consequence, more or less
+ irregular, thus requiring dealers to carry large stocks on which the
+ insurance and interest was a considerable item of expense.
+
+ With the development of the railroads through the country, not only
+ was competition brought into play to the distributing points along the
+ river, such as Memphis, Vicksburg, etc., from St Louis, Cincinnati,
+ and Pittsburg, but also from other initial sources of supply which
+ were not located on rivers, but were enabled by reason of the
+ establishment of rail transportation to consign direct; whereas under
+ the old conditions it was necessary for them to consign to some river
+ point and trans-ship. What was still more important and effective in
+ accomplishing the results since brought about was the material benefit
+ conferred by the railroads on most of the communities situated back
+ from the river. These communities had previously been obliged to send
+ their consignments perhaps many miles by road to some point on the
+ river, whence the commodities were carried to some other point, there
+ to be taken by waggon or dray to the place of consumption--another
+ journey of many miles, perhaps, by road. Progress was slow, and in
+ some instances almost impossible, while only small boats could be
+ hauled.
+
+ Then the construction of railroads led to the development of important
+ distributing points in the interior, such as Jackson, (Tennessee), and
+ Jackson, (Mississippi), not to mention many others. Goods loaded into
+ railroad cars on tracks alongside the mills, factories and warehouses
+ could be unloaded at destination into warehouses and stores which also
+ had their tracks alongside. By this means drayage was eliminated, and
+ the packages could be delivered in clean condition. Neither of these
+ conditions was possible where steamboat transportation was employed.
+ Interior points are now enabled to buy direct, either in large or
+ small quantities, from initial sources of supply, and without the
+ delay and expense incident to shipment to river-distributing points,
+ and trans-shipment by rail or steamboat or hauling by waggon. Rail
+ transportation is also more frequent, regular, rapid and reliable; not
+ to mention again the convenience which is referred to above.
+
+ The transportation by river of package-freight, such as flour, meal,
+ meat, canned goods, dry goods, and other commodities, has been almost
+ entirely superseded by rail transportation, except in regard to
+ short-haul local landings, where the river is more convenient, and
+ the railroad may not be available. There is some south-bound shipment
+ of wire, nails, and other iron goods from the Pittsburg district to
+ distributing points like Memphis and New Orleans, but in these cases
+ the consignments are exclusively in barge-load lots. The only other
+ commodity to which these conditions apply is coal. This is taken
+ direct from the mines in the Pittsburg district, and dropped into
+ barges on the Monongahela River; and these are floated down the river,
+ during periods of high water, in fleets of from fifty to several
+ hundred barges at a time.
+
+ There is no movement of grain in barges from St Louis to New Orleans,
+ as was the case a great many years ago. The grain for export _viâ_ New
+ Orleans is now largely moved direct in cars from the country elevators
+ to the elevators at New Orleans, from which latter the grain is loaded
+ direct into ships. There is, also, some movement north-bound in barges
+ of lumber and logs from mills and forests not accessible to railroads,
+ but very little movement of these or other commodities from points
+ that are served by railroad rails. Lumber to be shipped on the river
+ must be moved in barge-load quantities, and taken to places like St
+ Louis, where it has to be hauled from the barge to lumber yards, and
+ then loaded on railroad cars, if it is going to the interior, where a
+ considerable proportion of the quantity handled will be wanted. Mills
+ reached by railroad tracks can, and do, load in car-load quantities,
+ and ship to the final point of use, without the delay incident
+ to river transportation, and the expense involved by transfer or
+ re-shipment.
+
+ It is not to be inferred from the foregoing that all the distributing
+ points along the river have dried up since the development of rail
+ transportation. In fact, the contrary is the case, because the
+ railroads have opened up larger territories to these distributing
+ points, and in regard to many kinds of goods these river points
+ have become, in a way, initial sources of supply as well as of
+ manufacture. Memphis, for example, has grain brought to its elevators
+ direct from the farms, the same as St Louis, and can and does ship
+ on short notice to the many towns and communities in the territory
+ surrounding. There are, also, flour and meal mills, iron foundries,
+ waggon and furniture factories, etc., at Memphis, and at other
+ places. Many of the points, however, which were once simply landings
+ for interior towns and communities have now become comparatively
+ insignificant.
+
+ To sum up in a few words, I should say that the railroads have
+ overcome the steamboat competition on the Mississippi River, not
+ only by affording fair and reasonable rates, but also because rail
+ transportation is more frequent, rapid, reliable, and convenient, and
+ is, on the whole, much cheaper.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] That canals also played their part in the transport of passengers a
+hundred years ago is shown by the following items of news, which I take
+from _The Times_ of 1806:--
+
+  Friday, _December_ 19, 1806.
+
+"The first division of the troops that are to proceed by the Paddington
+Canal for Liverpool, and thence by transports for Dublin, will leave
+Paddington to-day, and will be followed by others to-morrow and Sunday.
+By this mode of conveyance the men will be only seven days in reaching
+Liverpool, and with comparatively little fatigue, as it would take them
+above fourteen days to march that distance. Relays of fresh horses for
+the canal boats have been ordered to be in readiness at all the stages."
+
+  Monday, _December_ 22, 1806.
+
+"Saturday the 8th Regiment embarked at the Paddington Canal for
+Liverpool, in a number of barges, each containing 60 men. This regiment
+consists of 950 men. The 7th Regiment embarked at the same time in
+eighteen barges: they are all to proceed to Liverpool. The Dukes of
+York and Sussex witnessed the embarkation. The remainder of the brigade
+was to follow yesterday, and Friday next another and very considerable
+embarkation will follow."
+
+[2] Illustrations of the Origin and Progress of Rail and Tram Roads,
+and Steam Carriages, or Locomotive Engines. By T. G. Cumming, Surveyor,
+Denbigh, 1824.
+
+[3] A Letter on the subject of the projected Rail-road between
+Liverpool and Manchester, pointing out the necessity for its adoption,
+and the manifest advantages it offers to the public; with an exposure
+of the exorbitant and unjust charges of the Water-Carriers. By Joseph
+Sandars, Esq., Liverpool, 1825.
+
+[4] Mersey and Irwell Navigation.
+
+[5] Another of the speakers, Mr Gordon C. Thomas, engineer to the
+Grand Junction Canal Company, said that "notwithstanding the generous
+expenditure on maintenance, and the large sums recently spent upon
+improvements, the through traffic on the Grand Junction was only
+one-half of what it was fifty years ago, and now the through traffic
+was in many cases unable to pay as high a rate as the local traffic."
+
+[6] In the evidence he gave before the Royal Commission on Canals
+and Waterways on 21st March 1906, Sir Herbert Jekyll, Assistant
+Secretary to the Board of Trade, said (as reported in _The Times_ of
+22nd March):--"One remarkable feature was noticeable--that, although
+the tonnage carried rather increased than diminished between 1838 and
+1848, the receipts fell off enormously, pointing to the conclusion
+that the railway competition had brought about a large reduction in
+canal companies charges. It was also noteworthy that on many canals
+the decrease in receipts had continued out of all proportion to the
+decrease, if any, in the tonnage carried."
+
+[7] In Mr Saner's paper the Birmingham Canal navigations are classed
+among the "Independently-Owned Canals," and Mr Saner says:--"There are
+1,138 miles owned by railway companies, which convey only 6,009,820
+tons per annum, and produce a net profit of only £40 per mile of
+navigation. This," he adds, "appears to afford clear proof that
+the railways do not attempt to make the most of the canals under
+their control." But when the Birmingham Canal, with its 8,000,000
+tons of traffic a year, is transferred (as it ought to be) from
+the independently-owned to the railway-controlled canals, entirely
+different figures are shown.
+
+[8] The fact that coal tipped into a canal boat would have a longer
+drop than coal falling from the colliery screen into railway waggons
+is important because of the greater damage done to the coal, and the
+consequent decrease in value.
+
+[9] Fuller information respecting traffic conditions in Continental
+countries will be found in my book on "Railways and Their Rates."
+
+[10] The figures for the years 1860 to 1890 are taken from the "Report
+of the Committee on Canals of New York State," 1900, General Francis V.
+Greene, chairman; and those for 1900 and 1903 from the "Annual Report
+of Superintendent of Public Works, New York State," 1903.
+
+[11] "The St Lawrence River and the Great Lakes whose waters flow
+through it into the Atlantic form a continuous waterway extending from
+the Fond du Lac, at the head of Lake Superior, to the Straits of Belle
+Isle, a distance of 2,384 miles.... Emptying into the St Lawrence
+... are the Ottawa and Richlieu Rivers, the former bringing it into
+communication with the immense timber forests of Ontario, and the
+latter connecting it with Lake Champion in the United States. These
+rivers were the thoroughfares in peace and the base lines in war for
+the Indian tribes long before the white man appeared in the Western
+Hemisphere.... The early colonists found them the convenient and almost
+the only channels of intercourse among themselves and with the home
+country.... The St Lawrence was navigable for sea-going vessels as far
+as Montreal, but between Montreal and the foot of Lake Ontario there
+was a succession of rapids separated by navigable reaches.... The head
+of navigation on the Ottawa River is the city of Ottawa.... Between
+this city and the mouth of the river there are several impassable
+rapids. The Richlieu was also so much obstructed at various points as
+to be unavailable for navigation.... The canal system of Canada ... has
+been established to overcome these obstructions by artificial channels
+at various points to render freely navigable the national routes of
+transportation."--_"Highways of Commerce," issued by the Bureau of
+Statistics, Department of State, Washington._
+
+[12] The use of a larger type of canal boat is generally regarded
+as an essential part of the resuscitation scheme. But of the narrow
+boats now in active service in the canals of the United Kingdom there
+are from 10,000 to 11,000. What is to be done with these? If they are
+scrap-heaped, and fresh boats substituted, we increase still further
+the sum total of the outlay the scheme will involve.
+
+[13] At the Society of Arts' Conference on Canals, in 1888, Mr L. F.
+Vernon-Harcourt said:--"The statistics show that great caution must be
+exercised in the selection of canal routes for improvement, if they
+are to prove a commercial success, and that the scope for such schemes
+is strictly limited. Any attempt at a general revival and improvement
+of the canal system throughout England cannot prove financially
+successful, as local canals, through thinly populated agricultural
+districts, could not compete with railways. These routes alone should
+be selected for enlargement of waterway which lead direct from the
+sea to large and increasing towns like the proposed canal from the
+Bristol Channel to Birmingham, or which, like the Aire and Calder
+Navigation and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, are suitably set for the
+conveyance of coal and general bulky goods to populous districts. One
+or two through routes to London from manufacturing centres, or from
+coal-mining districts, might have a prospect of success, provided the
+existing canals along the route could be acquired at a small cost, and
+the necessary improvement works were not heavy."
+
+[14] There are even those who argue that the resuscitated canals should
+be toll free.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+  Agriculture and canals, 16, 147-150
+
+  Aire and Calder Navigation, 86, 132, 135
+
+  Allport, Sir James, 37, 81
+
+  Aqueducts, 124
+
+  Association of Chambers of Commerce, 4, 5
+
+
+  Barnsley Canal, 26
+
+  Belgium, waterways in, 93-96, 97
+
+  Birmingham Canal, 26, 37, 57-73, 120, 125
+
+  Boats, size of, 32, 69, 130
+
+  Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal, 26
+
+  Brecon Canal, 45
+
+  Bridgewater Canal, 13-15, 21, 23-24, 124
+
+  Bridgewater, Duke of, 13-15, 23
+
+  Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, 45
+
+  Brindley, James, 14-15, 16, 124
+
+  Brunner, Sir John T., 4
+
+  Buckley, Mr R. B., 141
+
+
+  Caledonian Railway Company, 50-54
+
+  Canada, waterways in, 128-129
+
+  Canals, earliest, in England, 13-22;
+    canal mania, 16;
+    passenger traffic, 18-19;
+    shares and dividends, 21, 26, 27;
+    tolls and charges, 23-25, 27-30;
+    handicapped, 33;
+    attitude towards railways, 34-38;
+    Kennet and Avon, 38-45;
+    Shropshire Union, 47-50;
+    Forth and Clyde, 50-54;
+    "strangulation" theory, 54-55;
+    Birmingham Canal, 57-73;
+    coal traffic, 84-89;
+    canals and waterways on the Continent, 93-103;
+    in the United States, 104-118;
+    in England, 119-141;
+    in Canada, 128-129;
+    conclusions and recommendations, 142-150
+
+  Capitalists, attitude of, 3
+
+  Carnegie, Mr, 110
+
+  Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, 109
+
+  Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 109
+
+  Chesterfield Canal, 46, 123
+
+  Child, Messrs, 15
+
+  Coal, 13, 21, 29-30, 40, 51-53, 81-89
+
+  Consignments, sizes of, 78
+
+  Continental conditions, 11, 93-103, 139, 140, 141
+
+  Cost of reconstruction, 132-136
+
+  Cotton, raw, 89-91
+
+  Coventry Canal, 26
+
+  Cox, M.P., Mr Harold, 140
+
+  Cromford Canal, 123
+
+  Cumming, Mr T. G., 21, 147-148
+
+
+  Dixon, Professor F. H., 110, 117
+
+  Dredging, 43
+
+
+  Electrical installations, 130
+
+  Ellesmere Canal, 26, 47, 124
+
+  Engineers and canal question, 2
+
+  Erie Canal, the, 105-111, 116
+
+
+  Fish, Mr Stuyvesant, 114-115
+
+  Forth and Clyde Navigation, 50-54
+
+  France, waterways in, 100, 102
+
+  Frost on canals, 24, 30, 77
+
+
+  _Gentleman's Magazine_, 26
+
+  Geographical conditions, 11, 94-96, 98-100
+
+  Germany, waterways in, 94, 97, 100-102
+
+  Glass, Mr John, 129
+
+  Government guarantee, 4
+
+  Grand Junction Canal, 26, 39, 120, 123
+
+  Grand Western Canal, 45
+
+  Great Northern Railway, 31, 83
+
+  Great Western Railway Company, 38-45, 67, 68, 70
+
+  Grinling, Mr C. H., 30
+
+
+  Hertslet, Sir E. Cecil, 94
+
+  Holland, waterways in, 77, 94, 96
+
+  Huddersfield Narrow Canal, 120, 123
+
+  Hudson, George, 30
+
+
+  Inglis, Mr J. C., 38-39, 45
+
+
+  Jackson, Mr Luis, 115-117
+
+  Jebb, Mr G. R., 71
+
+  Jekyll, Sir Herbert, 62
+
+
+  Kennet and Avon Canal, 26, 38-45, 121
+
+
+  Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, 46
+
+  Lancaster Canal, 26, 124
+
+  Languedoc Canal, 14
+
+  Leeds and Liverpool Canal, 120, 135
+
+  Leicester and Swinnington Railway, 29
+
+  Lift at Anderton, 122-123
+
+  Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 21, 23-26, 28
+
+  Liverpool merchants, petition from, 25-26
+
+  Local taxation, 9-10, 139, 145-146
+
+  Locks, 32, 33, 43, 50, 66, 120-121, 127
+
+  London and North-Western Railway Company, 37, 46, 48-49, 59-71
+
+  London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company, 128
+
+  London County Council, 5
+
+  Loughborough Canal, 26, 27, 29
+
+
+  Macclesfield Canal, 46
+
+  Manchester and Bury Canal, 46
+
+  Manchester Ship Canal, 133
+
+  McAdam, J. L., 12-13
+
+  Mechanical haulage, 49-50, 121-122, 130-131
+
+  Meiklejohn, Professor, 97
+
+  Mersey and Irwell Navigation, 13, 15, 21, 24
+
+  Mersey Harbour Board, 5
+
+  Midland Railway, 30, 37, 67, 83
+
+  Mining operations and canals, 46, 65-66, 126-127
+
+  Mississippi, the, 111-117
+
+  Monmouthshire Canal, 26, 45
+
+  Morrison, Mr, 27-28
+
+  Manchester, Sheffield and Lincoln Railway Company (Great Central), 46
+
+  Municipalisation schemes, 4-8, 135
+
+
+  Nationalisation of canals, 4, 10, 135
+
+  Neath Canal, 26
+
+  North British Railway, 53
+
+  North-Eastern Railway, 149
+
+
+  Old Union Canal, 26
+
+  Oxford Canal, 26
+
+
+  Packhorse period, the, 12, 16, 18
+
+  Paddington Canal, 18-19
+
+  Physical conditions, 11, 96-99, 119
+
+  Political conditions, 100-102
+
+  Principle, questions of, 9-11
+
+  Private enterprise, 9, 106, 142
+
+  Profits on canals, 15, 16, 21, 26, 27
+
+  Public trusts, 4-6
+
+  Pumping machinery, 42-43, 63
+
+
+  _Quarterly Review_, 17-22, 111
+
+
+  Railways, position of companies as ratepayers, 7-8;
+    cost of railway construction and operation, 9-10;
+    effect on railway rates, 10;
+    advent of, 17-22;
+    Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 21, 25, 28;
+    Leicester and Swinnington Railway, 29;
+    Midland Railway, 30;
+    Great Northern Railway, 31;
+    attitude of canal companies towards, 35-38;
+    control of canals, 38-56, 57-73;
+    railways in Germany, 100-102;
+      in France, 102;
+    recommendations, 145-146
+
+  Ratepayers, liability of, 7-8, 137
+
+  Rates, regulation of, on railways and canals, 27-28
+
+  Regents Canal, 129
+
+  Rennie, 124
+
+  Road-motors, 149
+
+  Rochdale Canal, 26, 120, 132
+
+  Ross, Mr A., 45-47
+
+  Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways, 62
+
+
+  Sandars, Mr Joseph, 21, 23-25, 34, 75
+
+  Saner, Mr J. A., 38, 67, 129
+
+  Sankey Brook and St Helen's Canal, 46
+
+  Saunders, Mr H. J., 39, 44
+
+  Select Committee on Canals (1883), 37
+
+  Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation, 46
+
+  Shropshire Union Canal, 47-50, 69-72, 120
+
+  Somerset Coal Canal, 40
+
+  Speed, 122, 131
+
+  Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, 26
+
+  Stalbridge, Lord, 86
+
+  Stephenson, George, 30
+
+  Stephenson, Robert, 30
+
+  Stourbridge Extension Canal, 45
+
+  "Strangulation" theory, 55, 143
+
+  Stratford-upon-Avon Canal, 45
+
+  Swansea Canal, 26, 45
+
+
+  Taxpayers, how affected, 3, 5, 137
+
+  Telford, 124
+
+  Thames and Severn Canal, 123
+
+  Thames steamboat service, 5
+
+  Thomas, Mr G. C., 39
+
+  Thwaite, Mr, 125
+
+  Trade, changes in, 11, 40-42, 52-54, 61, 74-92, 133-134
+
+  Traders, advice to, 146-147
+
+  Trent and Mersey Navigation, 16, 26, 27, 49, 69, 72, 122, 123
+
+  Troops, transport of, by canal, 18-19
+
+  Tunnels, canal, 123
+
+
+  Ulrich, Herr Franz, 97
+
+  United States, waterways in, 104-118
+
+
+  Vernon-Harcourt, Mr L. F., 135
+
+
+  Walker, Colonel, F. N. T., 5
+
+  Water-supply for canals, 24, 32, 33, 42-43, 62-64, 66, 77, 99, 127-130
+
+  Wheeler, Mr W. H., 99
+
+  Widenings, 66, 70, 71
+
+  Wilts and Berks Canal, 40
+
+  Worcester and Birmingham Canal, 26, 120, 123, 132
+
+
+
+
+WORKS BY EDWIN A. PRATT
+
+
+  THE TRANSITION IN AGRICULTURE
+
+  _Crown 8vo. 350 pp. Illustrations and Plans. 5s. net._
+
+ "A book of great value to all interested in farming. Discusses, as
+ correctly as possible, the hopeful development of subsidiary branches
+ of agriculture, the prospects of co-operation, and the principles on
+ which small holdings may be increased."--_The Outlook._
+
+
+  THE ORGANIZATION OF AGRICULTURE
+
+  _Cheaper and Enlarged Edition. Paper covers. 1s. net._
+
+ "The first impression produced on the mind of the thoughtful
+ reader by a perusal of Mr Pratt's book is that, in one form or
+ another, agricultural co-operation is inevitable.... To attempt
+ to stand against the pressure of cosmopolitan conditions is as
+ futile as Mrs Partington's attempt to keep back the Atlantic with a
+ mop."--_Guardian._
+
+
+  RAILWAYS AND THEIR RATES
+
+  WITH AN APPENDIX ON THE BRITISH CANAL PROBLEM
+
+  _Cheap Edition. Paper Covers. 1s. net._
+
+ "A valuable book for railwaymen, traders, and others who are
+ interested, either theoretically or practically, in the larger
+ aspect of the economic problem of how goods are best brought to
+ market."--_Scotsman._
+
+
+  OUR WATERWAYS
+
+  A HISTORY OF INLAND NAVIGATION CONSIDERED AS A BRANCH OF
+  WATER CONSERVANCY
+
+  By URQUHART A. FORBES
+  Of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister-at-Law;
+  AND
+  W. H. R. ASHFORD
+
+  _With a Map especially prepared to illustrate the book.
+  Demy 8vo. 12s. net._
+
+ "The history of these canals and waterways, and of the law relating to
+ them, is clearly set forth in the excellent work. Should become _the_
+ standard work of reference upon the subject."--_The Standard._
+
+
+  MUNICIPAL TRADE
+
+  THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES RESULTING FROM THE SUBSTITUTION OF
+  REPRESENTATIVE BODIES FOR PRIVATE PROPRIETORS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF
+  INDUSTRIAL UNDERTAKINGS
+
+  By Major LEONARD DARWIN
+
+  Author of "Bimetallism."
+
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+  THE RAILWAYS AND THE TRADERS
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+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of British Canals, by Edwin A. Pratt
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+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 47435 ***
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-

-The Project Gutenberg EBook of British Canals, by Edwin A. Pratt

-

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most

-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions

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-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have

-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.

-

-Title: British Canals

-       Is their resuscitaion practicable?

-

-Author: Edwin A. Pratt

-

-Release Date: November 23, 2014 [EBook #47435]

-

-Language: English

-

-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITISH CANALS ***

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-<div class="transnote covernote">

-  <p class="center">The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p>

-</div>

-

-

-<h1>BRITISH CANALS</h1>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a id="frontispiece"></a>

-<img src="images/i_frontis.jpg" width="600" height="336" alt="AQUEDUCT AT PONTCYSYLLTE (IN THE DISTANCE)." />

-<div class="caption">

-    <p class="center">AQUEDUCT AT PONTCYSYLLTE (IN THE DISTANCE).</p>

-

-    <p class="center">(Constructed by Telford to carry Ellesmere Canal over River Dee. Opened 1803. Cost £47,000. Length, 1007 feet.)</p>

-

-    <p class="right">[<i>Frontispiece.</i></p>

-</div></div>

-

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<div class="titlepage">

-

-<p class="center bigger">BRITISH CANALS:</p>

-

-<p class="center big mt2">IS THEIR RESUSCITATION

-PRACTICABLE?</p>

-

-<p class="center big mt2">BY EDWIN A. PRATT</p>

-

-<p class="center mt2">AUTHOR OF "RAILWAYS AND THEIR RATES," "THE ORGANIZATION<br />

-OF AGRICULTURE," "THE TRANSITION IN AGRICULTURE," ETC.</p>

-

-<p class="center mt4">LONDON<br />

-JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.<br />

-1906

-</p>

-</div>

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p>

-

-

-

-<h2>PREFACE</h2>

-

-

-<p>The appointment of a Royal Commission on Canals

-and Waterways, which first sat to take evidence on

-March 21, 1906, is an event that should lead to an

-exhaustive and most useful enquiry into a question

-which has been much discussed of late years, but on

-which, as I hope to show, considerable misapprehension

-in regard to actual facts and conditions has hitherto

-existed.</p>

-

-<p>Theoretically, there is much to be said in favour of

-canal restoration, and the advocates thereof have not

-been backward in the vigorous and frequent ventilation

-of their ideas. Practically, there are other all-important

-considerations which ought not to be overlooked,

-though as to these the British Public have hitherto

-heard very little. As a matter of detail, also, it is

-desirable to see whether the theory that the decline

-of our canals is due to their having been "captured"

-and "strangled" by the railway companies&mdash;a theory

-which many people seem to believe in as implicitly as

-they do, say, in the Multiplication Table&mdash;is really

-capable of proof, or whether that decline is not, rather,

-to be attributed to wholly different causes.</p>

-

-<p>In view of the increased public interest in the

-general question, it has been suggested to me that

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span>the Appendix on "The British Canal Problem" in

-my book on "Railways and their Rates," published in

-the Spring of 1905, should now be issued separately;

-but I have thought it better to deal with the subject

-afresh, and at somewhat greater length, in the present

-work. This I now offer to the world in the hope that,

-even if the conclusions at which I have arrived are not

-accepted, due weight will nevertheless be given to the

-important&mdash;if not (as I trust I may add) the interesting&mdash;series

-of facts, concerning the past and present

-of canals alike at home, on the Continent, and in

-the United States, which should still represent, I

-think, a not unacceptable contribution to the present

-controversy.</p>

-

-<p class="right">EDWIN A. PRATT.</p>

-<p><span class="smcap">London</span>, <i>April 1906</i>.<br />

-</p>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span></p>

-

-

-

-<h2>CONTENTS</h2>

-

-<div class="center">

-<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="toc">

-  <tr><td class="tdr">CHAP.</td>

-      <td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>

-      <td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdr">I.</td>

-      <td class="tdl">INTRODUCTORY</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdr">II.</td>

-      <td class="tdl">EARLY DAYS</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdr">III.</td>

-      <td class="tdl">RAILWAYS TO THE RESCUE</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdr">IV.</td>

-      <td class="tdl">RAILWAY-CONTROLLED CANALS</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdr">V.</td>

-      <td class="tdl">THE BIRMINGHAM CANAL AND ITS STORY</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdr">VI.</td>

-      <td class="tdl">THE TRANSITION IN TRADE</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdr">VII.</td>

-      <td class="tdl">CONTINENTAL CONDITIONS</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdr">VIII.</td>

-      <td class="tdl">WATERWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdr">IX.</td>

-      <td class="tdl">ENGLISH CONDITIONS</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdr">X.</td>

-      <td class="tdl">CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdr">&nbsp;</td>

-      <td class="tdl">APPENDIX&mdash;THE DECLINE IN FREIGHT TRAFFIC ON THE MISSISSIPPI</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdr">&nbsp;</td>

-      <td class="tdl">INDEX</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_157">157</a></td></tr>

-</table></div>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a><br /><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span></p>

-

-

-

-<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS</h2>

-

-

-<div class="center">

-<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="toi">

-  <tr><td class="tdc"><span class="big">HALF-TONE ILLUSTRATIONS</span></td>

-      <td class="tdc">&nbsp;</td>

-      <td class="tdr">&nbsp;</td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdl">AQUEDUCT AT PONTCYSYLLTE (in the distance)</td>

-      <td class="tdc">&nbsp;</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#frontispiece"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdl">WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN: COWLEY TUNNEL AND EMBANKMENTS</td>

-      <td class="tdc"><i>To face page</i></td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_032fp">32</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdl">LOCKS ON THE KENNET AND AVON CANAL AT DEVIZES</td>

-      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_042fp">42</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdl">WAREHOUSES AND HYDRAULIC CRANES AT ELLESMERE PORT</td>

-      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_048fp">48</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdl">WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN: SHROPSHIRE UNION CANAL AT CHESTER</td>

-      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_070fp">70</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdl">"FROM PIT TO PORT": PROSPECT PIT, WIGAN</td>

-      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_082fp">82</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdl">THE SHIPPING OF COAL: HYDRAULIC TIP ON G.W.R., SWANSEA</td>

-      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_088fp">88</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdl">A CARGO BOAT ON THE MISSISSIPPI</td>

-      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_110fp">110</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdl">SUCCESSFUL RIVALS OF MISSISSIPPI CARGO BOATS</td>

-      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_114fpa">114</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdl">WATER SUPPLY FOR CANALS: BELVIDE RESERVOIR, STAFFORDSHIRE</td>

-      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_128fp">128</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdc">&nbsp;</td>

-      <td class="tdc">&nbsp;</td>

-      <td class="tdr">&nbsp;</td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdc"><span class="big">MAPS AND DIAGRAMS</span></td>

-      <td class="tdc">&nbsp;</td>

-      <td class="tdr">&nbsp;</td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdl">INDEPENDENT CANALS AND INLAND NAVIGATIONS</td>

-      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_054fp">54</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdl">CANALS AND RAILWAYS BETWEEN WOLVERHAMPTON AND BIRMINGHAM</td>

-      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_056fp">56</a></td></tr>

-  <tr><td class="tdl">SOME TYPICAL BRITISH CANALS</td>

-      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>

-      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_098fp">98</a></td></tr>

-</table></div>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter"></div>

-<p class="center bigger">BRITISH CANALS</p>

-

-

-

-<h2 title="I. INTRODUCTORY">CHAPTER I<br />

-

-<small>INTRODUCTORY</small></h2>

-

-

-<p>The movement in favour of resuscitating, if not also

-of reconstructing, the British canal system, in conjunction

-with such improvement as may be possible

-in our natural waterways, is a matter that concerns

-various interests, and gives rise to a number of more

-or less complicated problems.</p>

-

-<p>It appeals in the most direct form to the British

-trader, from the point of view of the possibility of

-enabling him to secure cheaper transit for his goods.

-Every one must sympathise with him in that desire,

-and there is no need whatever for me to stay here

-to repeat the oft-expressed general reflections as to

-the important part which cheap transit necessarily

-plays in the development of trade and commerce.

-But when from the general one passes to the particular,

-and begins to consider how these transit

-questions apply directly to canal revival, one comes

-at once to a certain element of insincerity in the

-agitation which has arisen.</p>

-

-<p>There is no reason whatever for doubt that, whereas

-one section of the traders favouring canal revival

-would themselves directly benefit therefrom, there

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>is a much larger section who have joined in the

-movement, not because they have the slightest idea

-of re-organising their own businesses on a water-transport

-basis, but simply because they think the

-existence of improved canals will be a means of compelling

-the railway companies to grant reductions of

-their own rates below such point as they now find

-it necessary to maintain. Individuals of this type,

-though admitting they would not use the canals

-themselves, or very little, would have us believe that

-there are enough of <em>other</em> traders who would patronise

-them to make them pay. In any case, if only

-sufficient pressure could be brought to bear on the

-railway companies to force them to reduce their rates

-and charges, they would be prepared to regard with

-perfect equanimity the unremunerative outlay on the

-canals of a large sum of public money, and be quite

-indifferent as to who might have to bear the loss

-so long as they gained what they wanted for themselves.</p>

-

-<p>The subject is, also, one that appeals to engineers.

-As originally constructed, our British canals included

-some of the greatest engineering triumphs of their day,

-and the reconstruction either of these or even of the

-ordinary canals (especially where the differences of

-level are exceptionally great), would afford much

-interesting work for engineers&mdash;and, also, to come

-to commonplace details, would put into circulation

-a certain number of millions of pounds sterling which

-might lead some of those engineers, at least, to take

-a still keener interest in the general situation. There

-is absolutely no doubt that, from an engineering

-standpoint, reconstruction, however costly, would

-present no unsurmountable technical difficulties; but

-I must confess that when engineers, looking at the

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>problem exclusively from their own point of view,

-apart from strictly economic and practical considerations,

-advise canal revival as a means of improving

-British trade, I am reminded of the famous remark

-of Sganerelle, in Molière's "<span xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">L'Amour Médecin"&mdash;"Vous

-êtes orfévre, M. Josse.</span>"</p>

-

-<p>The subject strongly appeals, also, to a very large

-number of patriotic persons who, though having no

-personal or professional interests to serve, are rightly

-impressed with the need for everything that is in any

-way practicable being done to maintain our national

-welfare, and who may be inclined to assume, from the

-entirely inadequate facts which, up to the present,

-have been laid before them as to the real nature and

-possibilities of our canal system, that great results

-would follow from a generous expenditure of money

-on canal resuscitation here, following on the example

-already set in Continental countries. It is in the

-highest degree desirable that persons of this class

-should be enabled to form a clear and definite opinion

-on the subject in all its bearings, and especially from

-points of view that may not hitherto have been

-presented for their consideration.</p>

-

-<p>Then the question is one of very practical interest

-indeed to the British taxpayer. It seems to be

-generally assumed by the advocates of canal revival

-that it is no use depending on private enterprise.

-England is not yet impoverished, and there is plenty

-of money still available for investment where a modest

-return on it can be assured. But capitalists, large or

-small, are not apparently disposed to risk their own

-money in the resuscitation of English canals. Their

-expectation evidently is that the scheme would not

-pay. In the absence, therefore, of any willingness

-on the part of shrewd capitalists&mdash;ever on the

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>look-out for profitable investments&mdash;to touch the

-business, it is proposed that either the State or the

-local authorities should take up the matter, and carry

-it through at the risk, more or less, either of taxpayers

-or ratepayers.</p>

-

-<p>The Association of Chambers of Commerce, for

-instance, adopted, by a large majority, the following

-resolution at its annual meeting, in London, in

-February 1905:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"This Association recommends that the improvement

-and extension of the canal system of the United

-Kingdom should be carried out by means of a public

-trust, and, if necessary, in combination with local

-or district public trusts, and aided by a Government

-guarantee, and that the Executive Council be

-requested to take all reasonable measures to secure

-early legislation upon the subject."</p></div>

-

-<p>Then Sir John T. Brunner has strongly supported

-a nationalisation policy. In a letter to <cite>The Times</cite> he

-once wrote:</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"I submit to you that we might begin with the

-nationalisation of our canals&mdash;some for the most

-part sadly antiquated&mdash;and bring them up to one

-modern standard gauge, such as the French gauge."</p></div>

-

-<p>Another party favours municipalisation and the

-creation of public trusts, a Bill with the latter

-object in view being promoted in the Session of

-1905, though it fell through owing to an informality

-in procedure.</p>

-

-<p>It would be idle to say that a scheme of canal

-nationalisation, or even of public trusts with "Government

-guarantee" (whatever the precise meaning of

-that term may be) involving millions of public

-money, could be carried through <em>without</em> affecting

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>the British taxpayer. It is equally idle to say that

-if only the canal system were taken in hand by the

-local authorities they would make such a success of

-it that there would be absolutely no danger of the

-ratepayers being called upon to make good any

-deficiency. The experiences that Metropolitan ratepayers,

-at least, have had as the result of County

-Council management of the Thames steamboat service

-would not predispose them to any feeling of confidence

-in the control of the canal system of the

-country by local authorities.</p>

-

-<p>At the Manchester meeting of the Association

-of Chambers of Commerce, in September 1904,

-Colonel F. N. Tannett Walker (Leeds) said, during

-the course of a debate on the canal question:

-"Personally, he was not against big trusts run by

-local authorities. He knew no more business-like

-concern in the world than the Mersey Harbour

-Board, which was a credit to the country as

-showing what business men, not working for their

-own selfish profits, but for the good of the community,

-could do for an undertaking. He would

-be glad to see the Mersey Boards scattered all over

-the country." But, even accepting the principle of

-canal municipalisation, what prospect would there be

-of Colonel Walker's aspiration being realised? The

-Mersey Harbour Board is an exceptional body, not

-necessarily capable of widespread reproduction on

-the same lines of efficiency. Against what is done

-in Liverpool may be put, in the case of London, the

-above-mentioned waste of public money in connection

-with the control of the Thames steamboat service by

-the London County Council. If the municipalised

-canals were to be worked on the same system, or

-any approach thereto, as these municipalised steamboats,

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>it would be a bad look-out for the ratepayers

-of the country, whatever benefit might be gained by

-a small section of the traders.</p>

-

-<p>Then one must remember that the canals, say,

-from the Midlands to one of the ports, run through

-various rural districts which would have no interest

-in the through traffic carried, but might be required,

-nevertheless, to take a share in the cost and responsibility

-of keeping their sections of the municipalised

-waterways in an efficient condition, or in helping

-to provide an adequate water-supply. It does not

-follow that such districts&mdash;even if they were willing

-to go to the expense or the trouble involved&mdash;would

-be able to provide representatives on the managing

-body who would in any way compare, in regard to

-business capacity, with the members of the Mersey

-Harbour Board, even if they did so in respect to

-public spirit, and the sinking of their local interests

-and prejudices to promote the welfare of manufacturers,

-say, in Birmingham, and shippers in

-Liverpool, for neither of whom they felt any direct

-concern.</p>

-

-<p>Under the best possible conditions as regards

-municipalisation, it is still impossible to assume

-that a business so full of complications as the transport

-services of the country, calling for technical

-or expert knowledge of the most pronounced type,

-could be efficiently controlled by individuals who

-would be essentially amateurs at the business&mdash;and

-amateurs they would still be even if assisted by

-members of Chambers of Commerce who, however

-competent as merchants and manufacturers, would

-not necessarily be thoroughly versed in all these

-traffic problems. The result could not fail to be

-disastrous.</p>

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p>

-<p>I come, at this point, in connection with the

-possible liability of ratepayers, to just one matter

-of detail that might be disposed of here. It is

-certainly one that seems to be worth considering.

-Assume, for the sake of argument, that, in accordance

-with the plans now being projected, (1) public

-trusts were formed by the local authorities for the

-purpose of acquiring and operating the canals;

-(2) that these trusts secured possession&mdash;on some

-fair system of compensation&mdash;of the canals now

-owned or controlled by railway companies; (3) that

-they sought to work the canals in more or less

-direct competition with the railways; (4) that, after

-spending large sums of money in improvements,

-they found it impossible to make the canals pay, or

-to avoid heavy losses thereon; and (5) that these

-losses had to be made good by the ratepayers. I

-am merely assuming that all this might happen,

-not that it necessarily would. But, admitting that

-it did, would the railway companies, as ratepayers,

-be called upon to contribute their share towards

-making good the losses which had been sustained

-by the local authorities in carrying on a direct

-competition with them?</p>

-

-<p>Such a policy as this would be unjust, not alone

-to the railway shareholders, but also to those traders

-who had continued to use the railway lines, since

-it is obvious that the heavier the burdens imposed

-on the railway companies in the shape of local rates

-(which already form such substantial items in their

-"working expenses"), the less will the companies

-concerned be in a position to grant the concessions

-they might otherwise be willing to make. Besides,

-apart from monetary considerations, the principle of

-the thing would be intolerably unfair, and, if only

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>to avoid an injustice, it would surely be enacted that

-any possible increase in local rates, due to the failure

-of particular schemes of canal municipalisation, should

-fall exclusively on the traders and the general public

-who were to have been benefited, and in no way on

-the railway companies against whom the commercially

-unsuccessful competition had been waged.</p>

-

-<p>This proposition will, I am sure, appeal to that

-instinct of justice and fair play which every Englishman

-is (perhaps not always rightly), assumed to

-possess. But what would happen if it were duly

-carried out, as it ought to be? Well, in the Chapter

-on "Taxation of Railways" in my book on "Railways

-and their Rates," I gave one list showing that in a

-total of eighty-two parishes a certain British railway

-company paid an average of 60·25 per cent. of the

-local rates; while another table showed that in sixteen

-specified parishes the proportion of local rates paid

-by the same railway company ranged from 66·9 per

-cent. to 86·1 per cent. of the total, although in twelve

-parishes out of the sixteen the company had not

-even a railway station in the place. But if, in all

-such parishes as these, the railway companies were

-very properly excused from having to make good

-the losses incurred by their municipalised-canal competitors

-(in addition to such losses as they might

-have already suffered in meeting the competition),

-then the full weight of the burden would fall upon

-that smaller&mdash;and, in some cases, that very small&mdash;proportion

-of the general body of ratepayers in the

-locality concerned.</p>

-

-<p>The above is just a little consideration, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en passant</i>,

-which might be borne in mind by others than those

-who look at the subject only from a trader's or an

-engineer's point of view. It will help, also, to

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>strengthen my contention that any ill-advised, or,

-at least, unsuccessful municipalisation of the canal

-system of the country might have serious consequences

-for the general body of the community,

-who, in the circumstances, would do well to "look

-before they leap."</p>

-

-<p>But, independently of commercial, engineering,

-rating and other considerations, there are important

-matters of principle to be considered. Great

-Britain is almost the only country in the world

-where the railway system has been constructed

-without State or municipal aid&mdash;financial or material&mdash;of

-any kind whatever. The canals were built by

-"private enterprise," and the railways which followed

-were constructed on the same basis. This was recognised

-as the national policy, and private investors

-were allowed to put their money into British railways,

-throughout successive decades, in the belief

-and expectation that the same principle would be

-continued. In other countries the State has (1) provided

-the funds for constructing or buying up the

-general railway system; (2) guaranteed payment of

-interest; or (3) has granted land or made other concessions,

-as a means of assisting the enterprise. Not

-only has the State refrained from adopting any such

-course here, and allowed private investors to bear

-the full financial risk, but it has imposed on British

-railways requirements which may certainly have led

-to their being the best constructed and the most complete

-of any in the world, but which have, also,

-combined with the extortions of landowners in the

-first instance, heavy expenditure on Parliamentary

-proceedings, etc., to render their construction per

-mile more costly than those of any other system

-of railways in the world; while to-day local taxation

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>is being levied upon them at the rate of £5,000,000

-per annum, with an annual increment of £250,000.</p>

-

-<p>This heavy expenditure, and these increasingly

-heavy demands, can only be met out of the rates

-and charges imposed on those who use the railways;

-and one of the greatest grievances advanced

-against the railways, and leading to the agitation

-for canal revival, is that these rates and charges

-are higher in Great Britain than in various other

-countries, where the railways have cost less to build,

-where State funds have been freely drawn on, and

-where the State lines may be required to contribute

-nothing to local taxation. The remedy proposed,

-however, is not that anything should be done to

-reduce the burdens imposed on our own railways,

-so as to place them at least in the position of being

-able to make further concessions to traders, but that

-the State should now itself start in the business,

-in competition, more or less, with the railway

-companies, in order to provide the traders&mdash;if it

-can&mdash;with something <em>cheaper</em> in the way of transport!</p>

-

-<p>Whatever view may be taken of the reasonableness

-and justice of such a procedure as this, it would,

-undoubtedly, represent a complete change in national

-policy, and one that should not be entered upon

-with undue haste. The logical sequel, for instance,

-of nationalisation of the canals would be nationalisation

-of the railways, since it would hardly do for

-the State to own the one and not the other. Then,

-of course, the nationalisation of all our ports would

-have to follow, as the further logical sequel of the

-State ownership of the means of communication with

-them, and the consequent suppression of competition.

-From a Socialist standpoint, the successive steps here

-mentioned would certainly be approved; but, even

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>if the financial difficulty could be met, the country

-is hardly ready for all these things at present.</p>

-

-<p>Is it ready, even in principle, for either the

-nationalisation or the municipalisation of canals

-alone? And, if ready in principle, if ready to

-employ public funds to compete with representatives

-of the private enterprise it has hitherto encouraged,

-is it still certain that, when millions of pounds

-sterling have been spent on the revival of our

-canals, the actual results will in any way justify

-the heavy expenditure? Are not the physical

-conditions of our country such that canal construction

-here presents exceptional drawbacks, and that

-canal navigation must always be exceptionally slow?

-Are not both physical and geographical conditions

-in Great Britain altogether unlike those of most of the

-Continental countries of whose waterways so much

-is heard? Are not our commercial conditions equally

-dissimilar? Is not the comparative neglect of our

-canals due less to structural or other defects than

-to complete changes in the whole basis of trading

-operations in this country&mdash;changes that would

-prevent any general discarding of the quick transit

-of small and frequent supplies by train, in favour

-of the delayed delivery of large quantities at longer

-intervals by water, however much the canals were

-improved?</p>

-

-<p>These are merely some of the questions and

-considerations that arise in connection with this

-most complicated of problems, and it is with the

-view of enabling the public to appreciate more fully

-the real nature of the situation, and to gain a clearer

-knowledge of the facts on which a right solution

-must be based, that I venture to lay before them

-the pages that follow.</p>

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter"></div>

-

-

-<h2 title="II. EARLY DAYS">CHAPTER II<br />

-

-<small>EARLY DAYS</small></h2>

-

-

-<p>It seems to be customary with writers on the subject

-of canals and waterways to begin with the Egyptians,

-to detail the achievements of the Chinese, to record

-the doings of the Greeks, and then to pass on to the

-Romans, before even beginning their account of what

-has been done in Great Britain. Here, however, I

-propose to leave alone all this ancient history, which,

-to my mind, has no more to do with existing

-conditions in our own country than the system of

-inland navigation adopted by Noah, or the character

-of the canals which are supposed to exist in the planet

-of Mars.</p>

-

-<p>For the purposes of the present work it will suffice

-if I go no further back than what I would call the

-"pack-horse period" in the development of transport

-in England. This was the period immediately preceding

-the introduction of artificial canals, which had

-their rise in this country about 1760-70. It preceded,

-also, the advent of John Loudon McAdam, that great

-reformer of our roads, whose name has been immortalised

-in the verb "to macadamise." Born in 1756, it

-was not until the early days of the nineteenth century

-that McAdam really started on his beneficent mission,

-and even then the high-roads of England&mdash;and

-especially of Scotland&mdash;were, as a rule, deplorably

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>bad, "being at once loose, rough, and perishable,

-expensive, tedious and dangerous to travel on, and

-very costly to repair." Pending those improvements

-which McAdam brought about, adapting them to

-the better use of stage-coaches and carriers' waggons,

-the few roads already existing were practically available&mdash;as

-regards the transport of merchandise&mdash;for

-pack-horses only. Even coal was then carried by

-pack-horse, the cost working out at about 2s. 6d. per

-mile for as much as a horse could carry.</p>

-

-<p>It was from these conditions that canals saved the

-country&mdash;long, of course, before the locomotive came

-into vogue. As it happened, too, it was this very

-question of coal transport that led to their earliest

-development. There is quite an element of romance

-in the story. Francis Egerton, third and last Duke

-of Bridgewater (born 1736), had an unfortunate love

-affair in London when he reached the age of twenty-three,

-and, apparently in disgust with the world, he

-retired to his Lancashire property, where he found

-solace to his wounded feelings by devoting himself

-to the development of the Worsley coal mines. As a

-boy he had been so feeble-minded that the doubt

-arose whether he would be capable of managing his

-own affairs. As a young man disappointed in love,

-he applied himself to business in a manner so

-eminently practical that he deservedly became famous

-as a pioneer of improved transport. He saw that if

-only the cost of carriage could be reduced, a most

-valuable market for coal from his Worsley mines

-could be opened up in Manchester.</p>

-

-<p>It is true that, in this particular instance, the pack-horse

-had been supplemented by the Mersey and

-Irwell Navigation, established as the result of Parliamentary

-powers obtained in 1733. This navigation

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>was conducted almost entirely by natural waterways,

-but it had many drawbacks and inconveniences,

-while the freight for general merchandise between

-Liverpool and Manchester by this route came to

-12s. per ton. The Duke's new scheme was one

-for the construction of an artificial waterway which

-could be carried over the Irwell at Barton by means

-of an aqueduct. This idea he got from the aqueduct

-on the Languedoc Canal, in the south of France.</p>

-

-<p>But the Duke required a practical man to help him,

-and such a man he found in James Brindley. Born in

-1716, Brindley was the son of a small farmer in Derbyshire&mdash;a

-dissolute sort of fellow, who neglected his

-children, did little or no work, and devoted his chief

-energies to the then popular sport of bull-baiting. In

-the circumstances James Brindley's school-teaching

-was wholly neglected. He could no more have passed

-an examination in the Sixth Standard than he could

-have flown over the Irwell with some of his ducal

-patron's coals. "He remained to the last illiterate,

-hardly able to write, and quite unable to spell. He

-did most of his work in his head, without written

-calculations or drawings, and when he had a puzzling

-bit of work he would go to bed, and think it out."

-From the point of view of present day Board School

-inspectors, and of the worthy magistrates who, with

-varied moral reflections, remorselessly enforce the

-principles of compulsory education, such an individual

-ought to have come to a bad end. But he didn't.

-He became, instead, "the father of inland navigation."</p>

-

-<p>James Brindley had served his apprenticeship to

-a millwright, or engineer; he had started a little

-business as a repairer of old machinery and a maker

-of new; and he had in various ways given proof of

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>his possession of mechanical skill. The Duke&mdash;evidently

-a reader of men&mdash;saw in him the possibility

-of better things, took him over, and appointed him

-his right-hand man in constructing the proposed

-canal. After much active opposition from the

-proprietors of the Mersey and Irwell Navigation,

-and also from various landowners and others, the

-Duke got his first Act, to which the Royal assent

-was given in 1762, and the work was begun. It

-presented many difficulties, for the canal had to be

-carried over streams and bogs, and through tunnels

-costly to make, and the time came when the Duke's

-financial resources were almost exhausted. Brindley's

-wages were not extravagant. They amounted, in

-fact, to £1 a week&mdash;substantially less than the

-minimum wage that would be paid to-day to a

-municipal road-sweeper. But the costs of construction

-were heavy, and the landowners had unduly

-big ideas of the value of the land compulsorily

-acquired from them, so that the Duke's steward

-sometimes had to ride about among the tenantry

-and borrow a few pounds from one and another in

-order to pay the week's wages. When the Worsley

-section had been completed, and had become

-remunerative, the Duke pledged it to Messrs Child,

-the London bankers, for £25,000, and with the money

-thus raised he pushed on with the remainder of the

-canal, seeing it finally extended to Liverpool in 1772.

-Altogether he expended on his own canals no less

-than £220,000; but he lived to derive from them a

-revenue of £80,000 a year.</p>

-

-<p>The Duke of Bridgewater's schemes gave a great

-impetus to canal construction in Great Britain, though

-it was only natural that a good deal of opposition

-should be raised, as well. About the year 1765

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>numerous pamphlets were published to show the

-danger and impolicy of canals. Turnpike trustees

-were afraid the canals would divert traffic from the

-roads. Owners of pack-horses fancied that ruin stared

-them in the face. Thereupon the turnpike trustees

-and the pack-horse owners sought the further support

-of the agricultural interests, representing that, when

-the demand for pack-horses fell off, there would be

-less need for hay and oats, and the welfare of British

-agriculture would be prejudiced. So the farmers

-joined in, and the three parties combined in an effort

-to arouse the country. Canals, it was said, would

-involve a great waste of land; they would destroy

-the breed of draught horses; they would produce

-noxious or humid vapours; they would encourage

-pilfering; they would injure old mines and works

-by allowing of new ones being opened; and they

-would destroy the coasting trade, and, consequently,

-"the nursery for seamen."</p>

-

-<p>By arguments such as these the opposition actually

-checked for some years the carrying out of several

-important undertakings, including the Trent and

-Mersey Navigation. But, when once the movement

-had fairly started, it made rapid progress. James

-Brindley's energy, down to the time of his death in

-1772, was especially indomitable. Having ensured

-the success of the Bridgewater Canal, he turned his

-attention to a scheme for linking up the four ports

-of Liverpool, Hull, Bristol, and London by a system

-of main waterways, connected by branch canals with

-leading industrial centres off the chief lines of route.

-Other projects followed, as it was seen that the

-earlier ventures were yielding substantial profits,

-and in 1790 a canal mania began. In 1792 no

-fewer than eighteen new canals were promoted. In

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>1793 and 1794 the number of canal and navigation

-Acts passed was forty-five, increasing to eighty-one

-the total number which had been obtained since

-1790. So great was the public anxiety to invest in

-canals that new ones were projected on all hands,

-and, though many of them were of a useful type,

-others were purely speculative, were doomed to

-failure from the start, and occasioned serious losses

-to thousands of investors. In certain instances

-existing canals were granted the right to levy tolls

-upon new-comers, as compensation for prospective

-loss of traffic&mdash;even when the new canals were to

-be 4 or 5 miles away&mdash;fresh schemes being actually

-undertaken on this basis.</p>

-

-<p>The canals that paid at all paid well, and the

-good they conferred on the country in the days of

-their prosperity is undeniable. Failing, at that time,

-more efficient means of transport, they played a most

-important rôle in developing the trade, industries,

-and commerce of our country at a period especially

-favourable to national advancement. For half a

-century, in fact, the canals had everything their

-own way. They had a monopoly of the transport

-business&mdash;except as regards road traffic&mdash;and in

-various instances they helped their proprietors to

-make huge profits. But great changes were impending,

-and these were brought about, at last, with the

-advent of the locomotive.</p>

-

-<p>The general situation at this period is well shown

-by the following extracts from an article on "Canals

-and Rail-roads," published in the <cite>Quarterly Review</cite>

-of March 1825:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"It is true that we, who, in this age, are accustomed

-to roll along our hard and even roads at the rate

-of 8 or 9 miles an hour, can hardly imagine the

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>inconveniences which beset our great-grandfathers

-when they had to undertake a journey&mdash;forcing their

-way through deep miry lanes; fording swollen rivers;

-obliged to halt for days together when 'the waters

-were out'; and then crawling along at a pace of 2

-or 3 miles an hour, in constant fear of being set

-down fast in some deep quagmire, of being overturned,

-breaking down, or swept away by a sudden

-inundation.</p>

-

-<p>"Such was the travelling condition of our ancestors,

-until the several turnpike Acts effected a gradual and

-most favourable change, not only in the state of the

-roads, but the whole appearance of the country; by

-increasing the facility of communication, and the

-transport of many weighty and bulky articles which,

-before that period, no effort could move from one

-part of the country to another. The pack-horse

-was now yoked to the waggon, and stage coaches

-and post-chaises usurped the place of saddle-horses.

-Imperfectly as most of these turnpike roads were constructed,

-and greatly as their repairs were neglected,

-they were still a prodigious improvement; yet, for

-the conveyance of heavy merchandise the progress

-of waggons was slow and their capacity limited.

-This defect was at length remedied by the opening

-of canals, an improvement which became, with

-regard to turnpike roads and waggons, what these

-had been to deep lanes and pack-horses.<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> But we

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>may apply to projectors the observation of Sheridan,

-'Give these fellows a good thing and they never

-know when to have done with it,' for so vehement

-became the rage for canal-making that, in a few

-years, the whole surface of the country was intersected

-by these inland navigations, and frequently in parts

-of the island where there was little or no traffic to

-be conveyed. The consequence was, that a large

-proportion of them scarcely paid an interest of one

-per cent., and many nothing at all; while others,

-judiciously conducted over populous, commercial,

-and manufacturing districts, have not only amply

-remunerated the parties concerned, but have contributed

-in no small degree to the wealth and prosperity

-of the nation.</p>

-

-<p>"Yet these expensive establishments for facilitating

-the conveyance of the commercial, manufacturing and

-agricultural products of the country to their several

-destinations, excellent and useful as all must acknowledge

-them to be, are now likely, in their turn,

-to give way to the old invention of Rail-roads.

-Nothing now is heard of but rail-roads; the daily

-papers teem with notices of new lines of them in

-every direction, and pamphlets and paragraphs are

-thrown before the public eye, recommending nothing

-short of making them general throughout the kingdom.

-Yet, till within these few months past, this old

-invention, in use a full century before canals, has

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>been suffered, with few exceptions, to act the part

-only of an auxiliary to canals, in the conveyance of

-goods to and from the wharfs, and of iron, coals,

-limestone, and other products of the mines to the

-nearest place of shipment....</p>

-

-<p>"The powers of the steam-engine, and a growing

-conviction that our present modes of conveyance,

-excellent as they are, both require and admit of

-great improvements, are, no doubt, among the chief

-reasons that have set the current of speculation in

-this particular direction."</p></div>

-

-<p>Dealing with the question of "vested rights," the

-article warns "the projectors of the intended railroads

-... of the necessity of being prepared to

-meet the most strenuous opposition from the canal

-proprietors," and proceeds:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"But, we are free to confess, it does not appear to

-us that the canal proprietors have the least ground

-for complaining of a grievance. They embarked their

-property in what they conceived to be a good speculation,

-which in some cases was realised far beyond

-their most sanguine hopes; in others, failed beyond

-their most desponding calculations. If those that have

-succeeded should be able to maintain a competition

-with rail-ways by lowering their charges; what they

-thus lose will be a fair and unimpeachable gain to

-the public, and a moderate and just profit will still

-remain to them; while the others would do well to

-transfer their interests from a bad concern into one

-whose superiority must be thus established. Indeed,

-we understand that this has already been proposed

-to a very considerable extent, and that the level beds

-of certain unproductive canals have been offered for the

-reception of rail-ways.</p>

-

-<p>"There is, however, another ground upon which, in

-many instances, we have no doubt, the opposition of

-the canal proprietors may be properly met&mdash;we mean,

-and we state it distinctly, the unquestionable fact, that

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>our trade and manufactures have suffered considerably

-by the disproportionate rates of charge upon canal

-conveyance. The immense tonnage of coal, iron, and

-earthenware, Mr Cumming tells us,<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> 'have enabled

-one of the canals, passing through these districts

-(near Birmingham), to pay an annual dividend to

-the proprietary of £140 upon an original share of

-£140, and as such has enhanced the value of each

-share from £140 to £3,200; and another canal in the

-same district, to pay an annual dividend of £160

-upon the original share of £200, and the shares

-themselves have reached the value of £4,600 each.'</p>

-

-<p>"Nor are these solitary instances. Mr Sandars

-informs us<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> that, of the only two canals which unite

-Liverpool with Manchester, the thirty-nine original

-proprietors of one of them, the Old Quay,<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> have

-been paid for every other year, for nearly half a

-century, the <em>total amount of their investment</em>; and

-that a share in this canal, which cost only £70, has

-recently been sold for £1,250; and that, with regard

-to the other, the late Duke of Bridgewater's, there is

-good reason to believe that the net income has, for

-the last twenty years, averaged nearly £100,000 per

-annum!"</p></div>

-

-<p>In regard, however, to the supersession of canals in

-general by railways, the writer of the article says:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"We are not the advocates for visionary projects

-that interfere with useful establishments; we scout

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>the idea of a <em>general</em> rail-road as altogether impracticable....</p>

-

-<p>"As to those persons who speculate on making

-rail-ways general throughout the kingdom, and

-superseding all the canals, all the waggons, mail

-and stage-coaches, post-chaises, and, in short, every

-other mode of conveyance by land and water, we

-deem them and their visionary schemes unworthy of

-notice."</p></div>

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter"></div>

-

-

-<h2 title="III. RAILWAYS TO THE RESCUE">CHAPTER III<br />

-

-<small>RAILWAYS TO THE RESCUE</small></h2>

-

-

-<p>It is not a little curious to find that, whereas the

-proposed resuscitation of canals is now being actively

-supported in various quarters as a means of effecting

-increased competition with the railways, the railway

-system itself originally had a most cordial welcome

-from the traders of this country as a means of

-relieving them from what had become the intolerable

-monopoly of the canals and waterways!</p>

-

-<p>It will have been seen that in the article published

-in the <cite>Quarterly Review</cite> of March 1825, from which

-I gave extracts in the last Chapter, reference was

-made to a "Letter on the Subject of the Projected

-Rail-road between Liverpool and Manchester," by

-Mr Joseph Sandars, and published that same year.

-I have looked up the original "Letter," and found in

-it some instructive reading. Mr Sandars showed that

-although, under the Act of Parliament obtained by

-the Duke of Bridgewater, the tolls to be charged

-on his canal between Liverpool and Manchester

-were not to exceed 2s. 6d. per ton, his trustees had,

-by various exactions, increased them to 5s. 2d. per

-ton on all goods carried along the canal. They had

-also got possession of all the available land and

-warehouses along the canal banks at Manchester,

-thus monopolising the accommodation, or nearly so,

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>and forcing the traders to keep to the trustees,

-and not patronise independent carriers. It was,

-Mr Sandars declared, "the most oppressive and

-unjust monopoly known to the trade of this country&mdash;a

-monopoly which there is every reason to believe

-compels the public to pay, in one shape or another,

-£100,000 more per annum than they ought to pay."

-The Bridgewater trustees and the proprietors of the

-Mersey and Irwell Navigation were, he continued,

-"deaf to all remonstrances, to all entreaties"; they

-were "actuated solely by a spirit of monopoly and

-extension," and "the only remedy the public has

-left is to go to Parliament and ask for a new line

-of conveyance." But this new line, he said, would

-have to be a railway. It could not take the form

-of another canal, as the two existing routes had

-absorbed all the available water-supply.</p>

-

-<p>In discussing the advantages of a railway over a

-canal, Mr Sandars continued:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"It is computed that goods could be carried for

-considerably less than is now charged, and for one-half

-of what has been charged, and that they would

-be conveyed in one-sixth of the time. Canals in

-summer are often short of water, and in winter are

-obstructed by frost; a Railway would not have to

-encounter these impediments."</p></div>

-

-<p>Mr Sandars further wrote:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"The distance between Liverpool and Manchester,

-by the three lines of Water conveyance, is upwards

-of 50 miles&mdash;by a Rail-road it would only be

-33. Goods conveyed by the Duke and Old

-Quay [Mersey and Irwell Navigation] are exposed

-to storms, the delays from adverse winds, and the

-risk of damage, during a passage of 18 miles

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>in the tide-way of the Mersey. For days

-together it frequently happens that when the wind

-blows very strong, either south or north, their

-vessels cannot move against it. It is very true

-that when the winds and tides are favourable

-they can occasionally effect a passage in fourteen

-hours; but the average is certainly thirty. However,

-notwithstanding all the accommodation they

-can offer, the delays are such that the spinners

-and dealers are frequently obliged to cart cotton on

-the public high-road, a distance of 36 miles, for

-which they pay four times the price which would

-be charged by a Rail-road, and they are three

-times as long in getting it to hand. The same

-observation applies to manufactured goods which

-are sent by land-carriage daily, and for which the

-rate paid is five times that which they would be

-subject to by the Rail-road. This enormous sacrifice

-is made for two reasons&mdash;sometimes because conveyance

-by water cannot be promptly obtained,

-but more frequently because speed and certainty as

-to delivery are of the first importance. Packages

-of goods sent from Manchester, for immediate shipment

-at Liverpool, often pay two or three pounds

-per ton; and yet there are those who assert that

-the difference of a few hours in speed can be no

-object. The merchants know better."</p></div>

-

-<p>In the same year that Mr Sandars issued his

-"Letter," the merchants of the port of Liverpool

-addressed a memorial to the Mayor and Common

-Council of the borough, praying them to support

-the scheme for the building of a railway, and

-stating:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"The merchants of this port have for a long time

-past experienced very great difficulties and obstructions

-in the prosecution of their business, in consequence

-of the high charges on the freight of goods

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>between this town and Manchester, and of the

-frequent impossibility of obtaining vessels for days

-together."</p></div>

-

-<p>It is clear from all this that, however great the

-benefit which canal transport had conferred, as

-compared with prior conditions, the canal companies

-had abused their monopoly in order to secure what

-were often enormous profits; that the canals themselves,

-apart from the excessive tolls and charges

-imposed, failed entirely to meet the requirements of

-traders; and that the most effective means of obtaining

-relief was looked for in the provision of railways.</p>

-

-<p>The value to which canal shares had risen at this

-time is well shown by the following figures, which

-I take from the <cite>Gentleman's Magazine</cite> for December,

-1824:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="center">

-<table class="bordered" border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" summary="canal shares">

-<tr><td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">Canal.</span></td>

-    <td class="tdc" colspan="4"><span class="smcap">Shares.</span></td>

-    <td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">Price.</span></td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bb0">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdc br0 bb0">£</td>

-    <td class="tdc bl0 br0 bb0"><i>s.</i></td>

-    <td class="tdc bl0 br0 bb0"><i>d.</i></td>

-    <td class="tdc bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdc bb0">£</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Trent and Mersey</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 br0 bb0">75</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">2,200</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Loughborough</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 br0 bb0">197</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">4,600</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Coventry</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 br0 bb0">44</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">(and bonus)</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">1,300</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Oxford (short shares)</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 br0 bb0">32</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">850</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Grand Junction</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 br0 bb0">10</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">290</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Old Union</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 br0 bb0">4</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">103</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Neath</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">15</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">400</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Swansea</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">11</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">250</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Monmouthshire</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">10</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">245</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Brecknock and Abergavenny</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">8</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">175</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Staffordshire &amp; Worcestershire</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">40</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">960</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Birmingham</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">12</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">10</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">350</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Worcester and Birmingham</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">1</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">10</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">56</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Shropshire</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">8</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">10</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">175</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Ellesmere</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">3</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">10</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">102</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Rochdale</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">4</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">140</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Barnsley</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">12</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">330</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Lancaster</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">1</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">45</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Kennet and Avon</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">1</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">29</td></tr>

-</table></div>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p>

-<p>These substantial values, and the large dividends

-that led to them, were due in part, no doubt, to the

-general improvement in trade which the canals had

-helped most materially to effect; but they had been

-greatly swollen by the merciless way in which the

-traders of those days were exploited by the representatives

-of the canal interest. As bearing on this point,

-I might interrupt the course of my narrative to say

-that in the House of Commons on May 17, 1836,

-Mr Morrison, member for Ipswich, made a speech

-in which, as reported by Hansard, he expressed

-himself "clearly of opinion" that "Parliament

-should, when it established companies for the

-formation of canals, railroads, or such like undertakings,

-invariably reserve to itself the power to

-make such periodical revisions of the rates and

-charges as it may, under the then circumstances,

-deem expedient"; and he proposed a resolution to

-this effect. He was moved to adopt this course in

-view of past experiences in connection with the

-canals, and a desire that there should be no repetition

-of them in regard to the railways then being

-very generally promoted. In the course of his speech

-he said:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"The history of existing canals, waterways, etc.,

-affords abundant evidence of the evils to which I

-have been averting. An original share in the Loughborough

-Canal, for example, which cost £142, 17s.

-is now selling at about £1,250, and yields a dividend

-of £90 or £100 a year. The fourth part of a Trent

-and Mersey Canal share, or £50 of the company's

-stock, is now fetching £600, and yields a dividend

-of about £30 a year. And there are various other

-canals in nearly the same situation."</p></div>

-

-<p>At the close of the debate which followed,

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>Mr Morrison withdrew his resolution, owing to the

-announcement that the matter to which he had

-called attention would be dealt with in a Bill then

-being framed. It is none the less interesting thus

-to find that Parliamentary revisions of railway rates

-were, in the first instance, directly inspired by the

-extortions practised on the traders by canal companies

-in the interest of dividends far in excess of any that

-the railway companies have themselves attempted to

-pay.</p>

-

-<p>Reverting to the story of the Liverpool and

-Manchester Railway&mdash;the projection of which, as

-Mr Sandars' "Letter" shows, represented a revolt

-against "the exorbitant and unjust charges of the

-water-carriers"&mdash;the Bill promoted in its favour was

-opposed so vigorously by the canal and other interests

-that £70,000 was spent in the Parliamentary proceedings

-in getting it through. But it was carried

-in 1826, and the new line, opened in 1830, was so

-great a success that it soon began to inspire many

-similar projects in other directions, while with its

-opening the building of fresh canals for ordinary

-inland navigation (as distinct from ship canals)

-practically ceased.</p>

-

-<p>There is not the slightest doubt that, but for the

-extreme dissatisfaction of the trading interests in

-regard alike to the heavy charges and to the shortcomings

-of the canal system, the Liverpool and

-Manchester Railway&mdash;that precursor of the "railway

-mania"&mdash;would not have been actually constructed

-until at least several years later. But there were

-other directions, also, in which the revolt against

-the then existing conditions was to bring about

-important developments. In the pack-horse period

-the collieries of Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>respectively supplied local needs only, the cost of

-transport by road making it practically impossible

-to send coal out of the county in which it was raised.

-With the advent of canals the coal could be taken

-longer distances, and the canals themselves gained

-so much from the business that at one time shares

-in the Loughborough Canal, on which £142 had been

-paid, rose, as already shown, to £4,600, and were

-looked upon as being as safe as Consols. But the

-collapse of a canal from the Leicestershire coal-fields

-to the town of Leicester placed the coalowners of

-that county at a disadvantage, and this they overcame,

-in 1832, by opening the Leicester and Swinnington

-line of railway. Thereupon the disadvantage

-was thrown upon the Nottinghamshire coalowners,

-who could no longer compete with Leicestershire.

-In fact, the immediate outlook before them was that

-they would be excluded from their chief markets,

-that their collieries might have to be closed, and

-that the mining population would be thrown out of

-employment.</p>

-

-<p>In their dilemma they appealed to the canal

-companies, and asked for such a reduction in rates

-as would enable them to meet the new situation;

-but the canal companies&mdash;wedded to their big

-dividends&mdash;would make only such concessions as

-were thought by the other side to be totally inadequate.

-Following on this the Nottinghamshire coalowners

-met in the parlour of a village inn at Eastwood, in

-the autumn of 1832, and formally declared that "there

-remained no other plan for their adoption than to

-attempt to lay a railway from their collieries to the

-town of Leicester." The proposal was confirmed by

-a subsequent meeting, which resolved that "a railway

-from Pinxton to Leicester is essential to the

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>interests of the coal-trade of this district." Communications

-were opened with George Stephenson,

-the services of his son Robert were secured, the

-"Midland Counties Railway" was duly constructed,

-and the final outcome of the action thus taken&mdash;as

-the direct result of the attitude of the canal companies&mdash;is

-to be seen in the splendid system known to-day

-as the Midland Railway.</p>

-

-<p>Once more, I might refer to Mr Charles H.

-Grinling's "History of the Great Northern Railway,"

-in which, speaking of early conditions, he

-says:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"During the winter of 1843-44 a strong desire arose

-among the landowners and farmers of the eastern

-counties to secure some of the benefits which other

-districts were enjoying from the new method of

-locomotion. One great want of this part of England

-was that of cheaper fuel, for though there were

-collieries open at this time in Leicestershire,

-Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire, the nearest pits

-with which the eastern counties had practicable transport

-communication were those of South Yorkshire

-and Durham, and this was of so circuitous a

-character that even in places situated on navigable

-rivers, unserved by a canal, the price of coal often

-rose as high as 40s. or even 50s. a ton. In remoter

-places, to which it had to be carted 10, 20, or even

-30 miles along bad cross-roads, coal even for house-firing

-was a positive luxury, quite unattainable by

-the poorer classes. Moreover, in the most severe

-weather, when the canals were frozen, the whole

-system of supply became paralysed, and even the

-wealthy had not seldom to retreat shivering to bed

-for lack of fuel."</p></div>

-

-<p>In this particular instance it was George Hudson,

-the "Railway King," who was approached, and the

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>first lines were laid of what is now the Great Northern

-Railway.</p>

-

-<p>So it happened that, when the new form of transport

-came into vogue, in succession to the canals, it

-was essentially a case of "Railways to the Rescue."</p>

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter"></div>

-

-

-<h2 title="IV. RAILWAY-CONTROLLED CANALS">CHAPTER IV<br />

-

-<small>RAILWAY-CONTROLLED CANALS</small></h2>

-

-

-<p>Both canals and railways were, in their early days,

-made according to local conditions, and were intended

-to serve local purposes. In the case of the former the

-design and dimensions of the canal boat used were

-influenced by the depth and nature of the estuary or

-river along which it might require to proceed, and

-the size of the lock (affecting, again, the size of the

-boat) might vary according to whether the lock was

-constructed on a low level, where there was ample

-water, or on a high level, where economy in the use

-of water had to be practised. Uniformity under these

-varying conditions would certainly have been difficult

-to secure, and, in effect, it was not attempted. The

-original designers of the canals, in days when the

-trade of the country was far less than it is now

-and the general trading conditions very different,

-probably knew better what they were about than

-their critics of to-day give them credit for. They

-realised more completely than most of those critics

-do what were the limitations of canal construction

-in a country of hills and dales, and especially in

-rugged and mountainous districts. They cut their

-coat, as it were, according to their cloth, and sought

-to meet the actual needs of the day rather than

-anticipate the requirements of futurity. From their

-point of view this was the simplest solution of the

-problem.</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a id="i_032fp"></a>

-<img src="images/i_032fp.jpg" width="600" height="335" alt="WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN." />

-<div class="caption">

-    <p class="center">WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN.</p>

-

-    <p class="center">(Cowley Tunnel and Embankments, on Shropshire Union Route between Wolverhampton and the Mersey.)</p>

-

-    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 32.</i></p>

-</div></div>

-

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p>

-<p>But, though the canals thus made suited local

-conditions, they became unavailable for through

-traffic, except in boats sufficiently small to pass the

-smallest lock or the narrowest and shallowest canal

-<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en route</i>. Then the lack of uniformity in construction

-was accompanied by a lack of unity in management.

-Each and every through route was divided among,

-as a rule, from four to eight or ten different navigations,

-and a boat-owner making the journey had to

-deal separately with each.</p>

-

-<p>The railway companies soon began to rid themselves

-of their own local limitations. A "Railway

-Clearing House" was set up in 1847, in the interests

-of through traffic; groups of small undertakings

-amalgamated into "great" companies; facilities of

-a kind unknown before were made available, while

-the whole system of railway operation was simplified

-for traders and travellers. The canal companies,

-however, made no attempt to follow the example

-thus set. They were certainly in a more difficult

-position than the railways. They might have

-amalgamated, and they might have established a

-Canal Clearing House. These would have been

-comparatively easy things to do. But any satisfactory

-linking up of the various canal systems

-throughout the country would have meant virtual

-reconstruction, and this may well have been thought

-a serious proposition in regard, especially, to canals

-built at a considerable elevation above the sea level,

-where the water supply was limited, and where, for

-that reason, some of the smallest locks were to be

-found. To say the least of it, such a work meant

-a very large outlay, and at that time practically all

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>the capital available for investment in transport was

-being absorbed by new railways. These, again, had

-secured the public confidence which the canals were

-losing. As Mr Sandars said in his "Letter":&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"Canals have done well for the country, just as

-high roads and pack-horses had done before canals

-were established; but the country has now presented

-to it cheaper and more expeditious means of conveyance,

-and the attempt to prevent its adoption is

-utterly hopeless."</p></div>

-

-<p>All that the canal companies did, in the first

-instance, was to attempt the very thing which

-Mr Sandars considered "utterly hopeless." They

-adopted a policy of blind and narrow-minded hostility.

-They seemed to think that, if they only fought them

-vigorously enough, they could drive the railways off

-the field; and fight them they did, at every possible

-point. In those days many of the canal companies

-were still wealthy concerns, and what their opposition

-might mean has been already shown in the case of

-the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The newcomers

-had thus to concentrate their efforts and meet

-the opposition as best they could.</p>

-

-<p>For a time the canal companies clung obstinately

-to their high tolls and charges, in the hope that

-they would still be able to pay their big dividends.

-But, when the superiority of the railways over the

-waterways became more and more manifest, and

-when the canal companies saw greater and still

-greater quantities of traffic being diverted from them

-by their opponents, in fair competition, they realised

-the situation at last, and brought down their tolls

-with a rush. The reductions made were so substantial

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>that they would have been thought incredible a few

-years previously.</p>

-

-<p>In the result, benefits were gained by all classes

-of traders, for those who still patronised the canals

-were charged much more reasonable tolls than they

-had ever paid before. But even the adoption of this

-belated policy by the canal companies did not help

-them very much. The diversion of the stream of

-traffic to the railways had become too pronounced to

-be checked by even the most substantial of reductions

-in canal charges. With the increasing industrial

-and commercial development of the country it was

-seen that the new means of transport offered advantages

-of even greater weight than cost of transport,

-namely, speed and certainty of delivery. For the

-average trader it was essentially a case of time

-meaning money. The canal companies might now

-reduce their tolls so much that, instead of being

-substantially in excess of the railway rates, as they

-were at first, they would fall considerably below;

-but they still could not offer those other all-important

-advantages.</p>

-

-<p>As the canal companies found that the struggle

-was, indeed, "utterly hopeless," some of them adopted

-new lines of policy. Either they proposed to build

-railways themselves, or they tried to dispose of their

-canal property to the newcomers. In some instances

-the route of a canal, no longer of much value, was

-really wanted for the route of a proposed railway,

-and an arrangement was easily made. In others,

-where the railway promoters did not wish to buy,

-opposition to their schemes was offered by the canal

-companies with the idea of forcing them either so to

-do, or, alternatively, to make such terms with them as

-would be to the advantage of the canal shareholders.</p>

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span></p>

-<p>The tendency in this direction is shown by the

-extract already given from the <cite>Quarterly Review</cite>; and

-I may repeat here the passage in which the writer

-suggested that some of the canal companies "would

-do well to transfer their interests from a bad concern

-into one whose superiority must be thus established,"

-and added: "Indeed, we understand that this has

-already been proposed to a very considerable extent,

-and that the level beds of certain unproductive canals

-have been offered for the reception of rail-ways."

-This was as early as 1825. Later on the tendency

-became still more pronounced as pressure was put

-on the railway companies, or as promoters, in days

-when plenty of money was available for railway

-schemes, thought the easiest way to overcome actual

-or prospective opposition was to buy it off by making

-the best terms they could. So far, in fact, was

-the principle recognised that in 1845 Parliament

-expressly sanctioned the control of canals by railway

-companies, whether by amalgamation, lease,

-purchase, or guarantee, and a considerable amount

-of canal mileage thus came into the possession, or

-under the control, of railway companies, especially

-in the years 1845, 1846, and 1847. This sanction

-was practically repealed by the Railway and Traffic

-Acts of 1873 and 1888. By that time about one-third

-of the existing canals had been either voluntarily

-acquired by, or forced upon, the railway

-companies. It is obvious, however, that the responsibility

-for what was done rests with Parliament

-itself, and that in many cases, probably, the railway

-companies, instead of being arch-conspirators, anxious

-to spend their money in killing off moribund competitors,

-who were generally considered to be on

-the point of dying a natural death, were, at times,

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>victims of the situation, being practically driven

-into purchases or guarantees which, had they been

-perfectly free agents, they might not have cared to

-touch.</p>

-

-<p>The general position was, perhaps, very fairly

-indicated by the late Sir James Allport, at one

-time General Manager of the Midland Railway

-Company, in the evidence he gave before the

-Select Committee on Canals in 1883.</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"I doubt (he said) if Parliament ever, at that time

-of day, came to any deliberate decision as to the

-advisability or otherwise of railways possessing canals;

-but I presume that they did not do so without the

-fullest evidence before them, and no doubt canal

-companies were very anxious to get rid of their

-property to railways, and they opposed their Bills,

-and, in the desire to obtain their Bills, railway

-companies purchased their canals. That, I think,

-would be found to be the fact, if it were possible to

-trace them out in every case. I do not believe that

-the London and North-Western would have bought

-the Birmingham Canal but for this circumstance. I

-have no doubt that the Birmingham Canal, when

-the Stour Valley line was projected, felt that their

-property was jeopardised, and that it was then that

-the arrangement was made by which the London and

-North-Western Railway Company guaranteed them

-4 per cent."</p></div>

-

-<p>The bargains thus effected, either voluntarily or

-otherwise (and mostly otherwise), were not necessarily

-to the advantage of the railway companies, who

-might often have done better for themselves if

-they had fought out the fight at the time with their

-antagonists, and left the canal companies to their

-fate, instead of taking over waterways which have

-been more or less of a loss to them ever since.

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>Considering the condition into which many of the

-canals had already drifted, or were then drifting,

-there is very little room for doubt what their fate

-would have been if the railway companies had left

-them severely alone. Indeed, there are various

-canals whose continued operation to-day, in spite of

-the losses on their wholly unremunerative traffic, is

-due exclusively to the fact that they are owned

-or controlled by railway companies. Independent

-proprietors, looking to them for dividends, and

-not under any statutory obligations (as the railway

-companies are) to keep them going, would long ago

-have abandoned such canals entirely, and allowed

-them to be numbered among the derelicts.</p>

-

-<p>As bearing on the facts here narrated, I might

-mention that, in the course of a discussion at the

-Institution of Civil Engineers, in November 1905,

-on a paper read by Mr John Arthur Saner, "Waterways

-in Great Britain" (reported in the official "Proceedings"

-of the Institution), Mr James Inglis, General

-Manager of the Great Western Railway Company,

-said that "his company owned about 216 miles of

-canal, not a mile of which had been acquired

-voluntarily. Many of those canals had been forced

-on the railway as the price of securing Acts, and

-some had been obtained by negotiations with the

-canal companies. The others had been acquired in

-incidental ways, arising from the fact that the traffic

-had absolutely disappeared." Mr Inglis further told

-the story of the Kennet and Avon Canal, which his

-company maintain at a loss of about £4,000 per

-annum. The canal, it seems, was constructed in

-1794 at a cost of £1,000,000, and at one time

-paid 5 per cent. The traffic fell off steadily with

-the extension of the railway system, and in 1846

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>the canal company, seeing their position was hopeless,

-applied to Parliament for powers to construct

-a railway parallel with the canal. Sanction was

-refused, though the company were authorised to

-act as common carriers. In 1851 the canal owners

-approached the Great Western Railway Company,

-and told them of their intention to seek again for

-powers to build an opposition railway. The upshot

-of the matter was that the railway company took

-over the canal, and agreed to pay the canal company

-£7,773 a year. This they have done, with a loss

-to themselves ever since. The rates charged on the

-canal were successively reduced by the Board of Trade

-(on appeal being made to that body) to 1&frac14;d., then to

-1d., and finally &frac12;d. per ton-mile; but there had never

-been a sign, Mr Inglis added, that the reduction had

-any effect in attracting additional traffic.<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>

-

-

-<p class="mt2">To ascertain for myself some further details as

-to the past and present of the Kennet and Avon

-Navigation, I paid a visit of inspection to the canal

-in the neighbourhood of Bath, where it enters the

-River Avon, and also at Devizes, where I saw the

-remarkable series of locks by means of which the

-canal reaches the town of Devizes, at an elevation

-of 425 feet above sea level. In conversation, too,

-with various authorities, including Mr H. J. Saunders,

-the Canals Engineer of the Great Western Railway

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>Company, I obtained some interesting facts which

-throw light on the reasons for the falling off of the

-traffic along the canal.</p>

-

-<p>Dealing with this last mentioned point first, I

-learned that much of the former prosperity of the

-Kennet and Avon Navigation was due to a substantial

-business then done in the transport of coal

-from a considerable colliery district in Somersetshire,

-comprising the Radstock, Camerton, Dunkerton, and

-Timsbury collieries. This coal was first put on the

-Somerset Coal Canal, which connected with the

-Kennet and Avon at Dundas&mdash;a point between

-Bath and Bradford-on-Avon&mdash;and, on reaching this

-junction, it was taken either to towns directly served

-by the Kennet and Avon (including Bath, Bristol,

-Bradford, Trowbridge, Devizes, Kintbury, Hungerford,

-Newbury and Reading) or, leaving the Kennet

-and Avon at Semmington, it passed over the Wilts

-and Berks Canal to various places as far as Abingdon.

-In proportion, however, as the railways developed

-their superiority as an agent for the effective distribution

-of coal, the traffic by canal declined more and

-more, until at last it became non-existent. Of the

-three canals affected, the Somerset Coal Canal,

-owned by an independent company, was abandoned,

-by authority of Parliament, two years ago; the Wilts

-and Berks, also owned by an independent company,

-is practically derelict, and the one that to-day survives

-and is in good working order is the Kennet and

-Avon, owned by a railway company.</p>

-

-<p>Another branch of local traffic that has left the

-Kennet and Avon Canal for the railway is represented

-by the familiar freestone, of which large

-quantities are despatched from the Bath district.

-The stone goes away in blocks averaging 5 tons

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>in weight, and ranging up to 10 tons, and at first

-sight it would appear to be a commodity specially

-adapted for transport by water. But once more the

-greater facilities afforded by the railway have led

-to an almost complete neglect of the canal. Even

-where the quarries are immediately alongside the

-waterway (though this is not always the case) horses

-must be employed to get the blocks down to the

-canal boat; whereas the blocks can be put straight

-on to the railway trucks on the sidings which go

-right into the quarry, no horses being then required.

-In calculating, therefore, the difference between the

-canal rate and the railway rate, the purchase and

-maintenance of horses at the points of embarkation

-must be added to the former. Then the stone could

-travel only a certain distance by water, and further

-cost might have to be incurred in cartage, if not in

-transferring it from boat to railway truck, after all,

-for transport to final destination; whereas, once put

-on a railway truck at the quarry, it could be taken

-thence, without further trouble, to any town in Great

-Britain where it was wanted. In this way, again,

-the Kennet and Avon (except in the case of consignments

-to Bristol) has practically lost a once important

-source of revenue.</p>

-

-<p>A certain amount of foreign timber still goes by

-water from Avonmouth or Bristol to the neighbourhood

-of Pewsey, and some English-grown timber

-is taken from Devizes and other points on the canal

-to Bristol, Reading, and intermediate places; grain

-is carried from Reading to mills within convenient

-reach of the canal, and there is also a small traffic

-in mineral oils and general merchandise, including

-groceries for shopkeepers in towns along the canal

-route; but, whereas, in former days a grocer would

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>order 30 tons of sugar from Bristol to be delivered

-to him by boat at one time, he now orders by post,

-telegraph, or telephone, very much smaller quantities

-as he wants them, and these smaller quantities are

-consigned mainly by train, so that there is less for

-the canal to carry, even where the sugar still goes

-by water at all.</p>

-

-<p>Speaking generally, the actual traffic on the Kennet

-and Avon at the western end would not exceed more

-than about three or four boats a day, and on the

-higher levels at the eastern end it would not average

-one a day. Yet, after walking for some miles along

-the canal banks at two of its most important points,

-it was obvious to me that the decline in the traffic

-could not be attributable to any shortcomings in the

-canal itself. Not only does the Kennet and Avon

-deserve to rank as one of the best maintained of any

-canal in the country, but it still affords all reasonable

-facilities for such traffic as is available, or seems

-likely to be offered. Instead of being neglected by

-the Great Western Railway Company, it is kept in

-a state of efficiency that could not well be improved

-upon short of a complete reconstruction, at a very

-great cost, in the hope of getting an altogether

-problematical increase of patronage in respect to

-classes of traffic different from what was contemplated

-when the canal was originally built.</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a id="i_042fp"></a>

-<img src="images/i_042fp.jpg" width="600" height="421" alt="LOCKS ON THE KENNET AND AVON CANAL AT DEVIZES." />

-<div class="caption">

-    <p class="center">LOCKS ON THE KENNET AND AVON CANAL AT DEVIZES.</p>

-

-    <p class="center">(A difference in level of 239 feet in 2&frac12; miles is overcome by 29 locks. Of these, 17 immediately follow one another

-in direct line, "pounds" being provided to ensure sufficiency of reserve water to work boats through.)</p>

-

-    <p><i>Photo by Chivers, Devizes.</i>]</p>

-    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 42.</i></p>

-</div></div>

-

-

-<p>Within the last year or two the railway company

-have spent £3,000 or £4,000 on the pumping

-machinery. The main water supply is derived from

-a reservoir, about 9 acres in extent, at Crofton,

-this reservoir being fed partly by two rivulets

-(which dry up in the summer) and partly by its

-own springs; and extensive pumping machinery is

-provided for raising to the summit level the water

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>that passes from the reservoir into the canal at a

-lower level, the height the water is thus raised

-being 40 feet. There is also a pumping station at

-Claverton, near Bath, which raises water from the

-river Avon. Thanks to these provisions, on no

-occasion has there been more than a partial stoppage

-of the canal owing to a lack of water, though in

-seasons of drought it is necessary to reduce the

-loading of the boats.</p>

-

-<p>The final ascent to the Devizes level is accomplished

-by means of twenty-nine locks in a distance of 2&frac12;

-miles. Of these twenty-nine there are seventeen

-which immediately follow one another in a direct line,

-and here it has been necessary to supplement the

-locks with "pounds" to ensure a sufficiency of reserve

-water to work the boats through. No one who walks

-alongside these locks can fail to be impressed alike by

-the boldness of the original constructors of the canal

-and by the thoroughness with which they did their

-work. The walls of the locks are from 3 to 6 feet in

-thickness, and they seem to have been built to last

-for all eternity. The same remark applies to the

-constructed works in general on this canal. For a

-boat to pass through the twenty-nine locks takes

-on an average about three hours. The 39&frac12; miles

-from Bristol to Devizes require at least two full

-days.</p>

-

-<p>Considerable expenditure is also incurred on the

-canal in dredging work; though here special difficulties

-are experienced, inasmuch as the geological

-formation of the bed of the canal between Bath

-and Bradford-on-Avon renders steam dredging inadvisable,

-so that the more expensive and less

-expeditious system of "dragging" has to be relied

-on instead.</p>

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p>

-<p>Altogether it costs the Great Western Railway

-Company about £1 to earn each 10s. they receive

-from the canal; and whether or not, considering

-present day conditions of trade and transport, and

-the changes that have taken place therein, they would

-get their money back if they spent still more on the

-canal, is, to say the least of it, extremely problematical.

-One fact absolutely certain is that the canal is already

-capable of carrying a much greater amount of traffic

-than is actually forthcoming, and that the absence of

-such traffic is not due to any neglect of the waterway

-by its present owners. Indeed, I had the positive

-assurance of Mr Saunders that, in his capacity as

-Canals Engineer to the Great Western, he had never

-yet been refused by his Company any expenditure he

-had recommended as necessary for the efficient maintenance

-of the canals under his charge. "I believe,"

-he added, "that any money required to be spent for

-this purpose would be readily granted. I already

-have power to do anything I consider advisable to

-keep the canals in proper order; and I say without

-hesitation that all the canals belonging to the Great

-Western Railway Company are well maintained, and

-in no way starved. The decline in the traffic is due

-to obvious causes which would still remain, no

-matter what improvements one might seek to carry

-out."</p>

-

-<p class="mt2">The story told above may be supplemented by

-the following extract from the report of the Great

-Western Railway Company for the half-year ending

-December 1905, showing expenses and receipts in

-connection with the various canals controlled by

-that company:&mdash;</p>

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p>

-<p class="center">GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY CANALS,</p>

-

-<p class="center"><span class="smcap">for half-year ending 31st December 1905</span>.</p>

-

-<div class="center">

-<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="GWR expenses">

-<tr><td class="tdc">Canal.</td>

-    <td class="tdc" colspan="3">To Canal Expenses.</td>

-    <td class="tdr" colspan="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;By Canal Traffic.</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">Bridgwater and Taunton</td>

-    <td class="tdr">£1,991</td>

-    <td class="tdr">2</td>

-    <td class="tdr">8</td>

-    <td class="tdr">£664</td>

-    <td class="tdr">8</td>

-    <td class="tdr">9</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">Grand Western</td>

-    <td class="tdr">197</td>

-    <td class="tdr">7</td>

-    <td class="tdr">1</td>

-    <td class="tdr">119</td>

-    <td class="tdr">10</td>

-    <td class="tdr">10</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">Kennet and Avon</td>

-    <td class="tdr">5,604</td>

-    <td class="tdr">0</td>

-    <td class="tdr">9</td>

-    <td class="tdr">2,034</td>

-    <td class="tdr">18</td>

-    <td class="tdr">8</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">Monmouthshire</td>

-    <td class="tdr">1,557</td>

-    <td class="tdr">3</td>

-    <td class="tdr">3</td>

-    <td class="tdr">886</td>

-    <td class="tdr">16</td>

-    <td class="tdr">8</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">Stourbridge Extension</td>

-    <td class="tdr">450</td>

-    <td class="tdr">19</td>

-    <td class="tdr">4</td>

-    <td class="tdr">765</td>

-    <td class="tdr">7</td>

-    <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">Stratford-upon-Avon</td>

-    <td class="tdr">1,349</td>

-    <td class="tdr">11</td>

-    <td class="tdr">3</td>

-    <td class="tdr">724</td>

-    <td class="tdr">1</td>

-    <td class="tdr">4</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">Swansea</td>

-    <td class="tdr">1,643</td>

-    <td class="tdr">15</td>

-    <td class="tdr">7</td>

-    <td class="tdr">1,386</td>

-    <td class="tdr">14</td>

-    <td class="tdr">9</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr" colspan="3">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td>

-    <td class="tdr" colspan="3">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr">£12,793</td>

-    <td class="tdr">19</td>

-    <td class="tdr">11</td>

-    <td class="tdr">£6,581</td>

-    <td class="tdr">18</td>

-    <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr" colspan="3">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td>

-    <td class="tdr" colspan="3">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td></tr>

-</table></div>

-

-

-<p>The capital expenditure on these different canals,

-to the same date, was as follows:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="center">

-<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="GWR capital expenditure">

-<tr><td class="tdl">Brecon</td>

-    <td class="tdr">£61,217</td>

-    <td class="tdr">19</td>

-    <td class="tdr">0</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">Bridgwater and Taunton</td>

-    <td class="tdr">73,989</td>

-    <td class="tdr">12</td>

-    <td class="tdr">4</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">Grand Western</td>

-    <td class="tdr">30,629</td>

-    <td class="tdr">8</td>

-    <td class="tdr">7</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">Kennet and Avon</td>

-    <td class="tdr">209,509</td>

-    <td class="tdr">19</td>

-    <td class="tdr">3</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">Stourbridge Extension</td>

-    <td class="tdr">49,436</td>

-    <td class="tdr">15</td>

-    <td class="tdr">0</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">Stratford-on-Avon</td>

-    <td class="tdr">172,538</td>

-    <td class="tdr">9</td>

-    <td class="tdr">7</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">Swansea</td>

-    <td class="tdr">148,711</td>

-    <td class="tdr">17</td>

-    <td class="tdr">6</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr" colspan="3">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">Total,</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr">£746,034</td>

-    <td class="tdr">1</td>

-    <td class="tdr">3</td></tr>

-</table></div>

-

-<p>These figures give point to the further remark

-made by Mr Inglis at the meeting of the Institution

-of Civil Engineers when he said, "It was not to

-be imagined that the railway companies would

-willingly have all their canal property lying idle;

-they would be only too glad if they could see how

-to use the canals so as to obtain a profit, or even

-to reduce the loss."</p>

-

-<p>On the same occasion, Mr A. Ross, who also took

-part in the debate, said he had had charge of a

-number of railway-owned canals at different times,

-and he was of opinion there was no foundation

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>for the allegation that railway-owned canals were

-not properly maintained. His first experience of

-this kind was with the Sankey Brook and St Helens

-Canal, one of wide gauge, carrying a first-class traffic,

-connecting the two great chemical manufacturing

-towns of St Helens and Widnes, and opening into

-the Mersey. Early in the seventies the canal became

-practically a wreck, owing to the mortar on the

-walls having been destroyed by the chemicals in

-the water which the manufactories had drained into

-the canal. In addition, there was an overflow into

-the Sankey Brook, and in times of flood the water

-flowed over the meadows, and thousands of acres

-were rendered barren. Mr Ross continued (I quote

-from the official report):&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"The London and North-Western Railway Company,

-who owned the canal, went to great expense in

-litigation, and obtained an injunction against the

-manufacturers, and in the result they had to purchase

-all the meadows outright, as the quickest way of

-settling the question of compensation. The company

-rebuilt all the walls and some of the locks. If that

-canal had not been supported by a powerful corporation

-like the London and North-Western Railway, it

-must inevitably have been in ruins now. The next

-canal he had to do with, the Manchester and Bury

-Canal, belonging to the Lancashire and Yorkshire

-Railway Company, was almost as unfortunate. The

-coal workings underneath the canal absolutely wrecked

-it, compelling the railway company to spend many

-thousands of pounds in law suits and on restoring

-the works, and he believed that no independent canal

-could have survived the expense. Other canals he

-had had to do with were the Peak Forest, the

-Macclesfield and the Chesterfield canals, and the

-Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation, which

-belonged to the old Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>Railway. Those canals were maintained in

-good order, although the traffic was certainly not

-large."</p></div>

-

-<p>On the strength of these personal experiences

-Mr Ross thought that "if a company came forward

-which was willing to give reasonable compensation,

-the railway companies would not be difficult to deal

-with."</p>

-

-

-<p class="mt2">The "Shropshire Union" is a railway-controlled

-canal with an especially instructive history.</p>

-

-<p>This system has a total mileage of just over 200

-miles. It extends from Wolverhampton to Ellesmere

-Port on the river Mersey, passing through Market

-Drayton, Nantwich and Chester, with branches to

-Shrewsbury, Newtown (Montgomeryshire), Llangollen,

-and Middlewich (Cheshire). Some sections

-of the canal were made as far back as 1770, and

-others as recently as 1840. At one time it was owned

-by a number of different companies, but by a process

-of gradual amalgamation, most of these were absorbed

-by the Ellesmere and Chester Canal Company. In

-1846 this company obtained Acts of Parliament which

-authorised them to change their name to that of "The

-Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company,"

-and gave them power to construct three lines of

-railway: (1) from the Chester and Crewe Branch of

-the Grand Junction Railway at Calveley to Wolverhampton;

-(2) from Shrewsbury to Stafford, with a

-branch to Stone; and (3) from Newtown (Montgomeryshire)

-to Crewe. Not only do we get here a striking

-instance of the tendency shown by canal companies

-to start railways on their own account, but in each one

-of the three Acts authorising the lines mentioned I

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>find it provided that "it shall be lawful for the Chester

-and Holyhead Railway Company and the Manchester

-and Birmingham Railway Company, or either of

-them, to subscribe towards the undertaking, and hold

-shares in the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal

-Company."</p>

-

-<p>Experience soon showed that the Shropshire Union

-had undertaken more than it could accomplish. In

-1847 the company obtained a fresh Act of Parliament,

-this time to authorise a lease of the undertakings of

-the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company

-to the London and North-Western Railway Company.

-The Act set forth that the capital of the Shropshire

-Union Company was £482,924, represented by shares

-on which all the calls had been paid, and that the

-indebtedness on mortgages, bonds and other securities

-amounted to £814,207. Under these adverse conditions,

-"it has been agreed," the Act goes on to say,

-"between the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal

-Company and the London and North-Western Railway

-Company, with a view to the economical and

-convenient working" of the three railways authorised,

-"that a lease in perpetuity of the undertaking of the

-Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company

-should be granted to the London and North-Western

-Railway Company, and accepted by them, at a rent

-which shall be equal to ... half the rate per cent. per

-annum of the dividend which shall from time to time

-be payable on the capital stock of the London and

-North-Western Railway Company."</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 543px;"><a id="i_048fp"></a>

-<img src="images/i_048fp.jpg" width="543" height="600" alt="WAREHOUSES AND HYDRAULIC CRANES AT ELLESMERE PORT." />

-<div class="caption">

-    <p class="center">WAREHOUSES AND HYDRAULIC CRANES AT ELLESMERE PORT.</p>

-

-    <p class="center"></p>

-

-    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 48.</i></p>

-</div></div>

-

-<p>We have in this another example of the way in

-which a railway company has saved a canal system

-from extinction, while under the control of the London

-and North-Western the Shropshire Union Canal is

-still undoubtedly one of the best maintained of any

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>in the country. There may be sections of it, especially

-in out-lying parts, where the traffic is comparatively

-small, but a considerable business is still done in the

-conveyance of sea-borne grain from the Mersey to the

-Chester district, or in that of tinplates, iron, and

-manufactured articles from the Black Country to the

-Mersey for shipment. For traffic such as this the

-canal already offers every reasonable facility. The

-Shropshire Union is also a large carrier of goods to

-and from the Potteries district, in conjunction with

-the Trent and Mersey. So little has the canal been

-"strangled," or even neglected, by the London and

-North-Western Railway Company that, in addition

-to maintaining its general efficiency, the expenditure

-incurred by that company of late years for the

-development of Ellesmere Port&mdash;the point where the

-Shropshire Union Canal enters the Manchester Ship

-Canal&mdash;amounts to several hundred thousand pounds,

-this money having been spent mainly in the interest

-of the traffic along the Shropshire Union Canal.

-Deep-water quay walls of considerable length have

-been built; warehouses for general merchandise,

-with an excellent system of hydraulic cranes, have

-been provided; a large grain depôt, fully equipped

-with grain elevators and other appliances, has been

-constructed at a cost of £80,000 to facilitate, more

-especially, the considerable grain transport by canal

-that is done between the River Mersey and the

-Chester district; and at the present time the dock

-area is being enlarged, chiefly for the purpose of

-accommodating deeper barges, drawing about 7 feet

-of water.</p>

-

-<p>Another fact I might mention in regard to the

-Shropshire Union Canal is in connection with

-mechanical haulage. Elaborate theories, worked out

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>on paper, as to the difference in cost between rail

-transport and water transport, may be completely

-upset where the water transport is to be conducted,

-not on a river or on a canal crossing a perfectly

-level plain, but along a canal which is raised, by

-means of locks, several hundred feet on one side of

-a ridge, or of some elevated table-land, and must

-be brought down in the same way on the other

-side. So, again, the value of what might otherwise

-be a useful system of mechanical haulage may be

-completely marred owing to the existence of innumerable

-locks.</p>

-

-<p>This conclusion is the outcome of a series of

-practical experiments conducted on the Shropshire

-Union Canal at a time when the theorists were still

-working out their calculations on paper. The

-experiments in question were directed to ascertaining

-whether economy could be effected by making up

-strings of narrow canal boats, and having them

-drawn by a tug worked by steam or other motive

-power, instead of employing man and horse for each

-boat. The plan answered admirably until the locks

-were reached. There the steam-tug was, temporarily,

-no longer of any service. It was necessary to keep

-a horse at every lock, or flight of locks, to get the

-boats through, so that, apart from the tedious delays

-(the boats that passed first having to wait for the

-last-comers before the procession could start again),

-the increased expense at the locks nullified any saving

-gained from the mechanical haulage.</p>

-

-

-<p class="mt2">As a further illustration&mdash;drawn this time from

-Scotland&mdash;of the relations of railway companies to

-canals, I take the case of the Forth and Clyde Navigation,

-controlled by the Caledonian Railway Company.</p>

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p>

-<p>This navigation really consists of two sections&mdash;the

-Forth and Clyde Navigation, and the Monkland

-Navigation. The former, authorised in 1768, and

-opened in 1790, commences at Grangemouth on

-the Firth of Forth, crosses the country by Falkirk

-and Kirkintilloch, and terminates at Bowling on the

-Clyde. It has thirty-nine locks, and at one point

-has been constructed through 3 miles of hard

-rock. The original depth of 8 feet was increased to

-10 feet in 1814. In addition to the canal proper, the

-navigation included the harbours of Grangemouth

-and Bowling, and also the Grangemouth Branch

-Railway, and the Drumpeller Branch Railway, near

-Coatbridge. The Monkland Canal, also opened in

-1790, was built from Glasgow <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">viâ</i> Coatbridge to

-Woodhall in Lanarkshire, mainly for the transport

-of coal from the Lanarkshire coal-fields to Glasgow

-and elsewhere. Here the depth was 6 feet. The

-undertakings of the Forth and Clyde and the Monkland

-Navigations were amalgamated in 1846.</p>

-

-<p>Prior to 1865, the Caledonian Railway did not

-extend further north than Greenhill, about 5 miles

-south of Falkirk, where it joined the Scottish Central

-Railway. This undertaking was absorbed by the

-Caledonian in 1865, and the Caledonian system was

-thus extended as far north as Perth and Dundee.

-The further absorption of the Scottish North-Eastern

-Railway Company, in 1866, led to the extension of

-the Caledonian system to Aberdeen.</p>

-

-<p>At this time the Caledonian Railway Company

-owned no port or harbour in Scotland, except the

-small and rather shallow tidal harbour of South

-Alloa. Having got possession of the railway lines

-in Central Scotland, they thought it necessary to

-obtain control of some port on the east coast, in the

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>interests of traffic to or from the Continent, and

-especially to facilitate the shipment to the Continent

-of coal from the Lanarkshire coal-fields, chiefly served

-by them. The port of Grangemouth being adapted

-to their requirements, they entered into negotiations

-with the proprietors of the Forth and Clyde Navigation,

-who were also proprietors of the harbour of

-Grangemouth, and acquired the whole undertaking

-in 1867, guaranteeing to the original company a

-dividend of 6&frac14; per cent.</p>

-

-<p>Since their acquisition of the canal, the Caledonian

-Railway Company have spent large sums annually

-in maintaining it in a state of efficiency, and its

-general condition to-day is better than when it was

-taken over. Much of the traffic handled is brought

-into or sent out from Grangemouth, and here the

-Caledonian Railway Company have more than

-doubled the accommodation, with the result that

-the imports and exports have enormously increased.

-All the same, there has been a steady decrease in

-the actual canal traffic, due to various causes, such

-as (<i>a</i>) the exhaustion of several of the coal-fields in

-the Monkland district; (<i>b</i>) the extension of railways;

-and (<i>c</i>) changes in the sources from which certain

-classes of traffic formerly carried on the canal are

-derived.</p>

-

-<p>In regard to the coal-fields, the closing of pits

-adjoining the canal has been followed by the

-opening of others at such a distance from the

-canal that it was cheaper to consign by rail.</p>

-

-<p>In the matter of railway extensions, when the

-Caledonian took over the canal in 1867, there were

-practically no railways in the district through which

-it runs, and the coal and other traffic had, perforce,

-to go by water. But, year by year, a complete network

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>of railways was spread through the district by

-independent railway companies, notwithstanding the

-efforts made by the Caledonian to protect the interests

-of the canal-efforts that led, in some instances, to

-Parliament refusing assent to the proposed lines.

-Those that were constructed (over a dozen lines

-and branches altogether), were almost all absorbed

-by the North British Railway Company, who are

-strong competitors with the Caledonian Railway

-Company, and have naturally done all they could

-to get traffic for the lines in question. This, of

-course, has been at the expense of the canal and

-to the detriment of the Caledonian Railway Company,

-who, in view of their having guaranteed a

-dividend to the original proprietors, would prefer

-that the traffic in question should remain on the

-canal instead of being diverted to an opposition line

-of railway. Other traffic which formerly went by

-canal, and is now carried on the Caledonian Railway,

-is of a character that would certainly go by

-canal no longer, and for this the Caledonian and

-the North British Companies compete.</p>

-

-<p>The third factor in the decline of the canal relates

-to the general consideration that, during the last thirty

-or forty years, important works have no longer been

-necessarily built alongside canal banks, but have

-been constructed wherever convenient, and connected

-with the railways by branch lines or private sidings,

-expense of cartage to or from the canal dock

-or basin thus being saved. On the Forth and

-Clyde Canal a good deal of coal is still carried,

-but mainly to adjoining works. Coal is also

-shipped in vessels on the canal for transport to

-the West Highlands and Islands, where the

-railways cannot compete; but even here there is an

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>increasing tendency for the coal to be bought in

-Glasgow (to which port it is carried by rail), so

-that the shippers can have a wider range of markets

-when purchasing. Further changes affecting the

-Forth and Clyde Canal are illustrated by the fact

-that whereas, at one time, large quantities of

-grain were brought into Grangemouth from

-Russian and other Continental ports, transhipped

-into lighters, and sent to Glasgow by canal, the

-grain now received at Glasgow comes mainly from

-America by direct steamer.</p>

-

-<p>That the Caledonian Railway Company have done

-their duty towards the Forth and Clyde Canal is

-beyond all reasonable doubt. It is true that they

-are not themselves carriers on the canal. They

-are only toll-takers. Their business has been to

-maintain the canal in efficient condition, and allow

-any trader who wishes to make use of it so to do,

-on paying the tolls. This they have done, and,

-if the traders have not availed themselves of their

-opportunities, it must naturally have been for

-adequate reasons, and especially because of changes

-in the course of the country's business which it is

-impossible for a railway company to control, even

-where, as in this particular case, they are directly

-interested in seeing the receipts from tolls attain

-to as high a figure as practicable.</p>

-

-

-<p class="mt2">I reserve for another chapter a study of the

-Birmingham Canal system, which, again, is "railway

-controlled"; but I may say here that I think

-the facts already given show it is most unfair to

-suggest, as is constantly being done in the Press

-and elsewhere, that the railway companies bought

-up canals&mdash;"of malice aforethought," as it were&mdash;for

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>the express purpose of killing such competition

-as they represented&mdash;a form of competition in which,

-as we have seen, public confidence had already

-practically disappeared. One of the witnesses at the

-canal enquiry in 1883 even went so far as to assert:</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"The railway companies have been enabled, in some

-cases by means of very questionable legality, to obtain

-command of 1,717 miles of canal, so adroitly selected

-as to strangle the whole of the inland water traffic,

-which has thus been forced upon the railways, to

-the great interruption of their legitimate and lucrative

-trade."</p></div>

-

-<p>The assertions here made are constantly being

-reproduced in one form or another by newspaper

-writers, public speakers, and others, who have gone

-to no trouble to investigate the facts for themselves,

-who have never read, or, if they have read, have

-disregarded, the important evidence of Sir James

-Allport, at the same enquiry, in reference to the

-London coal trade (I shall revert to this subject

-later on), and who probably have either not seen

-a map of British canals and waterways at all, or

-else have failed to notice the routes that still

-remain independent, and are in no way controlled

-by railway companies.</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 479px;"><a id="i_054fp"></a>

-<img src="images/i_054fp.jpg" width="479" height="600" alt="INDEPENDENT CANALS AND INLAND NAVIGATIONS IN ENGLAND" />

-<div class="caption">

-    <p class="center">INDEPENDENT CANALS AND INLAND NAVIGATIONS IN ENGLAND</p>

-    <p class="center">Which are not controlled by railway companies</p>

-    <p class="right">[To face page 54.</p>

-</div></div>

-

-<ol>

-<li>River Ouse Navigation (Yorkshire).</li>

-

-<li>River Wharfe Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Aire and Calder Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Market Weighton Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Driffield Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Beverley Beck Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Leven Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Leeds and Liverpool Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Manchester Ship Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Bridgewater portion of Manchester Ship Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Rochdale Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Calder and Hebble Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Weaver Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Idle Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Trent Navigation Co.</li>

-

-<li>Aucholme Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Caistor Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Louth Canal (Lincolnshire).</li>

-

-<li>Derby Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Nutbrook Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Erewash Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Loughborough Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Leicester Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Leicestershire Union Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Witham Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Witham Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Glen Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Welland Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Nen Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Wisbech Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Nar Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Ouse and Tributaries (Bedfordshire).</li>

-

-<li>North Walsham Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Bure Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Blyth Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Ipswich and Stowmarket Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Stour Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Colne Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Roding Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Stort Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Lea Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Grand Junction Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Grand Union Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Oxford Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Coventry Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Warwick and Napton Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Warwick and Birmingham Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Worcester and Birmingham Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Stafford and Worcester Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Severn (Lower) Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Gloucester and Berkeley Ship Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Lower Avon Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Stroudwater Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Wye Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Axe Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Parrett Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Tone Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Wilts and Berks Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Thames Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>London and Hampshire Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Wey Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Medway Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Canterbury Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Ouse Navigation (Sussex).</li>

-

-<li>Adur Navigation.</li>

-

-<li>Arun and Wey Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Portsmouth and Arunder Canal.</li>

-

-<li>Itchen Navigation.</li>

-</ol>

-

-<p>I give, facing p. 54, a sketch which shows the

-nature and extent of these particular waterways, and

-the reader will see from it that they include entirely

-free and independent communication (<i>a</i>) between

-Birmingham and the Thames; (<i>b</i>) from the coal-fields

-of the Midlands and the North to London;

-and (<i>c</i>) between the west and east coasts, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">viâ</i>

-Liverpool, Leeds, and Goole. To say, therefore,

-in these circumstances, that "the whole of the

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>inland water traffic" has been strangled by the

-railway companies because the canals or sections of

-which they "obtained command" were "so adroitly

-selected," is simply to say what is not true.</p>

-

-<p>The point here raised is not one that merely

-concerns the integrity of the railway companies&mdash;though

-in common justice to them it is only right

-that the truth should be made known. It really

-affects the whole question at issue, because, so

-long as public opinion is concentrated more or less

-on this strangulation fiction, due attention will not

-be given to the real causes for the decay of the

-canals, and undue importance will be attached to

-the suggestions freely made that if only the one-third

-of the canal mileage owned or controlled by

-the railway companies could be got out of their

-hands, the revival schemes would have a fair chance

-of success.</p>

-

-<p>Certain it is, therefore, as the map I give shows

-beyond all possible doubt, that the causes for the

-failure of the British canal system must be sought

-for elsewhere than in the fact of a partial railway-ownership

-or control. Some of these alternative

-causes I propose to discuss in the Chapters that

-follow my story of the Birmingham Canal, for

-which (inasmuch as Birmingham and district, by

-reason of their commercial importance and geographical

-position, have first claim to consideration

-in any scheme of canal resuscitation) I would beg

-the special attention of the reader.</p>

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter"></div>

-

-

-<h2 title="V. THE BIRMINGHAM CANAL AND ITS STORY">CHAPTER V<br />

-

-<small>THE BIRMINGHAM CANAL AND ITS STORY</small></h2>

-

-

-<p>What is known as the "Birmingham Canal" is

-really a perfect network of waterways in and around

-Birmingham and South Staffordshire, representing a

-total length of about 160 miles, exclusive of some

-hundreds of private sidings in connection with

-different works in the district.</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 383px;"><a id="i_056fp"></a>

-<img src="images/i_056fp.jpg" width="383" height="600" alt="Map of the Canals &amp; Railways between WOLVERHAMPTON &amp; BIRMINGHAM" />

-<div class="caption">

-    <p class="center">Map of the Canals &amp; Railways between</p>

-

-    <p class="center">WOLVERHAMPTON &amp; BIRMINGHAM</p>

-

-    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 56.</i></p>

-</div></div>

-

-<p>The system was originally constructed by four

-different canal companies under Acts of Parliament

-passed between 1768 and 1818. These

-companies subsequently amalgamated and formed

-the Birmingham Canal Navigation, known later on

-as the Birmingham Canal Company. From March

-1816 to March 1818 the company paid £36 per

-annum per share on 1,000 shares, and in the following

-year the amount paid on the same number of

-shares rose to £40 per annum. In 1823 £24 per

-annum per share was paid on 2,000 shares, in 1838

-£9 to £16 on 8,000, in 1844 £8 on 8,800, and from

-May 1845 to December 1846 £4 per annum per

-share on 17,600 shares.</p>

-

-<p>The year 1845 was a time of great activity in

-railway promotion, and the Birmingham Canal

-Company, who already had a canal between that

-town and Wolverhampton, proposed to supplement

-it by a railway through the Stour Valley, using for

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>the purpose a certain amount of spare land which

-they already owned. A similar proposal, however,

-in respect to a line of railway to take practically

-the same route between Birmingham and Wolverhampton,

-was brought forward by an independent

-company, who seem to have had the support of

-the London and Birmingham Railway Company;

-and in the result it was arranged among the

-different parties concerned (1) that the Birmingham

-Canal Company should not proceed with their

-scheme, but that they and the London and

-Birmingham Railway Company should each subscribe

-a fourth part of the capital for the construction

-of the line projected by the independent

-Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Stour Valley

-Railway Company; and (2) that the London and

-Birmingham Railway Company should, subject to

-certain terms and conditions, guarantee the future

-dividend of the Canal Company, whenever the net

-income was insufficient to produce a dividend of

-£4 per share on the capital, the Canal Company

-thus being insured against loss resulting from

-competition.</p>

-

-<p>The building of the Stour Valley Line between

-Birmingham and Wolverhampton, with a branch to

-Dudley, was sanctioned by an Act of 1846, which

-further authorised the Birmingham Canal Company

-and the London and Birmingham Railway Company

-to contribute each one quarter of the necessary capital.

-The canal company raised their quarter, amounting

-to £190,087, by means of mortgages. In return for

-their guarantee of the canal company's dividend, the

-London and Birmingham Railway Company obtained

-certain rights and privileges in regard to the working

-of the canal. These were authorised by the London

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>and Birmingham Railway and Birmingham Canal

-Arrangement Act, 1846, which empowered the two

-companies each to appoint five persons as a committee

-of management of the Birmingham Canal

-Company. Those members of the committee chosen

-by the London and Birmingham Railway Company

-were to have the same powers, etc., as the members

-elected by the canal company; but the canal company

-were restricted from expending, without the consent of

-the railway company, "any sum which shall exceed

-the sum of five hundred pounds in the formation of

-any new canal, or extension, or branch canal or otherwise,

-for the purpose of any single work to be hereafter

-undertaken by the same company"; nor, without

-consent of the railway company, could the canal

-company make any alterations in the tolls, rates, or

-dues charged. In the event of differences of opinion

-arising between the two sections of the committee of

-management, the final decision was to be given by

-the railway representatives in such year or years as

-the railway company was called upon to make good

-a deficiency in the dividends, and by the canal representatives

-when no such demand had been made

-upon the railway company. In other words the

-canal company retained the deciding vote so long

-as they could pay their way, and in any case they

-could spend up to £500 on any single work without

-asking the consent of the railway company.</p>

-

-<p>In course of time the Stour Valley Line, as well

-as the London and Birmingham Company, became

-part of the system of the London and North-Western

-Railway Company, which thus took over the responsibilities

-and obligations, in regard to the waterways,

-already assumed; while the mortgages issued by the

-Birmingham Canal Company, when they undertook

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>to raise one-fourth of the capital for the Stour

-Valley Railway, were exchanged for £126,725 of

-ordinary stock in the London and North-Western

-Railway.</p>

-

-<p>The Birmingham Canal Company was able down

-to 1873 (except only in one year, 1868, when it required

-£835 from the London and North-Western Company)

-to pay its dividend of £4 per annum on each share,

-without calling on the railway company to make good

-a deficiency. In 1874, however, there was a substantial

-shortage of revenue, and since that time

-the London and North-Western Railway Company,

-under the agreement already mentioned, have had

-to pay considerable sums to the canal company, as

-the following table shows:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="center">

-<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Birmingham Canal Company">

-<tr><td class="tdl">Year</td>

-    <td class="tdr">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr">&nbsp;</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdr">1874&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr">£10,528</td>

-    <td class="tdr">18</td>

-    <td class="tdr">0</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1875</td>

-    <td class="tdr" colspan="3">nil.</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1876</td>

-    <td class="tdr">4,796</td>

-    <td class="tdr">10</td>

-    <td class="tdr">9</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1877</td>

-    <td class="tdr">361</td>

-    <td class="tdr">7</td>

-    <td class="tdr">9</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1878</td>

-    <td class="tdr">11,370</td>

-    <td class="tdr">5</td>

-    <td class="tdr">7</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1879</td>

-    <td class="tdr">20,225</td>

-    <td class="tdr">0</td>

-    <td class="tdr">5</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1880</td>

-    <td class="tdr">13,534</td>

-    <td class="tdr">19</td>

-    <td class="tdr">6</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1881</td>

-    <td class="tdr">15,028</td>

-    <td class="tdr">9</td>

-    <td class="tdr">3</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1882</td>

-    <td class="tdr">6,826</td>

-    <td class="tdr">7</td>

-    <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1883</td>

-    <td class="tdr">8,879</td>

-    <td class="tdr">4</td>

-    <td class="tdr">7</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1884</td>

-    <td class="tdr">14,196</td>

-    <td class="tdr">7</td>

-    <td class="tdr">9</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1885</td>

-    <td class="tdr">25,460</td>

-    <td class="tdr">19</td>

-    <td class="tdr">10</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1886</td>

-    <td class="tdr">35,169</td>

-    <td class="tdr">9</td>

-    <td class="tdr">6</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1887</td>

-    <td class="tdr">31,491</td>

-    <td class="tdr">14</td>

-    <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1888</td>

-    <td class="tdr">15,350</td>

-    <td class="tdr">10</td>

-    <td class="tdr">11</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1889</td>

-    <td class="tdr">5,341</td>

-    <td class="tdr">19</td>

-    <td class="tdr">3</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1890</td>

-    <td class="tdr">22,069</td>

-    <td class="tdr">9</td>

-    <td class="tdr">8</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1891</td>

-    <td class="tdr">17,626</td>

-    <td class="tdr">2</td>

-    <td class="tdr">3</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1892</td>

-    <td class="tdr">29,508</td>

-    <td class="tdr">4</td>

-    <td class="tdr">2</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1893</td>

-    <td class="tdr">31,618</td>

-    <td class="tdr">19</td>

-    <td class="tdr">4</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1894</td>

-    <td class="tdr">27,935</td>

-    <td class="tdr">8</td>

-    <td class="tdr">9</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1895</td>

-    <td class="tdr">39,065</td>

-    <td class="tdr">15</td>

-    <td class="tdr">2</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1896</td>

-    <td class="tdr">22,994</td>

-    <td class="tdr">0</td>

-    <td class="tdr">10</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1897</td>

-    <td class="tdr">10,186</td>

-    <td class="tdr">19</td>

-    <td class="tdr">7</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1898</td>

-    <td class="tdr">10,286</td>

-    <td class="tdr">13</td>

-    <td class="tdr">3</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1899</td>

-    <td class="tdr">18,470</td>

-    <td class="tdr">18</td>

-    <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1900</td>

-    <td class="tdr">34,075</td>

-    <td class="tdr">19</td>

-    <td class="tdr">6</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1901</td>

-    <td class="tdr">62,644</td>

-    <td class="tdr">2</td>

-    <td class="tdr">8</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1902</td>

-    <td class="tdr">27,645</td>

-    <td class="tdr">2</td>

-    <td class="tdr">3</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1903</td>

-    <td class="tdr">34,047</td>

-    <td class="tdr">4</td>

-    <td class="tdr">6</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1904</td>

-    <td class="tdr">37,832</td>

-    <td class="tdr">5</td>

-    <td class="tdr">8</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">1905</td>

-    <td class="tdr">39,860</td>

-    <td class="tdr">13</td>

-    <td class="tdr">0</td></tr>

-</table></div>

-

-<p>The sum total of these figures is £685,265, 2s. 11d.</p>

-

-<p>It will have been seen, from the facts already

-narrated, that for a period of over twenty years from

-the date of the agreement the canal company continued

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>to earn their own dividend without requiring

-any assistance from the railway company. Meantime,

-however, various local, in addition to general, causes

-had been in operation tending to affect the prosperity

-of the canals. The decline of the pig-iron industry

-in the Black Country had set in, while though the

-conversion of manufactured iron into plates, implements,

-etc., largely took its place, the raw materials

-came more and more from districts not served by the

-canals, and the finished goods were carried mainly

-by the railways then rapidly spreading through the

-district, affording facilities in the way of sidings to

-a considerable number of manufacturers whose works

-were not on the canal route. Then the local iron

-ore deposits were either worked out or ceased

-to be remunerative, in view of the competition of

-other districts, again facilitated by the railways;

-and the extension of the Bessemer process of

-steel-making also affected the Staffordshire iron

-industry.</p>

-

-<p>These changes were quite sufficient in themselves

-to account for the increasing unprofitableness of the

-canals, without any need for suggestions of hostility

-towards them on the part of the railways. In point

-of fact, the extension of the railways and the provision

-of "railway basins" brought the canals a certain

-amount of traffic they might not otherwise have got.

-It was, indeed, due less to an actual decrease in the

-tonnage than to a decrease in the distance carried

-that the amount received in tolls fell off, that the traffic

-ceased to be remunerative, and that the deficiencies

-arose which, under their statutory obligations, the

-London and North-Western Railway Company had

-to meet. The more that the traffic actually left

-the canals, the greater was the deficiency which, as

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>shown by the figures I have given, the railway

-company had to make good.<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>

-

-<p>The condition of the canals in 1874, when the

-responsibilities assumed by the London and North-Western

-Railway Company began to fall more heavily

-upon them, left a good deal to be desired, and the

-railway company found themselves faced with the

-necessity of finding money for improvements which

-eventually represented a very heavy expenditure,

-apart altogether from the making up of a guaranteed

-dividend. They proceeded, all the same, to acquit

-themselves of these responsibilities, and it is no

-exaggeration to say that, during the thirty years

-which have since elapsed, they have spent enormous

-sums in improving the canals, and in maintaining

-them in what&mdash;adverse critics notwithstanding&mdash;is

-their present high state of efficiency, considering the

-peculiarities of their position.</p>

-

-<p>One of the greatest difficulties in the situation was

-in regard to water supply. At Birmingham, portions

-of the canal are 453 feet above ordnance datum;

-Wolverhampton, Wednesfield, Tipton, Dudley, and

-Oldbury are higher still, for their elevation is 473

-feet, while Walsall, Darlaston, and Wednesbury are

-at a height of 408 feet. On high-lands like these

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>there are naturally no powerful streams, and such is

-the lack of local water supplies that, as every one

-knows, the city of Birmingham has recently had to

-go as far as Wales in order to obtain sufficient water

-to meet the needs of its citizens.</p>

-

-<p>In these circumstances special efforts had to be

-made to obtain water for the canals in the district,

-and to ensure a due regard for economy in its use.

-The canals have, in fact, had to depend to a certain

-extent on water pumped from the bottom of coal pits

-in the Black Country, and stored in reservoirs on the

-top levels; the water, also, temporarily lost each time

-a canal boat passed through one of the many locks

-in the district being pumped back to the top to be

-used over again.</p>

-

-<p>To this end pumping machinery had already been

-provided by the old canal companies, but the London

-and North-Western Railway Company, on taking

-over the virtual direction of the canals for which they

-were financially responsible, substituted new and

-improved plant, and added various new pumping

-stations. Thanks to the changes thus effected&mdash;at,

-I need hardly say, very considerable cost&mdash;the average

-amount of water now pumped from lower to higher

-levels, during an average year, is 25,000,000 gallons

-per day, equal to 1,000 locks of water. On occasions

-the actual quantity dealt with is 50,000,000 gallons

-per day, while the total capacity of the present pumping

-machinery is equal to about 102,000,000 gallons,

-or 4,080 locks, per day. There is absolutely no

-doubt that, but for the special provisions made for

-an additional water supply, the Birmingham Canal

-would have had to cease operations altogether in

-the summer of 1905&mdash;probably for two months&mdash;because

-of the shortage of water. The reservoirs

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>on the top level were practically empty, and it was

-solely owing to the company acquiring new sources

-of supply, involving a very substantial expenditure

-indeed, that the canal system was kept going at all.

-A canal company with no large financial resources

-would inevitably have broken down under the strain.</p>

-

-<p>Then the London and North-Western Company

-are actively engaged in substituting new pumping

-machinery&mdash;representing "all the latest improvements"&mdash;for

-old, the special aim, here, being the

-securing of a reduction of more than 50 per cent.

-over the former cost of pumping. An expenditure

-of from £15,000 to £16,000 was, for example,

-incurred by them so recently as 1905 at the Ocker

-Hill pumping station. In this way the railway

-company are seeking both to maintain the efficiency

-of the canal and to reduce the heavy annual demands

-made upon them in respect to the general cost of

-operation and shareholders' dividend.</p>

-

-<p>For reasons which will be indicated later on, it is

-impossible to improve the Black Country canals on

-any large scale; but, in addition to what I have

-already related, the London and North-Western

-Railway Company are constantly spending money

-on small improvements, such as dredging, widening

-waterway under-bridges, taking off corners, and putting

-in side walls in place of slopes, so as to give

-more space for the boats. In the latter respect many

-miles have been so treated, to the distinct betterment

-of the canal.</p>

-

-<p>All this heavy outlay by the railway company,

-carried on for a series of years, is now beginning to

-tell, to the advantage alike of the traders and of the

-canal as a property, and if any scheme of State or

-municipal purchase were decided on by the country

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>the various substantial items mentioned would

-naturally have to be taken into account in making

-terms.</p>

-

-<p>Another feature of the Birmingham Canal system

-is that it passes to a considerable extent through the

-mining districts of the Black Country. This means,

-in the first place, that wherever important works

-have been constructed, as in the case of tunnels,

-(and the system passes through a number of tunnels,

-three of these being 3,172 yards, 3,027 yards, and

-3,785 yards respectively in length) the mineral rights

-underneath have to be bought up in order to avoid

-subsidences. In one instance the railway company

-paid no less than £28,500 for the mining rights

-underneath a short length (754 yards) of a canal

-tunnel. In other words, this £28,500 was practically

-buried in the ground, not in order to work the

-minerals, but with a view to maintain a secure

-foundation for the canal. Altogether the expenditure

-of the company in this one direction, and for this

-one special purpose alone, in the Black Country

-district, must amount by this time to some hundreds

-of thousands of pounds.</p>

-

-<p>Actual subsidences represent a great source of

-trouble. There are some parts of the Birmingham

-Canal where the waterway was originally constructed

-on a level with the adjoining ground, but, as more

-and more coal has been taken from the mines underneath,

-and especially as more and more of the ribs

-of coal originally left to support the roof have been

-removed, the land has subsided from time to time,

-rendering necessary the raising of the canal. So far

-has this gone that to-day the canal, at certain of these

-points, instead of being on a level with the adjoining

-ground, is on an embankment 30 feet above. Drops

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>of from 10 to 20 feet are of frequent occurrence, even

-with narrow canals, and the cost involved in repairs

-and restoration is enormous, as the reader may well

-suppose, considering that the total length of the

-Birmingham Canal subject to subsidences from

-mining is about 90 miles.</p>

-

-<p>I come next to the point as to the comparative

-narrowness of the Birmingham Canal system and

-the small capacity of the locks&mdash;conditions, as we

-are rightly told, which tell against the possibility of

-through, or even local, traffic in a larger type of boat.

-Such conditions as these are generally presented as

-one of the main reasons why the control should be

-transferred to the State, to municipalities, or to public

-trusts, who, it is assumed, would soon get rid of them.</p>

-

-<p>The reader must have fully realised by this time

-that the original size of the waterways and locks

-on the Birmingham Canal was determined by the

-question of water supply. But any extensive scheme

-of widening would involve much beyond the securing

-of more water.</p>

-

-<p>During the decades the Birmingham Canal has

-been in existence important works of all kinds have

-been built alongside its banks, not only in and

-around Birmingham itself, but all through the Black

-Country. There are parts of the canal where almost

-continuous lines of such works on each side of the

-canal, flush up to the banks or towing path, are to

-be seen for miles together. Any general widening,

-therefore, even of the main waterways, would involve

-such a buying up, reconstruction of, or interference

-with extremely valuable properties that the expenditure

-involved&mdash;in the interests of a problematical

-saving in canal tolls&mdash;would be alike prodigious and

-prohibitive.</p>

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p>

-<p>There is the less reason for incurring such expenditure

-when we consider the special purposes which the

-canals of the district already serve, and, I may even

-say, efficiently serve. The total traffic passing over

-the Birmingham Canal system amounts to about

-8,000,000 tons per annum,<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> and of this a considerable

-proportion is collected for eventual transport by rail.

-Every few miles along the canal in the Black Country

-there is a "railway-basin" put in either by the London

-and North-Western Railway Company, who have had

-the privilege of finding the money to keep the canal

-going since 1874, or by the Great Western or the

-Midland Railway Companies. Here, again, very

-considerable expenditure has been incurred by the

-railway companies in the provision alike of wharves,

-cranes, sheds, etc., and of branch railways connecting

-with the main lines of the company concerned. From

-these railway-basins narrow boats are sent out to

-works all over the district to collect iron, hardware,

-tinplates, bricks, tiles, manufactured articles, and

-general merchandise, and bring them in for loading

-into the railway trucks alongside. So complete is

-the network of canals, with their hundreds of small

-"special" branches, that for many of the local works

-their only means of communication with the railway

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>is by water, and the consignments are simply conveyed

-to the railway by canal boat, instead of, as

-elsewhere, by collecting van or road lorry.</p>

-

-<p>The number of these railway-basins&mdash;the cost of

-which is distinctly substantial&mdash;is constantly being

-increased, for the traffic through them grows almost

-from day to day.</p>

-

-<p>The Great Western Railway Company, for example,

-have already several large transhipping basins on

-the canals of the Black Country. They have one

-at Wolverhampton, and another at Tipton, only

-5 miles away; yet they have now decided to construct

-still another, about half-way between the two. The

-matter is thus referred to in the <cite>Great Western

-Railway Magazine</cite> for March, 1906:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"The Directors have approved a scheme for an

-extensive depôt adjoining the Birmingham Canal at

-Bilston, the site being advantageously central in the

-town. It will comprise a canal basin and transfer shed,

-sidings for over one hundred and twenty waggons,

-and a loop for made-up trains. A large share of the

-traffic of the district, mainly raw material and manufactured

-articles of the iron trade, will doubtless be

-secured as a result of this important step&mdash;the

-railway and canal mutually serving each other as

-feeders."</p></div>

-

-<p>The reader will see from this how the tendency,

-even on canals that survive, is for the length of

-haul to become shorter and shorter, so that the

-receipts of the canal company from tolls may decline

-even where there is no actual decrease in the weight

-of the traffic handled.</p>

-

-<p>In the event of State or municipal purchase being

-resorted to, the expenditure on all these costly basins

-and the works connected therewith would have to be

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>taken into consideration, equally with the pumping

-machinery and general improvements, and, also,

-the purchase of mining rights, already spoken of;

-but I fail to see what more either Government or

-County Council control could, in the circumstances,

-do for the Birmingham system than is being done

-already. Far more for the purposes of maintenance

-has been spent on the canal by the London and

-North-Western Railway Company than had been so

-spent by the canal company itself; and, although

-a considerable amount of traffic arising in the district

-does find its way down to the Mersey, the purpose

-served by the canal is, and must necessarily be,

-mainly a local one.</p>

-

-<p>That Birmingham should become a sort of half-way

-stage on a continuous line of widened canals

-across country from the Thames to the Mersey is

-one of the most impracticable of dreams. Even if

-there were not the question of the prodigious cost

-that widenings of the Birmingham Canal would

-involve, there would remain the equally fatal drawback

-of the elevation of Birmingham and Wolverhampton

-above sea level. In constructing a broad

-cross-country canal, linking up the two rivers in

-question, it would be absolutely necessary to avoid

-alike Birmingham and the whole of the Black

-Country. That city and district, therefore, would

-gain no direct advantage from such a through route.

-They would have to be content to send down their

-commodities in the existing small boats to a lower

-level, and there, in order to reach the Mersey,

-connect with either the Shropshire Union Canal or

-the Trent and Mersey. One of these two waterways

-would certainly have to be selected for a widened

-through route to the Mersey.</p>

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p>

-<p>Assume that the former were decided upon, and

-that, to meet the present-day agitation, the State,

-or some Trust backed by State or local funds, bought

-up the Shropshire Union, and resolved upon a

-substantial widening of this particular waterway,

-so as to admit of a larger type of boat and the

-various other improvements now projected. In this

-case the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">crux</i> of the situation (apart from Birmingham

-and Black Country conditions), would be the city of

-Chester.</p>

-

-<p>For a distance of 1&frac12; miles the Shropshire Union

-Canal passes through the very heart of Chester.

-Right alongside the canal one sees successively

-very large flour mills or lead works, big warehouses,

-a school, streets which border it for some

-distance, masses of houses, and, also, the old city

-walls. At one point the existing canal makes

-a bend that is equal almost to a right angle.

-Here there would have to be a substantial clearance

-if boats much larger than those now in use were to

-get round so ugly a corner in safety. This bend,

-too, is just where the canal goes underneath the

-main lines of the London and North-Western and

-the Great Western Railways, the gradients of which

-would certainly have to be altered if it were desired

-to employ larger boats.</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a id="i_070fp"></a>

-<img src="images/i_070fp.jpg" width="600" height="334" alt="WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN." />

-<div class="caption">

-    <p class="center">WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN.</p>

-

-    <p class="center">(The Shropshire Union Canal at the Northgate, Chester, looking East.)</p>

-

-    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 70.</i></p>

-</div></div>

-

-<p>The widening of the Shropshire Union Canal at

-Chester would, in effect, necessitate a wholesale

-destruction of, or interference with, valuable property

-(even if the city walls were spared), and an expenditure

-of hundreds of thousands of pounds. Such a thing

-is clearly not to be thought of. The city of Chester

-would have to be avoided by the through route from

-the Midlands to the Mersey, just as the canals of

-Birmingham and the Black Country would have to

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>be avoided in a through route from the Thames.

-If the Shropshire Union were still kept to, a new

-branch canal would have to be constructed from

-Waverton to connect again with the Shropshire

-Union at a point half-way between Chester and

-Ellesmere Port, leaving Chester in a neglected bend

-on the south.</p>

-

-<p>On this point as to the possibility of enlarging

-the Shropshire Union Canal, I should like to

-quote the following from some remarks made by

-Mr G. R. Jebb, engineer to the Shropshire Union

-Railways and Canal Company, in the discussion

-on Mr Saner's paper at the Institution of Civil

-Engineers:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"As to the suggestion that the railway companies did

-not consider it possible to make successful commercial

-use of their canals in conjunction with their lines, and

-that the London and North-Western Railway

-Company might have improved the main line of

-the Shropshire Union Canal between Ellesmere

-Port and Wolverhampton, and thus have relieved

-their already overburdened line, as a matter of fact

-about twenty years ago he went carefully into the

-question of enlarging that particular length of canal,

-which formed the main line between the Midlands

-and the sea. He drew up estimates and plans for

-wide canals, of different cross sections, one of which

-was almost identical with the cross section proposed

-by Mr Saner. After very careful consideration with

-a disposition to improve the canal if possible, it was

-found that the cost of the necessary works would be

-too heavy. Bridges of wide span and larger headway&mdash;entailing

-approaches which could not be constructed

-without destroying valuable property on either side&mdash;new

-locks and hydraulic lifts would be required, and

-a transhipping depôt would have been necessary

-where each of the narrow canals joined. The

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>company were satisfied, and he himself was satisfied,

-that no reasonable return for that expenditure could

-be expected, and therefore the work was not proceeded

-with.... He was satisfied that whoever

-found the money for canal improvements would get

-no fair return for it."</p></div>

-

-<p>The adoption of the alternative route, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">viâ</i> the Trent

-and Mersey, would involve (1) locking-up to and

-down a considerable summit, and (2) a continuous

-series of widenings (except along the Weaver Canal),

-the cost of which, especially in the towns of Stoke,

-Etruria, Middlewich, and Northwich, would attain to

-proportions altogether prohibitive.</p>

-

-<p>The conclusion at which I arrive in regard to the

-Birmingham Canal system is that it cannot be

-directly included in any scheme of cross-country

-waterways from river to river; that by reason alike

-of elevation, water supply, and the existence of a

-vast amount of valuable property immediately alongside,

-any general widening of the present system

-of canals in the district is altogether impracticable;

-that, within the scope of their unavoidable limitations,

-those particular canals already afford every reasonable

-facility to the real requirements of the local

-traders; that, instead of their having been "strangled"

-by the railways, they have been kept alive and in

-operation solely and entirely because of the heavy

-expenditure upon them by the London and North-Western

-Railway Company, following on conditions

-which must inevitably have led to collapse (with

-serious disadvantages to the traders dependent on

-them for transport) if the control had remained with

-an independent but impoverished canal company;

-and that very little, if anything, more&mdash;with due

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>regard both for what is practical, and for the avoidance

-of any waste of public money&mdash;could be done

-than is already being done, even if State or municipal

-authorities made the costly experiment of trying

-what they could do for them with their own 'prentice

-hands.</p>

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter"></div>

-

-

-<h2 title="VI. THE TRANSITION IN TRADE">CHAPTER VI<br />

-

-<small>THE TRANSITION IN TRADE</small></h2>

-

-

-<p>Of the various causes which have operated to bring

-about the comparative decay of the British canal system

-(for, as already shown, there are sections that still

-retain a certain amount of vitality), the most

-important are to be found in the great changes

-that have taken place in the general conditions of

-trade, manufacture and commerce.</p>

-

-<p>The tendency in almost every branch of business

-to-day is for the trader to have small, or comparatively

-small, stocks of any particular commodity, which he

-can replenish speedily at frequent intervals as occasion

-requires. The advantages are obvious. A smaller

-amount of capital is locked up in any one article; a

-larger variety of goods can be dealt in; less accommodation

-is required for storage; and men with limited

-means can enter on businesses which otherwise could

-be undertaken only by individuals or companies

-possessed of considerable resources. If a draper

-or a grocer at Plymouth finds one afternoon that

-he has run short of a particular article, he need

-only telegraph to the wholesale house with which

-he deals in London, and a fresh supply will be

-delivered to him the following morning. A trader

-in London who wanted something from Dublin, and

-telegraphed for it one day, would expect as a matter

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>of course to have it the next. What, again, would

-a London shopkeeper be likely to say if, wanting

-to replenish his limited stock with some Birmingham

-goods, he was informed by the manufacturer:&mdash;"We

-are in receipt of your esteemed order, and are sending

-the goods on by canal. You may hope to get

-them in about a week"?</p>

-

-<p>With a little wider margin in the matter of

-delivery, the same principle applies to those trading

-in, or requiring, raw materials&mdash;coal, steel, ironstone,

-bricks, and so on. Merchants, manufacturers, and

-builders are no more anxious than the average shopkeeper

-to keep on hand stocks unnecessarily large,

-and to have so much money lying idle. They

-calculate the length of time that will be required

-to get in more supplies when likely to be wanted,

-and they work their business accordingly.</p>

-

-<p>From this point of view the railway is far superior

-to the canal in two respects, at least.</p>

-

-<p>First, there is the question of speed. The value

-of this factor was well recognised so far back as

-1825, when, as I have told on page <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, Mr Sandars

-related how speed and certainty of delivery were

-regarded as "of the first importance," and constituted

-one of the leading reasons for the desired introduction

-of railways. But speed and certainty of delivery

-become absolutely essential when the margin in

-regard to supplies on hand is habitually kept to a

-working minimum. The saving in freight effected

-as between, on the one hand, waiting at least several

-days, if not a full week, for goods by canal boat,

-and, on the other, receiving them the following day

-by train, may be more than swallowed up by the

-loss of profit or the loss of business in consequence

-of the delay. If the railway transport be a little

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>more costly than the canal transport, the difference

-should be fully counterbalanced by the possibility

-of a more rapid turnover, as well as the other

-advantages of which I have spoken.</p>

-

-<p>In cases, again, where it is not a matter of quickly

-replenishing stocks but of effecting prompt delivery

-even of bulky goods, time may be all-important.

-This fact is well illustrated in a contribution, from

-Birmingham, published in the "Engineering Supplement"

-of <cite>The Times</cite> of February 14, 1906, in which

-it was said:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"Makers of wheels, tires, axles, springs, and

-similar parts are busy. Of late the South African

-colonies have been larger buyers, while India and

-the Far Eastern markets, including China and Japan,

-South America, and some other shipping markets are

-providing very good and valuable indents. In all

-cases, it is especially remarked, very early execution

-of contracts and urgent delivery is impressed by

-buyers. The leading firms have learned a good deal

-of late from German, American, Belgian, and other

-foreign competitors in the matter of rapid output.

-By the improvement of plant, the laying down of

-new and costly machine tools, and by other advances

-in methods of production, delivery is now made of

-contracts of heavy tonnage within periods which not

-so long ago would have been deemed by these same

-producers quite impossible. In no branch of the

-engineering trades is this expedition more apparent

-than in the constructional engineering department,

-such as bridges, roofs, etc., also in steam boiler

-work."</p></div>

-

-<p>Now where, in cases such as these, "urgent

-delivery is impressed by buyers," and the utmost

-energy is probably being enforced on the workers,

-is it likely that even the heavy goods so made

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>would be sent down to the port by the tediously

-slow process of canal boat, taking, perhaps, as

-many days as even a goods train would take hours?

-Alternatively, would the manufacturers run the risk

-of delaying urgent work by having the raw materials

-delivered by canal boat in order to effect a small

-saving on cost of transport?</p>

-

-<p>Certainty of delivery might again be seriously

-affected in the case of canal transport by delays

-arising either from scarcity of water during dry

-seasons, or from frost in winter. The entire stoppage

-of a canal system, from one or other of these causes,

-for weeks together, especially on high levels, is no

-unusual occurrence, and the inconvenience which

-would then result to traders who depended on the

-canals is self-evident. In Holland, where most of

-the goods traffic goes by the canals that spread as

-a perfect network throughout the whole country, and

-link up each town with every other town, the advent

-of a severe frost means that the whole body of traffic

-is suddenly thrown on the railways, which then have

-more to get through than they can manage. Here

-the problem arises: If waterways take traffic from

-the railways during the greater part of the year,

-should the railways still be expected to keep on

-hand sufficient rolling stock, etc., not only for their

-normal conditions, but to meet all the demands

-made upon them during such periods as their

-competitors cannot operate?</p>

-

-<p>There is an idea in some quarters that stoppage

-from frost need not be feared in this country because,

-under an improved system of waterways, measures

-would be taken to keep the ice on the canals

-constantly broken up. But even with this arrangement

-there comes a time, during a prolonged frost,

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>when the quantity of broken ice in the canal is so

-great that navigation is stopped unless the ice itself

-is removed from the water. Frost must, therefore,

-still be reckoned with as a serious factor among the

-possibilities of delay in canal transport.</p>

-

-<p>Secondly, there is the question of quantities. For

-the average trader the railway truck is a much more

-convenient unit than the canal boat. It takes just

-such amount as he may want to send or receive.

-For some commodities the minimum load for which

-the lowest railway rate is quoted is as little as 2 tons;

-but many a railway truck has been run through to

-destination with a solitary consignment of not more

-than half-a-ton. On the other hand, a vast proportion

-of the consignments by rail are essentially

-of the "small" type. From the goods depôt at

-Curzon Street, Birmingham, a total of 1,615 tons

-dealt with, over a certain period, represented 6,110

-consignments and 51,114 packages, the average

-weight per consignment being 5 <abbr title="hundredweight">cwts</abbr>. 1 <abbr title="quarter">qr.</abbr> 4 <abbr title="pounds">lbs.</abbr>,

-and the average weight per package, 2 <abbr title="quarters">qrs.</abbr> 14 <abbr title="pounds">lbs.</abbr>

-At the Liverpool goods depôts of the London and

-North-Western Railway, a total weight of 3,895 tons

-handled consisted of 5,049 consignments and 79,513

-packages, the average weight per consignment being

-15 <abbr title="hundredweight">cwts</abbr>. 1 <abbr title="quarter">qr.</abbr> 20 <abbr title="pounds">lbs.</abbr>, and the average weight per

-package 3 <abbr title="quarters">qrs.</abbr> 26 <abbr title="pounds">lbs.</abbr> From the depôt at Broad

-Street, London, 906 tons represented 6,201 consignments

-and 23,067 packages, with an average

-weight per consignment of 2 <abbr title="hundredweight">cwts</abbr>. 3 <abbr title="quarters">qrs.</abbr> 19 <abbr title="pounds">lbs.</abbr>,

-and per package, 3 <abbr title="quarters">qrs.</abbr> 4 <abbr title="pounds">lbs.</abbr>; and so on with

-other important centres of traffic.</p>

-

-<p>There is little room for doubt that a substantial

-proportion of these consignments and packages consisted

-partly of goods required by traders either

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>to replenish their stocks, or, as in the case of

-tailors and dressmakers, to enable them to execute

-particular orders; and partly of commodities

-purchased from traders, and on their way to the

-customers. In regard to the latter class of goods,

-it is a matter of common knowledge that there

-has been an increasing tendency of late years to

-eliminate the middleman, and establish direct trading

-between producer and consumer. Just as the

-small shopkeeper will purchase from the manufacturer,

-and avoid the wholesale dealer, so, also,

-there are individual householders and others who

-eliminate even the shopkeeper, and deal direct

-with advertising manufacturers willing to supply to

-them the same quantities as could be obtained

-from a retail trader.</p>

-

-<p>For trades and businesses conducted on these lines,

-the railway&mdash;taking and delivering promptly consignments

-great or small, penetrating to every part

-of the country, and supplemented by its own commodious

-warehouses, in which goods can be stored

-as desired by the trader pending delivery or shipment&mdash;is

-a far more convenient mode of transport

-than the canal boat; and to the railway the perfect

-revolution that has been brought about in the

-general trade of this country is mainly due.

-Business has been simplified, subdivided, and

-brought within the reach of "small" men to an

-extent that, but for the railway, would have been

-impossible; and it is difficult to imagine that

-traders in general will forego all these advantages

-now, and revert once more to the canal boat,

-merely for the sake of a saving in freight which,

-in the long run, might be no saving at all.</p>

-

-<p>Here it may be replied by my critics that there

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>is no idea of reviving canals in the interests of the

-general trader, and that all that is sought is to

-provide a cheaper form of transport for those heavier

-or bulkier minerals or commodities which, it is

-said, can be carried better and more economically

-by water than by rail.</p>

-

-<p>Now this argument implies the admission that

-canal resuscitation, on a national basis, or at the

-risk more or less of the community, is to be effected,

-not for the general trader, but for certain special

-classes of traders. As a matter of fact, however,

-such canal traffic as exists to-day is by no means

-limited to heavy or bulky articles. In their earlier

-days canal companies simply provided a water-road,

-as it were, along which goods could be taken

-by other persons on payment of certain tolls. To

-enable them to meet better the competition of the

-railways, Parliament granted to the canal companies,

-in 1846, the right to become common carriers

-as well, and, though only a very small proportion

-of them took advantage of this concession, those

-that did are indebted in part to the transport of

-general merchandise for such degree of prosperity

-as they have retained. The separate firms of canal

-carriers ("by-traders") have adopted a like policy,

-and, notwithstanding the changes in trade of which

-I have spoken, a good deal of general merchandise

-does go by canal to or from places that happen to

-be situated in the immediate vicinity of the waterways.

-It is extremely probable that if some of the

-canals which have survived had depended entirely

-on the transport of heavy or bulky commodities,

-their financial condition to-day would have been

-even worse than it really is.</p>

-

-<p>But let us look somewhat more closely into this

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>theory that canals are better adapted than railways

-for the transport of minerals or heavy merchandise,

-calling for the payment of a low freight. At the

-first glance such a commodity as coal would claim

-special attention from this point of view; yet here

-one soon learns that not only have the railways

-secured the great bulk of this traffic in fair and

-open competition with the canals, but there is no

-probability of the latter taking it away from them

-again to any appreciable extent.</p>

-

-<p>Some interesting facts in this connection were

-mentioned by the late Sir James Allport in the

-evidence he gave before the Select Committee on

-Canals in 1883. Not a yard, he said, of the series

-of waterways between London and Derbyshire,

-Nottinghamshire, part of Staffordshire, Warwickshire

-and Leicestershire&mdash;counties which included

-some of the best coal districts in England for

-supplying the metropolis&mdash;was owned by railway

-companies, yet the amount of coal carried by

-canal to London had steadily declined, while that

-by rail had enormously increased. To prove this

-assertion, he took the year 1852 as one when there

-was practically no competition on the part of the

-railways with the canals for the transport of coal,

-and he compared therewith the year 1882, giving

-for each the total amount of coal received by canal

-and railway respectively, as follows:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="center">

-<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="coal received">

-<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdc" colspan="2">1852</td>

-    <td class="tdc" colspan="2">1882</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">Received by</td>

-    <td class="tdl">canal</td>

-    <td class="tdr">33,000</td>

-    <td class="tdc">tons</td>

-    <td class="tdr">7,900</td>

-    <td class="tdc">tons</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdr">"&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;"&nbsp; </td>

-    <td class="tdl">railway</td>

-    <td class="tdr">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;317,000</td>

-    <td class="tdc">"</td>

-    <td class="tdr">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;6,546,000</td>

-    <td class="tdc">"</td></tr>

-</table></div>

-

-<p>The figures quoted by Sir James Allport were

-taken from the official returns in respect to the

-dues formerly levied by the City of London and the

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>late Metropolitan Board of Works on all coal

-coming within the Metropolitan Police Area, representing

-a total of 700 square miles; though at an

-earlier period the district in which the dues were

-enforced was that included in a 20-mile radius. The

-dues were abolished in 1889, and since then the

-statistics in question have no longer been compiled.

-But the returns for 1889 show that the imports of

-coal, by railway and by canal respectively, into the

-Metropolitan Police Area for that year were as

-follows:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="center">

-<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="London coal imports">

-<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="3"><span class="big">BY RAILWAY</span></td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdc">Tons.</td>

-    <td class="tdc"><abbr title="hundredweight">Cwts</abbr>.</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">Midland</td>

-    <td class="tdr">2,647,554</td>

-    <td class="tdr">0</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">London and North-Western</td>

-    <td class="tdr">1,735,067</td>

-    <td class="tdr">13</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">Great Northern</td>

-    <td class="tdr">1,360,205</td>

-    <td class="tdr">0</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">Great Eastern</td>

-    <td class="tdr">1,077,504</td>

-    <td class="tdr">13</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">Great Western</td>

-    <td class="tdr">940,829</td>

-    <td class="tdr">0</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">London and South-Western</td>

-    <td class="tdr">81,311</td>

-    <td class="tdr">2</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">South-Eastern</td>

-    <td class="tdr">27,776</td>

-    <td class="tdr">18</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr" colspan="2">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdc">Total by Railway</td>

-    <td class="tdr">7,870,248</td>

-    <td class="tdr">6</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr" colspan="2">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="3"><span class="big">BY CANAL</span></td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">Grand Junction</td>

-    <td class="tdr">12,601</td>

-    <td class="tdr">15</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr" colspan="2">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdc">Difference</td>

-    <td class="tdr">7,857,646</td>

-    <td class="tdr">11</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr" colspan="2">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td></tr>

-</table></div>

-

-

-<p>If, therefore, the independent canal companies,

-having a waterway from the colliery district of the

-Midlands and the North through to London (without,

-as already stated, any section thereof being controlled

-by railway companies), had improved their canals,

-and doubled, trebled, or even quadrupled the quantity

-of coal they carried in 1889, their total would still

-have been insignificant as compared with the quantity

-conveyed by rail.</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a id="i_082fp"></a>

-<img src="images/i_082fp.jpg" width="600" height="418" alt="FROM PIT TO PORT." />

-<div class="caption">

-    <p class="center">"FROM PIT TO PORT."</p>

-

-    <p>(Prospect Pit, Wigan Coal and Iron Company. Raised to the surface, the coal is emptied on to a

-mechanical shaker, which grades it into various sizes&mdash;lumps, cobbles, nuts, and slack. These sizes

-then each pass along a picking belt&mdash;so that impurities can be removed&mdash;and fall into the railway

-trucks placed at the end ready to receive them. The coal can thus be taken direct from the mouth of

-the pit to any port or town in Great Britain.)</p>

-

-    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 82.</i></p>

-</div></div>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p>

-<p>The reasons for this transition in the London coal

-trade (and the same general principle applies elsewhere)

-can be readily stated. They are to be found

-in the facilities conferred by the railway companies,

-and the great changes that, as the direct result

-thereof, have taken place in the coal trade itself.

-Not only are most of the collieries in communication

-with the railways, but the coal waggons are generally

-so arranged alongside the mouth of each pit that

-the coal, as raised, can be tipped into them direct

-from the screens. Coal trains, thus made up, are

-next brought to certain sidings in the neighbourhood

-of London, where the waggons await the orders

-of the coal merchants to whom they have been consigned.

-At Willesden, for example, there is special

-accommodation for 2,000 coal waggons, and the

-sidings are generally full. Liberal provision of a

-like character has also been made in London by

-the Midland, the Great Northern, and other railway

-companies in touch with the colliery districts. An

-intimation as to the arrival of the consignments is

-sent by the railway company to the coal merchant,

-who, in London, is allowed three "free" days at

-these coal sidings in which to give instructions

-where the coal is to be sent. After three days he

-is charged the very modest sum of 6d. per day

-per truck. Assuming that the coal merchant gives

-directions, either within the three days or later, for

-a dozen trucks, containing particular qualities of coal,

-to be sent to different parts of London, north, south,

-east and west, those dozen trucks will have to be

-picked out from the one or two thousand on the

-sidings, shunted, and coupled on to trains going

-through to the stated destination. This represents

-in itself a considerable amount of work, and special

-staffs have to be kept on duty for the purpose.</p>

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p>

-<p>Then, at no fewer than one hundred and thirty-five

-railway stations in London and the suburbs thereof,

-the railway companies have provided coal depôts on

-such vacant land as may be available close to the local

-sidings, and here a certain amount of space is allotted

-to the use of coal merchants. For this accommodation

-no charge whatever is made in London, though

-a small rent has to be paid in the provinces. The

-London coal merchant gets so many feet, or yards,

-allotted to him on the railway property; he puts

-up a board with his name, or that of his firm; he

-stores on the said space the coal for which he has

-no immediate sale; and he sends his men there to

-fetch from day to day just such quantities as he

-wants in order to execute the orders received. With

-free accommodation such as this at half a dozen, or

-even a score, of suburban railway stations, all that

-the coal merchant of to-day requires in addition is

-a diminutive little office immediately adjoining each

-railway station, where orders can be received, and

-whence instructions can be sent. Not only, also, do

-the railway companies provide him with a local coal

-depôt which serves his every purpose, but, after

-allowing him three "free" days on the great coal

-sidings, to which the waggons first come, they

-give him, on the local sidings, another seven

-"free" days in which to arrange his business. He

-thus gets ten clear days altogether, before any charge

-is made for demurrage, and, if then he is still awaiting

-orders, he has only to have the coal removed from

-the trucks on to the depôt, or "wharf" as it is

-technically called, so escaping any payment beyond

-the ordinary railway rate, in which all these privileges

-and advantages are included.</p>

-

-<p>If canal transport were substituted for rail transport,

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>the coal would first have to be taken from the mouth

-of the pit to the canal, and, inasmuch as comparatively

-few collieries (except in certain districts) have canals

-immediately adjoining, the coal would have to go

-by rail to the canal, unless the expense were incurred

-of cutting a branch of the canal to the colliery&mdash;a

-much more costly business, especially where locks are

-necessary, than laying a railway siding. At the

-canal the coal would be tipped from the railway truck

-into the canal boat,<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> which would take it to the canal

-terminus, or to some wharf or basin on the canal

-banks. There the coal would be thrown up from the

-boat into the wharf (in itself a more laborious and more

-expensive operation than that of shovelling it down,

-or into sacks on the same level, from a railway

-waggon), and from the wharf it would have to be

-carted, perhaps several miles, to final destination.</p>

-

-<p>Under this arrangement the coal would receive

-much more handling&mdash;and each handling means so

-much additional slack and depreciation in value; a

-week would have to be allowed for a journey now

-possible in a day; the coal dealers would have to

-provide their own depôts and pay more for cartage, and

-they would have to order particular kinds of coal by

-the boat load instead of by the waggon load.</p>

-

-<p>This last necessity would alone suffice to render the

-scheme abortive. Some years ago when there was

-so much discussion as to the use of a larger size of

-railway waggon, efforts were made to induce the coal

-interests to adopt this policy. But the 8-ton truck was

-so convenient a unit, and suited so well the essentially

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>retail nature of the coal trade to-day, that as a rule the

-coal merchants would have nothing to do with trucks

-even of 15 or 20 tons. Much less, therefore, would

-they be inclined to favour barge loads of 200 or 250

-tons.</p>

-

-<p>Exceptions might be made in the case of gas works,

-or of factories already situated alongside the banks of

-canals which have direct communication with collieries.

-In the Black Country considerable quantities of coal

-thus go by canal from the collieries to the many local

-ironworks, etc., which, as I have shown, are still

-actively served by the Birmingham Canal system.

-But these exceptions can hardly be offered as an

-adequate reason for the nationalisation of British

-canals. The general conditions, and especially the

-nature of the coal trade transition, will be better

-realised from some figures mentioned by the chairman

-of the London and North-Western Railway Company,

-Lord Stalbridge, at the half-yearly meeting in February

-1903. Notwithstanding the heavy coal traffic&mdash;in

-the aggregate&mdash;the average consignment of coal, he

-showed, on the London and North-Western Railway

-is only 17&frac12; tons, and over 80 per cent. of the total

-quantity carried represents consignments of less than

-20 tons, the actual weights ranging from lots of 2 tons

-14 <abbr title="hundredweight">cwts</abbr>. to close upon 1,000 tons for shipment.</p>

-

-<p>"But," the reader may say, "if coal is taken in

-1,000-ton lots to a port for shipment, surely canal

-transport could be resorted to here!" This course is

-adopted on the Aire and Calder Navigation, which is

-very favourably situated, and goes over almost

-perfectly level ground. The average conditions of

-coal shipment in the United Kingdom are, however,

-much better met by the special facilities which rail

-transport offers.</p>

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p>

-<p>Of the way in which coal is loaded into railway

-trucks direct from the colliery screens I have already

-spoken; but, in respect to steam coal, it should be

-added that anthracite is sold in about twelve different

-sizes, and that one colliery will make three or four

-of these sizes, each dropped into separate trucks

-under the aforesaid screens. The output of an

-anthracite colliery would be from 200 to 300 tons a

-day, in the three or four sizes, as stated, this total

-being equal to from 20 to 30 truck-loads. An order

-received by a coal factor for 2,000 or 3,000 tons of a

-particular size would, therefore, have to be made up

-with coal from a number of different collieries.</p>

-

-<p>The coal, however, is not actually sold at the

-collieries. It is sent down to the port, and there it

-stands about for weeks, and sometimes for months,

-awaiting sale or the arrival of vessels. It must

-necessarily be on the spot, so that orders can be

-executed with the utmost expedition, and delays to

-shipping avoided. Consequently it is necessary that

-ample accommodation should be provided at the

-port for what may be described as the coal-in-waiting.

-At Newport, for example, where about 4,000,000 tons

-of coal are shipped in the course of the year (independently

-of "bunkers,") there are 50 miles of coal

-sidings, capable of accommodating from 40,000 to

-50,000 tons of coal sent there for shipment. A record

-number of loaded coal trucks actually on these sidings

-at any one time is 3,716. The daily average is 2,800.</p>

-

-<p>Now assume that the coal for shipment from

-Newport had been brought there by canal boat.

-To begin with, it would have been first loaded, by

-means of the colliery screens, into railway trucks,

-taken in these to the canal, and then tipped into

-the boats. This would mean further breakage, and,

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>in the case of steam coal especially, a depreciation

-in value. But suppose that the coal had duly

-arrived at the port in the canal boats, where

-would it be stored for those weeks and months to

-await sale or vessels? Space for miles of sidings

-on land can easily be found; but the water area in

-a canal or dock in which barges can wait is limited,

-and, in the case of Newport at least, it would hardly

-be equal to the equivalent of 3,000 truck-loads of

-coal.</p>

-

-<p>There comes next the important matter of detail

-as to the way in which coal brought to a port is to

-be shipped. Nothing could be simpler and more

-expeditious than the practice generally adopted in

-the case of rail-borne coal. When a given quantity

-of coal is to be despatched, the vessel is brought

-alongside a hydraulic coal-tip, such as that shown

-in the illustration facing this page, and the loaded

-coal trucks are placed in succession underneath the

-tip. Raised one by one to the level of the shoot,

-the trucks are there inclined to such an angle that

-the entire contents fall on to the shoot, and thence

-into the hold of the ship. Brought to the horizontal

-again, the empty truck passes on to a viaduct, down

-which it goes, by gravitation, back to the sidings,

-the place it has vacated on the tip being at once

-taken by another loaded truck.</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 507px;"><a id="i_088fp"></a>

-<img src="images/i_088fp.jpg" width="507" height="600" alt="THE SHIPPING OF COAL: HYDRAULIC TIP ON G.W.R., SWANSEA." />

-<div class="caption">

-    <p class="center">THE SHIPPING OF COAL: HYDRAULIC TIP ON G.W.R., SWANSEA.</p>

-

-    <p>(The loaded truck is hoisted to level of shoot, and is there inclined to necessary angle

-to "tip" the coal, which falls from shoot into hold of vessel. Empty truck

-passes by gravitation along viaduct, on left, to sidings.)</p>

-

-    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 88.</i></p>

-</div></div>

-

-

-<p>Substitute coal barges for coal trucks, and how

-will the loading then be accomplished? Under any

-possible circumstances it would take longer to put

-a series of canal barges alongside a vessel in the

-dock than to place a series of coal trucks under the

-tip on shore. Nor could the canal barge itself be

-raised to the level of a shoot, and have its contents

-tipped bodily into the collier. What was done in

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>the South Wales district by one colliery some years

-ago was to load up a barge with iron tubs, or

-boxes, filled with coal, and placed in pairs from

-end to end. In dock one of these would be lifted

-out of the barge by a crane, and lowered into the

-hold, where the bottom would be knocked out, the

-emptied tub being then replaced in the barge by

-the crane, and the next one to it raised in turn.

-But, apart from the other considerations already

-presented, this system of shipment was found more

-costly than the direct tipping of railway trucks, and

-was consequently abandoned.</p>

-

-<p>Although, therefore, in theory coal would appear

-to be an ideal commodity for transport by canal, in

-actual practice it is found that rail transport is both

-more convenient and more economical, and certainly

-much better adapted to the exigences of present day

-trade in general, in the case alike of domestic coal

-and of coal for shipment. Whether or not the country

-would be warranted in going to a heavy expense

-for canal resuscitation for the special benefit of a

-limited number of traders having works or factories

-alongside canal banks is a wholly different question.</p>

-

-<p>I take next the case of raw cotton as another bulky

-commodity carried in substantial quantities. At one

-time it was the custom in the Lancashire spinning

-trade for considerable supplies to be bought in

-Liverpool, taken to destination by canal, and stored

-in the mills for use as required. A certain proportion

-is still handled in this way; but the Lancashire

-spinners who now store their cotton are extremely

-few in number, and represent the exception rather

-than the rule. It is found much more convenient to

-receive from Liverpool from day to day by rail the

-exact number of bales required to meet immediate

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>wants. The order can be sent, if necessary, by

-post, telegraph, or telephone, and the cotton may be

-expected at the mill next day, or as desired. If

-barge-loads of cotton were received at one time,

-capital would at least have to be sunk in providing

-warehousing accommodation, and the spinner thinks

-he can make better use of his money.</p>

-

-<p>The day-by-day arrangement is thus both a

-convenience and a saving to the trader; though it

-has one disadvantage from a railway standpoint, for

-cotton consignments by rail are, as a rule, so small

-that there is difficulty in making up a "paying

-load" for particular destinations. As the further

-result of the agitation a few years ago for the use

-of a larger type of railway waggons, experiments

-have been made at Liverpool with large trucks for

-the conveyance especially of raw cotton. But, owing

-to the day-by-day policy of the spinners, it is no

-easy matter to make up a 20-ton truck of cotton

-for many of the places to which consignments are

-sent, and the shortage in the load represents so

-much dead weight. Consignments ordered forward

-by rail must, however, be despatched wholly, or at

-any rate in part, on day of receipt. Any keeping

-of them back, with the idea of thus making up a

-better load for the railway truck, would involve the

-risk of a complaint, if not of a claim, against the

-railway company, on the ground that the mill had

-had to stop work owing to delay in the arrival of

-the cotton.</p>

-

-<p>If the spinners would only adopt a two- or three-days-together

-policy, it would be a great advantage

-to the railways; but even this might involve the

-provision of storage accommodation at the mills, and

-they accordingly prefer the existing arrangement.

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>What hope could there be, therefore, except under

-very special circumstances, that they would be willing

-to change their procedure, and receive their raw

-cotton in bulk by canal boat?</p>

-

-<p>Passing on to other heavy commodities carried in

-large quantities, such as bricks, stone, drain-pipes,

-manure, or road-making materials, it is found, in

-practice, that unless both the place whence these

-things are despatched and the place where they are

-actually wanted are close to a waterway, it is

-generally more convenient and more economical to

-send by rail. The railway truck is not only (once

-more) a better unit in regard to quantity, but, as in

-the case of domestic coal, it can go to any railway

-station, and can often be brought miles nearer to the

-actual destination than if the articles or materials in

-question are forwarded by water; while the addition

-to the canal toll of the cost of cartage at either end,

-or both, may swell the total to the full amount of the

-railway rate, or leave so small a margin that conveyance

-by rail, in view of the other advantages

-offered, is naturally preferred. Here we have further

-reasons why commodities that seem to be specially

-adapted for transport by canal so often go by rail

-instead.</p>

-

-<p>There are manufacturers, again, who, if executing

-a large shipping order, would rather consign the

-goods, as they are ready, to a railway warehouse at

-the port, there to await shipment, than occupy

-valuable space with them on their own premises.

-Assuming that it might be possible and of advantage

-to forward to destination by canal boat, they would

-still prefer to send off 25 or 30 tons at a time, in

-a narrow boat (and 25 to 30 tons would represent

-a big lot in most industries), rather than keep

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>everything back (with the incidental result of blocking

-up the factory) until, in order to save a little

-on the freight, they could fill up a barge of 200 or

-300 tons.</p>

-

-<p>So the moral of this part of my story is that, even

-if the canals of the country were thoroughly revived,

-and made available for large craft, there could not be

-any really great resort to them unless there were,

-also, brought about a change in the whole basis of

-our general trading conditions.</p>

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter"></div>

-

-

-<h2 title="VII. CONTINENTAL CONDITIONS">CHAPTER VII<br />

-

-<small>CONTINENTAL CONDITIONS</small></h2>

-

-

-<p>The larger proportion of the arguments advanced in

-the Press or in public in favour of a restoration of

-our own canal system is derived from the statements

-which are unceasingly being made as to what our

-neighbours on the Continent of Europe are doing.</p>

-

-<p>Almost every writer or speaker on the subject

-brings forward the same stock of facts and figures as

-to the large sums of money that are being expended

-on waterways in Continental countries; the contention

-advanced being, in effect, that because such

-and such things are done on the Continent of

-Europe, therefore they ought to be done here. In

-the "Engineering Supplement" of <cite>The Times</cite>, for

-instance&mdash;to give only one example out of many&mdash;there

-appeared early in 1906 two articles on "Belgian

-Canals and Waterways" by an engineering contributor

-who wrote, among other things, that, in

-view of "the well-directed efforts now being made

-with the object of effecting the regeneration of the

-British canal system, the study of Belgian canals

-and other navigable waterways possesses distinct

-interest"; and declared, in concluding his account

-thereof, that "if the necessary powers, money, and

-concentrated effort were available, there is little doubt

-that equally satisfactory results could be obtained in

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>Great Britain." Is this really the case? Could we

-possibly hope to do all that can be done either in

-Belgium or in Continental countries generally, even

-if we had the said powers and money, and showed

-the same concentrated effort? For my part I do not

-think we could, and these are my reasons for thinking

-so:&mdash;</p>

-

-<p>Taking geographical considerations first, a glance

-at the map of Europe will show that, apart from

-their national requirements, enterprises, and facilities,

-Germany, Belgium, and Holland are the gateways

-to vast expanses producing, or receiving, very large

-quantities of merchandise and raw materials, much

-of which is eminently suitable for water transport

-on long journeys that have absolutely no parallel

-in this country. In the case of Belgium, a good

-idea of the general position may be gained from

-some remarks made by the British Consul-General

-at Antwerp, Sir E. Cecil Hertslet, in a report

-("Miscellaneous Series," 604) on "Canals and other

-Navigable Waterways of Belgium," issued by the

-Foreign Office in 1904. Referring to the position

-of Antwerp he wrote:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"In order to form a clear idea of the great utility

-of the canal system of Belgium, it is from its heart,

-from the great port of Antwerp, as a centre, that

-the survey must be taken.... Antwerp holds a

-leading position among the great ports of the world,

-and this is due, not only to her splendid geographical

-situation at the centre of the ocean highways of

-commerce, but, also, and perhaps more particularly,

-to her practically unique position as a distributing

-centre for a large portion of North-Eastern Europe."</p></div>

-

-<p>Thus the canals and waterways of Belgium do

-not serve merely local, domestic, or national purposes,

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>but represent the first or final links in a network of

-water communications by means of which merchandise

-can be taken to, or brought from, in bulk, "a

-large portion of North-Eastern Europe." Much of

-this traffic, again, can just as well pass through

-one Continental country, on its way to or from the

-coast, as through another. In fact, some of the

-most productive of German industrial centres are

-much nearer to Antwerp or Rotterdam than they

-are to Hamburg or Bremen. Hence the extremely

-keen rivalry between Continental countries having

-ports on the North Sea for the capture of these

-great volumes of trans-Continental traffic, and hence,

-also, their low transport rates, and, to a certain extent,

-their large expenditure on waterways.</p>

-

-<p>Comparing these with British conditions, we must

-bear in mind the fact that we dwell in a group

-of islands, and not in a country which forms part

-of a Continent. We have, therefore, no such transit

-traffic available for "through" barges as that which

-is handled on the Continent. Traffic originating in

-Liverpool, and destined say, for Austria, would not

-be put in a canal boat which would first go to Goole,

-or Hull, then cross the North Sea in the same boat

-to Holland or Belgium, and so on to its destination.

-Nor would traffic in bulk from the United States

-for the Continent&mdash;or even for any of our East Coast

-ports&mdash;be taken by boat across England. It would

-go round by sea. Traffic, again, originating in

-Birmingham, might be taken to a port by boat.

-But it would there require transhipment into an

-ocean-going vessel, just as the commodities received

-from abroad would have to be transferred to a canal

-boat&mdash;unless Birmingham could be converted into a

-sea-port.</p>

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p>

-<p>If Belgium and Holland, especially, had had no

-chance of getting more than local, as distinct from

-through or transit traffic&mdash;if, in other words, they

-had been islands like our own, with the same geographical

-limitations as ourselves, and with no trans-Continental

-traffic to handle, is there the slightest

-probability that they would have spent anything

-like the same amount of money on the development

-of their waterways as they have actually done? In

-the particular circumstances of their position they

-have acted wisely; but it does not necessarily follow

-that we, in wholly different circumstances, have acted

-foolishly in not following their example.</p>

-

-<p>It might further be noted, in this connection, that

-while in the case of Belgium all the waterways in,

-or leading into, the country converge to the one

-great port of Antwerp, in England we have great

-ports, competing more or less the one with the other,

-all round our coasts, and the conferring of special

-advantages on one by the State would probably

-be followed by like demands on the part of all the

-others. As for communication between our different

-ports, this is maintained so effectively by coasting

-vessels (the competition of which already powerfully

-influences railway rates) that heavy expenditure on

-canal improvement could hardly be justified on this

-account. However effectively the Thames might be

-joined to the Mersey, or the Humber to the Severn,

-by canal, the vast bulk of port-to-port traffic would

-probably still go by sea.</p>

-

-<p>Then there are great differences between the physical

-conditions of Great Britain and those parts of the

-Continent of Europe where the improvement of

-waterways has undergone the greatest expansion.

-Portions of Holland&mdash;as everybody knows&mdash;are

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>below the level of the sea, and the remainder are

-not much above it. A large part of Belgium is

-flat; so is most of Northern Germany. In fact

-there is practically a level plain right away from

-the shores of the North Sea to the steppes of Russia.

-Canal construction in these conditions is a comparatively

-simple and a comparatively inexpensive

-matter; though where such conditions do not exist

-to the same extent&mdash;as in the south of Germany,

-for example&mdash;the building of canals becomes a very

-different problem. This fact is well recognised by

-Herr Franz Ulrich in his book on "Staffeltarife und

-Wasserstrassen," where he argues that the building

-of canals is practicable only in districts favoured by

-Nature, and that hilly and backward country is thus

-unavoidably handicapped.</p>

-

-<p>Much, again, of the work done on the Continent

-has been a matter either of linking up great rivers

-or of canalising these for navigation purposes. We

-have in England no such rivers as the Rhine, the

-Weser, the Elbe, and the Oder, but the very essence

-of the German scheme of waterways is to connect

-these and other rivers by canals, a through route by

-water being thus provided from the North Sea to

-the borders of Russia. Further south there is already

-a small canal, the Ludwigs Canal, connecting the

-Rhine and the Danube, and this canal&mdash;as distinct

-from those in the northern plains&mdash;certainly does rise

-to an elevation of 600 feet from the River Main to

-its summit level. A scheme has now been projected

-for establishing a better connection between the

-Rhine and the Danube by a ship canal following

-the route either of the Main or of the Neckar. In

-describing these two powerful streams Professor

-Meiklejohn says, in his "New Geography":&mdash;</p>

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p>

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"The two greatest rivers of Europe&mdash;greatest from

-almost every point of view&mdash;are the Danube and the

-Rhine. The Danube is the largest river in Europe

-in respect of its volume of water; it is the only large

-European river that flows due east; and it is therefore

-the great highway to the East for South Germany,

-for Austria, for Hungary, and for the younger nations

-in its valley. It flows through more lands, races, and

-languages than any other European river. The Rhine

-is the great water-highway for Western Europe; and

-it carries the traffic and the travellers of many countries

-and peoples. Both streams give life to the whole

-Continent; they join many countries and the most

-varied interests; while the streams of France exist

-only for France itself. The Danube runs parallel

-with the mighty ranges of the Alps; the Rhine

-saws its way through the secondary highlands which

-lie between the Alps and the Netherlands."</p></div>

-

-<p>The construction of this proposed link would give

-direct water communication between the North Sea

-and the Black Sea, a distance, as the crow flies, and

-not counting river windings, of about 1,300 miles.

-Such an achievement as this would put entirely in

-the shade even the present possible voyage, by canal

-and river, of 300 miles from Antwerp to Strasburg.</p>

-

-<p>What are our conditions in Great Britain, as against

-all these?</p>

-

-<p>In place of the "great lowland plain" in which

-most of the Continental canal work we hear so much

-about has been done, we possess an undulating

-country whose physical conditions are well indicated

-by the canal sections given opposite this page. Such

-differences of level as those that are there shown

-must be overcome by locks, lifts, or inclined planes,

-together with occasional tunnels or viaducts. In the

-result the construction of canals is necessarily much

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>more costly in Great Britain than on the aforesaid

-"great lowland plain" of Continental Europe, and

-dimensions readily obtainable there become practically

-impossible here on account alike of the prohibitive

-cost of construction and the difficulties that

-would arise in respect to water supply. A canal

-connecting the Rhine, the Weser, and the Elbe, in

-Germany, is hardly likely to run short of water,

-and the same may be said of the canals in Holland,

-and of those in the lowlands of Belgium. This is

-a very different matter from having to pump water

-from low levels to high levels, to fill reservoirs for

-canal purposes, as must be done on the Birmingham

-and other canals, or from taking a fortnight to accomplish

-the journey from Hull to Nottingham as once

-happened owing to insufficiency of water.</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 410px;"><a id="i_098fp"></a>

-<img src="images/i_098fp.jpg" width="410" height="600" alt="SOME TYPICAL BRITISH CANALS." />

-<div class="caption">

-    <p class="center">SOME TYPICAL BRITISH CANALS.</p>

-

-    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 98.</i></p>

-</div></div>

-

-<p>There is, also, that very important consideration,

-from a transport standpoint, of the "length of haul."

-Assuming, for the sake of argument (1) that the

-commercial conditions were the same in Great

-Britain as they are on the Continent; (2) that

-our country, also, consisted of a "great lowland

-plain"; and (3) that we, as well, had great natural

-waterways, like the Rhine, yielding an abundant

-water supply;&mdash;assuming all this, it would still be

-impossible, in the circumscribed dimensions of our

-isles, to get a "length of haul" in any way approaching

-the barge-journeys that are regularly made

-between, say, North Sea ports and various centres

-in Germany.</p>

-

-<p>The geographical differences in general between

-Great Britain and Continental countries were thus

-summed up by Mr W. H. Wheeler in the discussion

-on Mr Saner's paper at the Institution of Civil

-Engineers:&mdash;</p>

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span></p>

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"There really did not seem to be any justification

-for Government interference with the canals.

-England was in an entirely different situation from

-Continental countries. She was a sea-girt nation,

-with no less than eight first-class ports on a coast-line

-of 1,820 miles. Communication between these

-by coasting steamers was, therefore, easy, and could

-be accomplished in much less time and at less cost

-than by canal. There was no large manufacturing

-town in England that was more than about 80 miles

-in a direct line from a first-class seaport; and taking

-the country south of the Firth of Forth, there were

-only 42&frac12; square miles to each mile of coast. France,

-on the other hand, had only two first-class ports, one

-in the north and the other in the extreme south, over

-a coast-line of 1,360 miles. Its capital was 100 miles

-from the nearest seaport, and the towns in the centre

-of the country were 250 to 300 miles from either

-Havre or Marseilles. For every mile of coast-line

-there were 162 square miles of country. Belgium

-had one large seaport and only 50 miles of coast-line,

-with 227 square miles of country to every square

-mile. Germany had only two first-class ports, both

-situated on its northern coast; Frankfort and Berlin

-were distant from those ports about 250 miles, and

-for every mile of coast-line there were 231 square

-miles of country. The necessity of an extended

-system of inland waterways for the distribution of

-produce and materials was, therefore, far more important

-in those countries than it was in England."</p></div>

-

-<p>Passing from commercial and geographical to

-political conditions, we find that in Germany the

-State owns or controls alike railways and waterways.

-Prussia bought up most of the former, partly with

-the idea of safeguarding the protective policy of the

-country (endangered by the low rates charged on

-imports by independent railway companies), and

-partly in order that the Government could secure,

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>in the profits on railway operation, a source of

-income independent of Parliamentary votes. So

-well has the latter aim been achieved that a contribution

-to the Exchequer of from £10,000,000 to

-£15,000,000 a year has been obtained, and, rather

-than allow this source of income to be checked by

-heavy expenditure, the Prussian Government have

-refrained from carrying out such widenings and

-improvements of their State system of railways as

-a British or an American railway company would

-certainly have adopted in like circumstances, and

-have left the traders to find relief in the waterways

-instead. The increased traffic the waterways of

-Germany are actually getting is mainly traffic which

-has either been diverted from the railways, or would

-have been handled by the railways in other countries

-in the natural course of their expansion. Whatever

-may be the case with the waterways, the railways

-of Prussia, especially, are comparatively unprogressive,

-and, instead of developing through traffic at

-competitive rates, they are reverting more and more

-to the original position of railways as feeders to the

-waterways. They get a short haul from place of

-origin to the waterway, and another short haul,

-perhaps, from waterway again to final destination;

-but the greater part of the journey is done by water.</p>

-

-<p>These conditions represent one very material

-factor in the substantial expansion of water-borne

-traffic in Germany&mdash;and most of that traffic, be it

-remembered, has been on great rivers rather than

-on artificial canals. The latter are certainly being

-increased in number, especially, as I have said,

-where they connect the rivers; and the Government

-are the more inclined that the waterways should be

-developed because then there will be less need for

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>spending money on the railways, and for any

-interference with the "revenue-producing machine"

-which those railways represent.</p>

-

-<p>In France the railways owned and operated by the

-State are only a comparatively small section of the

-whole; but successive Governments have advanced

-immense sums for railway construction, and the

-State guarantees the dividends of the companies;

-while in France as in Germany railway rates are

-controlled absolutely by the State. In neither

-country is there free competition between rail and

-water transport. If there were, the railways would

-probably secure a much greater proportion of the

-traffic than they do. Still another consideration to

-be borne in mind is that although each country

-has spent great sums of money&mdash;at the cost of the

-general taxpayer&mdash;on the provision of canals or the

-improvement of waterways, no tolls are, with few

-exceptions, imposed on the traders. The canal

-charges include nothing but actual cost of carriage,

-whereas British railway rates may cover various

-other services, in addition, and have to be fixed on

-a scale that will allow of a great variety of charges

-and obligations being met. Not only, both in

-Germany and France, may the waterway be constructed

-and improved by the State, but the State

-also meets the annual expenditure on dredging,

-lighting, superintendence and the maintenance of

-inland harbours. Here we have further reasons

-for the growth of the water-borne traffic on the

-Continent.</p>

-

-<p>Where the State, as railway owner or railway

-subsidiser, spends money also on canals, it competes

-only, to a certain extent, with itself; but this would

-be a very different position from State-owned or

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>State-supported canals in this country competing

-with privately-owned railways.<a name="FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>

-

-<p>If then, as I maintain is the case, there is

-absolutely no basis for fair comparison between

-Continental and British conditions&mdash;whether commercial,

-geographical, or political&mdash;we are left to

-conclude that the question of reviving British canals

-must be judged and decided strictly from a British

-standpoint, and subject to the limitations of British

-policy, circumstances, and possibilities.</p>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter"></div>

-

-<h2 title="VIII. WATERWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES">CHAPTER VIII<br />

-

-<small>WATERWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES</small></h2>

-

-

-<p>In some respects conditions in the United States

-compare with those of Continental Europe, for they

-suggest alike powerful streams, artificial canals

-constructed on (as a rule) flat or comparatively flat

-surfaces, and the possibilities of traffic in large

-quantities for transport over long distances before

-they can reach a seaport. In other respects the

-comparison is less with Continental than with

-British conditions, inasmuch as, for the last half

-century at least, the American railways have been

-free to compete with the waterways, and fair play

-has been given to the exercise of economic forces,

-with the result that, in the United States as in the

-United Kingdom, the railways have fully established

-their position as the factors in inland transport

-best suited to the varied requirements of trade

-and commerce of to-day, while the rivers and

-canals (I do not here deal with the Great Lakes,

-which represent an entirely different proposition)

-have played a rôle of steadily diminishing

-importance.</p>

-

-<p>The earliest canal built in the United States was

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>that known as the Erie Canal. It was first projected

-in 1768, with the idea of establishing a

-through route by water between Lake Erie and the

-River Hudson at Albany, whence the boats or

-barges employed would be able to reach the port

-of New York. The Act for its construction was

-not passed, however, by the Provincial Legislature

-of the State of New York until 1817. The canal

-itself was opened for traffic in 1825. It had a total

-length from Cleveland to Albany of 364 miles,

-included therein being some notable engineering

-work in the way of aqueducts, etc.</p>

-

-<p>At the date in question there were four North

-Atlantic seaports, namely, Boston, New York,

-Philadelphia, and Baltimore, all of about equal

-importance. Boston, however, had appeared likely

-to take the lead, by reason both of her comparatively

-dense population and of her substantial

-development of manufactures. Philadelphia was

-also then somewhat in advance of New York in

-trade and population. The effect of the Erie

-Canal, however, was to concentrate all the advantages,

-for the time being, on New York. Thanks

-to the canal, New York secured the domestic trade

-of a widespread territory in the middle west, while

-her rivals could not possess themselves of like

-facilities, because of the impracticability of constructing

-canals to cross the ranges of mountains

-separating them from the valley of the Mississippi

-and the basin of the Great Lakes&mdash;ranges broken

-only by the Hudson and the Mohawk valleys, of

-which the constructors of the Erie Canal had

-already taken advantage. So New York, with its

-splendid harbour, made great progress alike in

-trade, wealth, and population, completely outdistancing

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>her rivals, and becoming, as a

-State, "the Empire State," and, as a city, "the

-financial and commercial centre of the Western

-Hemisphere."</p>

-

-<p>While, again, the Erie Canal was "one of the

-most efficient factors" in bringing about these

-results, it was also developing the north-west by

-giving an outlet to the commerce of the Great

-Lakes, and during the second quarter of the

-nineteenth century it represented what has been

-well described as "the most potent influence of

-American progress and civilisation." Not only did

-the traffic it carried increase from 1,250,000 tons,

-in 1837, to 3,000,000 tons in 1847, but it

-further inspired the building of canals in other

-sections of the United States. In course of time

-the artificial waterways of that country represented

-a total length of 5,000 miles.</p>

-

-<p>With the advent of the railways there came

-revolutionary changes which were by no means

-generally appreciated at first. The cost of the

-various canals had been defrayed mostly by the

-different States, and, though financial considerations

-had thus been more readily met, the policy

-pursued had committed the States concerned to the

-support of the canals against possible competition.

-When, therefore, "private enterprise" introduced

-railways, in which the doom of the canals was foreseen,

-there was a wild outburst of indignant protest.

-The money of the taxpayers, it was said, had been

-sunk in building the canals, and, if the welfare of

-these should be prejudiced by the railways, every

-taxpayer in the State would suffer. When it was

-seen that the railways had come to stay, the demand

-arose that, while passengers might travel by rail,

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>the canals should have the exclusive right to

-convey merchandise.</p>

-

-<p>The question was even discussed by the Legislature

-of the State of New York, in 1857, whether the railways

-should not be prevented from carrying goods

-at all, or, alternatively, whether heavy taxes should

-not be imposed on goods traffic carried by rail in

-order to check the considerable tendency then being

-shown for merchandise to go by rail instead of by

-canal, irrespective of any difference in rates. The

-railway companies were further accused of conspiring

-to "break down those great public works upon which

-the State has spent forty years of labour," and so

-active was the campaign against them&mdash;while it

-lasted&mdash;that one New York paper wrote:&mdash;"The

-whole community is aroused as it never was

-before."</p>

-

-<p>Some of the laws which had been actually passed

-to protect the State-constructed canals against the

-railways were, however, repealed in 1851, and the

-agitation itself was not continued beyond 1857, from

-which year the railways had free scope and opportunity

-to show what they could do. The contest was

-vigorous and prolonged, but the railways steadily

-won.</p>

-

-<p>In the first instance the Erie Canal had a depth

-of 4 feet, and could be navigated only by 30-ton boats.

-In 1862 it was deepened to 7 feet, in order that boats

-of 240 tons, with a capacity of 8,000 tons of wheat,

-could pass, the cost of construction being thus

-increased from $7,000,000 to $50,000,000. Then, in

-1882, all tolls were abolished, and the canal has

-since been maintained out of the State treasury.

-But how the traffic on the New York canals as

-a whole (including the Erie, the Oswego, the

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>Champlain, etc.) has declined, in competition with

-the railroads, is well shown by the following

-table:&mdash;<a name="FNanchor_10" id="FNanchor_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>

-

-<div class="center">

-<table class="bordered" border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" summary="New York freight">

-<tr><td class="tdc">Year.</td>

-    <td class="tdc">Total Traffic on New York Canals and Railroads.<br />Tons.</td>

-    <td class="tdc">Percentage on Canals only.<br />Per cent.</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bb0">1860</td>

-    <td class="tdc bb0">&nbsp;7,155,803</td>

-    <td class="tdc bb0">65</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">1870</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bb0">17,488,469</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bb0">35</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">1880</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bb0">29,943,633</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bb0">21</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">1890</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bb0">56,327,661</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bb0">9.3</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">1900</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bb0">84,942,988</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0 bb0">4.1</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">1903</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0">93,248,299</td>

-    <td class="tdc bt0">3.9</td></tr>

-</table></div>

-

-<p>The falling off in the canal traffic has been greatest

-in just those heavy or bulky commodities that are

-generally assumed to be specially adapted for conveyance

-by water. Of the flour and grain, for instance,

-received at New York, less than 10 per cent. in 1899,

-and less than 8 per cent. in 1900, came by the Erie

-Canal.</p>

-

-<p>The experiences of the New York canals have been

-fully shared by other canals in other States. Of the

-sum total of 5,000 miles of canals constructed, 2,000

-had been abandoned by 1890 on the ground that the

-traffic was insufficient to cover working expenses.

-Since then most of the remainder have shared the

-same fate, one of the last of the survivors, the

-Delaware and Hudson, being converted into a

-railway a year or two ago. In fact the only canals

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>in the United States to-day, besides those in the

-State of New York, whose business is sufficiently

-regular to warrant the inclusion of their traffic in the

-monthly reports of the Government are the Chesapeake

-and Delaware (connecting Chesapeake and

-Delaware Bays, and having an annual traffic of

-about 700,000 tons, largely lumber); and the

-Chesapeake and Ohio (from Cumberland to Georgetown,

-owned by the State of Maryland, and transporting

-coal almost exclusively, the amount depending

-on the state of congestion of traffic on the

-railroads).</p>

-

-<p>It is New York that has been most affected by

-this decline in American canals. When the railways

-began to compete severely with the Erie

-Canal, New York's previous supremacy over rival

-ports in the Eastern States was seriously threatened.

-Philadelphia and Baltimore, and various smaller ports

-also, started to make tremendous advance. Then the

-Gulf ports&mdash;notably New Orleans and Galveston&mdash;were

-able to capture a good deal of ocean traffic

-that might otherwise have passed through New

-York. Not only do the railway lines to those ports

-have the advantage of easy grades, so that exceptionally

-heavy train-loads can be handled with ease,

-and not only is there no fear of snow or ice blocks

-in winter, but the improvements effected in the ports

-themselves&mdash;as I had the opportunity of seeing and

-judging, in the winter of 1902-3, during a visit to

-the United States&mdash;have made these southern ports

-still more formidable competitors of New York.

-While, therefore, the trade of the United States has

-undergone great expansion of late years, that proportion

-of it which passes through the port of New

-York has seriously declined. "In less than ten

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>years," says a pamphlet on "The Canal System of

-New York State," issued by the Canal Improvement

-State Committee, City of New York,

-"Pennsylvania or some other State may be the

-Empire State, which title New York has held

-since the time of the Erie Canal."</p>

-

-<p>So a movement has been actively promoted in New

-York State for the resuscitation of the Erie and other

-canals there, with a view to assuring the continuance

-of New York's commercial supremacy, and giving

-her a better chance&mdash;if possible&mdash;of competing with

-rivals now flourishing at her expense. At first a

-ship canal between New York and Lake Erie was

-proposed; but this idea has been rejected as impracticable.

-Finally, the Legislature of the State of New

-York decided on spending $101,000,000 on enlarging

-the Erie and other canals in the State, so as to

-give them a depth of 12 feet, and allow of the

-passage of 1,000-ton barges, arrangements being

-also made for propulsion by electric or steam

-traction.</p>

-

-<p>In addition to this particular scheme, "there

-are," says Mr F. H. Dixon, Professor of Economics,

-Dartmouth College, in an address on "Competition

-between Water and Railway Transportation Lines in

-the United States," read by him before the St Louis

-Railway Club, and reported in the <cite>Engineering News</cite>

-(New York) of March 22, 1906, "many other proposals

-for canals in different sections of the country,

-extending all the way from projects that have some

-economic justification to the crazy and impracticable

-schemes of visionaries." But the general position in

-regard to canal resuscitation in the United States

-does not seem to be very hopeful, judging from a

-statement made by Mr Carnegie&mdash;once an advocate

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>of the proposed Pittsburg-Lake Erie Canal&mdash;before

-the Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce in 1898.</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"Such has been the progress of railway development,"

-he said, "that if we had a canal to-day from

-Lake Erie through the Ohio Valley to Beaver, free

-of toll, we could not afford to put boats on it. It is

-cheaper to-day to transfer the ore to 50-ton cars, and

-bring it to our works at Pittsburg over our railway,

-than it would be to bring it by canal."</p></div>

-

-<p>Turning from artificial to natural waterways in the

-United States, I find the story of the Mississippi no

-less instructive.</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a id="i_110fp"></a>

-<img src="images/i_110fp.jpg" width="600" height="345" alt="A CARGO BOAT ON THE MISSISSIPPI" />

-<div class="caption">

-    <p class="center">A CARGO BOAT ON THE MISSISSIPPI.</p>

-    <p class="right">[<i>To face page</i> 110.</p>

-</div></div>

-

-<p>This magnificent stream has, in itself, a length of

-2,485 miles. But the Missouri is really only an

-upper prolongation of the same river under another

-name, and the total length of the two, from mouth

-to source, is 4,190 miles, of which the greater distance

-is navigable. The Mississippi and its various tributaries

-drain, altogether, an area of 1,240,000 square

-miles, or nearly one-third of the territory of the

-United States. If any great river in the world had

-a chance at all of holding its own against the railroads

-as a highway of traffic it should, surely, be the

-Mississippi, to which British theorists ought to be

-able to point as a powerful argument in support of

-their general proposition concerning the advantages

-of water over rail-transport. But the actual facts all

-point in the other direction.</p>

-

-<p>The earliest conditions of navigation on the

-Mississippi are well shown in the following extract

-from an article published in the <cite>Quarterly Review</cite> of

-March 1830, under the heading, "Railroads and

-Locomotive Steam-carriages":&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"As an example of the difficulties of internal

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>navigation, it may be mentioned that on the great river

-Mississippi, which flows at the rate of 5 or 6 miles

-an hour, it was the practice of a certain class of boatmen,

-who brought down the produce of the interior

-to New Orleans, to break up their boats, sell the

-timber, and afterwards return home slowly by land;

-and a voyage up the river from New Orleans to

-Pittsburg, a distance of about 2,000 miles, could

-hardly be accomplished, with the most laborious

-efforts, within a period of four months. But the

-uncertain and limited influence, both of the wind

-and the tide, is now superseded by a new agent,

-which in power far surpassing the raging torrent,

-is yet perfectly manageable, and acts with equal

-efficacy in any direction.... Steamboats of every

-description, and on the most approved models, ply

-on all the great rivers of the United States; the

-voyage from New Orleans to Pittsburg, which

-formerly occupied four months, is accomplished with

-ease in fifteen or twenty days, and at the rate of not

-less than 5 miles an hour."</p></div>

-

-<p>Since this article in the <cite>Quarterly Review</cite> was

-published, enormous sums of money have been

-spent on the Mississippi&mdash;partly with a view to the

-prevention of floods, but partly, also, to improve the

-river for the purposes of navigation. Placed in

-charge of a Mississippi Commission and of the Chief

-of Engineers in the United States Army, the river

-has been systematically surveyed; special studies

-and reports have been drawn up on every possible

-aspect of its normal or abnormal conditions and

-circumstances; the largest river dredges in the world

-have been employed to ensure an adequate depth of

-the river bed; engineering works in general on the

-most complete scale have been carried out&mdash;in fact,

-nothing that science, skill, or money could accomplish

-has been left undone.</p>

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p>

-<p>The difficulties were certainly considerable. There

-has always been a tendency for the river bed to get

-choked up by the sediment the stream failed to carry

-on; the banks are weak; while the variation in water

-level is sometimes as much as 10 feet in a single

-month. None the less, the Mississippi played for a

-time as important a rôle in the west and the south as

-the Erie Canal played in the north. Steamboats on

-the western rivers increased in number from 20, in

-1818, to 1,200, in 1848, and there was a like development

-in flat boat tonnage. With the expansion of

-the river traffic came a growth of large cities and

-towns alongside. Louisville increased in population

-from 4,000, in 1820, to 43,000, in 1850, and St Louis

-from 4,900 to 77,000 in the same period.</p>

-

-<p>With the arrival of the railroads began the decline

-of the river, though some years were to elapse before

-the decline was seriously felt. It was the absolute

-perfection of the railway system that eventually made

-its competition irresistible. The lines paralleled the

-river; they had, as I have said, easy grades; they

-responded to that consideration in regard to speedy

-delivery of consignments which is as pronounced in

-the United States as it is in Great Britain; they were

-as free from stoppages due to variations in water level

-as they were from stoppages on account of ice or

-snow; and they could be provided with branch lines

-as "feeders," going far inland, so that the trader did

-not have either to build his factory on the river bank

-or to pay cost of cartage between factory and river.

-The railway companies, again, were able to provide

-much more efficient terminal facilities, especially in

-the erection of large wharves, piers, and depôts which

-allow of the railway waggons coming right alongside

-the steamers. At Galveston I saw cargo being

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>discharged from the ocean-going steamers by being

-placed on trucks which were raised from the vessel by

-endless moving-platforms to the level of the goods

-station, where stood, along parallel series of lines,

-the railway waggons which would take them direct

-to Chicago, San Francisco, or elsewhere. With

-facilities such as these no inland waterway can

-possibly compete. The railways, again, were able,

-in competition with the river, to reduce their charges

-to "what the traffic would bear," depending on a

-higher proportion of profit elsewhere. The steamboats

-could adopt no such policy as this, and the traders

-found that, by the time they had paid, not only the

-charges for actual river transport, but insurance and

-extra cartage, as well, they had paid as much as

-transport by rail would have cost, while getting a

-much slower and more inconvenient service.</p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a id="i_114fpa"></a>

-<img src="images/i_114fpa.jpg" width="600" height="304" alt="SUCCESSFUL RIVALS OF MISSISSIPPI CARGO BOATS 1." />

-</div>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a id="i_114fpb"></a>

-<img src="images/i_114fpb.jpg" width="600" height="320" alt="SUCCESSFUL RIVALS OF MISSISSIPPI CARGO BOATS 2." />

-<div class="caption">

-    <p class="center">SUCCESSFUL RIVALS OF MISSISSIPPI CARGO BOATS.</p>

-

-    <p>(1) Illinois Central Freight Train; 43 cars; 2,100 tons.</p>

-

-    <p>(2) &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Banana Express, New Orleans to Chicago; 34 cars; 433 tons of bananas.</p>

-

-    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 114.</i></p>

-</div></div>

-

-<p>The final outcome of all these conditions is indicated

-by some remarks made by Mr Stuyvesant Fish,

-President of the Illinois Central Railroad Company

-(the chief railway competitors of the Mississippi

-steamboats), in the address he delivered as President

-of the Seventh Session of the International Railway

-Congress at Washington, in May 1905:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"It is within my knowledge that twenty years ago

-there were annually carried by steamboats from

-Memphis to New Orleans over 100,000 bales of cotton,

-and that in almost every year since the railroads

-between Memphis and New Orleans passed under

-one management, not a single bale has been carried

-down the Mississippi River from Memphis by boat,

-and in no one year have 500 bales been thus carried;

-the reason being that, including the charges for

-marine and fire insurance, the rates by water are

-higher than by rail."</p></div>

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p>

-<p>To this statement Mr Fish added some figures

-which may be tabulated as follows:&mdash;</p>

-

-<p class="center">TONNAGE OF FREIGHT RECEIVED AT OR

-DESPATCHED FROM NEW ORLEANS.</p>

-

-<div class="center">

-<table class="bordered" border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" summary="New Orleans freight">

-<tr><td class="tdc">&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdc">1890</td>

-    <td class="tdc">1900</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdc bb0">By the Mississippi River (all sources)</td>

-    <td class="tdr bb0">2,306,290&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr bb0">450,498&nbsp;&nbsp;</td></tr>

-<tr><td class="tdc bt0">By rail</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0">3,557,742&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>

-    <td class="tdr bt0">6,852,064&nbsp;&nbsp;</td></tr>

-</table></div>

-

-<p>

-Decline of river traffic in ten years &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;1,855,792 tons<br />

-Increase of rail&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; "&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;"&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;         3,294,322&nbsp;&nbsp;"<br />

-</p>

-

-<p>These figures bear striking testimony to the results

-that may be brought about in a country where railways

-are allowed a fair chance of competing with even the

-greatest of natural waterways&mdash;a chance, as I have

-said, denied them in Germany and France. Looking,

-too, at these figures, I understand better the significance

-of what I saw at Memphis, where a solitary

-Mississippi steamboat&mdash;one of the survivals of those

-huge floating warehouses now mostly rusting out

-their existence at New Orleans&mdash;was having her cargo

-discharged on the river banks by a few negroes, while

-the powerful locomotives of the Illinois Central were

-rushing along on the adjoining railway with the

-biggest train-loads it was possible for them to haul.</p>

-

-<p>On the general position in the United States I

-might quote the following from a communication

-with which I have been favoured by Mr Luis

-Jackson, an Englishman by birth, who, after an

-early training on British railways, went to the

-United States, created there the rôle of "industrial

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>commissioner" in connection with American railways,

-and now fills that position on the Erie Railroad:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"When I was in the West the question of water

-transportation down the Mississippi was frequently

-remarked upon. The Mississippi is navigable from

-St Paul to New Orleans. In the early days the towns

-along the Mississippi, especially those from St Paul

-to St Louis, depended upon, and had their growth

-through, the river traffic. It was a common remark

-among our railroad people that 'we could lick the

-river.' The traffic down the Mississippi, especially

-from St Paul to St Louis (I can only speak of the

-territory with which I am well acquainted) perceptibly

-declined in competition with the railroads, and the

-river towns have been revived by, and now depend

-more for their growth on, the railroads than on the

-river.... Figures do not prove anything. If the Erie

-Canal and the Mississippi River traffic had increased,

-doubled, trebled, or quadrupled in the past years,

-instead of actually dwindling by tonnage figures, it

-would prove nothing as against the tremendous

-tonnage hauled by the trunk line railroads. The

-Erie Railroad Company, New York to Chicago,

-last year carried 32,000,000 tons of revenue freights.

-It would take a pretty good canal to handle that

-amount of traffic; and the Erie is only one of

-many lines between New York and Chicago.</p>

-

-<p>"A canal, paralleling great railroads, to some extent

-injures them on through traffic. The tendency of all

-railroads is in the line of progress. As the tonnage

-increases the equipment becomes larger, and the

-general tendency of railroad rates is downwards; in

-other words, the public in the end gets from the

-railroad all that can be expected from a canal, and

-much more. The railroad can expand right and left,

-and reach industries by side tracks; with canals every

-manufacturer must locate on the banks of the canal.

-Canals for internal commerce, in my mind, are out

-of date; they belong to the 'slow.' Nor do I believe

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>that the traffic management of canals by the State has

-the same conception of traffic measures which is

-adopted by the modern managers of railroads.</p>

-

-<p>"Canals affect rates on heavy commodities, and

-play a part mostly injurious, to my mind, to the

-proper development of railroads, especially on the

-Continent of Europe. They may do local business,

-but the railroad is the real handmaid of commerce."</p></div>

-

-<p>By way of concluding this brief sketch of American

-conditions, I cannot do better than adopt the final

-sentences in Professor Dixon's paper at the St Louis

-Railway Club to which I have already referred:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"Two considerations should, above all others, be

-kept in mind in determination of the feasibility of

-any project: first, the very positive limitations to

-the efficiency of rivers and canals as transportation

-agencies because of their lack of flexibility and the

-natural disabilities under which they suffer; and

-secondly, that water transportation is not necessarily

-cheap simply because the Government constructs and

-maintains the channels. Nothing could be more

-delusive than the assertion so frequently made, which

-is found in the opening pages of the report of the

-New York Committee on Canals of 1899, that water

-transportation is inherently cheaper than rail transportation.

-Such an assertion is true only of ocean

-transportation, and possibly also of large bodies of

-water like the lakes, although this last is doubtful.</p>

-

-<p>"By all means let us have our waterways developed

-when such development is economically justifiable.

-What is justifiable must be a matter of judgment, and

-possibly to some extent of experimentation, but the

-burden of proof rests on its advocates. Such projects

-should be carried out by the localities interested and

-the burden should be borne by those who are to

-derive the benefit. Only in large undertakings of

-national concern should the General Government be

-called upon for aid.</p>

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p>

-<p>"But I protest most vigorously against the deluge

-of schemes poured in upon Congress at every session

-by reckless advocates who, disregarding altogether

-the cost of their crazy measures in the increased

-burden of general taxation, argue for the inherent

-cheapness of water transportation, and urge the construction

-at public expense of works whose traffic

-will never cover the cost of maintenance."</p></div>

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter"></div>

-

-

-<h2 title="IX. ENGLISH CONDITIONS">CHAPTER IX<br />

-

-<small>ENGLISH CONDITIONS</small></h2>

-

-

-<p>I have already spoken in Chapter VII. of some of

-the chief differences between Continental and English

-conditions, but I revert to the latter because it is

-essential that, before approving of any scheme of

-canal restoration here, the British public should

-thoroughly understand the nature of the task that

-would thus be undertaken.</p>

-

-<p>The sections of actual canal routes, given opposite

-page <a href="#i_098fp">98</a>, will convey some idea of the difficulties

-which faced the original builders of our artificial

-waterways. The wonder is that, since water has not

-yet been induced to flow up-hill, canals were ever

-constructed over such surfaces at all. Most probably

-the majority of them would not have been attempted

-if railways had come into vogue half a century earlier

-than they did. Looking at these diagrams, one can

-imagine how the locomotive&mdash;which does not disdain

-hill-climbing, and can easily be provided with

-cuttings, bridges, viaducts, and tunnels&mdash;could

-follow the canal; but one can hardly imagine that

-in England, at least, the canal would have followed

-the railway.</p>

-

-<p>The whole proposition in regard to canal revival

-would be changed if only the surfaces in Great

-Britain were the same as they are, say, between

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>Hamburg and Berlin, where in 230 miles of waterway

-there are only three locks. In this country there is

-an average of one lock for every 1&frac14; mile of navigation.

-The sum total of the locks on British canals is

-2,377, each representing, on an average, a capitalised

-cost of £1,360. Instead of a "great central plain,"

-as on the Continent of Europe, we have a "great

-central ridge," extending the greater length of

-England. In the 16 miles between Worcester and

-Tardebigge on the Worcester and Birmingham

-Canal, there are fifty-eight locks to be passed

-through by a canal boat going from the Severn

-to Birmingham. At Tardebigge there is a difference

-in level of about 250 feet in 3 miles or so. This

-is overcome by a "flight" of thirty locks, which a

-25-ton boat may hope to get through in four hours.

-Between Huddersfield and Ashton, on the Huddersfield

-Narrow Canal, there are seventy-four locks

-in 20 miles; between Manchester and Sowerby

-Bridge, on the Rochdale Canal, there are ninety-two

-locks in 32 miles, to enable the boats to pass over

-an elevation 600 feet above sea level; and at Bingley,

-on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, five "staircase"

-locks give a total lift of 59 feet 2 inches.</p>

-

-<p>Between London and Liverpool there are three

-canal routes, each passing through either ten or

-eleven separate navigations, and covering distances

-of from 244 to 267 miles. By one of these routes

-a boat has to pass through such series of locks as

-ninety in 100 miles on the Grand Junction Canal,

-between Paddington and Braunston; forty-three in

-17 miles on the Birmingham Canal, between

-Birmingham and Aldersley; and forty-six in 66

-miles on the Shropshire Union Canal, between

-Autherley and Ellesmere Port. Proceeding by an

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>alternative route, the boat would pass through fifty-nine

-locks in 67 miles on the Trent and Mersey;

-while a third route would give two hundred and

-eighty-two locks in a total of 267 miles. The number

-of separate navigations is ten by Routes I. and II.,

-and eleven by Route III.</p>

-

-<p>Between London and Hull there are two routes,

-one 282 miles with one hundred and sixty-four locks,

-and the other 305 miles with one hundred and forty-eight

-locks. On the journey from London to the

-Severn, a boat would pass through one hundred and

-thirty locks in 177 miles in going to the Avonmouth

-Docks (this total including one hundred and six

-locks in 86 miles between Reading and Hanham,

-on the Kennet and Avon Canal); and either one

-hundred and two locks in 191 miles, or two hundred

-and thirty in 219 miles, if the destination were

-Sharpness Docks. Between Liverpool and Hull

-there are one hundred and four locks in 187 miles

-by one route; one hundred and forty-nine in 159

-miles by a second route; and one hundred and fifty-two

-in 149 miles by a third. In the case of a canal

-boat despatched from Birmingham, the position

-would be&mdash;to London, one hundred and fifty-five

-locks in 147 miles; to Liverpool (1) ninety-nine locks

-in 114 miles, (2) sixty-nine locks in 94 miles; to

-Hull, sixty-six locks in 164 miles; to the Severn,

-Sharpness Docks (1) sixty-one locks in 75 miles,

-(2) forty-nine locks in 89 miles.</p>

-

-<p>Early in 1906 a correspondent of <cite>The Standard</cite>

-made an experimental canal journey from the Thames,

-at Brentford, to Birmingham, to test the qualities of

-a certain "suction-producer gas motor barge." The

-barge itself stood the test so well that the correspondent

-was able to declare:&mdash;"In the new power

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>may be found a solution of the problem of canal

-traction." He arrived at this conclusion notwithstanding

-the fact that the motor barge was stopped

-at one of the locks by a drowned cat being caught

-between the barge and the incoming "butty" boat.

-The journey from London to Birmingham occupied,

-"roughly," six and a half days&mdash;a journey, that is,

-which London and North-Western express trains

-accomplish regularly in two hours. The 22&frac12; miles

-of the Warwick and Birmingham Canal, which has

-thirty-four locks, alone took ten hours and a half.

-From Birmingham the correspondent made other

-journeys in the same barge, covering, altogether,

-370 miles. In that distance he passed through three

-hundred and twenty-seven locks, various summits

-"several hundred feet" in height being crossed by

-this means.</p>

-

-<p>At Anderton, on the Trent and Mersey Canal,

-there is a vertical hydraulic lift which raises or lowers

-two narrow boats 50 feet to enable them to pass

-between the canal and the River Mersey, the operation

-being done by means of troughs 75 feet by 14&frac12; feet.

-Inclined planes have also been made use of to avoid

-a multiplicity of locks. It is assumed that in the

-event of any general scheme of resuscitation being

-undertaken, the present flights of locks would, in

-many instances, be done away with, hydraulic lifts

-being substituted for them. Where this could be

-done it would certainly effect a saving in time, though

-the provision of a lift between series of locks would

-not save water, as this would still be required for the

-lock below. Hydraulic lifts, however, could not be

-used in mining districts, such as the Black Country,

-on account of possible subsidences. Where that

-drawback did not occur there would still be the

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>question of expense. The cost of construction of

-the Anderton lift was £50,000, and the cost of

-maintenance is £500 a year. Would the traffic on

-a particular route be always equal to the outlay?

-In regard to inclined planes, it was proposed some

-eight or ten years ago to construct one on the

-Birmingham Canal in order to do away with a series

-of locks at a certain point and save one hour on the

-through journey. Plans were prepared, and a Bill

-was deposited in Parliament; but just at that time

-a Board of Trade enquiry into canal tolls and charges

-led to such reductions being enforced that there no

-longer appeared to be any security for a return on the

-proposed expenditure, and the Bill was withdrawn.</p>

-

-<p>In many instances the difference in level has

-been overcome by the construction of tunnels. There

-are in England and Wales no fewer than forty-five

-canal tunnels each upwards of 100 yards in length,

-and of these twelve are over 2,000 yards in length,

-namely, Standidge Tunnel, on the Huddersfield

-Narrow Canal, 5,456 yards; Sapperton, Thames and

-Severn, 3,808; Lappal, Birmingham Canal navigations,

-3,785; Dudley, Birmingham Canal, 3,672;

-Norwood, Chesterfield Canal, 3,102; Butterley,

-Cromford, 3,063; Blisworth, Grand Junction, 3,056;

-Netherton, Birmingham Canal, 3,027; Harecastle

-(new), Trent and Mersey, 2,926; Harecastle (old),

-Trent and Mersey, 2,897; West Hill, Worcester

-and Birmingham, 2,750; and Braunston, Grand

-Junction, 2,042.</p>

-

-<p>The earliest of these tunnels were made so narrow

-(in the interests of economy) that no space was left

-for a towing path alongside, and the boats were

-passed through by the boatmen either pushing a pole

-or shaft against the roof or sides, and then walking

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>from forward to aft of the boat, or else by the

-"legging" process in which they lay flat on their

-backs in the boat, and pushed with their feet against

-the sides of the tunnel. At one time even women

-engaged in work of this kind. Later tunnels were

-provided with towing paths, while in some of them

-steam tugs have been substituted for shafting and

-legging.</p>

-

-<p>Resort has also been had to aqueducts, and these

-represent some of the best work that British canal

-engineers have done. The first in England was

-the one built at Barton by James Brindley to carry

-the Bridgewater Canal over the Irwell. It was

-superseded by a swing aqueduct in 1893, to meet

-the requirements of the Manchester Ship Canal.

-But the finest examples are those presented by the

-aqueducts of Chirk and Pontcysyllte on the Ellesmere

-Canal in North Wales, now forming part of

-the Shropshire Union Canal. Each was the work of

-Telford, and the two have been aptly described as

-"among the boldest efforts of human invention

-of modern times." The Chirk aqueduct (710 feet

-long) carries the canal over the River Ceriog. It

-was completed in 1801 and cost £20,898. The

-Pontcysyllte aqueduct, of which a photograph is

-given as a frontispiece, carries the canal in a cast-iron

-trough a distance of 1,007 feet across the valley

-of the River Dee. It was opened for traffic in 1803,

-and involved an outlay of £47,000. Another canal

-aqueduct worthy of mention is that which was constructed

-by Rennie in 1796, at a cost of £48,000,

-to carry the Lancaster Canal over the River Lune.</p>

-

-<p>These facts must surely convince everyone who

-is in any way open to conviction of the enormous

-difference between canal construction as carried on

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>in bygone days in Great Britain&mdash;involving as it

-did all these costly, elaborate, and even formidable

-engineering works&mdash;and the building of canals, or the

-canalisation of rivers, on the flat surfaces of Holland,

-Belgium, and Northern Germany. Reviewing&mdash;even

-thus inadequately&mdash;the work that had been already

-done, one ceases to wonder that, when the railways

-began to establish themselves in this country, the

-canal companies of that day regarded with despair

-the idea of practically doing the greater part of

-their work over again, in order to carry on an

-apparently hopeless struggle with a powerful competitor

-who had evidently come not only to stay

-but to win. It is not surprising, after all, that many

-of them thought it better to exploit the enemy by

-inducing or forcing him to buy them out!</p>

-

-<p>The average reader who may not hitherto have

-studied the question so completely as I am here

-seeking to do, will also begin by this time to

-understand what the resuscitation of the British

-canal system might involve in the way of expense.

-The initial purchase&mdash;presumably on fair and equitable

-terms&mdash;would in itself cost much more

-than is supposed even by the average expert.</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"Assuming," says one authority, Mr Thwaite,

-"that 3,500 miles of the canal system were purchasable

-at two-thirds of their original cost of construction,

-say £2,350 per mile of length, then the

-capital required would be £8,225,000."</p></div>

-

-<p>This looks very simple. But is the original cost

-of construction of canals passing through tunnels,

-over viaducts, and up and down elevations of from

-400 to 600 feet, calculated here on the same basis

-as canals on the flat-lands? Is allowance made for

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>costly pumping apparatus&mdash;such as that provided

-for the Birmingham Canal&mdash;for the docks and

-warehouses recently constructed at Ellesmere Port,

-and for other capital expenditure for improvements,

-or are these omitted from the calculation of so

-much "per mile of length"? Items of this kind

-might swell even "cost of construction" to larger

-proportions than those assumed by Mr Thwaite.

-That gentleman, also, evidently leaves out of account

-the very substantial sums paid by the present owners

-or controllers of canals for the mining rights underneath

-the waterways in districts such as Staffordshire

-or Lancashire.</p>

-

-<p>This last-mentioned point is one of considerable

-importance, though very few people seem to know

-that it enters into the canal question at all. When

-canals were originally constructed it was assumed

-that the companies were entitled to the land they had

-bought from the surface to the centre of the earth.

-But the law decided they could claim little more than

-a right of way, and that the original landowners might

-still work the minerals underneath. This was done,

-with the result that there were serious subsidences

-of the canals, involving both much loss of water

-and heavy expenditure in repairs. The stability of

-railways was also affected, but the position of the

-canals was much worse on account of the water.</p>

-

-<p>To maintain the efficiency of the canals (and of

-railways in addition) those responsible for them&mdash;whether

-independent companies or railway companies&mdash;have

-had to spend enormous sums of money in the

-said mining districts on buying up the right to work

-the minerals underneath. In some instances the

-landowner has given notice of his intention to work

-the minerals himself, and, although he may in reality

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>have had no such intention, the canal company or

-the railway company have been compelled to come

-to terms with him, to prevent the possibility of the

-damage that might otherwise be done to the waterway.

-The very heavy expenditure thus incurred

-would hardly count as "cost of construction," and

-it would represent money sunk with no prospect of

-return. Yet, if the State takes over the canals, it will

-be absolutely bound to reckon with these mineral

-rights as well&mdash;if it wants to keep the canals intact

-after improving them&mdash;and, in so doing, it must

-allow for a considerably larger sum for initial outlay

-than is generally assumed.</p>

-

-<p>But the actual purchase of canals <em>and</em> mineral rights

-would be only the beginning of the trouble. There

-would come next the question of increasing the

-capacity of the canals by widening, and what this

-might involve I have already shown. Then there are

-the innumerable locks by which the great differences

-in level are overcome. A large proportion of these

-would have to be reconstructed (unless lifts or inclined

-planes were provided instead) to admit either the

-larger type of boat of which one hears so much, or,

-alternatively, two or four of the existing narrow

-boats. Assuming this to be done, then, when a single

-narrow boat came up to each lock in the course of

-the journey it was making, either it would have to

-wait until one or three others arrived, or, alternatively,

-the water in a large capacity lock would be

-used for the passage of one small boat. The adoption

-of the former course would involve delay; and either

-would necessitate the provision of a much larger

-water supply, together with, for the highest levels,

-still more costly pumping machinery.</p>

-

-<p>The water problem would, indeed, speedily become

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>one of the most serious in the whole situation&mdash;and

-that, too, not alone in regard to the extremely scanty

-supplies in the high levels. The whole question has

-been complicated, since canals were first built, by

-the growing needs of the community, towns large

-and small having tapped sources of water supply

-which otherwise might have been available for the

-canals.</p>

-

-<p>Even as these lines are being written, I see from

-<cite>The Times</cite> of March 17, 1906, that, because the

-London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company

-are sinking a well on land of their own adjoining

-the railway near the Carshalton springs of the River

-Wandle, with a view to getting water for use in their

-Victoria Station in London, all the public authorities

-in that part of Surrey, together with the mill-owners

-and others interested in the River Wandle, are

-petitioning Parliament in support of a Bill to restrain

-them, although it is admitted that "the railway

-company do not appear to be exceeding their legal

-rights." This does not look as if there were too

-much water to spare for canal purposes in Great

-Britain; and yet so level-headed a journal as <cite>The

-Economist</cite>, in its issue of March 3, 1906, gravely

-tells us, in an article on "The New Canal Commission,"

-that "the experience of Canada is worth

-studying." What possible comparison can there be,

-in regard to canals, between a land of lakes and

-great rivers and a country where a railway company

-may not even sink a well on their own property

-without causing all the local authorities in the

-neighbourhood to take alarm, and petition Parliament

-to stop them!<a name="FNanchor_11" id="FNanchor_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>

-

-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a id="i_128fp"></a>

-<img src="images/i_128fp.jpg" width="600" height="333" alt="WATER SUPPLY FOR CANALS." />

-<div class="caption">

-    <p class="center">WATER SUPPLY FOR CANALS.</p>

-

-    <p class="center">(Belvide Reservoir, Staffordshire, Shropshire Union Canal.)</p>

-

-    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 128.</i></p>

-</div></div>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p>

-<p>On this question of water supply, I may add,

-Mr John Glass, manager of the Regents Canal,

-said at the meeting of the Institution of Civil

-Engineers in November 1905:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"In his opinion Mr Saner had treated the water

-question, upon which the whole matter depended,

-in too airy a manner. Considering, for instance,

-the route to Birmingham, it would be seen that to

-reach Birmingham the waterway was carried over

-one summit of 400 feet, and another of 380 feet,

-descended 200 feet, and eventually arrived at

-Birmingham, which was about 350 feet above sea

-level. The proposed standard lock, with a small

-allowance for the usual leakage in filling, would consume

-about 50,000 cubic feet of water, and the two

-large crafts which Mr Saner proposed to accommodate

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>in the lock<a name="FNanchor_12" id="FNanchor_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> would carry together, he calculated,

-about 500 tons. Supposing it were possible to

-regulate the supply and demand so as to spread

-that traffic economically over the year, and to permit

-of twenty-five pairs of boats passing from Birmingham

-to the Thames, or in the opposite direction, on 300

-days in the year, the empty boats going into the

-same locks as the laden boats, it would be necessary

-to provide 1,250,000 cubic feet of water daily, at

-altitudes of 300 to 400 feet; and in addition it would

-be necessary to have water-storage for at least 120

-days in the year, which would amount to about

-150,000,000 cubic feet. When it was remembered

-that the districts in which the summit-levels referred to

-were situated were ill-supplied with water, he thought

-it was quite impossible that anything like that quantity

-of water could be obtained for the purpose. Canal-managers

-found that the insufficiency of water in all

-districts supplied by canals increased every year,

-and the difficulty of acquiring proper water-storage

-became enhanced."</p></div>

-

-<p>Not only the ordinary waterway and the locks,

-but the tunnels and viaducts, also, might require

-widening. Then the adoption of some system of

-mechanical haulage is spoken of as indispensable.

-But a resort to tugs, however propelled, is in no way

-encouraged by the experiments made on the Shropshire

-Union, as told on p. 50. An overhead electrical

-installation, with power houses and electric lighting,

-so that navigation could go on at night, would be

-an especially costly undertaking. But the increased

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>speed which it is hoped to gain from mechanical

-haulage on the level would also necessitate a general

-strengthening of the canal banks to avoid damage

-by the wash, and even then the possible speed would

-be limited by the breadth of the waterway. On this

-particular point I cannot do better than quote the

-following from an article on "Canals and Waterways"

-published in <cite>The Field</cite> of March 10, 1906:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"Among the arguments in favour of revival has

-been that of anticipated rapid steam traffic on such

-re-opened waterways. Any one who understands

-the elementary principles of building and propulsion

-of boats will realise that volume of water of itself

-fixes limits for speed of vessels in it. Any vessel of

-certain given proportions has its limit of speed (no

-matter what horse-power may be employed to move

-it) according to the relative limit (if any) of the

-volume of water in which it floats. Our canals are

-built to allow easy passage of the normal canal

-barge at an average of 3 to 3&frac12; miles an hour. A

-barge velocity of even 5 miles, still more of 6 or 7,

-would tend to wash banks, and so to wreck (to public

-danger) embankments where canals are carried higher

-than surrounding land. A canal does not lie in a

-valley from end to end like a river. It would require

-greater horse-power to tow one loaded barge 6 miles

-an hour on normal canal water than to tow a string

-of three or even four such craft hawsered 50 or more

-feet apart at the pace of 3&frac12; miles. The reason would

-be that the channel is not large enough to allow the

-wave of displacement forward to find its way aft past

-the advancing vessel, so as to maintain an approximate

-level of water astern to that ahead, unless either

-the channel is more than doubled or else the speed

-limited to something less than 4 miles. It therefore

-comes to this, that increased speed on our canals, to

-any tangible extent, does not seem to be attainable,

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>even if all barges shall be screw steamers, unless

-the entire channel can be reconstructed to far greater

-depth and also width."</p></div>

-

-<p>What the actual cost of reconstruction would be&mdash;as

-distinct from cost of purchase&mdash;I will not

-myself undertake to estimate; and merely general

-statements, based on the most favourable sections

-of the canals, may be altogether misleading. Thus,

-a writer in the <cite>Daily Chronicle</cite> of March 21, 1906,

-who has contributed to that journal a series of

-articles on the canal question, "from an expert

-point of view," says:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"If the Aire and Calder navigation, which is much

-improved in recent years, be taken as a model, it has

-been calculated that £1,000,000 per 100 miles would

-fit the trunk system for traffic such as is dealt with

-on the Yorkshire navigation."</p></div>

-

-<p>How can the Aire and Calder possibly be taken

-as a model&mdash;from the point of view of calculating

-cost of improvements or reconstruction? Let the

-reader turn once more to the diagrams given

-opposite p. 98. He will see that the Aire and

-Calder is constructed on land that is almost flat,

-whereas the Rochdale section on the same trunk

-route between the Mersey and the Humber reaches

-an elevation of 600 feet. How can any just comparison

-be made between these two waterways? If

-the cost of "improving" a canal of the "model"

-type of the Aire and Calder be put at the rate of

-£1,000,000 per 100 miles, what would it come to

-in the case of the Rochdale Canal, the Tardebigge

-section of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, or

-the series of independent canals between Birmingham

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>and London? That is a practical question which I

-will leave&mdash;to the experts!</p>

-

-<p>Supposing, however, that the canals have been

-purchased, taken possession of, and duly improved

-(whatever the precise cost) by State, municipalities,

-or public trust, as the case may be. There will

-then be the almost exact equivalent of a house

-without furniture, or a factory without machinery.

-Before even the restored canals could be adapted

-to the requirements of trade and commerce there

-would have to be a very considerable expenditure,

-also, on warehouses, docks, appliances, and other

-indispensable adjuncts to mere haulage.</p>

-

-<p>After all the money that has been spent on the

-Manchester Ship Canal it is still found necessary

-to lay out a great deal more on warehouses which

-are absolutely essential to the full and complete

-development of the enterprise. The same principle

-would apply to any scheme of revived inland navigation.

-The goods depôts constructed by railway

-companies in all large towns and industrial centres

-have alone sufficed to bring about a complete

-revolution in trade and commerce since the days

-when canals were prosperous. There are many

-thousands of traders to-day who not only order

-comparatively small quantities of supplies at a

-time from the manufacturer, but leave even these

-quantities to be stored locally by the railway

-company, having delivered to them from day to

-day, or week by week, just as much as they can

-do with. A certain "free" period is allowed for

-warehousing, and, if they remove the goods during

-that period, they pay nothing to the railway

-company beyond the railway rate. After the free

-period a small "rent" is charged&mdash;a rent which,

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>while representing no adequate return to the railway

-company for the heavy capital outlay in

-providing the depôts, is much less than it would

-cost the trader if he had to build store-rooms for

-himself, or pay for accommodation elsewhere. Other

-traders, as mentioned in the chapter on "The

-Transition in Trade," send goods to the railway

-warehouses as soon as they are ready, to wait there

-until an order is completed, and the whole consignment

-can be despatched; while others again, agents

-and commission men, carry on a considerable business

-from a small office, leaving all the handling of the

-commodities in which they deal to be done by the

-railway companies. In fact, the situation might be

-summed up by saying that, under the trading conditions

-of to-day, railway companies are not only

-common carriers, but general warehousemen in

-addition.</p>

-

-<p>If inland canals are to take over any part of the

-transport at present conducted by the railways,

-they will have to provide the traders with like

-facilities. So, in addition to buying up and reconstructing

-the canals; in addition to widenings, and

-alterations of the gradients of roads and railways

-passed under; and in addition to the maintenance

-of towing paths, locks, bridges, tunnels, aqueducts,

-culverts, weirs, sluices, cranes, wharves, docks,

-and quay walls, reservoirs, pumping machinery,

-and so on, there would still be all the subsidiary

-considerations in regard to warehousing, etc., which

-would arise when it became a question with the

-trader whether or not he should avail himself of

-the improved water transport thus placed at his

-disposal.</p>

-

-<p>For the purposes of reasonable argument I will

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>assume that no really sensible person, knowing anything

-at all of actual facts and conditions, would

-attempt to revive the entire canal system of the

-country.<a name="FNanchor_13" id="FNanchor_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> I have shown on p. 19, that even in the

-year 1825 it was recognised that some of the canals

-had been built by speculators simply as a means of

-abstracting money from the pockets of foolish

-investors, victims of the "canal mania," and that

-no useful purpose could be served by them even at

-a time when there were no competing railways. Yet

-to-day sentimental individuals who, in wandering

-about the country, come across some of these

-absolutely useless, though still, perhaps, picturesque

-survivals, write off to the newspapers to lament

-over "our neglected waterways," to cast the

-customary reflections on the railway companies,

-and to join their voice to the demand for immediate

-nationalisation or municipalisation, according to

-their individual leanings, and regardless of all considerations

-of cost or practicability.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>Derelicts of the type here referred to are not

-worth considering at all. It is a pity they were not

-drained and filled in long ago, and given, as it

-were, a decent burial, if only out of consideration

-for the feelings of sentimentalists. Much more

-deserving of study are those particular systems

-which either still carry a certain amount of traffic,

-or are situated on routes along which traffic might

-be reasonably expected to flow. But, taking even

-canals of this type, the reader must see from the

-considerations I have already presented that resuscitation

-would be a very costly business indeed.

-Estimates of which I have read in print range from

-£20,000,000 to £50,000,000; but even these omit

-various important items (mining rights, etc.),

-which would certainly have to be added, while

-the probability is that, however high the original

-estimate in regard to work of this kind, a good

-deal more would have to be expended before it was

-finished.</p>

-

-<p>The remarks I have here made are based on the

-supposition that all that is aimed at is such an

-improvement as would allow of the use of a larger

-type of canal boat than that now in vogue. But,

-obviously, the expenditure would be still heavier

-if there were any idea of adapting the canals to the

-use of barges similar in size to those employed on

-the waterways of Germany, or craft which, starting

-from an inland manufacturing town in the Midlands,

-could go on a coasting trip, or make a journey

-across to the Continent. Here the capital expenditure

-would be so great that the cost would

-be absolutely prohibitive.</p>

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p>

-<p>Whatever the precise number of millions the

-resuscitation scheme might cost, the inevitable

-question would present itself&mdash;How is the money

-to be raised?</p>

-

-<p>The answer thereto would be very simple if the

-entire expense were borne by the country&mdash;that is to

-say, thrown upon the taxpayers or ratepayers. The

-problem would then be solved at once. The great

-drawback to this solution is that most of the said

-taxpayers or ratepayers would probably object.

-Besides, there is the matter of detail I mentioned

-in the first Chapter: if the State or the municipalities

-buy up the canals on fair terms, including the canals

-owned or controlled by the railways, and, in operating

-them in competition with the railways, make heavy

-losses which must eventually fall on the taxpayers or

-ratepayers, then it would be only fair that the railway

-companies should be excused from such direct increase

-in taxation as might result from the said losses. In

-that case the burden would fall still more heavily on

-the general body of the tax or ratepayers, independently

-of the railway companies.</p>

-

-<p>It would fall, too, with especial severity on those

-traders who were themselves unable to make use of

-the canals, but might have to pay increased local

-rates in order that possible competitors located within

-convenient reach of the improved waterways could

-have cheaper transport. It might also happen that

-when the former class of traders, bound to keep to

-the railways, applied to the railway companies for

-some concession to themselves, the reply given would

-be&mdash;"What you suggest is fair and reasonable, and

-under ordinary circumstances we should be prepared

-to meet your wishes; but the falling off in our

-receipts, owing to the competition of State-aided

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>canals, makes it impossible for us to grant any

-further reductions." An additional disadvantage

-would thus have to be met by the trader who kept

-to the railway, while his rival, using the canals,

-would practically enjoy the benefit of a State subsidy.</p>

-

-<p>The alternative to letting the country bear the

-burden would be to leave the resuscitated canal

-system to pay for itself. But is there any reasonable

-probability that it could? The essence of the

-present day movement is that the traders who would

-be enabled to use the canals under the improved

-conditions should have cheaper transport; but if the

-twenty, fifty, or any other number of millions sterling

-spent on the purchase and improvement of the canals,

-and on the provision of indispensable accessories

-thereto, are to be covered out of the tolls and

-charges imposed on those using the canals, there

-is every probability that (if the canals are to pay for

-themselves) the tolls and charges would have to be

-raised to such a figure that any existing difference

-between them and the present railway rates would

-disappear altogether. That difference is already very

-often slight enough, and it may be even less than

-appears to be the case, because the railway rate might

-include various services, apart from mere haulage&mdash;collection,

-delivery, warehousing, use of coal depôt,

-etc.&mdash;which are not covered by the canal tolls and

-charges, and the cost of which would have to be

-added thereto. A very small addition, therefore, to

-the canal tolls, in order to meet interest on heavy

-capital expenditure on purchase and reconstruction,

-would bring waterways and railways so far on a level

-in regard to rates that the railways, with the superior

-advantages they offer in many ways, would, inevitably,

-still get the preference.</p>

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p>

-<p>The revival movement, however, is based on the

-supposition that no increase in the canal tolls now

-charged would be necessary.<a name="FNanchor_14" id="FNanchor_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> Canal transport, it is

-said, is already much higher in this country than it

-is on the Continent&mdash;and that may well be so, considering

-(1) that canals such as ours, with their

-numerous locks, etc., cost more to construct, operate

-and maintain than canals on the flat lands of Continental

-Europe; (2) that British canals are still

-supposed to maintain themselves; and (3) that canal

-traffic as well as railway traffic is assessed in the

-most merciless way for the purposes of local taxation.

-In the circumstances it is assumed that the canal

-traffic in England could not pay higher tolls and

-charges than those already imposed, and that the

-interest on the aforesaid millions, spent on purchase

-and improvements, would all be met out of the

-expanded traffic which the restored canals would

-attract.</p>

-

-<p>Again I may ask&mdash;Is there any reasonable probability

-of this? Bearing in mind the complete transition

-in trade of which I have already spoken&mdash;a

-transition which, on the one hand, has enormously

-increased the number of individual traders, and, on

-the other, has brought about a steady and continuous

-decrease in the weight of individual consignments&mdash;is

-there the slightest probability that the conditions

-of trade are going to be changed, and that merchants,

-manufacturers, and other traders will forego the express

-delivery of convenient quantities by rail, in order to

-effect a problematical saving (and especially problematical

-where extra cartage has to be done) on the

-tedious delivery of wholesale quantities by canal?</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span></p>

-

-<p>Nothing short of a very large increase indeed in

-the water-borne traffic would enable the canals to

-meet the heavy expenditure foreshadowed, and, even

-if such increase were secured, the greater part of it

-would not be new traffic, but simply traffic diverted

-from the railways. More probably, however, the

-very large increase would not be secured, and no

-great diversion from the railways would take place.

-The paramount and ever-increasing importance

-attached by the vast majority of British traders to

-quick delivery (an importance so great that on

-some lines there are express goods trains capable

-of running from 40 to 60 miles an hour) will keep

-them to the greater efficiency of the railway as a

-carrier of goods; while, if a serious diversion of

-traffic were really threatened, the British railways

-would not be handicapped as those of France and

-Germany are in any resort to rates and charges

-which would allow of a fair competition with the

-waterways.</p>

-

-<p>In practice, therefore, the theory that the canals

-would become self-supporting, as soon as the aforesaid

-millions had been spent, must inevitably break down,

-with the result that the burden of the whole enterprise

-would then necessarily fall upon the community; and

-why the trader who consigns his goods by rail, or the

-professional man who has no goods to consign at all,

-should be taxed to allow of cheaper transport being

-conferred on the minority of persons or firms likely to

-use the canals even when resuscitated, is more than

-I can imagine, or than they, probably, will be able to

-realise.</p>

-

-<p>The whole position was very well described in some

-remarks made by Mr Harold Cox, M.P., in the course

-of a discussion at the Society of Arts in February

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>1906, on a paper read by Mr R. B. Buckley, on

-"The Navigable Waterways of India."</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"There was," he said, "a sort of feeling current

-at the present time in favour of spending large

-amounts of the taxpayer's money in order to provide

-waterways which the public did not want, or at any

-rate which the public did not want sufficiently to

-pay for them, which after all was the test. He

-noticed that everybody who advocated the construction

-of canals always wanted them constructed with

-the taxpayer's money, and always wanted them to

-be worked without a toll. Why should not the same

-principle be applied to railways also? A railway was

-even more useful to the public than a canal; therefore,

-construct it with the taxpayer's money, and allow

-everybody to use it free. It was always possible to

-get plenty of money subscribed with which to build

-a railway, but nobody would subscribe a penny

-towards the building of canals. An appeal was

-always made to the government. People had pointed

-to France and Germany, which spent large sums

-of money on their canals. In France that was done

-because the French Parliamentary system was such

-that it was to the interest of the electorate and the

-elected to spend the public money on local improvements

-or non-improvements.... He had been asked,

-Why make any roads? The difference between roads

-and canals was that on a canal a toll could be levied

-on the people who used it, but on a road that was

-absolutely impossible. Tolls on roads were found

-so inconvenient that they had to be given up. There

-was no practical inconvenience in collecting tolls on

-canals; and, therefore, the principle that was applied

-to everything else should apply to canals&mdash;namely,

-that those who wanted them should pay for them."</p></div>

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter"></div>

-

-

-<h2 title="X. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS">CHAPTER X<br />

-

-<small>CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS</small></h2>

-

-

-<p>Taking into consideration all the facts and arguments

-here presented, I may summarise as follows the conclusions

-at which I have arrived:&mdash;</p>

-

-<p>(1) That, alike from a geographical, physical, and

-economic point of view, there is no basis for fair

-comparison between British and Continental conditions;

-consequently our own position must be

-judged on its own merits or demerits.</p>

-

-<p>(2) That, owing to the great changes in British

-trade, manufacture, and commerce, giving rise to

-widespread and still increasing demands for speedy

-delivery of comparatively small consignments for a

-great number of traders of every possible type, canal

-transport in Great Britain is no longer suited to the

-general circumstances of the day.</p>

-

-<p>(3) That although a comparatively small number

-of traders, located in the immediate neighbourhood

-of the canals, might benefit from a canal-resuscitation

-scheme, the carrying out of such scheme at the risk,

-if not at the cost, of the taxpayers, would virtually

-amount to subsidising one section of the community

-to the pecuniary disadvantage of other sections.</p>

-

-<p>(4) That the nationalisation or the municipalisation

-of British canals would introduce a new principle

-inconsistent with the "private enterprise" hitherto

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>recognised in the case of railways, in which such

-large sums have been sunk by investors, but with

-which State-aided canals would compete.</p>

-

-<p>(5) That, in view both of the physical conditions

-of our land (necessitating an extensive resort to

-locks, etc., to overcome great differences in level)

-and of the fact that many of the most important of

-the canals are now hemmed in by works, houses,

-or buildings, any general scheme of purchase and

-improvement, in regard even to main routes (apart

-from hopeless derelicts), would be extremely costly,

-and, in most instances, entirely outside the scope of

-practicability.</p>

-

-<p>(6) That such a scheme, involving an expenditure

-of many millions, could not fail to affect our national

-finances.</p>

-

-<p>(7) That there is no ground for expecting so large

-an outlay could be recouped by increased receipts

-from the canals, and that the cost would thus inevitably

-fall upon the community.</p>

-

-<p>(8) That the allegation as to the chief canals of the

-country, or sections thereof, having been "captured"

-and "strangled" by the railway companies, in the

-interests of their own traffic, is entirely unsupported

-by evidence, the facts being, rather, that in most

-cases the canals were more or less forced upon the

-railway companies, who have spent money liberally

-on such of them as offered reasonable prospect of

-traffic, and, in that way, have kept alive and in

-active working condition canals that would inevitably

-have been added to the number of derelicts had they

-remained in the hands of canal companies possessed

-of inadequate capital for the purposes of their

-efficient maintenance.</p>

-

-<p>(9) That certain of these canals (as, for example,

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>the Birmingham and the Shropshire Union Canals)

-are still offering to traders all reasonable facilities

-within the limitations of their surroundings and

-physical possibilities; and that if such canals were

-required to bear the expense of extremely costly

-widenings, of lock reconstruction, of increased water

-supply, and of general improvements, the tolls and

-charges would have to be raised to such a point

-that the use of the canals would become prohibitive

-even to those local traders who now fully appreciate

-the convenience they still afford.</p>

-

-<p>(10) That, in effect, whatever may be done in the

-case of navigable rivers, any scheme which aimed

-at a general resuscitation of canals in this country,

-at the risk, if not at the expense, of the community,

-is altogether impracticable; and that, inasmuch as

-the only desire of the traders, in this connection, is

-to secure cheaper transport, it is desirable to see

-whether the same results could not be more effectively,

-more generally, and more economically obtained in

-other directions.</p>

-

-<p>Following up this last conclusion, I beg to

-recommend:&mdash;</p>

-

-<p>(<i>a</i>) The desirability of increasing the usefulness of

-the railway system, which can go anywhere, serve

-everybody, and carry and deliver consignments,

-great and small, with that promptness and despatch

-which are all-important to the welfare of the vast

-majority of industries and enterprises, as conducted

-under the trading conditions of to-day. This usefulness,

-some of the traders allege, is marred by rates

-and charges which they consider unduly heavy,

-especially in the case of certain commodities calling

-for exceptionally low freight, and canal transport is

-now asked for by them, as against rail transport,

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>just as the traders of 1825 wanted the railways as

-a relief from the waterways. The rates and charges,

-say the railway companies, are not unreasonable in

-themselves, considering all the circumstances of the

-case and the nature of the various services represented,

-while the actual amount thereof is due, to a

-certain extent, not so much to any seeking on the

-part of the companies to pay dividends of abnormal

-proportions, akin to those of the canal companies of

-old (the average railway dividend to-day, on over

-one thousand millions of actual capital, being only

-about 3&frac12; per cent.), but to a combination of causes

-which have increased unduly capital outlay and

-working expenses, only to be met out of the rates,

-fares, and charges that are imposed on traders and

-travellers. Among these causes may be mentioned

-the heavy price the companies have had to pay

-for their land; the cost of Parliamentary proceedings;

-various requirements imposed by Parliament

-or by Government departments; and the heavy

-burden of the contribution that railway companies

-make to local rates. (See p. 10.) These various

-conditions must necessarily influence the rates and

-charges to be paid by traders. Some of them&mdash;such

-as cost of land&mdash;belong to the past; others&mdash;like the

-payments for local taxation&mdash;still continue, and tend

-to increase rather than decrease. In any case, the

-power of the railway companies to concede to the

-traders cheaper transport is obviously handicapped.

-But if, to obtain such cheaper transport, the country

-is prepared to risk (at least) from £20,000,000 to

-£50,000,000 on a scheme of canal reconstruction

-which, as I have shown, is of doubtful utility and

-practicability, would it not be much more sensible,

-and much more economical, if the weight of the

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>obligations now cast upon railways were reduced,

-thus enabling the companies to make concessions in

-the interests of traders in general, and especially in

-the interests of those consigning goods to ports

-for shipment abroad, for whose benefit the canal

-revival is more particularly sought?</p>

-

-<p>(<i>b</i>) My second recommendation is addressed to

-the general trader. His policy of ordering frequent

-small consignments to meet immediate requirements,

-and of having, in very many instances, practically

-no warehouse or store-rooms except the railway

-goods depôts, is one that suits him admirably. It

-enables him either to spend less capital or else to

-distribute his capital over a larger area. He is also

-spared expense in regard to the provision of warehouse

-accommodation of his own. But to the railway

-companies the general adoption of this policy has

-meant greater difficulty in the making up of "paying

-loads." To suit the exigencies of present-day trade,

-they have reduced their <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">minima</i> to as low, for some

-commodities, as 2-ton lots, and it is assumed by

-many of the traders that all they need do is to work

-up to such <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">minima</i>. But a 2-ton lot for even an

-8-ton waggon is hardly a paying load. Still less is

-a 10-<abbr title="hundredweight">cwt</abbr>. consignment a paying load for a similarly

-sized waggon. Where, however, no other consignments

-for the same point are available, the waggon

-goes through all the same. In Continental countries

-consignments would be kept back, if necessary, for

-a certain number of days, in order that the "paying

-load" might be made up. But in Great Britain the

-average trader relies absolutely on prompt delivery,

-however small the consignment, or whatever the

-amount of "working expenses" incurred by the

-railway in handling it. If, however, the trader

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>would show a little more consideration for the

-railway companies&mdash;whom he expects to display

-so much consideration for him&mdash;he might often

-arrange to send or to receive his consignments in

-such quantities (at less frequent intervals, perhaps)

-as would offer better loading for the railway

-waggons, with a consequent decrease of working

-expenses, and a corresponding increase in the ability

-of the railway company to make better terms with

-him in other directions. Much has been done of

-late years by the railway companies to effect various

-economies in operation, and excellent results have

-been secured, especially through the organisation of

-transhipping centres for goods traffic, and through

-reductions in train mileage; but still more could be

-done, in the way of keeping down working expenses

-and improving the position of the companies in

-regard to concessions to traders, if the traders themselves

-would co-operate more with the railways to

-avoid the disadvantages of unremunerative "light-loading."</p>

-

-<p>(<i>c</i>) My third and last recommendation is to the

-agriculturists. I have seen repeated assertions to

-the effect that improved canals would be of great

-advantage to the British farmer; and in this connection

-it may interest the reader if I reproduce the

-following extract from the pamphlet, issued in 1824,

-by Mr T. G. Cumming, under the title of "Illustrations

-of the Origin and Progress of Rail and Tram

-Roads and Steam Carriages," as already mentioned

-on p. 21:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"To the farming interests the advantages of a

-rail-way will soon become strikingly manifest; for,

-even where the facilities of a canal can be embraced,

-it presents but a slow yet expensive mode of

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>conveyance; a whole day will be consumed in accomplishing

-a distance of 20 miles, whilst by the rail-way

-conveyance, goods will be carried the same distance

-in three or four hours, and perhaps to no class of

-the community is this increased speed of more consideration

-and value than to the farmer, who has

-occasion to bring his fruit, garden stuff, and poultry

-to market, and still more so to such as are in the

-habit of supplying those great and populous towns

-with milk and butter, whilst with all these additional

-advantages afforded by a rail-way, the expense of

-conveyance will be found considerably cheaper than

-by canal.</p>

-

-<p>"Notwithstanding the vast importance to the farmer

-of having the produce of his farm conveyed in a

-cheap and expeditious manner to market, it is

-almost equally essential to him to have a cheap

-conveyance for manure from a large town to a

-distant farm; and here the advantages to be derived

-from a rail-way are abundantly apparent, for by a

-single loco-motive engine, 50 tons of manure may

-be conveyed, at a comparatively trifling expense, to

-any farm within the line of the road. In the article

-of lime, also, which is one of the first importance

-to the farmer, there can be no question but the

-facilities afforded by a rail-way will be the means

-of diminishing the expense in a very material

-degree."</p></div>

-

-<p>If railways were desirable in 1824 in the interests

-of agriculture, they must be still more so in 1906,

-and the reversion now to the canal transport of

-former days would be a curious commentary on

-the views entertained at the earlier date. As regards

-perishables, consigned for sale on markets, growers

-obviously now want the quickest transport they can

-secure, and special fruit and vegetable trains are run

-daily in the summer season for their accommodation.

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>The trader in the North who ordered some strawberries

-from Kent, and got word that they were

-being sent on by canal, would probably use language

-not fit for even a fruit and vegetable market to hear.

-As for non-perishable commodities, consigned to

-or by agriculturists, the railway is a much better

-distributer than the canal, and, unless a particular

-farm were alongside a canal, the extra cost of cartage

-therefrom might more than outweigh any saving in

-freight. If greater facilities than the ordinary railway

-are needed by agriculturists, they will be met

-far better by light railways, or by railway road-motors

-of the kind adopted first by the North-Eastern

-Railway Company at Brandsby, than by

-any possible extension of canals. These road-motors,

-operated between lines of railway and recognised

-depôts at centres some distance therefrom, are

-calculated to confer on agriculturists a degree of

-practical advantage, in the matter of cheaper transport,

-limited only by the present unfortunate inability

-of many country roads to bear so heavy a traffic,

-and the equally unfortunate inability of the local

-residents to bear the expense of adapting the roads

-thereto. If, instead of spending a large sum of

-money on reconstructing canals, the Government

-devoted some of it to grants to County Councils for

-the reconstruction of rural highways, they would do

-far more good for agriculture, at least. As for

-cheaper rail transport for agricultural commodities

-in general, I have said so much elsewhere as to

-how these results can be obtained by means of

-combination that I need not enlarge on that branch

-of the subject now, further than to commend it to

-the attention of the British farmer, to whom combination

-in its various phases will afford a much more

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>substantial advantage than any possible resort to

-inland navigation.</p>

-

-<p>These are the alternatives I offer to proposals

-which I feel bound to regard as more or less

-quixotic, and I leave the reader to decide whether,

-in view of the actualities of the situation, as set

-forth in the present volume, they are not much

-more practical than the schemes of canal reconstruction

-for which public favour is now being sought.</p>

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter"></div>

-

-

-<h2>APPENDIX<br />

-

-<small>THE DECLINE IN FREIGHT TRAFFIC ON THE

-MISSISSIPPI</small></h2>

-

-

-<p>Whilst this book is passing through the Press, I

-have received from Mr Stuyvesant Fish, President

-of the Illinois Central Railroad Company&mdash;whom I

-asked to favour me with some additional details

-respecting the decline in freight traffic on the

-Mississippi River&mdash;the following interesting notes,

-drawn up by Mr T. J. Hudson, General Traffic

-Manager of the Illinois Central:&mdash;</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>The traffic on the Mississippi River was established

-and built up under totally different conditions from

-those now obtaining, and when the only other means

-of travel and transportation was on horseback and

-by waggon, methods not suitable in view of the great

-distances and the general impassibility of the country.

-In those days the principal source of supply was

-St Louis&mdash;and points reached through St Louis&mdash;for

-grain, grain products, etc., excepting that vehicles,

-machinery, and iron were brought down the Ohio

-River from Pittsburg and Cincinnati by boat to

-Cairo, and trans-shipped there, or to Memphis, and

-trans-shipped or re-distributed from that place. The

-distributing points on the Lower Mississippi River

-were Memphis, Vicksburg, Natchez, Bayou Sara,

-Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Goods were

-shipped to these points and re-shipped from there

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>over small railroads to short distances, and also

-hauled by waggon and re-shipped on boats plying

-in local trade on the Mississippi River and tributary

-streams. For example, there were Boat Lines making

-small landing points above and below Memphis, and

-above and below Vicksburg; also Boat Lines plying

-the Yazoo and Tallahatchie Rivers on the east, and

-the White, Arkansas and Red Rivers on the west, etc.</p>

-

-<p>All the goods shipped by steamboat were hauled

-by waggon or dray to the steamboat landing, and,

-when discharged by the boats at destination, were

-again hauled by waggon from the landing to the

-stores and warehouses, even in those cases in which

-re-shipment was made from points like Memphis,

-Vicksburg, etc. When re-shipped by river, the

-goods were again hauled to the steamboat landing,

-and, when reaching the local landing or point of

-final consumption, after being discharged on the

-bank, were again hauled by waggon or dray, perhaps

-for considerable distances into the interior.</p>

-

-<p>While the cost of water transportation is primarily

-low, the frequent handling and re-handling made this

-mode of transportation more or less expensive, and

-in some instances quite costly. River transportation

-again is slow, taking longer time in transit. The

-frequent handlings, further, were damaging and

-destructive to the packages in the case of many

-kinds of goods. Transportation on the rivers was

-also at times interrupted or delayed from one cause

-or another, such as high water or low water, and

-the service was, in consequence, more or less

-irregular, thus requiring dealers to carry large

-stocks on which the insurance and interest was a

-considerable item of expense.</p>

-

-<p>With the development of the railroads through the

-country, not only was competition brought into play

-to the distributing points along the river, such as

-Memphis, Vicksburg, etc., from St Louis, Cincinnati,

-and Pittsburg, but also from other initial sources of

-supply which were not located on rivers, but were

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>enabled by reason of the establishment of rail transportation

-to consign direct; whereas under the old

-conditions it was necessary for them to consign to

-some river point and trans-ship. What was still

-more important and effective in accomplishing the

-results since brought about was the material benefit

-conferred by the railroads on most of the communities

-situated back from the river. These communities

-had previously been obliged to send their consignments

-perhaps many miles by road to some point on

-the river, whence the commodities were carried to

-some other point, there to be taken by waggon or

-dray to the place of consumption&mdash;another journey

-of many miles, perhaps, by road. Progress was

-slow, and in some instances almost impossible, while

-only small boats could be hauled.</p>

-

-<p>Then the construction of railroads led to the

-development of important distributing points in the

-interior, such as Jackson, (Tennessee), and Jackson,

-(Mississippi), not to mention many others. Goods

-loaded into railroad cars on tracks alongside the mills,

-factories and warehouses could be unloaded at destination

-into warehouses and stores which also had their

-tracks alongside. By this means drayage was eliminated,

-and the packages could be delivered in clean

-condition. Neither of these conditions was possible

-where steamboat transportation was employed.

-Interior points are now enabled to buy direct, either

-in large or small quantities, from initial sources of

-supply, and without the delay and expense incident

-to shipment to river-distributing points, and trans-shipment

-by rail or steamboat or hauling by waggon.

-Rail transportation is also more frequent, regular,

-rapid and reliable; not to mention again the convenience

-which is referred to above.</p>

-

-<p>The transportation by river of package-freight,

-such as flour, meal, meat, canned goods, dry goods,

-and other commodities, has been almost entirely

-superseded by rail transportation, except in regard

-to short-haul local landings, where the river is more

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>convenient, and the railroad may not be available.

-There is some south-bound shipment of wire, nails,

-and other iron goods from the Pittsburg district to

-distributing points like Memphis and New Orleans,

-but in these cases the consignments are exclusively

-in barge-load lots. The only other commodity to

-which these conditions apply is coal. This is taken

-direct from the mines in the Pittsburg district, and

-dropped into barges on the Monongahela River; and

-these are floated down the river, during periods of

-high water, in fleets of from fifty to several hundred

-barges at a time.</p>

-

-<p>There is no movement of grain in barges from

-St Louis to New Orleans, as was the case a great

-many years ago. The grain for export <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">viâ</i> New

-Orleans is now largely moved direct in cars from

-the country elevators to the elevators at New Orleans,

-from which latter the grain is loaded direct into ships.

-There is, also, some movement north-bound in barges

-of lumber and logs from mills and forests not

-accessible to railroads, but very little movement of

-these or other commodities from points that are

-served by railroad rails. Lumber to be shipped on

-the river must be moved in barge-load quantities, and

-taken to places like St Louis, where it has to be

-hauled from the barge to lumber yards, and then

-loaded on railroad cars, if it is going to the interior,

-where a considerable proportion of the quantity

-handled will be wanted. Mills reached by railroad

-tracks can, and do, load in car-load quantities, and

-ship to the final point of use, without the delay

-incident to river transportation, and the expense

-involved by transfer or re-shipment.</p>

-

-<p>It is not to be inferred from the foregoing that all

-the distributing points along the river have dried up

-since the development of rail transportation. In fact,

-the contrary is the case, because the railroads have

-opened up larger territories to these distributing

-points, and in regard to many kinds of goods these

-river points have become, in a way, initial sources

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>of supply as well as of manufacture. Memphis, for

-example, has grain brought to its elevators direct

-from the farms, the same as St Louis, and can and

-does ship on short notice to the many towns and

-communities in the territory surrounding. There

-are, also, flour and meal mills, iron foundries, waggon

-and furniture factories, etc., at Memphis, and at

-other places. Many of the points, however, which

-were once simply landings for interior towns

-and communities have now become comparatively

-insignificant.</p>

-

-<p>To sum up in a few words, I should say that the

-railroads have overcome the steamboat competition

-on the Mississippi River, not only by affording fair

-and reasonable rates, but also because rail transportation

-is more frequent, rapid, reliable, and

-convenient, and is, on the whole, much cheaper.</p></div>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p>

-

-

-<div class="footnotes">

-<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> That canals also played their part in the transport of passengers

-a hundred years ago is shown by the following items of news, which

-I take from <cite>The Times</cite> of 1806:&mdash;

-</p>

-<p><br />

-<span class="smcap">Friday</span>, <i>December</i> 19, 1806.</p>

-

-<p>"The first division of the troops that are to proceed by the

-Paddington Canal for Liverpool, and thence by transports for

-Dublin, will leave Paddington to-day, and will be followed by

-others to-morrow and Sunday. By this mode of conveyance the

-men will be only seven days in reaching Liverpool, and with

-comparatively little fatigue, as it would take them above fourteen

-days to march that distance. Relays of fresh horses for the

-canal boats have been ordered to be in readiness at all the

-stages."

-</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Monday</span>, <i>December</i> 22, 1806.<br /></p>

-

-<p>"Saturday the 8th Regiment embarked at the Paddington Canal

-for Liverpool, in a number of barges, each containing 60 men.

-This regiment consists of 950 men. The 7th Regiment embarked

-at the same time in eighteen barges: they are all to proceed to

-Liverpool. The Dukes of York and Sussex witnessed the embarkation.

-The remainder of the brigade was to follow yesterday,

-and Friday next another and very considerable embarkation will

-follow."</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Illustrations of the Origin and Progress of Rail and Tram

-Roads, and Steam Carriages, or Locomotive Engines. By T. G.

-Cumming, Surveyor, Denbigh, 1824.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> A Letter on the subject of the projected Rail-road between

-Liverpool and Manchester, pointing out the necessity for its

-adoption, and the manifest advantages it offers to the public;

-with an exposure of the exorbitant and unjust charges of the

-Water-Carriers. By Joseph Sandars, Esq., Liverpool, 1825.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Mersey and Irwell Navigation.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Another of the speakers, Mr Gordon C. Thomas, engineer to

-the Grand Junction Canal Company, said that "notwithstanding

-the generous expenditure on maintenance, and the large sums

-recently spent upon improvements, the through traffic on the

-Grand Junction was only one-half of what it was fifty years ago,

-and now the through traffic was in many cases unable to pay as

-high a rate as the local traffic."</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> In the evidence he gave before the Royal Commission on

-Canals and Waterways on 21st March 1906, Sir Herbert Jekyll,

-Assistant Secretary to the Board of Trade, said (as reported in <cite>The

-Times</cite> of 22nd March):&mdash;"One remarkable feature was noticeable&mdash;that,

-although the tonnage carried rather increased than

-diminished between 1838 and 1848, the receipts fell off enormously,

-pointing to the conclusion that the railway competition had brought

-about a large reduction in canal companies charges. It was also

-noteworthy that on many canals the decrease in receipts had

-continued out of all proportion to the decrease, if any, in the

-tonnage carried."</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> In Mr Saner's paper the Birmingham Canal navigations are

-classed among the "Independently-Owned Canals," and Mr Saner

-says:&mdash;"There are 1,138 miles owned by railway companies, which

-convey only 6,009,820 tons per annum, and produce a net profit

-of only £40 per mile of navigation. This," he adds, "appears

-to afford clear proof that the railways do not attempt to make

-the most of the canals under their control." But when the

-Birmingham Canal, with its 8,000,000 tons of traffic a year, is

-transferred (as it ought to be) from the independently-owned

-to the railway-controlled canals, entirely different figures are

-shown.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> The fact that coal tipped into a canal boat would have a

-longer drop than coal falling from the colliery screen into railway

-waggons is important because of the greater damage done to the

-coal, and the consequent decrease in value.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Fuller information respecting traffic conditions in Continental

-countries will be found in my book on "Railways and Their Rates."</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> The figures for the years 1860 to 1890 are taken from the

-"Report of the Committee on Canals of New York State," 1900,

-General Francis V. Greene, chairman; and those for 1900 and

-1903 from the "Annual Report of Superintendent of Public Works,

-New York State," 1903.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> "The St Lawrence River and the Great Lakes whose waters

-flow through it into the Atlantic form a continuous waterway

-extending from the Fond du Lac, at the head of Lake Superior, to

-the Straits of Belle Isle, a distance of 2,384 miles.... Emptying

-into the St Lawrence ... are the Ottawa and Richlieu Rivers, the

-former bringing it into communication with the immense timber

-forests of Ontario, and the latter connecting it with Lake Champion

-in the United States. These rivers were the thoroughfares in

-peace and the base lines in war for the Indian tribes long before

-the white man appeared in the Western Hemisphere.... The

-early colonists found them the convenient and almost the only

-channels of intercourse among themselves and with the home

-country.... The St Lawrence was navigable for sea-going

-vessels as far as Montreal, but between Montreal and the foot

-of Lake Ontario there was a succession of rapids separated by

-navigable reaches.... The head of navigation on the Ottawa

-River is the city of Ottawa.... Between this city and the mouth

-of the river there are several impassable rapids. The Richlieu

-was also so much obstructed at various points as to be unavailable

-for navigation.... The canal system of Canada ... has been

-established to overcome these obstructions by artificial channels at

-various points to render freely navigable the national routes of

-transportation."&mdash;<cite>"Highways of Commerce," issued by the Bureau

-of Statistics, Department of State, Washington.</cite></p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_12" id="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> The use of a larger type of canal boat is generally regarded as

-an essential part of the resuscitation scheme. But of the narrow

-boats now in active service in the canals of the United Kingdom

-there are from 10,000 to 11,000. What is to be done with these?

-If they are scrap-heaped, and fresh boats substituted, we increase

-still further the sum total of the outlay the scheme will involve.</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_13" id="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> At the Society of Arts' Conference on Canals, in 1888, Mr L. F.

-Vernon-Harcourt said:&mdash;"The statistics show that great caution

-must be exercised in the selection of canal routes for improvement,

-if they are to prove a commercial success, and that the

-scope for such schemes is strictly limited. Any attempt at a

-general revival and improvement of the canal system throughout

-England cannot prove financially successful, as local canals,

-through thinly populated agricultural districts, could not compete

-with railways. These routes alone should be selected for enlargement

-of waterway which lead direct from the sea to large and

-increasing towns like the proposed canal from the Bristol Channel

-to Birmingham, or which, like the Aire and Calder Navigation

-and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, are suitably set for the conveyance

-of coal and general bulky goods to populous districts.

-One or two through routes to London from manufacturing

-centres, or from coal-mining districts, might have a prospect of

-success, provided the existing canals along the route could be

-acquired at a small cost, and the necessary improvement works

-were not heavy."</p></div>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a name="Footnote_14" id="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> There are even those who argue that the resuscitated canals

-should be toll free.</p></div>

-</div>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p>

-

-<h2>INDEX</h2>

-

-<ul class="index">

-

-<li class="ifrst">

-Agriculture and canals, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>-<a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Aire and Calder Navigation, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Allport, Sir James, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Aqueducts, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Association of Chambers of Commerce, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Barnsley Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Belgium, waterways in, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>-<a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Birmingham Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>-<a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Boats, size of, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Brecon Canal, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bridgewater Canal, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>-<a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>-<a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bridgewater, Duke of, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>-<a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Brindley, James, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>-<a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Brunner, Sir John T., <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Buckley, Mr R. B., <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Caledonian Railway Company, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-<a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Canada, waterways in, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>-<a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Canals, earliest, in England, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>-<a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">canal mania, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">passenger traffic, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>-<a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">shares and dividends, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">tolls and charges, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>-<a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>-<a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">handicapped, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">attitude towards railways, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>-<a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">Kennet and Avon, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>-<a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">Shropshire Union, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>-<a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">Forth and Clyde, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-<a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">"strangulation" theory, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>-<a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">Birmingham Canal, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>-<a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">coal traffic, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>-<a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">canals and waterways on the Continent, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>-<a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">in the United States, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>-<a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">in England, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>-<a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">in Canada, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>-<a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">conclusions and recommendations, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>-<a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Capitalists, attitude of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Carnegie, Mr, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Chesterfield Canal, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Child, Messrs, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Coal, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>-<a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>-<a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>-<a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Consignments, sizes of, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Continental conditions, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>-<a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cost of reconstruction, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>-<a href="#Page_136">136</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cotton, raw, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>-<a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Coventry Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cox, M.P., Mr Harold, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cromford Canal, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cumming, Mr T. G., <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>-<a href="#Page_148">148</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Dixon, Professor F. H., <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dredging, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Electrical installations, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ellesmere Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Engineers and canal question, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Erie Canal, the, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>-<a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Fish, Mr Stuyvesant, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>-<a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Forth and Clyde Navigation, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-<a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">France, waterways in, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Frost on canals, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst"><cite>Gentleman's Magazine</cite>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Geographical conditions, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>-<a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>-<a href="#Page_100">100</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Germany, waterways in, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>-<a href="#Page_102">102</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Glass, Mr John, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Government guarantee, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></li>

-<li class="indx">Grand Junction Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Grand Western Canal, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Great Northern Railway, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Great Western Railway Company, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>-<a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Grinling, Mr C. H., <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Hertslet, Sir E. Cecil, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Holland, waterways in, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Huddersfield Narrow Canal, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Hudson, George, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Inglis, Mr J. C., <a href="#Page_38">38</a>-<a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Jackson, Mr Luis, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>-<a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Jebb, Mr G. R., <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Jekyll, Sir Herbert, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Kennet and Avon Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>-<a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lancaster Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Languedoc Canal, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Leeds and Liverpool Canal, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Leicester and Swinnington Railway, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lift at Anderton, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>-<a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Liverpool and Manchester Railway, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>-<a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Liverpool merchants, petition from, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>-<a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Local taxation, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>-<a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>-<a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Locks, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>-<a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">London and North-Western Railway Company, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>-<a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>-<a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">London County Council, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Loughborough Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Macclesfield Canal, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Manchester and Bury Canal, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Manchester Ship Canal, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">McAdam, J. L., <a href="#Page_12">12</a>-<a href="#Page_13">13</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mechanical haulage, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>-<a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>-<a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>-<a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Meiklejohn, Professor, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mersey and Irwell Navigation, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mersey Harbour Board, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Midland Railway, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mining operations and canals, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>-<a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>-<a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mississippi, the, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>-<a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Monmouthshire Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Morrison, Mr, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>-<a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Manchester, Sheffield and Lincoln Railway Company (Great Central), <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Municipalisation schemes, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>-<a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Nationalisation of canals, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Neath Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">North British Railway, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">North-Eastern Railway, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Old Union Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Oxford Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Packhorse period, the, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Paddington Canal, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>-<a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Physical conditions, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>-<a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Political conditions, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>-<a href="#Page_102">102</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Principle, questions of, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>-<a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Private enterprise, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Profits on canals, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Public trusts, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>-<a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pumping machinery, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>-<a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst"><cite>Quarterly Review</cite>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>-<a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Railways, position of companies as ratepayers, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>-<a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">cost of railway construction and operation, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>-<a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">effect on railway rates, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">advent of, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>-<a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">Liverpool and Manchester Railway, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">Leicester and Swinnington Railway, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">Midland Railway, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">Great Northern Railway, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">attitude of canal companies towards, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>-<a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">control of canals, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>-<a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>-<a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">railways in Germany, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>-<a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub2">in France, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">recommendations, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>-<a href="#Page_146">146</a>

-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></li>

-<li class="indx">Ratepayers, liability of, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>-<a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Rates, regulation of, on railways and canals, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>-<a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Regents Canal, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Rennie, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Road-motors, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Rochdale Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ross, Mr A., <a href="#Page_45">45</a>-<a href="#Page_47">47</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Sandars, Mr Joseph, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>-<a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Saner, Mr J. A., <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sankey Brook and St Helen's Canal, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Saunders, Mr H. J., <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Select Committee on Canals (1883), <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Shropshire Union Canal, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>-<a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>-<a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Somerset Coal Canal, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Speed, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Stalbridge, Lord, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Stephenson, George, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Stephenson, Robert, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Stourbridge Extension Canal, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">"Strangulation" theory, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Stratford-upon-Avon Canal, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Swansea Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Taxpayers, how affected, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Telford, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Thames and Severn Canal, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Thames steamboat service, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Thomas, Mr G. C., <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Thwaite, Mr, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Trade, changes in, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>-<a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>-<a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>-<a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>-<a href="#Page_134">134</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Traders, advice to, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>-<a href="#Page_147">147</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Trent and Mersey Navigation, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Troops, transport of, by canal, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>-<a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Tunnels, canal, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Ulrich, Herr Franz, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">United States, waterways in, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>-<a href="#Page_118">118</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Vernon-Harcourt, Mr L. F., <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li>

-

-

-<li class="ifrst">Walker, Colonel, F. N. T., <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Water-supply for canals, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>-<a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>-<a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>-<a href="#Page_130">130</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Wheeler, Mr W. H., <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Widenings, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Wilts and Berks Canal, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Worcester and Birmingham Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li>

-</ul>

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a><br /><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p>

-

-

-

-

-<p class="center bigger">WORKS BY EDWIN A. PRATT</p>

-

-

-<p class="center big">THE TRANSITION IN AGRICULTURE</p>

-

-<p class="center"><i>Crown 8vo. 350 pp. Illustrations and Plans. 5s. net.</i></p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"A book of great value to all interested in farming. Discusses, as

-correctly as possible, the hopeful development of subsidiary branches of

-agriculture, the prospects of co-operation, and the principles on which

-small holdings may be increased."&mdash;<cite>The Outlook.</cite></p></div>

-

-

-<p class="center big">THE ORGANIZATION OF AGRICULTURE</p>

-

-<p class="center"><i>Cheaper and Enlarged Edition. Paper covers. 1s. net.</i></p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"The first impression produced on the mind of the thoughtful reader

-by a perusal of Mr Pratt's book is that, in one form or another, agricultural

-co-operation is inevitable.... To attempt to stand against the pressure

-of cosmopolitan conditions is as futile as Mrs Partington's attempt to keep

-back the Atlantic with a mop."&mdash;<cite>Guardian.</cite></p></div>

-

-

-<p class="center big">RAILWAYS AND THEIR RATES</p>

-

-<p class="center">WITH AN APPENDIX ON THE BRITISH CANAL PROBLEM</p>

-

-<p class="center"><i>Cheap Edition. Paper Covers. 1s. net.</i></p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"A valuable book for railwaymen, traders, and others who are

-interested, either theoretically or practically, in the larger aspect of

-the economic problem of how goods are best brought to market."&mdash;<cite>Scotsman.</cite></p></div>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p class="center">

-<span class="big">OUR WATERWAYS</span><br />

-<br />

-A HISTORY OF INLAND NAVIGATION CONSIDERED AS A BRANCH OF WATER CONSERVANCY<br />

-<br />

-By URQUHART A. FORBES<br />

-<small>Of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister-at-Law;</small><br />

-AND<br />

-W. H. R. ASHFORD<br />

-<br />

-<i>With a Map especially prepared to illustrate the book. Demy 8vo. 12s. net.</i><br />

-</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"The history of these canals and waterways, and of the law relating to

-them, is clearly set forth in the excellent work. Should become <em>the</em>

-standard work of reference upon the subject."&mdash;<cite>The Standard.</cite></p></div>

-

-

-<p class="center mt2"><span class="big">MUNICIPAL TRADE</span><br />

-<br />

-THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES RESULTING FROM THE SUBSTITUTION

-OF REPRESENTATIVE BODIES FOR PRIVATE PROPRIETORS

-IN THE MANAGEMENT OF INDUSTRIAL UNDERTAKINGS<br />

-<br />

-By Major LEONARD DARWIN<br />

-

-<small>Author of "Bimetallism."</small><br />

-<br />

-<i>Demy 8vo. 12s. net.</i></p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"This work should be carefully studied, for there cannot be a better

-guide to the understanding and solution of a difficult problem."&mdash;<cite>Local

-Government Chronicle.</cite></p></div>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p>

-

-

-

-<p class="center mt2"><span class="big">MODERN TARIFF HISTORY</span><br />

-SHOWING THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF TARIFFS IN GERMANY

-FRANCE, AND THE UNITED STATES<br />

-<br />

-By PERCY ASHLEY, M.A.<br />

-

-<small>Lecturer at the London School of Economics in the University of London</small><br />

-<br />

-With an Introduction by the<br />

-Rt. Hon. R. B. HALDANE, LL.D., K.C., M.P.<br />

-<br />

-<i>Demy 8vo. 10s. 6d. net.</i></p>

-

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"... A careful, fair, and accurate review of the modern fiscal history

-of three countries."&mdash;<cite>Times.</cite></p></div>

-

-

-

-<p class="center mt2"><span class="big">LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT</span><br />

-A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ENGLAND, FRANCE, PRUSSIA, AND THE

-UNITED STATES<br />

-<br />

-By PERCY ASHLEY, M.A.</p>

-

-

-

-

-<p class="center mt2"><span class="big">THE BRITISH TRADE YEAR-BOOK</span><br />

-COVERING THE 25 YEARS 1880-1904, AND SHOWING THE COURSE OF

-TRADE<br />

-<br />

-By JOHN HOLT SCHOOLING<br />

-<br />

-

-<i>With 191 tables, each containing several sections of British or of International

-Trade. 46 Diagrams and various abstract Tables. 10s. 6d. net.</i><br />

-<br />

-This is the ONLY BOOK that shows the COURSE OF TRADE.</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p>"We believe, after careful examination, that Mr Schooling has dealt

-in a strictly honest and impartial fashion with the material at his disposal.

-Readers of the book cannot fail to get much insight into the course of

-trade from Mr Schooling's clear-sighted methods."&mdash;<cite>Times.</cite></p></div>

-

-

-

-

-<p class="center mt2"><span class="big">THE PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF TAXATION</span><br />

-<br />

-By G. ARMITAGE SMITH<br />

-

-<small>Principal of Birkbeck College.</small><br />

-<br />

-<i>Crown 8vo. 5s.</i></p>

-

-

-<p>CHAPTER I.&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Grounds and Nature of Public Expenditure.</span>

-II.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Sources of Imperial Revenue, and Theories of

-Taxation.</span> III.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Principles of Taxation.</span> IV.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Direct Taxation&mdash;Taxes

-on Property and Income.</span> V.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Indirect Taxation&mdash;Taxes

-on Commodities and Acts.</span> VI.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Incidence of Taxation.</span>

-VII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">National Debts.</span> VIII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Some other Revenue Systems.</span>

-IX.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Local Taxation.</span></p>

-

-

-

-

-<p class="center mt2"><span class="big">THE RAILWAYS AND THE TRADERS</span><br />

-<br />

-A SKETCH OF THE RAILWAY RATES QUESTION IN THEORY AND

-PRACTICE<br />

-<br />

-By W. M. ACWORTH, M.A. (Oxon.),<br />

-<small>And of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law.</small><br />

-<br />

-<i>New Impression. Crown 8vo. In Paper Covers. 1s. net.</i></p>

-

-

-<p class="center mt2">

-<span class="smcap">London: JOHN MURRAY, Albemarle Street, W.</span><br />

-</p>

-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span></p>

-

-

-

-<p class="center big mt2">

-PRINTED AT THE EDINBURGH PRESS,<br />

-9 AND 11 YOUNG STREET<br />

-</p>

-

-<div class="transnote">

-<h2>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES</h2>

-<p>Minor punctuation and printer errors repaired.</p>

-</div>

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-<pre>

-

-

-

-

-

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+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 47435 ***</div>
+
+<div class="transnote covernote">
+  <p class="center">The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<h1>BRITISH CANALS</h1>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a id="frontispiece"></a>
+<img src="images/i_frontis.jpg" width="600" height="336" alt="AQUEDUCT AT PONTCYSYLLTE (IN THE DISTANCE)." />
+<div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">AQUEDUCT AT PONTCYSYLLTE (IN THE DISTANCE).</p>
+
+    <p class="center">(Constructed by Telford to carry Ellesmere Canal over River Dee. Opened 1803. Cost £47,000. Length, 1007 feet.)</p>
+
+    <p class="right">[<i>Frontispiece.</i></p>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="titlepage">
+
+<p class="center bigger">BRITISH CANALS:</p>
+
+<p class="center big mt2">IS THEIR RESUSCITATION
+PRACTICABLE?</p>
+
+<p class="center big mt2">BY EDWIN A. PRATT</p>
+
+<p class="center mt2">AUTHOR OF "RAILWAYS AND THEIR RATES," "THE ORGANIZATION<br />
+OF AGRICULTURE," "THE TRANSITION IN AGRICULTURE," ETC.</p>
+
+<p class="center mt4">LONDON<br />
+JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.<br />
+1906
+</p>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<h2>PREFACE</h2>
+
+
+<p>The appointment of a Royal Commission on Canals
+and Waterways, which first sat to take evidence on
+March 21, 1906, is an event that should lead to an
+exhaustive and most useful enquiry into a question
+which has been much discussed of late years, but on
+which, as I hope to show, considerable misapprehension
+in regard to actual facts and conditions has hitherto
+existed.</p>
+
+<p>Theoretically, there is much to be said in favour of
+canal restoration, and the advocates thereof have not
+been backward in the vigorous and frequent ventilation
+of their ideas. Practically, there are other all-important
+considerations which ought not to be overlooked,
+though as to these the British Public have hitherto
+heard very little. As a matter of detail, also, it is
+desirable to see whether the theory that the decline
+of our canals is due to their having been "captured"
+and "strangled" by the railway companies&mdash;a theory
+which many people seem to believe in as implicitly as
+they do, say, in the Multiplication Table&mdash;is really
+capable of proof, or whether that decline is not, rather,
+to be attributed to wholly different causes.</p>
+
+<p>In view of the increased public interest in the
+general question, it has been suggested to me that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span>the Appendix on "The British Canal Problem" in
+my book on "Railways and their Rates," published in
+the Spring of 1905, should now be issued separately;
+but I have thought it better to deal with the subject
+afresh, and at somewhat greater length, in the present
+work. This I now offer to the world in the hope that,
+even if the conclusions at which I have arrived are not
+accepted, due weight will nevertheless be given to the
+important&mdash;if not (as I trust I may add) the interesting&mdash;series
+of facts, concerning the past and present
+of canals alike at home, on the Continent, and in
+the United States, which should still represent, I
+think, a not unacceptable contribution to the present
+controversy.</p>
+
+<p class="right">EDWIN A. PRATT.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">London</span>, <i>April 1906</i>.<br />
+</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="toc">
+  <tr><td class="tdr">CHAP.</td>
+      <td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>
+      <td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdr">I.</td>
+      <td class="tdl">INTRODUCTORY</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdr">II.</td>
+      <td class="tdl">EARLY DAYS</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdr">III.</td>
+      <td class="tdl">RAILWAYS TO THE RESCUE</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdr">IV.</td>
+      <td class="tdl">RAILWAY-CONTROLLED CANALS</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdr">V.</td>
+      <td class="tdl">THE BIRMINGHAM CANAL AND ITS STORY</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdr">VI.</td>
+      <td class="tdl">THE TRANSITION IN TRADE</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdr">VII.</td>
+      <td class="tdl">CONTINENTAL CONDITIONS</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdr">VIII.</td>
+      <td class="tdl">WATERWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdr">IX.</td>
+      <td class="tdl">ENGLISH CONDITIONS</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdr">X.</td>
+      <td class="tdl">CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdr">&nbsp;</td>
+      <td class="tdl">APPENDIX&mdash;THE DECLINE IN FREIGHT TRAFFIC ON THE MISSISSIPPI</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdr">&nbsp;</td>
+      <td class="tdl">INDEX</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_157">157</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a><br /><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS</h2>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="toi">
+  <tr><td class="tdc"><span class="big">HALF-TONE ILLUSTRATIONS</span></td>
+      <td class="tdc">&nbsp;</td>
+      <td class="tdr">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdl">AQUEDUCT AT PONTCYSYLLTE (in the distance)</td>
+      <td class="tdc">&nbsp;</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#frontispiece"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdl">WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN: COWLEY TUNNEL AND EMBANKMENTS</td>
+      <td class="tdc"><i>To face page</i></td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_032fp">32</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdl">LOCKS ON THE KENNET AND AVON CANAL AT DEVIZES</td>
+      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_042fp">42</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdl">WAREHOUSES AND HYDRAULIC CRANES AT ELLESMERE PORT</td>
+      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_048fp">48</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdl">WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN: SHROPSHIRE UNION CANAL AT CHESTER</td>
+      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_070fp">70</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdl">"FROM PIT TO PORT": PROSPECT PIT, WIGAN</td>
+      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_082fp">82</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdl">THE SHIPPING OF COAL: HYDRAULIC TIP ON G.W.R., SWANSEA</td>
+      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_088fp">88</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdl">A CARGO BOAT ON THE MISSISSIPPI</td>
+      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_110fp">110</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdl">SUCCESSFUL RIVALS OF MISSISSIPPI CARGO BOATS</td>
+      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_114fpa">114</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdl">WATER SUPPLY FOR CANALS: BELVIDE RESERVOIR, STAFFORDSHIRE</td>
+      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_128fp">128</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdc">&nbsp;</td>
+      <td class="tdc">&nbsp;</td>
+      <td class="tdr">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdc"><span class="big">MAPS AND DIAGRAMS</span></td>
+      <td class="tdc">&nbsp;</td>
+      <td class="tdr">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdl">INDEPENDENT CANALS AND INLAND NAVIGATIONS</td>
+      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_054fp">54</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdl">CANALS AND RAILWAYS BETWEEN WOLVERHAMPTON AND BIRMINGHAM</td>
+      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_056fp">56</a></td></tr>
+  <tr><td class="tdl">SOME TYPICAL BRITISH CANALS</td>
+      <td class="tdc">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+      <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_098fp">98</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+<p class="center bigger">BRITISH CANALS</p>
+
+
+
+<h2 title="I. INTRODUCTORY">CHAPTER I<br />
+
+<small>INTRODUCTORY</small></h2>
+
+
+<p>The movement in favour of resuscitating, if not also
+of reconstructing, the British canal system, in conjunction
+with such improvement as may be possible
+in our natural waterways, is a matter that concerns
+various interests, and gives rise to a number of more
+or less complicated problems.</p>
+
+<p>It appeals in the most direct form to the British
+trader, from the point of view of the possibility of
+enabling him to secure cheaper transit for his goods.
+Every one must sympathise with him in that desire,
+and there is no need whatever for me to stay here
+to repeat the oft-expressed general reflections as to
+the important part which cheap transit necessarily
+plays in the development of trade and commerce.
+But when from the general one passes to the particular,
+and begins to consider how these transit
+questions apply directly to canal revival, one comes
+at once to a certain element of insincerity in the
+agitation which has arisen.</p>
+
+<p>There is no reason whatever for doubt that, whereas
+one section of the traders favouring canal revival
+would themselves directly benefit therefrom, there
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>is a much larger section who have joined in the
+movement, not because they have the slightest idea
+of re-organising their own businesses on a water-transport
+basis, but simply because they think the
+existence of improved canals will be a means of compelling
+the railway companies to grant reductions of
+their own rates below such point as they now find
+it necessary to maintain. Individuals of this type,
+though admitting they would not use the canals
+themselves, or very little, would have us believe that
+there are enough of <em>other</em> traders who would patronise
+them to make them pay. In any case, if only
+sufficient pressure could be brought to bear on the
+railway companies to force them to reduce their rates
+and charges, they would be prepared to regard with
+perfect equanimity the unremunerative outlay on the
+canals of a large sum of public money, and be quite
+indifferent as to who might have to bear the loss
+so long as they gained what they wanted for themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The subject is, also, one that appeals to engineers.
+As originally constructed, our British canals included
+some of the greatest engineering triumphs of their day,
+and the reconstruction either of these or even of the
+ordinary canals (especially where the differences of
+level are exceptionally great), would afford much
+interesting work for engineers&mdash;and, also, to come
+to commonplace details, would put into circulation
+a certain number of millions of pounds sterling which
+might lead some of those engineers, at least, to take
+a still keener interest in the general situation. There
+is absolutely no doubt that, from an engineering
+standpoint, reconstruction, however costly, would
+present no unsurmountable technical difficulties; but
+I must confess that when engineers, looking at the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>problem exclusively from their own point of view,
+apart from strictly economic and practical considerations,
+advise canal revival as a means of improving
+British trade, I am reminded of the famous remark
+of Sganerelle, in Molière's "<span xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">L'Amour Médecin"&mdash;"Vous
+êtes orfévre, M. Josse.</span>"</p>
+
+<p>The subject strongly appeals, also, to a very large
+number of patriotic persons who, though having no
+personal or professional interests to serve, are rightly
+impressed with the need for everything that is in any
+way practicable being done to maintain our national
+welfare, and who may be inclined to assume, from the
+entirely inadequate facts which, up to the present,
+have been laid before them as to the real nature and
+possibilities of our canal system, that great results
+would follow from a generous expenditure of money
+on canal resuscitation here, following on the example
+already set in Continental countries. It is in the
+highest degree desirable that persons of this class
+should be enabled to form a clear and definite opinion
+on the subject in all its bearings, and especially from
+points of view that may not hitherto have been
+presented for their consideration.</p>
+
+<p>Then the question is one of very practical interest
+indeed to the British taxpayer. It seems to be
+generally assumed by the advocates of canal revival
+that it is no use depending on private enterprise.
+England is not yet impoverished, and there is plenty
+of money still available for investment where a modest
+return on it can be assured. But capitalists, large or
+small, are not apparently disposed to risk their own
+money in the resuscitation of English canals. Their
+expectation evidently is that the scheme would not
+pay. In the absence, therefore, of any willingness
+on the part of shrewd capitalists&mdash;ever on the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>look-out for profitable investments&mdash;to touch the
+business, it is proposed that either the State or the
+local authorities should take up the matter, and carry
+it through at the risk, more or less, either of taxpayers
+or ratepayers.</p>
+
+<p>The Association of Chambers of Commerce, for
+instance, adopted, by a large majority, the following
+resolution at its annual meeting, in London, in
+February 1905:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"This Association recommends that the improvement
+and extension of the canal system of the United
+Kingdom should be carried out by means of a public
+trust, and, if necessary, in combination with local
+or district public trusts, and aided by a Government
+guarantee, and that the Executive Council be
+requested to take all reasonable measures to secure
+early legislation upon the subject."</p></div>
+
+<p>Then Sir John T. Brunner has strongly supported
+a nationalisation policy. In a letter to <cite>The Times</cite> he
+once wrote:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"I submit to you that we might begin with the
+nationalisation of our canals&mdash;some for the most
+part sadly antiquated&mdash;and bring them up to one
+modern standard gauge, such as the French gauge."</p></div>
+
+<p>Another party favours municipalisation and the
+creation of public trusts, a Bill with the latter
+object in view being promoted in the Session of
+1905, though it fell through owing to an informality
+in procedure.</p>
+
+<p>It would be idle to say that a scheme of canal
+nationalisation, or even of public trusts with "Government
+guarantee" (whatever the precise meaning of
+that term may be) involving millions of public
+money, could be carried through <em>without</em> affecting
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>the British taxpayer. It is equally idle to say that
+if only the canal system were taken in hand by the
+local authorities they would make such a success of
+it that there would be absolutely no danger of the
+ratepayers being called upon to make good any
+deficiency. The experiences that Metropolitan ratepayers,
+at least, have had as the result of County
+Council management of the Thames steamboat service
+would not predispose them to any feeling of confidence
+in the control of the canal system of the
+country by local authorities.</p>
+
+<p>At the Manchester meeting of the Association
+of Chambers of Commerce, in September 1904,
+Colonel F. N. Tannett Walker (Leeds) said, during
+the course of a debate on the canal question:
+"Personally, he was not against big trusts run by
+local authorities. He knew no more business-like
+concern in the world than the Mersey Harbour
+Board, which was a credit to the country as
+showing what business men, not working for their
+own selfish profits, but for the good of the community,
+could do for an undertaking. He would
+be glad to see the Mersey Boards scattered all over
+the country." But, even accepting the principle of
+canal municipalisation, what prospect would there be
+of Colonel Walker's aspiration being realised? The
+Mersey Harbour Board is an exceptional body, not
+necessarily capable of widespread reproduction on
+the same lines of efficiency. Against what is done
+in Liverpool may be put, in the case of London, the
+above-mentioned waste of public money in connection
+with the control of the Thames steamboat service by
+the London County Council. If the municipalised
+canals were to be worked on the same system, or
+any approach thereto, as these municipalised steamboats,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>it would be a bad look-out for the ratepayers
+of the country, whatever benefit might be gained by
+a small section of the traders.</p>
+
+<p>Then one must remember that the canals, say,
+from the Midlands to one of the ports, run through
+various rural districts which would have no interest
+in the through traffic carried, but might be required,
+nevertheless, to take a share in the cost and responsibility
+of keeping their sections of the municipalised
+waterways in an efficient condition, or in helping
+to provide an adequate water-supply. It does not
+follow that such districts&mdash;even if they were willing
+to go to the expense or the trouble involved&mdash;would
+be able to provide representatives on the managing
+body who would in any way compare, in regard to
+business capacity, with the members of the Mersey
+Harbour Board, even if they did so in respect to
+public spirit, and the sinking of their local interests
+and prejudices to promote the welfare of manufacturers,
+say, in Birmingham, and shippers in
+Liverpool, for neither of whom they felt any direct
+concern.</p>
+
+<p>Under the best possible conditions as regards
+municipalisation, it is still impossible to assume
+that a business so full of complications as the transport
+services of the country, calling for technical
+or expert knowledge of the most pronounced type,
+could be efficiently controlled by individuals who
+would be essentially amateurs at the business&mdash;and
+amateurs they would still be even if assisted by
+members of Chambers of Commerce who, however
+competent as merchants and manufacturers, would
+not necessarily be thoroughly versed in all these
+traffic problems. The result could not fail to be
+disastrous.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p>
+<p>I come, at this point, in connection with the
+possible liability of ratepayers, to just one matter
+of detail that might be disposed of here. It is
+certainly one that seems to be worth considering.
+Assume, for the sake of argument, that, in accordance
+with the plans now being projected, (1) public
+trusts were formed by the local authorities for the
+purpose of acquiring and operating the canals;
+(2) that these trusts secured possession&mdash;on some
+fair system of compensation&mdash;of the canals now
+owned or controlled by railway companies; (3) that
+they sought to work the canals in more or less
+direct competition with the railways; (4) that, after
+spending large sums of money in improvements,
+they found it impossible to make the canals pay, or
+to avoid heavy losses thereon; and (5) that these
+losses had to be made good by the ratepayers. I
+am merely assuming that all this might happen,
+not that it necessarily would. But, admitting that
+it did, would the railway companies, as ratepayers,
+be called upon to contribute their share towards
+making good the losses which had been sustained
+by the local authorities in carrying on a direct
+competition with them?</p>
+
+<p>Such a policy as this would be unjust, not alone
+to the railway shareholders, but also to those traders
+who had continued to use the railway lines, since
+it is obvious that the heavier the burdens imposed
+on the railway companies in the shape of local rates
+(which already form such substantial items in their
+"working expenses"), the less will the companies
+concerned be in a position to grant the concessions
+they might otherwise be willing to make. Besides,
+apart from monetary considerations, the principle of
+the thing would be intolerably unfair, and, if only
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>to avoid an injustice, it would surely be enacted that
+any possible increase in local rates, due to the failure
+of particular schemes of canal municipalisation, should
+fall exclusively on the traders and the general public
+who were to have been benefited, and in no way on
+the railway companies against whom the commercially
+unsuccessful competition had been waged.</p>
+
+<p>This proposition will, I am sure, appeal to that
+instinct of justice and fair play which every Englishman
+is (perhaps not always rightly), assumed to
+possess. But what would happen if it were duly
+carried out, as it ought to be? Well, in the Chapter
+on "Taxation of Railways" in my book on "Railways
+and their Rates," I gave one list showing that in a
+total of eighty-two parishes a certain British railway
+company paid an average of 60·25 per cent. of the
+local rates; while another table showed that in sixteen
+specified parishes the proportion of local rates paid
+by the same railway company ranged from 66·9 per
+cent. to 86·1 per cent. of the total, although in twelve
+parishes out of the sixteen the company had not
+even a railway station in the place. But if, in all
+such parishes as these, the railway companies were
+very properly excused from having to make good
+the losses incurred by their municipalised-canal competitors
+(in addition to such losses as they might
+have already suffered in meeting the competition),
+then the full weight of the burden would fall upon
+that smaller&mdash;and, in some cases, that very small&mdash;proportion
+of the general body of ratepayers in the
+locality concerned.</p>
+
+<p>The above is just a little consideration, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en passant</i>,
+which might be borne in mind by others than those
+who look at the subject only from a trader's or an
+engineer's point of view. It will help, also, to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>strengthen my contention that any ill-advised, or,
+at least, unsuccessful municipalisation of the canal
+system of the country might have serious consequences
+for the general body of the community,
+who, in the circumstances, would do well to "look
+before they leap."</p>
+
+<p>But, independently of commercial, engineering,
+rating and other considerations, there are important
+matters of principle to be considered. Great
+Britain is almost the only country in the world
+where the railway system has been constructed
+without State or municipal aid&mdash;financial or material&mdash;of
+any kind whatever. The canals were built by
+"private enterprise," and the railways which followed
+were constructed on the same basis. This was recognised
+as the national policy, and private investors
+were allowed to put their money into British railways,
+throughout successive decades, in the belief
+and expectation that the same principle would be
+continued. In other countries the State has (1) provided
+the funds for constructing or buying up the
+general railway system; (2) guaranteed payment of
+interest; or (3) has granted land or made other concessions,
+as a means of assisting the enterprise. Not
+only has the State refrained from adopting any such
+course here, and allowed private investors to bear
+the full financial risk, but it has imposed on British
+railways requirements which may certainly have led
+to their being the best constructed and the most complete
+of any in the world, but which have, also,
+combined with the extortions of landowners in the
+first instance, heavy expenditure on Parliamentary
+proceedings, etc., to render their construction per
+mile more costly than those of any other system
+of railways in the world; while to-day local taxation
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>is being levied upon them at the rate of £5,000,000
+per annum, with an annual increment of £250,000.</p>
+
+<p>This heavy expenditure, and these increasingly
+heavy demands, can only be met out of the rates
+and charges imposed on those who use the railways;
+and one of the greatest grievances advanced
+against the railways, and leading to the agitation
+for canal revival, is that these rates and charges
+are higher in Great Britain than in various other
+countries, where the railways have cost less to build,
+where State funds have been freely drawn on, and
+where the State lines may be required to contribute
+nothing to local taxation. The remedy proposed,
+however, is not that anything should be done to
+reduce the burdens imposed on our own railways,
+so as to place them at least in the position of being
+able to make further concessions to traders, but that
+the State should now itself start in the business,
+in competition, more or less, with the railway
+companies, in order to provide the traders&mdash;if it
+can&mdash;with something <em>cheaper</em> in the way of transport!</p>
+
+<p>Whatever view may be taken of the reasonableness
+and justice of such a procedure as this, it would,
+undoubtedly, represent a complete change in national
+policy, and one that should not be entered upon
+with undue haste. The logical sequel, for instance,
+of nationalisation of the canals would be nationalisation
+of the railways, since it would hardly do for
+the State to own the one and not the other. Then,
+of course, the nationalisation of all our ports would
+have to follow, as the further logical sequel of the
+State ownership of the means of communication with
+them, and the consequent suppression of competition.
+From a Socialist standpoint, the successive steps here
+mentioned would certainly be approved; but, even
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>if the financial difficulty could be met, the country
+is hardly ready for all these things at present.</p>
+
+<p>Is it ready, even in principle, for either the
+nationalisation or the municipalisation of canals
+alone? And, if ready in principle, if ready to
+employ public funds to compete with representatives
+of the private enterprise it has hitherto encouraged,
+is it still certain that, when millions of pounds
+sterling have been spent on the revival of our
+canals, the actual results will in any way justify
+the heavy expenditure? Are not the physical
+conditions of our country such that canal construction
+here presents exceptional drawbacks, and that
+canal navigation must always be exceptionally slow?
+Are not both physical and geographical conditions
+in Great Britain altogether unlike those of most of the
+Continental countries of whose waterways so much
+is heard? Are not our commercial conditions equally
+dissimilar? Is not the comparative neglect of our
+canals due less to structural or other defects than
+to complete changes in the whole basis of trading
+operations in this country&mdash;changes that would
+prevent any general discarding of the quick transit
+of small and frequent supplies by train, in favour
+of the delayed delivery of large quantities at longer
+intervals by water, however much the canals were
+improved?</p>
+
+<p>These are merely some of the questions and
+considerations that arise in connection with this
+most complicated of problems, and it is with the
+view of enabling the public to appreciate more fully
+the real nature of the situation, and to gain a clearer
+knowledge of the facts on which a right solution
+must be based, that I venture to lay before them
+the pages that follow.</p>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+
+<h2 title="II. EARLY DAYS">CHAPTER II<br />
+
+<small>EARLY DAYS</small></h2>
+
+
+<p>It seems to be customary with writers on the subject
+of canals and waterways to begin with the Egyptians,
+to detail the achievements of the Chinese, to record
+the doings of the Greeks, and then to pass on to the
+Romans, before even beginning their account of what
+has been done in Great Britain. Here, however, I
+propose to leave alone all this ancient history, which,
+to my mind, has no more to do with existing
+conditions in our own country than the system of
+inland navigation adopted by Noah, or the character
+of the canals which are supposed to exist in the planet
+of Mars.</p>
+
+<p>For the purposes of the present work it will suffice
+if I go no further back than what I would call the
+"pack-horse period" in the development of transport
+in England. This was the period immediately preceding
+the introduction of artificial canals, which had
+their rise in this country about 1760-70. It preceded,
+also, the advent of John Loudon McAdam, that great
+reformer of our roads, whose name has been immortalised
+in the verb "to macadamise." Born in 1756, it
+was not until the early days of the nineteenth century
+that McAdam really started on his beneficent mission,
+and even then the high-roads of England&mdash;and
+especially of Scotland&mdash;were, as a rule, deplorably
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>bad, "being at once loose, rough, and perishable,
+expensive, tedious and dangerous to travel on, and
+very costly to repair." Pending those improvements
+which McAdam brought about, adapting them to
+the better use of stage-coaches and carriers' waggons,
+the few roads already existing were practically available&mdash;as
+regards the transport of merchandise&mdash;for
+pack-horses only. Even coal was then carried by
+pack-horse, the cost working out at about 2s. 6d. per
+mile for as much as a horse could carry.</p>
+
+<p>It was from these conditions that canals saved the
+country&mdash;long, of course, before the locomotive came
+into vogue. As it happened, too, it was this very
+question of coal transport that led to their earliest
+development. There is quite an element of romance
+in the story. Francis Egerton, third and last Duke
+of Bridgewater (born 1736), had an unfortunate love
+affair in London when he reached the age of twenty-three,
+and, apparently in disgust with the world, he
+retired to his Lancashire property, where he found
+solace to his wounded feelings by devoting himself
+to the development of the Worsley coal mines. As a
+boy he had been so feeble-minded that the doubt
+arose whether he would be capable of managing his
+own affairs. As a young man disappointed in love,
+he applied himself to business in a manner so
+eminently practical that he deservedly became famous
+as a pioneer of improved transport. He saw that if
+only the cost of carriage could be reduced, a most
+valuable market for coal from his Worsley mines
+could be opened up in Manchester.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that, in this particular instance, the pack-horse
+had been supplemented by the Mersey and
+Irwell Navigation, established as the result of Parliamentary
+powers obtained in 1733. This navigation
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>was conducted almost entirely by natural waterways,
+but it had many drawbacks and inconveniences,
+while the freight for general merchandise between
+Liverpool and Manchester by this route came to
+12s. per ton. The Duke's new scheme was one
+for the construction of an artificial waterway which
+could be carried over the Irwell at Barton by means
+of an aqueduct. This idea he got from the aqueduct
+on the Languedoc Canal, in the south of France.</p>
+
+<p>But the Duke required a practical man to help him,
+and such a man he found in James Brindley. Born in
+1716, Brindley was the son of a small farmer in Derbyshire&mdash;a
+dissolute sort of fellow, who neglected his
+children, did little or no work, and devoted his chief
+energies to the then popular sport of bull-baiting. In
+the circumstances James Brindley's school-teaching
+was wholly neglected. He could no more have passed
+an examination in the Sixth Standard than he could
+have flown over the Irwell with some of his ducal
+patron's coals. "He remained to the last illiterate,
+hardly able to write, and quite unable to spell. He
+did most of his work in his head, without written
+calculations or drawings, and when he had a puzzling
+bit of work he would go to bed, and think it out."
+From the point of view of present day Board School
+inspectors, and of the worthy magistrates who, with
+varied moral reflections, remorselessly enforce the
+principles of compulsory education, such an individual
+ought to have come to a bad end. But he didn't.
+He became, instead, "the father of inland navigation."</p>
+
+<p>James Brindley had served his apprenticeship to
+a millwright, or engineer; he had started a little
+business as a repairer of old machinery and a maker
+of new; and he had in various ways given proof of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>his possession of mechanical skill. The Duke&mdash;evidently
+a reader of men&mdash;saw in him the possibility
+of better things, took him over, and appointed him
+his right-hand man in constructing the proposed
+canal. After much active opposition from the
+proprietors of the Mersey and Irwell Navigation,
+and also from various landowners and others, the
+Duke got his first Act, to which the Royal assent
+was given in 1762, and the work was begun. It
+presented many difficulties, for the canal had to be
+carried over streams and bogs, and through tunnels
+costly to make, and the time came when the Duke's
+financial resources were almost exhausted. Brindley's
+wages were not extravagant. They amounted, in
+fact, to £1 a week&mdash;substantially less than the
+minimum wage that would be paid to-day to a
+municipal road-sweeper. But the costs of construction
+were heavy, and the landowners had unduly
+big ideas of the value of the land compulsorily
+acquired from them, so that the Duke's steward
+sometimes had to ride about among the tenantry
+and borrow a few pounds from one and another in
+order to pay the week's wages. When the Worsley
+section had been completed, and had become
+remunerative, the Duke pledged it to Messrs Child,
+the London bankers, for £25,000, and with the money
+thus raised he pushed on with the remainder of the
+canal, seeing it finally extended to Liverpool in 1772.
+Altogether he expended on his own canals no less
+than £220,000; but he lived to derive from them a
+revenue of £80,000 a year.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of Bridgewater's schemes gave a great
+impetus to canal construction in Great Britain, though
+it was only natural that a good deal of opposition
+should be raised, as well. About the year 1765
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>numerous pamphlets were published to show the
+danger and impolicy of canals. Turnpike trustees
+were afraid the canals would divert traffic from the
+roads. Owners of pack-horses fancied that ruin stared
+them in the face. Thereupon the turnpike trustees
+and the pack-horse owners sought the further support
+of the agricultural interests, representing that, when
+the demand for pack-horses fell off, there would be
+less need for hay and oats, and the welfare of British
+agriculture would be prejudiced. So the farmers
+joined in, and the three parties combined in an effort
+to arouse the country. Canals, it was said, would
+involve a great waste of land; they would destroy
+the breed of draught horses; they would produce
+noxious or humid vapours; they would encourage
+pilfering; they would injure old mines and works
+by allowing of new ones being opened; and they
+would destroy the coasting trade, and, consequently,
+"the nursery for seamen."</p>
+
+<p>By arguments such as these the opposition actually
+checked for some years the carrying out of several
+important undertakings, including the Trent and
+Mersey Navigation. But, when once the movement
+had fairly started, it made rapid progress. James
+Brindley's energy, down to the time of his death in
+1772, was especially indomitable. Having ensured
+the success of the Bridgewater Canal, he turned his
+attention to a scheme for linking up the four ports
+of Liverpool, Hull, Bristol, and London by a system
+of main waterways, connected by branch canals with
+leading industrial centres off the chief lines of route.
+Other projects followed, as it was seen that the
+earlier ventures were yielding substantial profits,
+and in 1790 a canal mania began. In 1792 no
+fewer than eighteen new canals were promoted. In
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>1793 and 1794 the number of canal and navigation
+Acts passed was forty-five, increasing to eighty-one
+the total number which had been obtained since
+1790. So great was the public anxiety to invest in
+canals that new ones were projected on all hands,
+and, though many of them were of a useful type,
+others were purely speculative, were doomed to
+failure from the start, and occasioned serious losses
+to thousands of investors. In certain instances
+existing canals were granted the right to levy tolls
+upon new-comers, as compensation for prospective
+loss of traffic&mdash;even when the new canals were to
+be 4 or 5 miles away&mdash;fresh schemes being actually
+undertaken on this basis.</p>
+
+<p>The canals that paid at all paid well, and the
+good they conferred on the country in the days of
+their prosperity is undeniable. Failing, at that time,
+more efficient means of transport, they played a most
+important rôle in developing the trade, industries,
+and commerce of our country at a period especially
+favourable to national advancement. For half a
+century, in fact, the canals had everything their
+own way. They had a monopoly of the transport
+business&mdash;except as regards road traffic&mdash;and in
+various instances they helped their proprietors to
+make huge profits. But great changes were impending,
+and these were brought about, at last, with the
+advent of the locomotive.</p>
+
+<p>The general situation at this period is well shown
+by the following extracts from an article on "Canals
+and Rail-roads," published in the <cite>Quarterly Review</cite>
+of March 1825:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"It is true that we, who, in this age, are accustomed
+to roll along our hard and even roads at the rate
+of 8 or 9 miles an hour, can hardly imagine the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>inconveniences which beset our great-grandfathers
+when they had to undertake a journey&mdash;forcing their
+way through deep miry lanes; fording swollen rivers;
+obliged to halt for days together when 'the waters
+were out'; and then crawling along at a pace of 2
+or 3 miles an hour, in constant fear of being set
+down fast in some deep quagmire, of being overturned,
+breaking down, or swept away by a sudden
+inundation.</p>
+
+<p>"Such was the travelling condition of our ancestors,
+until the several turnpike Acts effected a gradual and
+most favourable change, not only in the state of the
+roads, but the whole appearance of the country; by
+increasing the facility of communication, and the
+transport of many weighty and bulky articles which,
+before that period, no effort could move from one
+part of the country to another. The pack-horse
+was now yoked to the waggon, and stage coaches
+and post-chaises usurped the place of saddle-horses.
+Imperfectly as most of these turnpike roads were constructed,
+and greatly as their repairs were neglected,
+they were still a prodigious improvement; yet, for
+the conveyance of heavy merchandise the progress
+of waggons was slow and their capacity limited.
+This defect was at length remedied by the opening
+of canals, an improvement which became, with
+regard to turnpike roads and waggons, what these
+had been to deep lanes and pack-horses.<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> But we
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>may apply to projectors the observation of Sheridan,
+'Give these fellows a good thing and they never
+know when to have done with it,' for so vehement
+became the rage for canal-making that, in a few
+years, the whole surface of the country was intersected
+by these inland navigations, and frequently in parts
+of the island where there was little or no traffic to
+be conveyed. The consequence was, that a large
+proportion of them scarcely paid an interest of one
+per cent., and many nothing at all; while others,
+judiciously conducted over populous, commercial,
+and manufacturing districts, have not only amply
+remunerated the parties concerned, but have contributed
+in no small degree to the wealth and prosperity
+of the nation.</p>
+
+<p>"Yet these expensive establishments for facilitating
+the conveyance of the commercial, manufacturing and
+agricultural products of the country to their several
+destinations, excellent and useful as all must acknowledge
+them to be, are now likely, in their turn,
+to give way to the old invention of Rail-roads.
+Nothing now is heard of but rail-roads; the daily
+papers teem with notices of new lines of them in
+every direction, and pamphlets and paragraphs are
+thrown before the public eye, recommending nothing
+short of making them general throughout the kingdom.
+Yet, till within these few months past, this old
+invention, in use a full century before canals, has
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>been suffered, with few exceptions, to act the part
+only of an auxiliary to canals, in the conveyance of
+goods to and from the wharfs, and of iron, coals,
+limestone, and other products of the mines to the
+nearest place of shipment....</p>
+
+<p>"The powers of the steam-engine, and a growing
+conviction that our present modes of conveyance,
+excellent as they are, both require and admit of
+great improvements, are, no doubt, among the chief
+reasons that have set the current of speculation in
+this particular direction."</p></div>
+
+<p>Dealing with the question of "vested rights," the
+article warns "the projectors of the intended railroads
+... of the necessity of being prepared to
+meet the most strenuous opposition from the canal
+proprietors," and proceeds:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"But, we are free to confess, it does not appear to
+us that the canal proprietors have the least ground
+for complaining of a grievance. They embarked their
+property in what they conceived to be a good speculation,
+which in some cases was realised far beyond
+their most sanguine hopes; in others, failed beyond
+their most desponding calculations. If those that have
+succeeded should be able to maintain a competition
+with rail-ways by lowering their charges; what they
+thus lose will be a fair and unimpeachable gain to
+the public, and a moderate and just profit will still
+remain to them; while the others would do well to
+transfer their interests from a bad concern into one
+whose superiority must be thus established. Indeed,
+we understand that this has already been proposed
+to a very considerable extent, and that the level beds
+of certain unproductive canals have been offered for the
+reception of rail-ways.</p>
+
+<p>"There is, however, another ground upon which, in
+many instances, we have no doubt, the opposition of
+the canal proprietors may be properly met&mdash;we mean,
+and we state it distinctly, the unquestionable fact, that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>our trade and manufactures have suffered considerably
+by the disproportionate rates of charge upon canal
+conveyance. The immense tonnage of coal, iron, and
+earthenware, Mr Cumming tells us,<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> 'have enabled
+one of the canals, passing through these districts
+(near Birmingham), to pay an annual dividend to
+the proprietary of £140 upon an original share of
+£140, and as such has enhanced the value of each
+share from £140 to £3,200; and another canal in the
+same district, to pay an annual dividend of £160
+upon the original share of £200, and the shares
+themselves have reached the value of £4,600 each.'</p>
+
+<p>"Nor are these solitary instances. Mr Sandars
+informs us<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> that, of the only two canals which unite
+Liverpool with Manchester, the thirty-nine original
+proprietors of one of them, the Old Quay,<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> have
+been paid for every other year, for nearly half a
+century, the <em>total amount of their investment</em>; and
+that a share in this canal, which cost only £70, has
+recently been sold for £1,250; and that, with regard
+to the other, the late Duke of Bridgewater's, there is
+good reason to believe that the net income has, for
+the last twenty years, averaged nearly £100,000 per
+annum!"</p></div>
+
+<p>In regard, however, to the supersession of canals in
+general by railways, the writer of the article says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"We are not the advocates for visionary projects
+that interfere with useful establishments; we scout
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>the idea of a <em>general</em> rail-road as altogether impracticable....</p>
+
+<p>"As to those persons who speculate on making
+rail-ways general throughout the kingdom, and
+superseding all the canals, all the waggons, mail
+and stage-coaches, post-chaises, and, in short, every
+other mode of conveyance by land and water, we
+deem them and their visionary schemes unworthy of
+notice."</p></div>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+
+<h2 title="III. RAILWAYS TO THE RESCUE">CHAPTER III<br />
+
+<small>RAILWAYS TO THE RESCUE</small></h2>
+
+
+<p>It is not a little curious to find that, whereas the
+proposed resuscitation of canals is now being actively
+supported in various quarters as a means of effecting
+increased competition with the railways, the railway
+system itself originally had a most cordial welcome
+from the traders of this country as a means of
+relieving them from what had become the intolerable
+monopoly of the canals and waterways!</p>
+
+<p>It will have been seen that in the article published
+in the <cite>Quarterly Review</cite> of March 1825, from which
+I gave extracts in the last Chapter, reference was
+made to a "Letter on the Subject of the Projected
+Rail-road between Liverpool and Manchester," by
+Mr Joseph Sandars, and published that same year.
+I have looked up the original "Letter," and found in
+it some instructive reading. Mr Sandars showed that
+although, under the Act of Parliament obtained by
+the Duke of Bridgewater, the tolls to be charged
+on his canal between Liverpool and Manchester
+were not to exceed 2s. 6d. per ton, his trustees had,
+by various exactions, increased them to 5s. 2d. per
+ton on all goods carried along the canal. They had
+also got possession of all the available land and
+warehouses along the canal banks at Manchester,
+thus monopolising the accommodation, or nearly so,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>and forcing the traders to keep to the trustees,
+and not patronise independent carriers. It was,
+Mr Sandars declared, "the most oppressive and
+unjust monopoly known to the trade of this country&mdash;a
+monopoly which there is every reason to believe
+compels the public to pay, in one shape or another,
+£100,000 more per annum than they ought to pay."
+The Bridgewater trustees and the proprietors of the
+Mersey and Irwell Navigation were, he continued,
+"deaf to all remonstrances, to all entreaties"; they
+were "actuated solely by a spirit of monopoly and
+extension," and "the only remedy the public has
+left is to go to Parliament and ask for a new line
+of conveyance." But this new line, he said, would
+have to be a railway. It could not take the form
+of another canal, as the two existing routes had
+absorbed all the available water-supply.</p>
+
+<p>In discussing the advantages of a railway over a
+canal, Mr Sandars continued:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"It is computed that goods could be carried for
+considerably less than is now charged, and for one-half
+of what has been charged, and that they would
+be conveyed in one-sixth of the time. Canals in
+summer are often short of water, and in winter are
+obstructed by frost; a Railway would not have to
+encounter these impediments."</p></div>
+
+<p>Mr Sandars further wrote:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"The distance between Liverpool and Manchester,
+by the three lines of Water conveyance, is upwards
+of 50 miles&mdash;by a Rail-road it would only be
+33. Goods conveyed by the Duke and Old
+Quay [Mersey and Irwell Navigation] are exposed
+to storms, the delays from adverse winds, and the
+risk of damage, during a passage of 18 miles
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>in the tide-way of the Mersey. For days
+together it frequently happens that when the wind
+blows very strong, either south or north, their
+vessels cannot move against it. It is very true
+that when the winds and tides are favourable
+they can occasionally effect a passage in fourteen
+hours; but the average is certainly thirty. However,
+notwithstanding all the accommodation they
+can offer, the delays are such that the spinners
+and dealers are frequently obliged to cart cotton on
+the public high-road, a distance of 36 miles, for
+which they pay four times the price which would
+be charged by a Rail-road, and they are three
+times as long in getting it to hand. The same
+observation applies to manufactured goods which
+are sent by land-carriage daily, and for which the
+rate paid is five times that which they would be
+subject to by the Rail-road. This enormous sacrifice
+is made for two reasons&mdash;sometimes because conveyance
+by water cannot be promptly obtained,
+but more frequently because speed and certainty as
+to delivery are of the first importance. Packages
+of goods sent from Manchester, for immediate shipment
+at Liverpool, often pay two or three pounds
+per ton; and yet there are those who assert that
+the difference of a few hours in speed can be no
+object. The merchants know better."</p></div>
+
+<p>In the same year that Mr Sandars issued his
+"Letter," the merchants of the port of Liverpool
+addressed a memorial to the Mayor and Common
+Council of the borough, praying them to support
+the scheme for the building of a railway, and
+stating:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"The merchants of this port have for a long time
+past experienced very great difficulties and obstructions
+in the prosecution of their business, in consequence
+of the high charges on the freight of goods
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>between this town and Manchester, and of the
+frequent impossibility of obtaining vessels for days
+together."</p></div>
+
+<p>It is clear from all this that, however great the
+benefit which canal transport had conferred, as
+compared with prior conditions, the canal companies
+had abused their monopoly in order to secure what
+were often enormous profits; that the canals themselves,
+apart from the excessive tolls and charges
+imposed, failed entirely to meet the requirements of
+traders; and that the most effective means of obtaining
+relief was looked for in the provision of railways.</p>
+
+<p>The value to which canal shares had risen at this
+time is well shown by the following figures, which
+I take from the <cite>Gentleman's Magazine</cite> for December,
+1824:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table class="bordered" border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" summary="canal shares">
+<tr><td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">Canal.</span></td>
+    <td class="tdc" colspan="4"><span class="smcap">Shares.</span></td>
+    <td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">Price.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bb0">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdc br0 bb0">£</td>
+    <td class="tdc bl0 br0 bb0"><i>s.</i></td>
+    <td class="tdc bl0 br0 bb0"><i>d.</i></td>
+    <td class="tdc bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdc bb0">£</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Trent and Mersey</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 br0 bb0">75</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">2,200</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Loughborough</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 br0 bb0">197</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">4,600</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Coventry</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 br0 bb0">44</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">(and bonus)</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">1,300</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Oxford (short shares)</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 br0 bb0">32</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">850</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Grand Junction</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 br0 bb0">10</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">290</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Old Union</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 br0 bb0">4</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">103</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Neath</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">15</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">400</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Swansea</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">11</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">250</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Monmouthshire</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">10</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">245</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Brecknock and Abergavenny</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">8</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">175</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Staffordshire &amp; Worcestershire</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">40</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">960</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Birmingham</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">12</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">10</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">350</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Worcester and Birmingham</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">1</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">10</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">56</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Shropshire</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">8</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">10</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">175</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Ellesmere</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">3</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">10</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">102</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Rochdale</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">4</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">140</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Barnsley</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">12</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">330</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Lancaster</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">1</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">45</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">Kennet and Avon</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 br0 bb0">1</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">0</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bl0 br0 bb0">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0 bb0">29</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p>
+<p>These substantial values, and the large dividends
+that led to them, were due in part, no doubt, to the
+general improvement in trade which the canals had
+helped most materially to effect; but they had been
+greatly swollen by the merciless way in which the
+traders of those days were exploited by the representatives
+of the canal interest. As bearing on this point,
+I might interrupt the course of my narrative to say
+that in the House of Commons on May 17, 1836,
+Mr Morrison, member for Ipswich, made a speech
+in which, as reported by Hansard, he expressed
+himself "clearly of opinion" that "Parliament
+should, when it established companies for the
+formation of canals, railroads, or such like undertakings,
+invariably reserve to itself the power to
+make such periodical revisions of the rates and
+charges as it may, under the then circumstances,
+deem expedient"; and he proposed a resolution to
+this effect. He was moved to adopt this course in
+view of past experiences in connection with the
+canals, and a desire that there should be no repetition
+of them in regard to the railways then being
+very generally promoted. In the course of his speech
+he said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"The history of existing canals, waterways, etc.,
+affords abundant evidence of the evils to which I
+have been averting. An original share in the Loughborough
+Canal, for example, which cost £142, 17s.
+is now selling at about £1,250, and yields a dividend
+of £90 or £100 a year. The fourth part of a Trent
+and Mersey Canal share, or £50 of the company's
+stock, is now fetching £600, and yields a dividend
+of about £30 a year. And there are various other
+canals in nearly the same situation."</p></div>
+
+<p>At the close of the debate which followed,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>Mr Morrison withdrew his resolution, owing to the
+announcement that the matter to which he had
+called attention would be dealt with in a Bill then
+being framed. It is none the less interesting thus
+to find that Parliamentary revisions of railway rates
+were, in the first instance, directly inspired by the
+extortions practised on the traders by canal companies
+in the interest of dividends far in excess of any that
+the railway companies have themselves attempted to
+pay.</p>
+
+<p>Reverting to the story of the Liverpool and
+Manchester Railway&mdash;the projection of which, as
+Mr Sandars' "Letter" shows, represented a revolt
+against "the exorbitant and unjust charges of the
+water-carriers"&mdash;the Bill promoted in its favour was
+opposed so vigorously by the canal and other interests
+that £70,000 was spent in the Parliamentary proceedings
+in getting it through. But it was carried
+in 1826, and the new line, opened in 1830, was so
+great a success that it soon began to inspire many
+similar projects in other directions, while with its
+opening the building of fresh canals for ordinary
+inland navigation (as distinct from ship canals)
+practically ceased.</p>
+
+<p>There is not the slightest doubt that, but for the
+extreme dissatisfaction of the trading interests in
+regard alike to the heavy charges and to the shortcomings
+of the canal system, the Liverpool and
+Manchester Railway&mdash;that precursor of the "railway
+mania"&mdash;would not have been actually constructed
+until at least several years later. But there were
+other directions, also, in which the revolt against
+the then existing conditions was to bring about
+important developments. In the pack-horse period
+the collieries of Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>respectively supplied local needs only, the cost of
+transport by road making it practically impossible
+to send coal out of the county in which it was raised.
+With the advent of canals the coal could be taken
+longer distances, and the canals themselves gained
+so much from the business that at one time shares
+in the Loughborough Canal, on which £142 had been
+paid, rose, as already shown, to £4,600, and were
+looked upon as being as safe as Consols. But the
+collapse of a canal from the Leicestershire coal-fields
+to the town of Leicester placed the coalowners of
+that county at a disadvantage, and this they overcame,
+in 1832, by opening the Leicester and Swinnington
+line of railway. Thereupon the disadvantage
+was thrown upon the Nottinghamshire coalowners,
+who could no longer compete with Leicestershire.
+In fact, the immediate outlook before them was that
+they would be excluded from their chief markets,
+that their collieries might have to be closed, and
+that the mining population would be thrown out of
+employment.</p>
+
+<p>In their dilemma they appealed to the canal
+companies, and asked for such a reduction in rates
+as would enable them to meet the new situation;
+but the canal companies&mdash;wedded to their big
+dividends&mdash;would make only such concessions as
+were thought by the other side to be totally inadequate.
+Following on this the Nottinghamshire coalowners
+met in the parlour of a village inn at Eastwood, in
+the autumn of 1832, and formally declared that "there
+remained no other plan for their adoption than to
+attempt to lay a railway from their collieries to the
+town of Leicester." The proposal was confirmed by
+a subsequent meeting, which resolved that "a railway
+from Pinxton to Leicester is essential to the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>interests of the coal-trade of this district." Communications
+were opened with George Stephenson,
+the services of his son Robert were secured, the
+"Midland Counties Railway" was duly constructed,
+and the final outcome of the action thus taken&mdash;as
+the direct result of the attitude of the canal companies&mdash;is
+to be seen in the splendid system known to-day
+as the Midland Railway.</p>
+
+<p>Once more, I might refer to Mr Charles H.
+Grinling's "History of the Great Northern Railway,"
+in which, speaking of early conditions, he
+says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"During the winter of 1843-44 a strong desire arose
+among the landowners and farmers of the eastern
+counties to secure some of the benefits which other
+districts were enjoying from the new method of
+locomotion. One great want of this part of England
+was that of cheaper fuel, for though there were
+collieries open at this time in Leicestershire,
+Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire, the nearest pits
+with which the eastern counties had practicable transport
+communication were those of South Yorkshire
+and Durham, and this was of so circuitous a
+character that even in places situated on navigable
+rivers, unserved by a canal, the price of coal often
+rose as high as 40s. or even 50s. a ton. In remoter
+places, to which it had to be carted 10, 20, or even
+30 miles along bad cross-roads, coal even for house-firing
+was a positive luxury, quite unattainable by
+the poorer classes. Moreover, in the most severe
+weather, when the canals were frozen, the whole
+system of supply became paralysed, and even the
+wealthy had not seldom to retreat shivering to bed
+for lack of fuel."</p></div>
+
+<p>In this particular instance it was George Hudson,
+the "Railway King," who was approached, and the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>first lines were laid of what is now the Great Northern
+Railway.</p>
+
+<p>So it happened that, when the new form of transport
+came into vogue, in succession to the canals, it
+was essentially a case of "Railways to the Rescue."</p>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+
+<h2 title="IV. RAILWAY-CONTROLLED CANALS">CHAPTER IV<br />
+
+<small>RAILWAY-CONTROLLED CANALS</small></h2>
+
+
+<p>Both canals and railways were, in their early days,
+made according to local conditions, and were intended
+to serve local purposes. In the case of the former the
+design and dimensions of the canal boat used were
+influenced by the depth and nature of the estuary or
+river along which it might require to proceed, and
+the size of the lock (affecting, again, the size of the
+boat) might vary according to whether the lock was
+constructed on a low level, where there was ample
+water, or on a high level, where economy in the use
+of water had to be practised. Uniformity under these
+varying conditions would certainly have been difficult
+to secure, and, in effect, it was not attempted. The
+original designers of the canals, in days when the
+trade of the country was far less than it is now
+and the general trading conditions very different,
+probably knew better what they were about than
+their critics of to-day give them credit for. They
+realised more completely than most of those critics
+do what were the limitations of canal construction
+in a country of hills and dales, and especially in
+rugged and mountainous districts. They cut their
+coat, as it were, according to their cloth, and sought
+to meet the actual needs of the day rather than
+anticipate the requirements of futurity. From their
+point of view this was the simplest solution of the
+problem.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a id="i_032fp"></a>
+<img src="images/i_032fp.jpg" width="600" height="335" alt="WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN." />
+<div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN.</p>
+
+    <p class="center">(Cowley Tunnel and Embankments, on Shropshire Union Route between Wolverhampton and the Mersey.)</p>
+
+    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 32.</i></p>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p>
+<p>But, though the canals thus made suited local
+conditions, they became unavailable for through
+traffic, except in boats sufficiently small to pass the
+smallest lock or the narrowest and shallowest canal
+<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en route</i>. Then the lack of uniformity in construction
+was accompanied by a lack of unity in management.
+Each and every through route was divided among,
+as a rule, from four to eight or ten different navigations,
+and a boat-owner making the journey had to
+deal separately with each.</p>
+
+<p>The railway companies soon began to rid themselves
+of their own local limitations. A "Railway
+Clearing House" was set up in 1847, in the interests
+of through traffic; groups of small undertakings
+amalgamated into "great" companies; facilities of
+a kind unknown before were made available, while
+the whole system of railway operation was simplified
+for traders and travellers. The canal companies,
+however, made no attempt to follow the example
+thus set. They were certainly in a more difficult
+position than the railways. They might have
+amalgamated, and they might have established a
+Canal Clearing House. These would have been
+comparatively easy things to do. But any satisfactory
+linking up of the various canal systems
+throughout the country would have meant virtual
+reconstruction, and this may well have been thought
+a serious proposition in regard, especially, to canals
+built at a considerable elevation above the sea level,
+where the water supply was limited, and where, for
+that reason, some of the smallest locks were to be
+found. To say the least of it, such a work meant
+a very large outlay, and at that time practically all
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>the capital available for investment in transport was
+being absorbed by new railways. These, again, had
+secured the public confidence which the canals were
+losing. As Mr Sandars said in his "Letter":&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"Canals have done well for the country, just as
+high roads and pack-horses had done before canals
+were established; but the country has now presented
+to it cheaper and more expeditious means of conveyance,
+and the attempt to prevent its adoption is
+utterly hopeless."</p></div>
+
+<p>All that the canal companies did, in the first
+instance, was to attempt the very thing which
+Mr Sandars considered "utterly hopeless." They
+adopted a policy of blind and narrow-minded hostility.
+They seemed to think that, if they only fought them
+vigorously enough, they could drive the railways off
+the field; and fight them they did, at every possible
+point. In those days many of the canal companies
+were still wealthy concerns, and what their opposition
+might mean has been already shown in the case of
+the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The newcomers
+had thus to concentrate their efforts and meet
+the opposition as best they could.</p>
+
+<p>For a time the canal companies clung obstinately
+to their high tolls and charges, in the hope that
+they would still be able to pay their big dividends.
+But, when the superiority of the railways over the
+waterways became more and more manifest, and
+when the canal companies saw greater and still
+greater quantities of traffic being diverted from them
+by their opponents, in fair competition, they realised
+the situation at last, and brought down their tolls
+with a rush. The reductions made were so substantial
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>that they would have been thought incredible a few
+years previously.</p>
+
+<p>In the result, benefits were gained by all classes
+of traders, for those who still patronised the canals
+were charged much more reasonable tolls than they
+had ever paid before. But even the adoption of this
+belated policy by the canal companies did not help
+them very much. The diversion of the stream of
+traffic to the railways had become too pronounced to
+be checked by even the most substantial of reductions
+in canal charges. With the increasing industrial
+and commercial development of the country it was
+seen that the new means of transport offered advantages
+of even greater weight than cost of transport,
+namely, speed and certainty of delivery. For the
+average trader it was essentially a case of time
+meaning money. The canal companies might now
+reduce their tolls so much that, instead of being
+substantially in excess of the railway rates, as they
+were at first, they would fall considerably below;
+but they still could not offer those other all-important
+advantages.</p>
+
+<p>As the canal companies found that the struggle
+was, indeed, "utterly hopeless," some of them adopted
+new lines of policy. Either they proposed to build
+railways themselves, or they tried to dispose of their
+canal property to the newcomers. In some instances
+the route of a canal, no longer of much value, was
+really wanted for the route of a proposed railway,
+and an arrangement was easily made. In others,
+where the railway promoters did not wish to buy,
+opposition to their schemes was offered by the canal
+companies with the idea of forcing them either so to
+do, or, alternatively, to make such terms with them as
+would be to the advantage of the canal shareholders.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span></p>
+<p>The tendency in this direction is shown by the
+extract already given from the <cite>Quarterly Review</cite>; and
+I may repeat here the passage in which the writer
+suggested that some of the canal companies "would
+do well to transfer their interests from a bad concern
+into one whose superiority must be thus established,"
+and added: "Indeed, we understand that this has
+already been proposed to a very considerable extent,
+and that the level beds of certain unproductive canals
+have been offered for the reception of rail-ways."
+This was as early as 1825. Later on the tendency
+became still more pronounced as pressure was put
+on the railway companies, or as promoters, in days
+when plenty of money was available for railway
+schemes, thought the easiest way to overcome actual
+or prospective opposition was to buy it off by making
+the best terms they could. So far, in fact, was
+the principle recognised that in 1845 Parliament
+expressly sanctioned the control of canals by railway
+companies, whether by amalgamation, lease,
+purchase, or guarantee, and a considerable amount
+of canal mileage thus came into the possession, or
+under the control, of railway companies, especially
+in the years 1845, 1846, and 1847. This sanction
+was practically repealed by the Railway and Traffic
+Acts of 1873 and 1888. By that time about one-third
+of the existing canals had been either voluntarily
+acquired by, or forced upon, the railway
+companies. It is obvious, however, that the responsibility
+for what was done rests with Parliament
+itself, and that in many cases, probably, the railway
+companies, instead of being arch-conspirators, anxious
+to spend their money in killing off moribund competitors,
+who were generally considered to be on
+the point of dying a natural death, were, at times,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>victims of the situation, being practically driven
+into purchases or guarantees which, had they been
+perfectly free agents, they might not have cared to
+touch.</p>
+
+<p>The general position was, perhaps, very fairly
+indicated by the late Sir James Allport, at one
+time General Manager of the Midland Railway
+Company, in the evidence he gave before the
+Select Committee on Canals in 1883.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"I doubt (he said) if Parliament ever, at that time
+of day, came to any deliberate decision as to the
+advisability or otherwise of railways possessing canals;
+but I presume that they did not do so without the
+fullest evidence before them, and no doubt canal
+companies were very anxious to get rid of their
+property to railways, and they opposed their Bills,
+and, in the desire to obtain their Bills, railway
+companies purchased their canals. That, I think,
+would be found to be the fact, if it were possible to
+trace them out in every case. I do not believe that
+the London and North-Western would have bought
+the Birmingham Canal but for this circumstance. I
+have no doubt that the Birmingham Canal, when
+the Stour Valley line was projected, felt that their
+property was jeopardised, and that it was then that
+the arrangement was made by which the London and
+North-Western Railway Company guaranteed them
+4 per cent."</p></div>
+
+<p>The bargains thus effected, either voluntarily or
+otherwise (and mostly otherwise), were not necessarily
+to the advantage of the railway companies, who
+might often have done better for themselves if
+they had fought out the fight at the time with their
+antagonists, and left the canal companies to their
+fate, instead of taking over waterways which have
+been more or less of a loss to them ever since.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>Considering the condition into which many of the
+canals had already drifted, or were then drifting,
+there is very little room for doubt what their fate
+would have been if the railway companies had left
+them severely alone. Indeed, there are various
+canals whose continued operation to-day, in spite of
+the losses on their wholly unremunerative traffic, is
+due exclusively to the fact that they are owned
+or controlled by railway companies. Independent
+proprietors, looking to them for dividends, and
+not under any statutory obligations (as the railway
+companies are) to keep them going, would long ago
+have abandoned such canals entirely, and allowed
+them to be numbered among the derelicts.</p>
+
+<p>As bearing on the facts here narrated, I might
+mention that, in the course of a discussion at the
+Institution of Civil Engineers, in November 1905,
+on a paper read by Mr John Arthur Saner, "Waterways
+in Great Britain" (reported in the official "Proceedings"
+of the Institution), Mr James Inglis, General
+Manager of the Great Western Railway Company,
+said that "his company owned about 216 miles of
+canal, not a mile of which had been acquired
+voluntarily. Many of those canals had been forced
+on the railway as the price of securing Acts, and
+some had been obtained by negotiations with the
+canal companies. The others had been acquired in
+incidental ways, arising from the fact that the traffic
+had absolutely disappeared." Mr Inglis further told
+the story of the Kennet and Avon Canal, which his
+company maintain at a loss of about £4,000 per
+annum. The canal, it seems, was constructed in
+1794 at a cost of £1,000,000, and at one time
+paid 5 per cent. The traffic fell off steadily with
+the extension of the railway system, and in 1846
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>the canal company, seeing their position was hopeless,
+applied to Parliament for powers to construct
+a railway parallel with the canal. Sanction was
+refused, though the company were authorised to
+act as common carriers. In 1851 the canal owners
+approached the Great Western Railway Company,
+and told them of their intention to seek again for
+powers to build an opposition railway. The upshot
+of the matter was that the railway company took
+over the canal, and agreed to pay the canal company
+£7,773 a year. This they have done, with a loss
+to themselves ever since. The rates charged on the
+canal were successively reduced by the Board of Trade
+(on appeal being made to that body) to 1&frac14;d., then to
+1d., and finally &frac12;d. per ton-mile; but there had never
+been a sign, Mr Inglis added, that the reduction had
+any effect in attracting additional traffic.<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+
+<p class="mt2">To ascertain for myself some further details as
+to the past and present of the Kennet and Avon
+Navigation, I paid a visit of inspection to the canal
+in the neighbourhood of Bath, where it enters the
+River Avon, and also at Devizes, where I saw the
+remarkable series of locks by means of which the
+canal reaches the town of Devizes, at an elevation
+of 425 feet above sea level. In conversation, too,
+with various authorities, including Mr H. J. Saunders,
+the Canals Engineer of the Great Western Railway
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>Company, I obtained some interesting facts which
+throw light on the reasons for the falling off of the
+traffic along the canal.</p>
+
+<p>Dealing with this last mentioned point first, I
+learned that much of the former prosperity of the
+Kennet and Avon Navigation was due to a substantial
+business then done in the transport of coal
+from a considerable colliery district in Somersetshire,
+comprising the Radstock, Camerton, Dunkerton, and
+Timsbury collieries. This coal was first put on the
+Somerset Coal Canal, which connected with the
+Kennet and Avon at Dundas&mdash;a point between
+Bath and Bradford-on-Avon&mdash;and, on reaching this
+junction, it was taken either to towns directly served
+by the Kennet and Avon (including Bath, Bristol,
+Bradford, Trowbridge, Devizes, Kintbury, Hungerford,
+Newbury and Reading) or, leaving the Kennet
+and Avon at Semmington, it passed over the Wilts
+and Berks Canal to various places as far as Abingdon.
+In proportion, however, as the railways developed
+their superiority as an agent for the effective distribution
+of coal, the traffic by canal declined more and
+more, until at last it became non-existent. Of the
+three canals affected, the Somerset Coal Canal,
+owned by an independent company, was abandoned,
+by authority of Parliament, two years ago; the Wilts
+and Berks, also owned by an independent company,
+is practically derelict, and the one that to-day survives
+and is in good working order is the Kennet and
+Avon, owned by a railway company.</p>
+
+<p>Another branch of local traffic that has left the
+Kennet and Avon Canal for the railway is represented
+by the familiar freestone, of which large
+quantities are despatched from the Bath district.
+The stone goes away in blocks averaging 5 tons
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>in weight, and ranging up to 10 tons, and at first
+sight it would appear to be a commodity specially
+adapted for transport by water. But once more the
+greater facilities afforded by the railway have led
+to an almost complete neglect of the canal. Even
+where the quarries are immediately alongside the
+waterway (though this is not always the case) horses
+must be employed to get the blocks down to the
+canal boat; whereas the blocks can be put straight
+on to the railway trucks on the sidings which go
+right into the quarry, no horses being then required.
+In calculating, therefore, the difference between the
+canal rate and the railway rate, the purchase and
+maintenance of horses at the points of embarkation
+must be added to the former. Then the stone could
+travel only a certain distance by water, and further
+cost might have to be incurred in cartage, if not in
+transferring it from boat to railway truck, after all,
+for transport to final destination; whereas, once put
+on a railway truck at the quarry, it could be taken
+thence, without further trouble, to any town in Great
+Britain where it was wanted. In this way, again,
+the Kennet and Avon (except in the case of consignments
+to Bristol) has practically lost a once important
+source of revenue.</p>
+
+<p>A certain amount of foreign timber still goes by
+water from Avonmouth or Bristol to the neighbourhood
+of Pewsey, and some English-grown timber
+is taken from Devizes and other points on the canal
+to Bristol, Reading, and intermediate places; grain
+is carried from Reading to mills within convenient
+reach of the canal, and there is also a small traffic
+in mineral oils and general merchandise, including
+groceries for shopkeepers in towns along the canal
+route; but, whereas, in former days a grocer would
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>order 30 tons of sugar from Bristol to be delivered
+to him by boat at one time, he now orders by post,
+telegraph, or telephone, very much smaller quantities
+as he wants them, and these smaller quantities are
+consigned mainly by train, so that there is less for
+the canal to carry, even where the sugar still goes
+by water at all.</p>
+
+<p>Speaking generally, the actual traffic on the Kennet
+and Avon at the western end would not exceed more
+than about three or four boats a day, and on the
+higher levels at the eastern end it would not average
+one a day. Yet, after walking for some miles along
+the canal banks at two of its most important points,
+it was obvious to me that the decline in the traffic
+could not be attributable to any shortcomings in the
+canal itself. Not only does the Kennet and Avon
+deserve to rank as one of the best maintained of any
+canal in the country, but it still affords all reasonable
+facilities for such traffic as is available, or seems
+likely to be offered. Instead of being neglected by
+the Great Western Railway Company, it is kept in
+a state of efficiency that could not well be improved
+upon short of a complete reconstruction, at a very
+great cost, in the hope of getting an altogether
+problematical increase of patronage in respect to
+classes of traffic different from what was contemplated
+when the canal was originally built.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a id="i_042fp"></a>
+<img src="images/i_042fp.jpg" width="600" height="421" alt="LOCKS ON THE KENNET AND AVON CANAL AT DEVIZES." />
+<div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">LOCKS ON THE KENNET AND AVON CANAL AT DEVIZES.</p>
+
+    <p class="center">(A difference in level of 239 feet in 2&frac12; miles is overcome by 29 locks. Of these, 17 immediately follow one another
+in direct line, "pounds" being provided to ensure sufficiency of reserve water to work boats through.)</p>
+
+    <p><i>Photo by Chivers, Devizes.</i>]</p>
+    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 42.</i></p>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>Within the last year or two the railway company
+have spent £3,000 or £4,000 on the pumping
+machinery. The main water supply is derived from
+a reservoir, about 9 acres in extent, at Crofton,
+this reservoir being fed partly by two rivulets
+(which dry up in the summer) and partly by its
+own springs; and extensive pumping machinery is
+provided for raising to the summit level the water
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>that passes from the reservoir into the canal at a
+lower level, the height the water is thus raised
+being 40 feet. There is also a pumping station at
+Claverton, near Bath, which raises water from the
+river Avon. Thanks to these provisions, on no
+occasion has there been more than a partial stoppage
+of the canal owing to a lack of water, though in
+seasons of drought it is necessary to reduce the
+loading of the boats.</p>
+
+<p>The final ascent to the Devizes level is accomplished
+by means of twenty-nine locks in a distance of 2&frac12;
+miles. Of these twenty-nine there are seventeen
+which immediately follow one another in a direct line,
+and here it has been necessary to supplement the
+locks with "pounds" to ensure a sufficiency of reserve
+water to work the boats through. No one who walks
+alongside these locks can fail to be impressed alike by
+the boldness of the original constructors of the canal
+and by the thoroughness with which they did their
+work. The walls of the locks are from 3 to 6 feet in
+thickness, and they seem to have been built to last
+for all eternity. The same remark applies to the
+constructed works in general on this canal. For a
+boat to pass through the twenty-nine locks takes
+on an average about three hours. The 39&frac12; miles
+from Bristol to Devizes require at least two full
+days.</p>
+
+<p>Considerable expenditure is also incurred on the
+canal in dredging work; though here special difficulties
+are experienced, inasmuch as the geological
+formation of the bed of the canal between Bath
+and Bradford-on-Avon renders steam dredging inadvisable,
+so that the more expensive and less
+expeditious system of "dragging" has to be relied
+on instead.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p>
+<p>Altogether it costs the Great Western Railway
+Company about £1 to earn each 10s. they receive
+from the canal; and whether or not, considering
+present day conditions of trade and transport, and
+the changes that have taken place therein, they would
+get their money back if they spent still more on the
+canal, is, to say the least of it, extremely problematical.
+One fact absolutely certain is that the canal is already
+capable of carrying a much greater amount of traffic
+than is actually forthcoming, and that the absence of
+such traffic is not due to any neglect of the waterway
+by its present owners. Indeed, I had the positive
+assurance of Mr Saunders that, in his capacity as
+Canals Engineer to the Great Western, he had never
+yet been refused by his Company any expenditure he
+had recommended as necessary for the efficient maintenance
+of the canals under his charge. "I believe,"
+he added, "that any money required to be spent for
+this purpose would be readily granted. I already
+have power to do anything I consider advisable to
+keep the canals in proper order; and I say without
+hesitation that all the canals belonging to the Great
+Western Railway Company are well maintained, and
+in no way starved. The decline in the traffic is due
+to obvious causes which would still remain, no
+matter what improvements one might seek to carry
+out."</p>
+
+<p class="mt2">The story told above may be supplemented by
+the following extract from the report of the Great
+Western Railway Company for the half-year ending
+December 1905, showing expenses and receipts in
+connection with the various canals controlled by
+that company:&mdash;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center">GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY CANALS,</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">for half-year ending 31st December 1905</span>.</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="GWR expenses">
+<tr><td class="tdc">Canal.</td>
+    <td class="tdc" colspan="3">To Canal Expenses.</td>
+    <td class="tdr" colspan="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;By Canal Traffic.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Bridgwater and Taunton</td>
+    <td class="tdr">£1,991</td>
+    <td class="tdr">2</td>
+    <td class="tdr">8</td>
+    <td class="tdr">£664</td>
+    <td class="tdr">8</td>
+    <td class="tdr">9</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Grand Western</td>
+    <td class="tdr">197</td>
+    <td class="tdr">7</td>
+    <td class="tdr">1</td>
+    <td class="tdr">119</td>
+    <td class="tdr">10</td>
+    <td class="tdr">10</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Kennet and Avon</td>
+    <td class="tdr">5,604</td>
+    <td class="tdr">0</td>
+    <td class="tdr">9</td>
+    <td class="tdr">2,034</td>
+    <td class="tdr">18</td>
+    <td class="tdr">8</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Monmouthshire</td>
+    <td class="tdr">1,557</td>
+    <td class="tdr">3</td>
+    <td class="tdr">3</td>
+    <td class="tdr">886</td>
+    <td class="tdr">16</td>
+    <td class="tdr">8</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Stourbridge Extension</td>
+    <td class="tdr">450</td>
+    <td class="tdr">19</td>
+    <td class="tdr">4</td>
+    <td class="tdr">765</td>
+    <td class="tdr">7</td>
+    <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Stratford-upon-Avon</td>
+    <td class="tdr">1,349</td>
+    <td class="tdr">11</td>
+    <td class="tdr">3</td>
+    <td class="tdr">724</td>
+    <td class="tdr">1</td>
+    <td class="tdr">4</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Swansea</td>
+    <td class="tdr">1,643</td>
+    <td class="tdr">15</td>
+    <td class="tdr">7</td>
+    <td class="tdr">1,386</td>
+    <td class="tdr">14</td>
+    <td class="tdr">9</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr" colspan="3">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="tdr" colspan="3">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr">£12,793</td>
+    <td class="tdr">19</td>
+    <td class="tdr">11</td>
+    <td class="tdr">£6,581</td>
+    <td class="tdr">18</td>
+    <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr" colspan="3">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="tdr" colspan="3">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<p>The capital expenditure on these different canals,
+to the same date, was as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="GWR capital expenditure">
+<tr><td class="tdl">Brecon</td>
+    <td class="tdr">£61,217</td>
+    <td class="tdr">19</td>
+    <td class="tdr">0</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Bridgwater and Taunton</td>
+    <td class="tdr">73,989</td>
+    <td class="tdr">12</td>
+    <td class="tdr">4</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Grand Western</td>
+    <td class="tdr">30,629</td>
+    <td class="tdr">8</td>
+    <td class="tdr">7</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Kennet and Avon</td>
+    <td class="tdr">209,509</td>
+    <td class="tdr">19</td>
+    <td class="tdr">3</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Stourbridge Extension</td>
+    <td class="tdr">49,436</td>
+    <td class="tdr">15</td>
+    <td class="tdr">0</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Stratford-on-Avon</td>
+    <td class="tdr">172,538</td>
+    <td class="tdr">9</td>
+    <td class="tdr">7</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Swansea</td>
+    <td class="tdr">148,711</td>
+    <td class="tdr">17</td>
+    <td class="tdr">6</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr" colspan="3">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">Total,</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr">£746,034</td>
+    <td class="tdr">1</td>
+    <td class="tdr">3</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>These figures give point to the further remark
+made by Mr Inglis at the meeting of the Institution
+of Civil Engineers when he said, "It was not to
+be imagined that the railway companies would
+willingly have all their canal property lying idle;
+they would be only too glad if they could see how
+to use the canals so as to obtain a profit, or even
+to reduce the loss."</p>
+
+<p>On the same occasion, Mr A. Ross, who also took
+part in the debate, said he had had charge of a
+number of railway-owned canals at different times,
+and he was of opinion there was no foundation
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>for the allegation that railway-owned canals were
+not properly maintained. His first experience of
+this kind was with the Sankey Brook and St Helens
+Canal, one of wide gauge, carrying a first-class traffic,
+connecting the two great chemical manufacturing
+towns of St Helens and Widnes, and opening into
+the Mersey. Early in the seventies the canal became
+practically a wreck, owing to the mortar on the
+walls having been destroyed by the chemicals in
+the water which the manufactories had drained into
+the canal. In addition, there was an overflow into
+the Sankey Brook, and in times of flood the water
+flowed over the meadows, and thousands of acres
+were rendered barren. Mr Ross continued (I quote
+from the official report):&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"The London and North-Western Railway Company,
+who owned the canal, went to great expense in
+litigation, and obtained an injunction against the
+manufacturers, and in the result they had to purchase
+all the meadows outright, as the quickest way of
+settling the question of compensation. The company
+rebuilt all the walls and some of the locks. If that
+canal had not been supported by a powerful corporation
+like the London and North-Western Railway, it
+must inevitably have been in ruins now. The next
+canal he had to do with, the Manchester and Bury
+Canal, belonging to the Lancashire and Yorkshire
+Railway Company, was almost as unfortunate. The
+coal workings underneath the canal absolutely wrecked
+it, compelling the railway company to spend many
+thousands of pounds in law suits and on restoring
+the works, and he believed that no independent canal
+could have survived the expense. Other canals he
+had had to do with were the Peak Forest, the
+Macclesfield and the Chesterfield canals, and the
+Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation, which
+belonged to the old Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>Railway. Those canals were maintained in
+good order, although the traffic was certainly not
+large."</p></div>
+
+<p>On the strength of these personal experiences
+Mr Ross thought that "if a company came forward
+which was willing to give reasonable compensation,
+the railway companies would not be difficult to deal
+with."</p>
+
+
+<p class="mt2">The "Shropshire Union" is a railway-controlled
+canal with an especially instructive history.</p>
+
+<p>This system has a total mileage of just over 200
+miles. It extends from Wolverhampton to Ellesmere
+Port on the river Mersey, passing through Market
+Drayton, Nantwich and Chester, with branches to
+Shrewsbury, Newtown (Montgomeryshire), Llangollen,
+and Middlewich (Cheshire). Some sections
+of the canal were made as far back as 1770, and
+others as recently as 1840. At one time it was owned
+by a number of different companies, but by a process
+of gradual amalgamation, most of these were absorbed
+by the Ellesmere and Chester Canal Company. In
+1846 this company obtained Acts of Parliament which
+authorised them to change their name to that of "The
+Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company,"
+and gave them power to construct three lines of
+railway: (1) from the Chester and Crewe Branch of
+the Grand Junction Railway at Calveley to Wolverhampton;
+(2) from Shrewsbury to Stafford, with a
+branch to Stone; and (3) from Newtown (Montgomeryshire)
+to Crewe. Not only do we get here a striking
+instance of the tendency shown by canal companies
+to start railways on their own account, but in each one
+of the three Acts authorising the lines mentioned I
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>find it provided that "it shall be lawful for the Chester
+and Holyhead Railway Company and the Manchester
+and Birmingham Railway Company, or either of
+them, to subscribe towards the undertaking, and hold
+shares in the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal
+Company."</p>
+
+<p>Experience soon showed that the Shropshire Union
+had undertaken more than it could accomplish. In
+1847 the company obtained a fresh Act of Parliament,
+this time to authorise a lease of the undertakings of
+the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company
+to the London and North-Western Railway Company.
+The Act set forth that the capital of the Shropshire
+Union Company was £482,924, represented by shares
+on which all the calls had been paid, and that the
+indebtedness on mortgages, bonds and other securities
+amounted to £814,207. Under these adverse conditions,
+"it has been agreed," the Act goes on to say,
+"between the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal
+Company and the London and North-Western Railway
+Company, with a view to the economical and
+convenient working" of the three railways authorised,
+"that a lease in perpetuity of the undertaking of the
+Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company
+should be granted to the London and North-Western
+Railway Company, and accepted by them, at a rent
+which shall be equal to ... half the rate per cent. per
+annum of the dividend which shall from time to time
+be payable on the capital stock of the London and
+North-Western Railway Company."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 543px;"><a id="i_048fp"></a>
+<img src="images/i_048fp.jpg" width="543" height="600" alt="WAREHOUSES AND HYDRAULIC CRANES AT ELLESMERE PORT." />
+<div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">WAREHOUSES AND HYDRAULIC CRANES AT ELLESMERE PORT.</p>
+
+    <p class="center"></p>
+
+    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 48.</i></p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>We have in this another example of the way in
+which a railway company has saved a canal system
+from extinction, while under the control of the London
+and North-Western the Shropshire Union Canal is
+still undoubtedly one of the best maintained of any
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>in the country. There may be sections of it, especially
+in out-lying parts, where the traffic is comparatively
+small, but a considerable business is still done in the
+conveyance of sea-borne grain from the Mersey to the
+Chester district, or in that of tinplates, iron, and
+manufactured articles from the Black Country to the
+Mersey for shipment. For traffic such as this the
+canal already offers every reasonable facility. The
+Shropshire Union is also a large carrier of goods to
+and from the Potteries district, in conjunction with
+the Trent and Mersey. So little has the canal been
+"strangled," or even neglected, by the London and
+North-Western Railway Company that, in addition
+to maintaining its general efficiency, the expenditure
+incurred by that company of late years for the
+development of Ellesmere Port&mdash;the point where the
+Shropshire Union Canal enters the Manchester Ship
+Canal&mdash;amounts to several hundred thousand pounds,
+this money having been spent mainly in the interest
+of the traffic along the Shropshire Union Canal.
+Deep-water quay walls of considerable length have
+been built; warehouses for general merchandise,
+with an excellent system of hydraulic cranes, have
+been provided; a large grain depôt, fully equipped
+with grain elevators and other appliances, has been
+constructed at a cost of £80,000 to facilitate, more
+especially, the considerable grain transport by canal
+that is done between the River Mersey and the
+Chester district; and at the present time the dock
+area is being enlarged, chiefly for the purpose of
+accommodating deeper barges, drawing about 7 feet
+of water.</p>
+
+<p>Another fact I might mention in regard to the
+Shropshire Union Canal is in connection with
+mechanical haulage. Elaborate theories, worked out
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>on paper, as to the difference in cost between rail
+transport and water transport, may be completely
+upset where the water transport is to be conducted,
+not on a river or on a canal crossing a perfectly
+level plain, but along a canal which is raised, by
+means of locks, several hundred feet on one side of
+a ridge, or of some elevated table-land, and must
+be brought down in the same way on the other
+side. So, again, the value of what might otherwise
+be a useful system of mechanical haulage may be
+completely marred owing to the existence of innumerable
+locks.</p>
+
+<p>This conclusion is the outcome of a series of
+practical experiments conducted on the Shropshire
+Union Canal at a time when the theorists were still
+working out their calculations on paper. The
+experiments in question were directed to ascertaining
+whether economy could be effected by making up
+strings of narrow canal boats, and having them
+drawn by a tug worked by steam or other motive
+power, instead of employing man and horse for each
+boat. The plan answered admirably until the locks
+were reached. There the steam-tug was, temporarily,
+no longer of any service. It was necessary to keep
+a horse at every lock, or flight of locks, to get the
+boats through, so that, apart from the tedious delays
+(the boats that passed first having to wait for the
+last-comers before the procession could start again),
+the increased expense at the locks nullified any saving
+gained from the mechanical haulage.</p>
+
+
+<p class="mt2">As a further illustration&mdash;drawn this time from
+Scotland&mdash;of the relations of railway companies to
+canals, I take the case of the Forth and Clyde Navigation,
+controlled by the Caledonian Railway Company.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p>
+<p>This navigation really consists of two sections&mdash;the
+Forth and Clyde Navigation, and the Monkland
+Navigation. The former, authorised in 1768, and
+opened in 1790, commences at Grangemouth on
+the Firth of Forth, crosses the country by Falkirk
+and Kirkintilloch, and terminates at Bowling on the
+Clyde. It has thirty-nine locks, and at one point
+has been constructed through 3 miles of hard
+rock. The original depth of 8 feet was increased to
+10 feet in 1814. In addition to the canal proper, the
+navigation included the harbours of Grangemouth
+and Bowling, and also the Grangemouth Branch
+Railway, and the Drumpeller Branch Railway, near
+Coatbridge. The Monkland Canal, also opened in
+1790, was built from Glasgow <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">viâ</i> Coatbridge to
+Woodhall in Lanarkshire, mainly for the transport
+of coal from the Lanarkshire coal-fields to Glasgow
+and elsewhere. Here the depth was 6 feet. The
+undertakings of the Forth and Clyde and the Monkland
+Navigations were amalgamated in 1846.</p>
+
+<p>Prior to 1865, the Caledonian Railway did not
+extend further north than Greenhill, about 5 miles
+south of Falkirk, where it joined the Scottish Central
+Railway. This undertaking was absorbed by the
+Caledonian in 1865, and the Caledonian system was
+thus extended as far north as Perth and Dundee.
+The further absorption of the Scottish North-Eastern
+Railway Company, in 1866, led to the extension of
+the Caledonian system to Aberdeen.</p>
+
+<p>At this time the Caledonian Railway Company
+owned no port or harbour in Scotland, except the
+small and rather shallow tidal harbour of South
+Alloa. Having got possession of the railway lines
+in Central Scotland, they thought it necessary to
+obtain control of some port on the east coast, in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>interests of traffic to or from the Continent, and
+especially to facilitate the shipment to the Continent
+of coal from the Lanarkshire coal-fields, chiefly served
+by them. The port of Grangemouth being adapted
+to their requirements, they entered into negotiations
+with the proprietors of the Forth and Clyde Navigation,
+who were also proprietors of the harbour of
+Grangemouth, and acquired the whole undertaking
+in 1867, guaranteeing to the original company a
+dividend of 6&frac14; per cent.</p>
+
+<p>Since their acquisition of the canal, the Caledonian
+Railway Company have spent large sums annually
+in maintaining it in a state of efficiency, and its
+general condition to-day is better than when it was
+taken over. Much of the traffic handled is brought
+into or sent out from Grangemouth, and here the
+Caledonian Railway Company have more than
+doubled the accommodation, with the result that
+the imports and exports have enormously increased.
+All the same, there has been a steady decrease in
+the actual canal traffic, due to various causes, such
+as (<i>a</i>) the exhaustion of several of the coal-fields in
+the Monkland district; (<i>b</i>) the extension of railways;
+and (<i>c</i>) changes in the sources from which certain
+classes of traffic formerly carried on the canal are
+derived.</p>
+
+<p>In regard to the coal-fields, the closing of pits
+adjoining the canal has been followed by the
+opening of others at such a distance from the
+canal that it was cheaper to consign by rail.</p>
+
+<p>In the matter of railway extensions, when the
+Caledonian took over the canal in 1867, there were
+practically no railways in the district through which
+it runs, and the coal and other traffic had, perforce,
+to go by water. But, year by year, a complete network
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>of railways was spread through the district by
+independent railway companies, notwithstanding the
+efforts made by the Caledonian to protect the interests
+of the canal-efforts that led, in some instances, to
+Parliament refusing assent to the proposed lines.
+Those that were constructed (over a dozen lines
+and branches altogether), were almost all absorbed
+by the North British Railway Company, who are
+strong competitors with the Caledonian Railway
+Company, and have naturally done all they could
+to get traffic for the lines in question. This, of
+course, has been at the expense of the canal and
+to the detriment of the Caledonian Railway Company,
+who, in view of their having guaranteed a
+dividend to the original proprietors, would prefer
+that the traffic in question should remain on the
+canal instead of being diverted to an opposition line
+of railway. Other traffic which formerly went by
+canal, and is now carried on the Caledonian Railway,
+is of a character that would certainly go by
+canal no longer, and for this the Caledonian and
+the North British Companies compete.</p>
+
+<p>The third factor in the decline of the canal relates
+to the general consideration that, during the last thirty
+or forty years, important works have no longer been
+necessarily built alongside canal banks, but have
+been constructed wherever convenient, and connected
+with the railways by branch lines or private sidings,
+expense of cartage to or from the canal dock
+or basin thus being saved. On the Forth and
+Clyde Canal a good deal of coal is still carried,
+but mainly to adjoining works. Coal is also
+shipped in vessels on the canal for transport to
+the West Highlands and Islands, where the
+railways cannot compete; but even here there is an
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>increasing tendency for the coal to be bought in
+Glasgow (to which port it is carried by rail), so
+that the shippers can have a wider range of markets
+when purchasing. Further changes affecting the
+Forth and Clyde Canal are illustrated by the fact
+that whereas, at one time, large quantities of
+grain were brought into Grangemouth from
+Russian and other Continental ports, transhipped
+into lighters, and sent to Glasgow by canal, the
+grain now received at Glasgow comes mainly from
+America by direct steamer.</p>
+
+<p>That the Caledonian Railway Company have done
+their duty towards the Forth and Clyde Canal is
+beyond all reasonable doubt. It is true that they
+are not themselves carriers on the canal. They
+are only toll-takers. Their business has been to
+maintain the canal in efficient condition, and allow
+any trader who wishes to make use of it so to do,
+on paying the tolls. This they have done, and,
+if the traders have not availed themselves of their
+opportunities, it must naturally have been for
+adequate reasons, and especially because of changes
+in the course of the country's business which it is
+impossible for a railway company to control, even
+where, as in this particular case, they are directly
+interested in seeing the receipts from tolls attain
+to as high a figure as practicable.</p>
+
+
+<p class="mt2">I reserve for another chapter a study of the
+Birmingham Canal system, which, again, is "railway
+controlled"; but I may say here that I think
+the facts already given show it is most unfair to
+suggest, as is constantly being done in the Press
+and elsewhere, that the railway companies bought
+up canals&mdash;"of malice aforethought," as it were&mdash;for
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>the express purpose of killing such competition
+as they represented&mdash;a form of competition in which,
+as we have seen, public confidence had already
+practically disappeared. One of the witnesses at the
+canal enquiry in 1883 even went so far as to assert:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"The railway companies have been enabled, in some
+cases by means of very questionable legality, to obtain
+command of 1,717 miles of canal, so adroitly selected
+as to strangle the whole of the inland water traffic,
+which has thus been forced upon the railways, to
+the great interruption of their legitimate and lucrative
+trade."</p></div>
+
+<p>The assertions here made are constantly being
+reproduced in one form or another by newspaper
+writers, public speakers, and others, who have gone
+to no trouble to investigate the facts for themselves,
+who have never read, or, if they have read, have
+disregarded, the important evidence of Sir James
+Allport, at the same enquiry, in reference to the
+London coal trade (I shall revert to this subject
+later on), and who probably have either not seen
+a map of British canals and waterways at all, or
+else have failed to notice the routes that still
+remain independent, and are in no way controlled
+by railway companies.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 479px;"><a id="i_054fp"></a>
+<img src="images/i_054fp.jpg" width="479" height="600" alt="INDEPENDENT CANALS AND INLAND NAVIGATIONS IN ENGLAND" />
+<div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">INDEPENDENT CANALS AND INLAND NAVIGATIONS IN ENGLAND</p>
+    <p class="center">Which are not controlled by railway companies</p>
+    <p class="right">[To face page 54.</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<ol>
+<li>River Ouse Navigation (Yorkshire).</li>
+
+<li>River Wharfe Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Aire and Calder Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Market Weighton Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Driffield Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Beverley Beck Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Leven Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Leeds and Liverpool Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Manchester Ship Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Bridgewater portion of Manchester Ship Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Rochdale Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Calder and Hebble Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Weaver Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Idle Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Trent Navigation Co.</li>
+
+<li>Aucholme Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Caistor Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Louth Canal (Lincolnshire).</li>
+
+<li>Derby Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Nutbrook Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Erewash Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Loughborough Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Leicester Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Leicestershire Union Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Witham Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Witham Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Glen Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Welland Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Nen Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Wisbech Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Nar Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Ouse and Tributaries (Bedfordshire).</li>
+
+<li>North Walsham Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Bure Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Blyth Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Ipswich and Stowmarket Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Stour Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Colne Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Roding Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Stort Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Lea Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Grand Junction Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Grand Union Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Oxford Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Coventry Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Warwick and Napton Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Warwick and Birmingham Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Worcester and Birmingham Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Stafford and Worcester Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Severn (Lower) Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Gloucester and Berkeley Ship Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Lower Avon Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Stroudwater Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Wye Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Axe Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Parrett Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Tone Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Wilts and Berks Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Thames Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>London and Hampshire Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Wey Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Medway Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Canterbury Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Ouse Navigation (Sussex).</li>
+
+<li>Adur Navigation.</li>
+
+<li>Arun and Wey Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Portsmouth and Arunder Canal.</li>
+
+<li>Itchen Navigation.</li>
+</ol>
+
+<p>I give, facing p. 54, a sketch which shows the
+nature and extent of these particular waterways, and
+the reader will see from it that they include entirely
+free and independent communication (<i>a</i>) between
+Birmingham and the Thames; (<i>b</i>) from the coal-fields
+of the Midlands and the North to London;
+and (<i>c</i>) between the west and east coasts, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">viâ</i>
+Liverpool, Leeds, and Goole. To say, therefore,
+in these circumstances, that "the whole of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>inland water traffic" has been strangled by the
+railway companies because the canals or sections of
+which they "obtained command" were "so adroitly
+selected," is simply to say what is not true.</p>
+
+<p>The point here raised is not one that merely
+concerns the integrity of the railway companies&mdash;though
+in common justice to them it is only right
+that the truth should be made known. It really
+affects the whole question at issue, because, so
+long as public opinion is concentrated more or less
+on this strangulation fiction, due attention will not
+be given to the real causes for the decay of the
+canals, and undue importance will be attached to
+the suggestions freely made that if only the one-third
+of the canal mileage owned or controlled by
+the railway companies could be got out of their
+hands, the revival schemes would have a fair chance
+of success.</p>
+
+<p>Certain it is, therefore, as the map I give shows
+beyond all possible doubt, that the causes for the
+failure of the British canal system must be sought
+for elsewhere than in the fact of a partial railway-ownership
+or control. Some of these alternative
+causes I propose to discuss in the Chapters that
+follow my story of the Birmingham Canal, for
+which (inasmuch as Birmingham and district, by
+reason of their commercial importance and geographical
+position, have first claim to consideration
+in any scheme of canal resuscitation) I would beg
+the special attention of the reader.</p>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+
+<h2 title="V. THE BIRMINGHAM CANAL AND ITS STORY">CHAPTER V<br />
+
+<small>THE BIRMINGHAM CANAL AND ITS STORY</small></h2>
+
+
+<p>What is known as the "Birmingham Canal" is
+really a perfect network of waterways in and around
+Birmingham and South Staffordshire, representing a
+total length of about 160 miles, exclusive of some
+hundreds of private sidings in connection with
+different works in the district.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 383px;"><a id="i_056fp"></a>
+<img src="images/i_056fp.jpg" width="383" height="600" alt="Map of the Canals &amp; Railways between WOLVERHAMPTON &amp; BIRMINGHAM" />
+<div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">Map of the Canals &amp; Railways between</p>
+
+    <p class="center">WOLVERHAMPTON &amp; BIRMINGHAM</p>
+
+    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 56.</i></p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The system was originally constructed by four
+different canal companies under Acts of Parliament
+passed between 1768 and 1818. These
+companies subsequently amalgamated and formed
+the Birmingham Canal Navigation, known later on
+as the Birmingham Canal Company. From March
+1816 to March 1818 the company paid £36 per
+annum per share on 1,000 shares, and in the following
+year the amount paid on the same number of
+shares rose to £40 per annum. In 1823 £24 per
+annum per share was paid on 2,000 shares, in 1838
+£9 to £16 on 8,000, in 1844 £8 on 8,800, and from
+May 1845 to December 1846 £4 per annum per
+share on 17,600 shares.</p>
+
+<p>The year 1845 was a time of great activity in
+railway promotion, and the Birmingham Canal
+Company, who already had a canal between that
+town and Wolverhampton, proposed to supplement
+it by a railway through the Stour Valley, using for
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>the purpose a certain amount of spare land which
+they already owned. A similar proposal, however,
+in respect to a line of railway to take practically
+the same route between Birmingham and Wolverhampton,
+was brought forward by an independent
+company, who seem to have had the support of
+the London and Birmingham Railway Company;
+and in the result it was arranged among the
+different parties concerned (1) that the Birmingham
+Canal Company should not proceed with their
+scheme, but that they and the London and
+Birmingham Railway Company should each subscribe
+a fourth part of the capital for the construction
+of the line projected by the independent
+Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Stour Valley
+Railway Company; and (2) that the London and
+Birmingham Railway Company should, subject to
+certain terms and conditions, guarantee the future
+dividend of the Canal Company, whenever the net
+income was insufficient to produce a dividend of
+£4 per share on the capital, the Canal Company
+thus being insured against loss resulting from
+competition.</p>
+
+<p>The building of the Stour Valley Line between
+Birmingham and Wolverhampton, with a branch to
+Dudley, was sanctioned by an Act of 1846, which
+further authorised the Birmingham Canal Company
+and the London and Birmingham Railway Company
+to contribute each one quarter of the necessary capital.
+The canal company raised their quarter, amounting
+to £190,087, by means of mortgages. In return for
+their guarantee of the canal company's dividend, the
+London and Birmingham Railway Company obtained
+certain rights and privileges in regard to the working
+of the canal. These were authorised by the London
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>and Birmingham Railway and Birmingham Canal
+Arrangement Act, 1846, which empowered the two
+companies each to appoint five persons as a committee
+of management of the Birmingham Canal
+Company. Those members of the committee chosen
+by the London and Birmingham Railway Company
+were to have the same powers, etc., as the members
+elected by the canal company; but the canal company
+were restricted from expending, without the consent of
+the railway company, "any sum which shall exceed
+the sum of five hundred pounds in the formation of
+any new canal, or extension, or branch canal or otherwise,
+for the purpose of any single work to be hereafter
+undertaken by the same company"; nor, without
+consent of the railway company, could the canal
+company make any alterations in the tolls, rates, or
+dues charged. In the event of differences of opinion
+arising between the two sections of the committee of
+management, the final decision was to be given by
+the railway representatives in such year or years as
+the railway company was called upon to make good
+a deficiency in the dividends, and by the canal representatives
+when no such demand had been made
+upon the railway company. In other words the
+canal company retained the deciding vote so long
+as they could pay their way, and in any case they
+could spend up to £500 on any single work without
+asking the consent of the railway company.</p>
+
+<p>In course of time the Stour Valley Line, as well
+as the London and Birmingham Company, became
+part of the system of the London and North-Western
+Railway Company, which thus took over the responsibilities
+and obligations, in regard to the waterways,
+already assumed; while the mortgages issued by the
+Birmingham Canal Company, when they undertook
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>to raise one-fourth of the capital for the Stour
+Valley Railway, were exchanged for £126,725 of
+ordinary stock in the London and North-Western
+Railway.</p>
+
+<p>The Birmingham Canal Company was able down
+to 1873 (except only in one year, 1868, when it required
+£835 from the London and North-Western Company)
+to pay its dividend of £4 per annum on each share,
+without calling on the railway company to make good
+a deficiency. In 1874, however, there was a substantial
+shortage of revenue, and since that time
+the London and North-Western Railway Company,
+under the agreement already mentioned, have had
+to pay considerable sums to the canal company, as
+the following table shows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Birmingham Canal Company">
+<tr><td class="tdl">Year</td>
+    <td class="tdr">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">1874&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr">£10,528</td>
+    <td class="tdr">18</td>
+    <td class="tdr">0</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1875</td>
+    <td class="tdr" colspan="3">nil.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1876</td>
+    <td class="tdr">4,796</td>
+    <td class="tdr">10</td>
+    <td class="tdr">9</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1877</td>
+    <td class="tdr">361</td>
+    <td class="tdr">7</td>
+    <td class="tdr">9</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1878</td>
+    <td class="tdr">11,370</td>
+    <td class="tdr">5</td>
+    <td class="tdr">7</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1879</td>
+    <td class="tdr">20,225</td>
+    <td class="tdr">0</td>
+    <td class="tdr">5</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1880</td>
+    <td class="tdr">13,534</td>
+    <td class="tdr">19</td>
+    <td class="tdr">6</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1881</td>
+    <td class="tdr">15,028</td>
+    <td class="tdr">9</td>
+    <td class="tdr">3</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1882</td>
+    <td class="tdr">6,826</td>
+    <td class="tdr">7</td>
+    <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1883</td>
+    <td class="tdr">8,879</td>
+    <td class="tdr">4</td>
+    <td class="tdr">7</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1884</td>
+    <td class="tdr">14,196</td>
+    <td class="tdr">7</td>
+    <td class="tdr">9</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1885</td>
+    <td class="tdr">25,460</td>
+    <td class="tdr">19</td>
+    <td class="tdr">10</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1886</td>
+    <td class="tdr">35,169</td>
+    <td class="tdr">9</td>
+    <td class="tdr">6</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1887</td>
+    <td class="tdr">31,491</td>
+    <td class="tdr">14</td>
+    <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1888</td>
+    <td class="tdr">15,350</td>
+    <td class="tdr">10</td>
+    <td class="tdr">11</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1889</td>
+    <td class="tdr">5,341</td>
+    <td class="tdr">19</td>
+    <td class="tdr">3</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1890</td>
+    <td class="tdr">22,069</td>
+    <td class="tdr">9</td>
+    <td class="tdr">8</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1891</td>
+    <td class="tdr">17,626</td>
+    <td class="tdr">2</td>
+    <td class="tdr">3</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1892</td>
+    <td class="tdr">29,508</td>
+    <td class="tdr">4</td>
+    <td class="tdr">2</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1893</td>
+    <td class="tdr">31,618</td>
+    <td class="tdr">19</td>
+    <td class="tdr">4</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1894</td>
+    <td class="tdr">27,935</td>
+    <td class="tdr">8</td>
+    <td class="tdr">9</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1895</td>
+    <td class="tdr">39,065</td>
+    <td class="tdr">15</td>
+    <td class="tdr">2</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1896</td>
+    <td class="tdr">22,994</td>
+    <td class="tdr">0</td>
+    <td class="tdr">10</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1897</td>
+    <td class="tdr">10,186</td>
+    <td class="tdr">19</td>
+    <td class="tdr">7</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1898</td>
+    <td class="tdr">10,286</td>
+    <td class="tdr">13</td>
+    <td class="tdr">3</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1899</td>
+    <td class="tdr">18,470</td>
+    <td class="tdr">18</td>
+    <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1900</td>
+    <td class="tdr">34,075</td>
+    <td class="tdr">19</td>
+    <td class="tdr">6</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1901</td>
+    <td class="tdr">62,644</td>
+    <td class="tdr">2</td>
+    <td class="tdr">8</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1902</td>
+    <td class="tdr">27,645</td>
+    <td class="tdr">2</td>
+    <td class="tdr">3</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1903</td>
+    <td class="tdr">34,047</td>
+    <td class="tdr">4</td>
+    <td class="tdr">6</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1904</td>
+    <td class="tdr">37,832</td>
+    <td class="tdr">5</td>
+    <td class="tdr">8</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">1905</td>
+    <td class="tdr">39,860</td>
+    <td class="tdr">13</td>
+    <td class="tdr">0</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>The sum total of these figures is £685,265, 2s. 11d.</p>
+
+<p>It will have been seen, from the facts already
+narrated, that for a period of over twenty years from
+the date of the agreement the canal company continued
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>to earn their own dividend without requiring
+any assistance from the railway company. Meantime,
+however, various local, in addition to general, causes
+had been in operation tending to affect the prosperity
+of the canals. The decline of the pig-iron industry
+in the Black Country had set in, while though the
+conversion of manufactured iron into plates, implements,
+etc., largely took its place, the raw materials
+came more and more from districts not served by the
+canals, and the finished goods were carried mainly
+by the railways then rapidly spreading through the
+district, affording facilities in the way of sidings to
+a considerable number of manufacturers whose works
+were not on the canal route. Then the local iron
+ore deposits were either worked out or ceased
+to be remunerative, in view of the competition of
+other districts, again facilitated by the railways;
+and the extension of the Bessemer process of
+steel-making also affected the Staffordshire iron
+industry.</p>
+
+<p>These changes were quite sufficient in themselves
+to account for the increasing unprofitableness of the
+canals, without any need for suggestions of hostility
+towards them on the part of the railways. In point
+of fact, the extension of the railways and the provision
+of "railway basins" brought the canals a certain
+amount of traffic they might not otherwise have got.
+It was, indeed, due less to an actual decrease in the
+tonnage than to a decrease in the distance carried
+that the amount received in tolls fell off, that the traffic
+ceased to be remunerative, and that the deficiencies
+arose which, under their statutory obligations, the
+London and North-Western Railway Company had
+to meet. The more that the traffic actually left
+the canals, the greater was the deficiency which, as
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>shown by the figures I have given, the railway
+company had to make good.<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>The condition of the canals in 1874, when the
+responsibilities assumed by the London and North-Western
+Railway Company began to fall more heavily
+upon them, left a good deal to be desired, and the
+railway company found themselves faced with the
+necessity of finding money for improvements which
+eventually represented a very heavy expenditure,
+apart altogether from the making up of a guaranteed
+dividend. They proceeded, all the same, to acquit
+themselves of these responsibilities, and it is no
+exaggeration to say that, during the thirty years
+which have since elapsed, they have spent enormous
+sums in improving the canals, and in maintaining
+them in what&mdash;adverse critics notwithstanding&mdash;is
+their present high state of efficiency, considering the
+peculiarities of their position.</p>
+
+<p>One of the greatest difficulties in the situation was
+in regard to water supply. At Birmingham, portions
+of the canal are 453 feet above ordnance datum;
+Wolverhampton, Wednesfield, Tipton, Dudley, and
+Oldbury are higher still, for their elevation is 473
+feet, while Walsall, Darlaston, and Wednesbury are
+at a height of 408 feet. On high-lands like these
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>there are naturally no powerful streams, and such is
+the lack of local water supplies that, as every one
+knows, the city of Birmingham has recently had to
+go as far as Wales in order to obtain sufficient water
+to meet the needs of its citizens.</p>
+
+<p>In these circumstances special efforts had to be
+made to obtain water for the canals in the district,
+and to ensure a due regard for economy in its use.
+The canals have, in fact, had to depend to a certain
+extent on water pumped from the bottom of coal pits
+in the Black Country, and stored in reservoirs on the
+top levels; the water, also, temporarily lost each time
+a canal boat passed through one of the many locks
+in the district being pumped back to the top to be
+used over again.</p>
+
+<p>To this end pumping machinery had already been
+provided by the old canal companies, but the London
+and North-Western Railway Company, on taking
+over the virtual direction of the canals for which they
+were financially responsible, substituted new and
+improved plant, and added various new pumping
+stations. Thanks to the changes thus effected&mdash;at,
+I need hardly say, very considerable cost&mdash;the average
+amount of water now pumped from lower to higher
+levels, during an average year, is 25,000,000 gallons
+per day, equal to 1,000 locks of water. On occasions
+the actual quantity dealt with is 50,000,000 gallons
+per day, while the total capacity of the present pumping
+machinery is equal to about 102,000,000 gallons,
+or 4,080 locks, per day. There is absolutely no
+doubt that, but for the special provisions made for
+an additional water supply, the Birmingham Canal
+would have had to cease operations altogether in
+the summer of 1905&mdash;probably for two months&mdash;because
+of the shortage of water. The reservoirs
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>on the top level were practically empty, and it was
+solely owing to the company acquiring new sources
+of supply, involving a very substantial expenditure
+indeed, that the canal system was kept going at all.
+A canal company with no large financial resources
+would inevitably have broken down under the strain.</p>
+
+<p>Then the London and North-Western Company
+are actively engaged in substituting new pumping
+machinery&mdash;representing "all the latest improvements"&mdash;for
+old, the special aim, here, being the
+securing of a reduction of more than 50 per cent.
+over the former cost of pumping. An expenditure
+of from £15,000 to £16,000 was, for example,
+incurred by them so recently as 1905 at the Ocker
+Hill pumping station. In this way the railway
+company are seeking both to maintain the efficiency
+of the canal and to reduce the heavy annual demands
+made upon them in respect to the general cost of
+operation and shareholders' dividend.</p>
+
+<p>For reasons which will be indicated later on, it is
+impossible to improve the Black Country canals on
+any large scale; but, in addition to what I have
+already related, the London and North-Western
+Railway Company are constantly spending money
+on small improvements, such as dredging, widening
+waterway under-bridges, taking off corners, and putting
+in side walls in place of slopes, so as to give
+more space for the boats. In the latter respect many
+miles have been so treated, to the distinct betterment
+of the canal.</p>
+
+<p>All this heavy outlay by the railway company,
+carried on for a series of years, is now beginning to
+tell, to the advantage alike of the traders and of the
+canal as a property, and if any scheme of State or
+municipal purchase were decided on by the country
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>the various substantial items mentioned would
+naturally have to be taken into account in making
+terms.</p>
+
+<p>Another feature of the Birmingham Canal system
+is that it passes to a considerable extent through the
+mining districts of the Black Country. This means,
+in the first place, that wherever important works
+have been constructed, as in the case of tunnels,
+(and the system passes through a number of tunnels,
+three of these being 3,172 yards, 3,027 yards, and
+3,785 yards respectively in length) the mineral rights
+underneath have to be bought up in order to avoid
+subsidences. In one instance the railway company
+paid no less than £28,500 for the mining rights
+underneath a short length (754 yards) of a canal
+tunnel. In other words, this £28,500 was practically
+buried in the ground, not in order to work the
+minerals, but with a view to maintain a secure
+foundation for the canal. Altogether the expenditure
+of the company in this one direction, and for this
+one special purpose alone, in the Black Country
+district, must amount by this time to some hundreds
+of thousands of pounds.</p>
+
+<p>Actual subsidences represent a great source of
+trouble. There are some parts of the Birmingham
+Canal where the waterway was originally constructed
+on a level with the adjoining ground, but, as more
+and more coal has been taken from the mines underneath,
+and especially as more and more of the ribs
+of coal originally left to support the roof have been
+removed, the land has subsided from time to time,
+rendering necessary the raising of the canal. So far
+has this gone that to-day the canal, at certain of these
+points, instead of being on a level with the adjoining
+ground, is on an embankment 30 feet above. Drops
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>of from 10 to 20 feet are of frequent occurrence, even
+with narrow canals, and the cost involved in repairs
+and restoration is enormous, as the reader may well
+suppose, considering that the total length of the
+Birmingham Canal subject to subsidences from
+mining is about 90 miles.</p>
+
+<p>I come next to the point as to the comparative
+narrowness of the Birmingham Canal system and
+the small capacity of the locks&mdash;conditions, as we
+are rightly told, which tell against the possibility of
+through, or even local, traffic in a larger type of boat.
+Such conditions as these are generally presented as
+one of the main reasons why the control should be
+transferred to the State, to municipalities, or to public
+trusts, who, it is assumed, would soon get rid of them.</p>
+
+<p>The reader must have fully realised by this time
+that the original size of the waterways and locks
+on the Birmingham Canal was determined by the
+question of water supply. But any extensive scheme
+of widening would involve much beyond the securing
+of more water.</p>
+
+<p>During the decades the Birmingham Canal has
+been in existence important works of all kinds have
+been built alongside its banks, not only in and
+around Birmingham itself, but all through the Black
+Country. There are parts of the canal where almost
+continuous lines of such works on each side of the
+canal, flush up to the banks or towing path, are to
+be seen for miles together. Any general widening,
+therefore, even of the main waterways, would involve
+such a buying up, reconstruction of, or interference
+with extremely valuable properties that the expenditure
+involved&mdash;in the interests of a problematical
+saving in canal tolls&mdash;would be alike prodigious and
+prohibitive.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p>
+<p>There is the less reason for incurring such expenditure
+when we consider the special purposes which the
+canals of the district already serve, and, I may even
+say, efficiently serve. The total traffic passing over
+the Birmingham Canal system amounts to about
+8,000,000 tons per annum,<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> and of this a considerable
+proportion is collected for eventual transport by rail.
+Every few miles along the canal in the Black Country
+there is a "railway-basin" put in either by the London
+and North-Western Railway Company, who have had
+the privilege of finding the money to keep the canal
+going since 1874, or by the Great Western or the
+Midland Railway Companies. Here, again, very
+considerable expenditure has been incurred by the
+railway companies in the provision alike of wharves,
+cranes, sheds, etc., and of branch railways connecting
+with the main lines of the company concerned. From
+these railway-basins narrow boats are sent out to
+works all over the district to collect iron, hardware,
+tinplates, bricks, tiles, manufactured articles, and
+general merchandise, and bring them in for loading
+into the railway trucks alongside. So complete is
+the network of canals, with their hundreds of small
+"special" branches, that for many of the local works
+their only means of communication with the railway
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>is by water, and the consignments are simply conveyed
+to the railway by canal boat, instead of, as
+elsewhere, by collecting van or road lorry.</p>
+
+<p>The number of these railway-basins&mdash;the cost of
+which is distinctly substantial&mdash;is constantly being
+increased, for the traffic through them grows almost
+from day to day.</p>
+
+<p>The Great Western Railway Company, for example,
+have already several large transhipping basins on
+the canals of the Black Country. They have one
+at Wolverhampton, and another at Tipton, only
+5 miles away; yet they have now decided to construct
+still another, about half-way between the two. The
+matter is thus referred to in the <cite>Great Western
+Railway Magazine</cite> for March, 1906:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"The Directors have approved a scheme for an
+extensive depôt adjoining the Birmingham Canal at
+Bilston, the site being advantageously central in the
+town. It will comprise a canal basin and transfer shed,
+sidings for over one hundred and twenty waggons,
+and a loop for made-up trains. A large share of the
+traffic of the district, mainly raw material and manufactured
+articles of the iron trade, will doubtless be
+secured as a result of this important step&mdash;the
+railway and canal mutually serving each other as
+feeders."</p></div>
+
+<p>The reader will see from this how the tendency,
+even on canals that survive, is for the length of
+haul to become shorter and shorter, so that the
+receipts of the canal company from tolls may decline
+even where there is no actual decrease in the weight
+of the traffic handled.</p>
+
+<p>In the event of State or municipal purchase being
+resorted to, the expenditure on all these costly basins
+and the works connected therewith would have to be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>taken into consideration, equally with the pumping
+machinery and general improvements, and, also,
+the purchase of mining rights, already spoken of;
+but I fail to see what more either Government or
+County Council control could, in the circumstances,
+do for the Birmingham system than is being done
+already. Far more for the purposes of maintenance
+has been spent on the canal by the London and
+North-Western Railway Company than had been so
+spent by the canal company itself; and, although
+a considerable amount of traffic arising in the district
+does find its way down to the Mersey, the purpose
+served by the canal is, and must necessarily be,
+mainly a local one.</p>
+
+<p>That Birmingham should become a sort of half-way
+stage on a continuous line of widened canals
+across country from the Thames to the Mersey is
+one of the most impracticable of dreams. Even if
+there were not the question of the prodigious cost
+that widenings of the Birmingham Canal would
+involve, there would remain the equally fatal drawback
+of the elevation of Birmingham and Wolverhampton
+above sea level. In constructing a broad
+cross-country canal, linking up the two rivers in
+question, it would be absolutely necessary to avoid
+alike Birmingham and the whole of the Black
+Country. That city and district, therefore, would
+gain no direct advantage from such a through route.
+They would have to be content to send down their
+commodities in the existing small boats to a lower
+level, and there, in order to reach the Mersey,
+connect with either the Shropshire Union Canal or
+the Trent and Mersey. One of these two waterways
+would certainly have to be selected for a widened
+through route to the Mersey.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p>
+<p>Assume that the former were decided upon, and
+that, to meet the present-day agitation, the State,
+or some Trust backed by State or local funds, bought
+up the Shropshire Union, and resolved upon a
+substantial widening of this particular waterway,
+so as to admit of a larger type of boat and the
+various other improvements now projected. In this
+case the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">crux</i> of the situation (apart from Birmingham
+and Black Country conditions), would be the city of
+Chester.</p>
+
+<p>For a distance of 1&frac12; miles the Shropshire Union
+Canal passes through the very heart of Chester.
+Right alongside the canal one sees successively
+very large flour mills or lead works, big warehouses,
+a school, streets which border it for some
+distance, masses of houses, and, also, the old city
+walls. At one point the existing canal makes
+a bend that is equal almost to a right angle.
+Here there would have to be a substantial clearance
+if boats much larger than those now in use were to
+get round so ugly a corner in safety. This bend,
+too, is just where the canal goes underneath the
+main lines of the London and North-Western and
+the Great Western Railways, the gradients of which
+would certainly have to be altered if it were desired
+to employ larger boats.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a id="i_070fp"></a>
+<img src="images/i_070fp.jpg" width="600" height="334" alt="WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN." />
+<div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">WHAT CANAL WIDENING WOULD MEAN.</p>
+
+    <p class="center">(The Shropshire Union Canal at the Northgate, Chester, looking East.)</p>
+
+    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 70.</i></p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The widening of the Shropshire Union Canal at
+Chester would, in effect, necessitate a wholesale
+destruction of, or interference with, valuable property
+(even if the city walls were spared), and an expenditure
+of hundreds of thousands of pounds. Such a thing
+is clearly not to be thought of. The city of Chester
+would have to be avoided by the through route from
+the Midlands to the Mersey, just as the canals of
+Birmingham and the Black Country would have to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>be avoided in a through route from the Thames.
+If the Shropshire Union were still kept to, a new
+branch canal would have to be constructed from
+Waverton to connect again with the Shropshire
+Union at a point half-way between Chester and
+Ellesmere Port, leaving Chester in a neglected bend
+on the south.</p>
+
+<p>On this point as to the possibility of enlarging
+the Shropshire Union Canal, I should like to
+quote the following from some remarks made by
+Mr G. R. Jebb, engineer to the Shropshire Union
+Railways and Canal Company, in the discussion
+on Mr Saner's paper at the Institution of Civil
+Engineers:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"As to the suggestion that the railway companies did
+not consider it possible to make successful commercial
+use of their canals in conjunction with their lines, and
+that the London and North-Western Railway
+Company might have improved the main line of
+the Shropshire Union Canal between Ellesmere
+Port and Wolverhampton, and thus have relieved
+their already overburdened line, as a matter of fact
+about twenty years ago he went carefully into the
+question of enlarging that particular length of canal,
+which formed the main line between the Midlands
+and the sea. He drew up estimates and plans for
+wide canals, of different cross sections, one of which
+was almost identical with the cross section proposed
+by Mr Saner. After very careful consideration with
+a disposition to improve the canal if possible, it was
+found that the cost of the necessary works would be
+too heavy. Bridges of wide span and larger headway&mdash;entailing
+approaches which could not be constructed
+without destroying valuable property on either side&mdash;new
+locks and hydraulic lifts would be required, and
+a transhipping depôt would have been necessary
+where each of the narrow canals joined. The
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>company were satisfied, and he himself was satisfied,
+that no reasonable return for that expenditure could
+be expected, and therefore the work was not proceeded
+with.... He was satisfied that whoever
+found the money for canal improvements would get
+no fair return for it."</p></div>
+
+<p>The adoption of the alternative route, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">viâ</i> the Trent
+and Mersey, would involve (1) locking-up to and
+down a considerable summit, and (2) a continuous
+series of widenings (except along the Weaver Canal),
+the cost of which, especially in the towns of Stoke,
+Etruria, Middlewich, and Northwich, would attain to
+proportions altogether prohibitive.</p>
+
+<p>The conclusion at which I arrive in regard to the
+Birmingham Canal system is that it cannot be
+directly included in any scheme of cross-country
+waterways from river to river; that by reason alike
+of elevation, water supply, and the existence of a
+vast amount of valuable property immediately alongside,
+any general widening of the present system
+of canals in the district is altogether impracticable;
+that, within the scope of their unavoidable limitations,
+those particular canals already afford every reasonable
+facility to the real requirements of the local
+traders; that, instead of their having been "strangled"
+by the railways, they have been kept alive and in
+operation solely and entirely because of the heavy
+expenditure upon them by the London and North-Western
+Railway Company, following on conditions
+which must inevitably have led to collapse (with
+serious disadvantages to the traders dependent on
+them for transport) if the control had remained with
+an independent but impoverished canal company;
+and that very little, if anything, more&mdash;with due
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>regard both for what is practical, and for the avoidance
+of any waste of public money&mdash;could be done
+than is already being done, even if State or municipal
+authorities made the costly experiment of trying
+what they could do for them with their own 'prentice
+hands.</p>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+
+<h2 title="VI. THE TRANSITION IN TRADE">CHAPTER VI<br />
+
+<small>THE TRANSITION IN TRADE</small></h2>
+
+
+<p>Of the various causes which have operated to bring
+about the comparative decay of the British canal system
+(for, as already shown, there are sections that still
+retain a certain amount of vitality), the most
+important are to be found in the great changes
+that have taken place in the general conditions of
+trade, manufacture and commerce.</p>
+
+<p>The tendency in almost every branch of business
+to-day is for the trader to have small, or comparatively
+small, stocks of any particular commodity, which he
+can replenish speedily at frequent intervals as occasion
+requires. The advantages are obvious. A smaller
+amount of capital is locked up in any one article; a
+larger variety of goods can be dealt in; less accommodation
+is required for storage; and men with limited
+means can enter on businesses which otherwise could
+be undertaken only by individuals or companies
+possessed of considerable resources. If a draper
+or a grocer at Plymouth finds one afternoon that
+he has run short of a particular article, he need
+only telegraph to the wholesale house with which
+he deals in London, and a fresh supply will be
+delivered to him the following morning. A trader
+in London who wanted something from Dublin, and
+telegraphed for it one day, would expect as a matter
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>of course to have it the next. What, again, would
+a London shopkeeper be likely to say if, wanting
+to replenish his limited stock with some Birmingham
+goods, he was informed by the manufacturer:&mdash;"We
+are in receipt of your esteemed order, and are sending
+the goods on by canal. You may hope to get
+them in about a week"?</p>
+
+<p>With a little wider margin in the matter of
+delivery, the same principle applies to those trading
+in, or requiring, raw materials&mdash;coal, steel, ironstone,
+bricks, and so on. Merchants, manufacturers, and
+builders are no more anxious than the average shopkeeper
+to keep on hand stocks unnecessarily large,
+and to have so much money lying idle. They
+calculate the length of time that will be required
+to get in more supplies when likely to be wanted,
+and they work their business accordingly.</p>
+
+<p>From this point of view the railway is far superior
+to the canal in two respects, at least.</p>
+
+<p>First, there is the question of speed. The value
+of this factor was well recognised so far back as
+1825, when, as I have told on page <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, Mr Sandars
+related how speed and certainty of delivery were
+regarded as "of the first importance," and constituted
+one of the leading reasons for the desired introduction
+of railways. But speed and certainty of delivery
+become absolutely essential when the margin in
+regard to supplies on hand is habitually kept to a
+working minimum. The saving in freight effected
+as between, on the one hand, waiting at least several
+days, if not a full week, for goods by canal boat,
+and, on the other, receiving them the following day
+by train, may be more than swallowed up by the
+loss of profit or the loss of business in consequence
+of the delay. If the railway transport be a little
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>more costly than the canal transport, the difference
+should be fully counterbalanced by the possibility
+of a more rapid turnover, as well as the other
+advantages of which I have spoken.</p>
+
+<p>In cases, again, where it is not a matter of quickly
+replenishing stocks but of effecting prompt delivery
+even of bulky goods, time may be all-important.
+This fact is well illustrated in a contribution, from
+Birmingham, published in the "Engineering Supplement"
+of <cite>The Times</cite> of February 14, 1906, in which
+it was said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"Makers of wheels, tires, axles, springs, and
+similar parts are busy. Of late the South African
+colonies have been larger buyers, while India and
+the Far Eastern markets, including China and Japan,
+South America, and some other shipping markets are
+providing very good and valuable indents. In all
+cases, it is especially remarked, very early execution
+of contracts and urgent delivery is impressed by
+buyers. The leading firms have learned a good deal
+of late from German, American, Belgian, and other
+foreign competitors in the matter of rapid output.
+By the improvement of plant, the laying down of
+new and costly machine tools, and by other advances
+in methods of production, delivery is now made of
+contracts of heavy tonnage within periods which not
+so long ago would have been deemed by these same
+producers quite impossible. In no branch of the
+engineering trades is this expedition more apparent
+than in the constructional engineering department,
+such as bridges, roofs, etc., also in steam boiler
+work."</p></div>
+
+<p>Now where, in cases such as these, "urgent
+delivery is impressed by buyers," and the utmost
+energy is probably being enforced on the workers,
+is it likely that even the heavy goods so made
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>would be sent down to the port by the tediously
+slow process of canal boat, taking, perhaps, as
+many days as even a goods train would take hours?
+Alternatively, would the manufacturers run the risk
+of delaying urgent work by having the raw materials
+delivered by canal boat in order to effect a small
+saving on cost of transport?</p>
+
+<p>Certainty of delivery might again be seriously
+affected in the case of canal transport by delays
+arising either from scarcity of water during dry
+seasons, or from frost in winter. The entire stoppage
+of a canal system, from one or other of these causes,
+for weeks together, especially on high levels, is no
+unusual occurrence, and the inconvenience which
+would then result to traders who depended on the
+canals is self-evident. In Holland, where most of
+the goods traffic goes by the canals that spread as
+a perfect network throughout the whole country, and
+link up each town with every other town, the advent
+of a severe frost means that the whole body of traffic
+is suddenly thrown on the railways, which then have
+more to get through than they can manage. Here
+the problem arises: If waterways take traffic from
+the railways during the greater part of the year,
+should the railways still be expected to keep on
+hand sufficient rolling stock, etc., not only for their
+normal conditions, but to meet all the demands
+made upon them during such periods as their
+competitors cannot operate?</p>
+
+<p>There is an idea in some quarters that stoppage
+from frost need not be feared in this country because,
+under an improved system of waterways, measures
+would be taken to keep the ice on the canals
+constantly broken up. But even with this arrangement
+there comes a time, during a prolonged frost,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>when the quantity of broken ice in the canal is so
+great that navigation is stopped unless the ice itself
+is removed from the water. Frost must, therefore,
+still be reckoned with as a serious factor among the
+possibilities of delay in canal transport.</p>
+
+<p>Secondly, there is the question of quantities. For
+the average trader the railway truck is a much more
+convenient unit than the canal boat. It takes just
+such amount as he may want to send or receive.
+For some commodities the minimum load for which
+the lowest railway rate is quoted is as little as 2 tons;
+but many a railway truck has been run through to
+destination with a solitary consignment of not more
+than half-a-ton. On the other hand, a vast proportion
+of the consignments by rail are essentially
+of the "small" type. From the goods depôt at
+Curzon Street, Birmingham, a total of 1,615 tons
+dealt with, over a certain period, represented 6,110
+consignments and 51,114 packages, the average
+weight per consignment being 5 <abbr title="hundredweight">cwts</abbr>. 1 <abbr title="quarter">qr.</abbr> 4 <abbr title="pounds">lbs.</abbr>,
+and the average weight per package, 2 <abbr title="quarters">qrs.</abbr> 14 <abbr title="pounds">lbs.</abbr>
+At the Liverpool goods depôts of the London and
+North-Western Railway, a total weight of 3,895 tons
+handled consisted of 5,049 consignments and 79,513
+packages, the average weight per consignment being
+15 <abbr title="hundredweight">cwts</abbr>. 1 <abbr title="quarter">qr.</abbr> 20 <abbr title="pounds">lbs.</abbr>, and the average weight per
+package 3 <abbr title="quarters">qrs.</abbr> 26 <abbr title="pounds">lbs.</abbr> From the depôt at Broad
+Street, London, 906 tons represented 6,201 consignments
+and 23,067 packages, with an average
+weight per consignment of 2 <abbr title="hundredweight">cwts</abbr>. 3 <abbr title="quarters">qrs.</abbr> 19 <abbr title="pounds">lbs.</abbr>,
+and per package, 3 <abbr title="quarters">qrs.</abbr> 4 <abbr title="pounds">lbs.</abbr>; and so on with
+other important centres of traffic.</p>
+
+<p>There is little room for doubt that a substantial
+proportion of these consignments and packages consisted
+partly of goods required by traders either
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>to replenish their stocks, or, as in the case of
+tailors and dressmakers, to enable them to execute
+particular orders; and partly of commodities
+purchased from traders, and on their way to the
+customers. In regard to the latter class of goods,
+it is a matter of common knowledge that there
+has been an increasing tendency of late years to
+eliminate the middleman, and establish direct trading
+between producer and consumer. Just as the
+small shopkeeper will purchase from the manufacturer,
+and avoid the wholesale dealer, so, also,
+there are individual householders and others who
+eliminate even the shopkeeper, and deal direct
+with advertising manufacturers willing to supply to
+them the same quantities as could be obtained
+from a retail trader.</p>
+
+<p>For trades and businesses conducted on these lines,
+the railway&mdash;taking and delivering promptly consignments
+great or small, penetrating to every part
+of the country, and supplemented by its own commodious
+warehouses, in which goods can be stored
+as desired by the trader pending delivery or shipment&mdash;is
+a far more convenient mode of transport
+than the canal boat; and to the railway the perfect
+revolution that has been brought about in the
+general trade of this country is mainly due.
+Business has been simplified, subdivided, and
+brought within the reach of "small" men to an
+extent that, but for the railway, would have been
+impossible; and it is difficult to imagine that
+traders in general will forego all these advantages
+now, and revert once more to the canal boat,
+merely for the sake of a saving in freight which,
+in the long run, might be no saving at all.</p>
+
+<p>Here it may be replied by my critics that there
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>is no idea of reviving canals in the interests of the
+general trader, and that all that is sought is to
+provide a cheaper form of transport for those heavier
+or bulkier minerals or commodities which, it is
+said, can be carried better and more economically
+by water than by rail.</p>
+
+<p>Now this argument implies the admission that
+canal resuscitation, on a national basis, or at the
+risk more or less of the community, is to be effected,
+not for the general trader, but for certain special
+classes of traders. As a matter of fact, however,
+such canal traffic as exists to-day is by no means
+limited to heavy or bulky articles. In their earlier
+days canal companies simply provided a water-road,
+as it were, along which goods could be taken
+by other persons on payment of certain tolls. To
+enable them to meet better the competition of the
+railways, Parliament granted to the canal companies,
+in 1846, the right to become common carriers
+as well, and, though only a very small proportion
+of them took advantage of this concession, those
+that did are indebted in part to the transport of
+general merchandise for such degree of prosperity
+as they have retained. The separate firms of canal
+carriers ("by-traders") have adopted a like policy,
+and, notwithstanding the changes in trade of which
+I have spoken, a good deal of general merchandise
+does go by canal to or from places that happen to
+be situated in the immediate vicinity of the waterways.
+It is extremely probable that if some of the
+canals which have survived had depended entirely
+on the transport of heavy or bulky commodities,
+their financial condition to-day would have been
+even worse than it really is.</p>
+
+<p>But let us look somewhat more closely into this
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>theory that canals are better adapted than railways
+for the transport of minerals or heavy merchandise,
+calling for the payment of a low freight. At the
+first glance such a commodity as coal would claim
+special attention from this point of view; yet here
+one soon learns that not only have the railways
+secured the great bulk of this traffic in fair and
+open competition with the canals, but there is no
+probability of the latter taking it away from them
+again to any appreciable extent.</p>
+
+<p>Some interesting facts in this connection were
+mentioned by the late Sir James Allport in the
+evidence he gave before the Select Committee on
+Canals in 1883. Not a yard, he said, of the series
+of waterways between London and Derbyshire,
+Nottinghamshire, part of Staffordshire, Warwickshire
+and Leicestershire&mdash;counties which included
+some of the best coal districts in England for
+supplying the metropolis&mdash;was owned by railway
+companies, yet the amount of coal carried by
+canal to London had steadily declined, while that
+by rail had enormously increased. To prove this
+assertion, he took the year 1852 as one when there
+was practically no competition on the part of the
+railways with the canals for the transport of coal,
+and he compared therewith the year 1882, giving
+for each the total amount of coal received by canal
+and railway respectively, as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="coal received">
+<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdc" colspan="2">1852</td>
+    <td class="tdc" colspan="2">1882</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Received by</td>
+    <td class="tdl">canal</td>
+    <td class="tdr">33,000</td>
+    <td class="tdc">tons</td>
+    <td class="tdr">7,900</td>
+    <td class="tdc">tons</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr">"&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;"&nbsp; </td>
+    <td class="tdl">railway</td>
+    <td class="tdr">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;317,000</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;6,546,000</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>The figures quoted by Sir James Allport were
+taken from the official returns in respect to the
+dues formerly levied by the City of London and the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>late Metropolitan Board of Works on all coal
+coming within the Metropolitan Police Area, representing
+a total of 700 square miles; though at an
+earlier period the district in which the dues were
+enforced was that included in a 20-mile radius. The
+dues were abolished in 1889, and since then the
+statistics in question have no longer been compiled.
+But the returns for 1889 show that the imports of
+coal, by railway and by canal respectively, into the
+Metropolitan Police Area for that year were as
+follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="London coal imports">
+<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="3"><span class="big">BY RAILWAY</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdc">Tons.</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><abbr title="hundredweight">Cwts</abbr>.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Midland</td>
+    <td class="tdr">2,647,554</td>
+    <td class="tdr">0</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">London and North-Western</td>
+    <td class="tdr">1,735,067</td>
+    <td class="tdr">13</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Great Northern</td>
+    <td class="tdr">1,360,205</td>
+    <td class="tdr">0</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Great Eastern</td>
+    <td class="tdr">1,077,504</td>
+    <td class="tdr">13</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Great Western</td>
+    <td class="tdr">940,829</td>
+    <td class="tdr">0</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">London and South-Western</td>
+    <td class="tdr">81,311</td>
+    <td class="tdr">2</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">South-Eastern</td>
+    <td class="tdr">27,776</td>
+    <td class="tdr">18</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr" colspan="2">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdc">Total by Railway</td>
+    <td class="tdr">7,870,248</td>
+    <td class="tdr">6</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr" colspan="2">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="3"><span class="big">BY CANAL</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Grand Junction</td>
+    <td class="tdr">12,601</td>
+    <td class="tdr">15</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr" colspan="2">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdc">Difference</td>
+    <td class="tdr">7,857,646</td>
+    <td class="tdr">11</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr" colspan="2">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<p>If, therefore, the independent canal companies,
+having a waterway from the colliery district of the
+Midlands and the North through to London (without,
+as already stated, any section thereof being controlled
+by railway companies), had improved their canals,
+and doubled, trebled, or even quadrupled the quantity
+of coal they carried in 1889, their total would still
+have been insignificant as compared with the quantity
+conveyed by rail.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a id="i_082fp"></a>
+<img src="images/i_082fp.jpg" width="600" height="418" alt="FROM PIT TO PORT." />
+<div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">"FROM PIT TO PORT."</p>
+
+    <p>(Prospect Pit, Wigan Coal and Iron Company. Raised to the surface, the coal is emptied on to a
+mechanical shaker, which grades it into various sizes&mdash;lumps, cobbles, nuts, and slack. These sizes
+then each pass along a picking belt&mdash;so that impurities can be removed&mdash;and fall into the railway
+trucks placed at the end ready to receive them. The coal can thus be taken direct from the mouth of
+the pit to any port or town in Great Britain.)</p>
+
+    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 82.</i></p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p>
+<p>The reasons for this transition in the London coal
+trade (and the same general principle applies elsewhere)
+can be readily stated. They are to be found
+in the facilities conferred by the railway companies,
+and the great changes that, as the direct result
+thereof, have taken place in the coal trade itself.
+Not only are most of the collieries in communication
+with the railways, but the coal waggons are generally
+so arranged alongside the mouth of each pit that
+the coal, as raised, can be tipped into them direct
+from the screens. Coal trains, thus made up, are
+next brought to certain sidings in the neighbourhood
+of London, where the waggons await the orders
+of the coal merchants to whom they have been consigned.
+At Willesden, for example, there is special
+accommodation for 2,000 coal waggons, and the
+sidings are generally full. Liberal provision of a
+like character has also been made in London by
+the Midland, the Great Northern, and other railway
+companies in touch with the colliery districts. An
+intimation as to the arrival of the consignments is
+sent by the railway company to the coal merchant,
+who, in London, is allowed three "free" days at
+these coal sidings in which to give instructions
+where the coal is to be sent. After three days he
+is charged the very modest sum of 6d. per day
+per truck. Assuming that the coal merchant gives
+directions, either within the three days or later, for
+a dozen trucks, containing particular qualities of coal,
+to be sent to different parts of London, north, south,
+east and west, those dozen trucks will have to be
+picked out from the one or two thousand on the
+sidings, shunted, and coupled on to trains going
+through to the stated destination. This represents
+in itself a considerable amount of work, and special
+staffs have to be kept on duty for the purpose.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p>
+<p>Then, at no fewer than one hundred and thirty-five
+railway stations in London and the suburbs thereof,
+the railway companies have provided coal depôts on
+such vacant land as may be available close to the local
+sidings, and here a certain amount of space is allotted
+to the use of coal merchants. For this accommodation
+no charge whatever is made in London, though
+a small rent has to be paid in the provinces. The
+London coal merchant gets so many feet, or yards,
+allotted to him on the railway property; he puts
+up a board with his name, or that of his firm; he
+stores on the said space the coal for which he has
+no immediate sale; and he sends his men there to
+fetch from day to day just such quantities as he
+wants in order to execute the orders received. With
+free accommodation such as this at half a dozen, or
+even a score, of suburban railway stations, all that
+the coal merchant of to-day requires in addition is
+a diminutive little office immediately adjoining each
+railway station, where orders can be received, and
+whence instructions can be sent. Not only, also, do
+the railway companies provide him with a local coal
+depôt which serves his every purpose, but, after
+allowing him three "free" days on the great coal
+sidings, to which the waggons first come, they
+give him, on the local sidings, another seven
+"free" days in which to arrange his business. He
+thus gets ten clear days altogether, before any charge
+is made for demurrage, and, if then he is still awaiting
+orders, he has only to have the coal removed from
+the trucks on to the depôt, or "wharf" as it is
+technically called, so escaping any payment beyond
+the ordinary railway rate, in which all these privileges
+and advantages are included.</p>
+
+<p>If canal transport were substituted for rail transport,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>the coal would first have to be taken from the mouth
+of the pit to the canal, and, inasmuch as comparatively
+few collieries (except in certain districts) have canals
+immediately adjoining, the coal would have to go
+by rail to the canal, unless the expense were incurred
+of cutting a branch of the canal to the colliery&mdash;a
+much more costly business, especially where locks are
+necessary, than laying a railway siding. At the
+canal the coal would be tipped from the railway truck
+into the canal boat,<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> which would take it to the canal
+terminus, or to some wharf or basin on the canal
+banks. There the coal would be thrown up from the
+boat into the wharf (in itself a more laborious and more
+expensive operation than that of shovelling it down,
+or into sacks on the same level, from a railway
+waggon), and from the wharf it would have to be
+carted, perhaps several miles, to final destination.</p>
+
+<p>Under this arrangement the coal would receive
+much more handling&mdash;and each handling means so
+much additional slack and depreciation in value; a
+week would have to be allowed for a journey now
+possible in a day; the coal dealers would have to
+provide their own depôts and pay more for cartage, and
+they would have to order particular kinds of coal by
+the boat load instead of by the waggon load.</p>
+
+<p>This last necessity would alone suffice to render the
+scheme abortive. Some years ago when there was
+so much discussion as to the use of a larger size of
+railway waggon, efforts were made to induce the coal
+interests to adopt this policy. But the 8-ton truck was
+so convenient a unit, and suited so well the essentially
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>retail nature of the coal trade to-day, that as a rule the
+coal merchants would have nothing to do with trucks
+even of 15 or 20 tons. Much less, therefore, would
+they be inclined to favour barge loads of 200 or 250
+tons.</p>
+
+<p>Exceptions might be made in the case of gas works,
+or of factories already situated alongside the banks of
+canals which have direct communication with collieries.
+In the Black Country considerable quantities of coal
+thus go by canal from the collieries to the many local
+ironworks, etc., which, as I have shown, are still
+actively served by the Birmingham Canal system.
+But these exceptions can hardly be offered as an
+adequate reason for the nationalisation of British
+canals. The general conditions, and especially the
+nature of the coal trade transition, will be better
+realised from some figures mentioned by the chairman
+of the London and North-Western Railway Company,
+Lord Stalbridge, at the half-yearly meeting in February
+1903. Notwithstanding the heavy coal traffic&mdash;in
+the aggregate&mdash;the average consignment of coal, he
+showed, on the London and North-Western Railway
+is only 17&frac12; tons, and over 80 per cent. of the total
+quantity carried represents consignments of less than
+20 tons, the actual weights ranging from lots of 2 tons
+14 <abbr title="hundredweight">cwts</abbr>. to close upon 1,000 tons for shipment.</p>
+
+<p>"But," the reader may say, "if coal is taken in
+1,000-ton lots to a port for shipment, surely canal
+transport could be resorted to here!" This course is
+adopted on the Aire and Calder Navigation, which is
+very favourably situated, and goes over almost
+perfectly level ground. The average conditions of
+coal shipment in the United Kingdom are, however,
+much better met by the special facilities which rail
+transport offers.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p>
+<p>Of the way in which coal is loaded into railway
+trucks direct from the colliery screens I have already
+spoken; but, in respect to steam coal, it should be
+added that anthracite is sold in about twelve different
+sizes, and that one colliery will make three or four
+of these sizes, each dropped into separate trucks
+under the aforesaid screens. The output of an
+anthracite colliery would be from 200 to 300 tons a
+day, in the three or four sizes, as stated, this total
+being equal to from 20 to 30 truck-loads. An order
+received by a coal factor for 2,000 or 3,000 tons of a
+particular size would, therefore, have to be made up
+with coal from a number of different collieries.</p>
+
+<p>The coal, however, is not actually sold at the
+collieries. It is sent down to the port, and there it
+stands about for weeks, and sometimes for months,
+awaiting sale or the arrival of vessels. It must
+necessarily be on the spot, so that orders can be
+executed with the utmost expedition, and delays to
+shipping avoided. Consequently it is necessary that
+ample accommodation should be provided at the
+port for what may be described as the coal-in-waiting.
+At Newport, for example, where about 4,000,000 tons
+of coal are shipped in the course of the year (independently
+of "bunkers,") there are 50 miles of coal
+sidings, capable of accommodating from 40,000 to
+50,000 tons of coal sent there for shipment. A record
+number of loaded coal trucks actually on these sidings
+at any one time is 3,716. The daily average is 2,800.</p>
+
+<p>Now assume that the coal for shipment from
+Newport had been brought there by canal boat.
+To begin with, it would have been first loaded, by
+means of the colliery screens, into railway trucks,
+taken in these to the canal, and then tipped into
+the boats. This would mean further breakage, and,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>in the case of steam coal especially, a depreciation
+in value. But suppose that the coal had duly
+arrived at the port in the canal boats, where
+would it be stored for those weeks and months to
+await sale or vessels? Space for miles of sidings
+on land can easily be found; but the water area in
+a canal or dock in which barges can wait is limited,
+and, in the case of Newport at least, it would hardly
+be equal to the equivalent of 3,000 truck-loads of
+coal.</p>
+
+<p>There comes next the important matter of detail
+as to the way in which coal brought to a port is to
+be shipped. Nothing could be simpler and more
+expeditious than the practice generally adopted in
+the case of rail-borne coal. When a given quantity
+of coal is to be despatched, the vessel is brought
+alongside a hydraulic coal-tip, such as that shown
+in the illustration facing this page, and the loaded
+coal trucks are placed in succession underneath the
+tip. Raised one by one to the level of the shoot,
+the trucks are there inclined to such an angle that
+the entire contents fall on to the shoot, and thence
+into the hold of the ship. Brought to the horizontal
+again, the empty truck passes on to a viaduct, down
+which it goes, by gravitation, back to the sidings,
+the place it has vacated on the tip being at once
+taken by another loaded truck.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 507px;"><a id="i_088fp"></a>
+<img src="images/i_088fp.jpg" width="507" height="600" alt="THE SHIPPING OF COAL: HYDRAULIC TIP ON G.W.R., SWANSEA." />
+<div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">THE SHIPPING OF COAL: HYDRAULIC TIP ON G.W.R., SWANSEA.</p>
+
+    <p>(The loaded truck is hoisted to level of shoot, and is there inclined to necessary angle
+to "tip" the coal, which falls from shoot into hold of vessel. Empty truck
+passes by gravitation along viaduct, on left, to sidings.)</p>
+
+    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 88.</i></p>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<p>Substitute coal barges for coal trucks, and how
+will the loading then be accomplished? Under any
+possible circumstances it would take longer to put
+a series of canal barges alongside a vessel in the
+dock than to place a series of coal trucks under the
+tip on shore. Nor could the canal barge itself be
+raised to the level of a shoot, and have its contents
+tipped bodily into the collier. What was done in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>the South Wales district by one colliery some years
+ago was to load up a barge with iron tubs, or
+boxes, filled with coal, and placed in pairs from
+end to end. In dock one of these would be lifted
+out of the barge by a crane, and lowered into the
+hold, where the bottom would be knocked out, the
+emptied tub being then replaced in the barge by
+the crane, and the next one to it raised in turn.
+But, apart from the other considerations already
+presented, this system of shipment was found more
+costly than the direct tipping of railway trucks, and
+was consequently abandoned.</p>
+
+<p>Although, therefore, in theory coal would appear
+to be an ideal commodity for transport by canal, in
+actual practice it is found that rail transport is both
+more convenient and more economical, and certainly
+much better adapted to the exigences of present day
+trade in general, in the case alike of domestic coal
+and of coal for shipment. Whether or not the country
+would be warranted in going to a heavy expense
+for canal resuscitation for the special benefit of a
+limited number of traders having works or factories
+alongside canal banks is a wholly different question.</p>
+
+<p>I take next the case of raw cotton as another bulky
+commodity carried in substantial quantities. At one
+time it was the custom in the Lancashire spinning
+trade for considerable supplies to be bought in
+Liverpool, taken to destination by canal, and stored
+in the mills for use as required. A certain proportion
+is still handled in this way; but the Lancashire
+spinners who now store their cotton are extremely
+few in number, and represent the exception rather
+than the rule. It is found much more convenient to
+receive from Liverpool from day to day by rail the
+exact number of bales required to meet immediate
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>wants. The order can be sent, if necessary, by
+post, telegraph, or telephone, and the cotton may be
+expected at the mill next day, or as desired. If
+barge-loads of cotton were received at one time,
+capital would at least have to be sunk in providing
+warehousing accommodation, and the spinner thinks
+he can make better use of his money.</p>
+
+<p>The day-by-day arrangement is thus both a
+convenience and a saving to the trader; though it
+has one disadvantage from a railway standpoint, for
+cotton consignments by rail are, as a rule, so small
+that there is difficulty in making up a "paying
+load" for particular destinations. As the further
+result of the agitation a few years ago for the use
+of a larger type of railway waggons, experiments
+have been made at Liverpool with large trucks for
+the conveyance especially of raw cotton. But, owing
+to the day-by-day policy of the spinners, it is no
+easy matter to make up a 20-ton truck of cotton
+for many of the places to which consignments are
+sent, and the shortage in the load represents so
+much dead weight. Consignments ordered forward
+by rail must, however, be despatched wholly, or at
+any rate in part, on day of receipt. Any keeping
+of them back, with the idea of thus making up a
+better load for the railway truck, would involve the
+risk of a complaint, if not of a claim, against the
+railway company, on the ground that the mill had
+had to stop work owing to delay in the arrival of
+the cotton.</p>
+
+<p>If the spinners would only adopt a two- or three-days-together
+policy, it would be a great advantage
+to the railways; but even this might involve the
+provision of storage accommodation at the mills, and
+they accordingly prefer the existing arrangement.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>What hope could there be, therefore, except under
+very special circumstances, that they would be willing
+to change their procedure, and receive their raw
+cotton in bulk by canal boat?</p>
+
+<p>Passing on to other heavy commodities carried in
+large quantities, such as bricks, stone, drain-pipes,
+manure, or road-making materials, it is found, in
+practice, that unless both the place whence these
+things are despatched and the place where they are
+actually wanted are close to a waterway, it is
+generally more convenient and more economical to
+send by rail. The railway truck is not only (once
+more) a better unit in regard to quantity, but, as in
+the case of domestic coal, it can go to any railway
+station, and can often be brought miles nearer to the
+actual destination than if the articles or materials in
+question are forwarded by water; while the addition
+to the canal toll of the cost of cartage at either end,
+or both, may swell the total to the full amount of the
+railway rate, or leave so small a margin that conveyance
+by rail, in view of the other advantages
+offered, is naturally preferred. Here we have further
+reasons why commodities that seem to be specially
+adapted for transport by canal so often go by rail
+instead.</p>
+
+<p>There are manufacturers, again, who, if executing
+a large shipping order, would rather consign the
+goods, as they are ready, to a railway warehouse at
+the port, there to await shipment, than occupy
+valuable space with them on their own premises.
+Assuming that it might be possible and of advantage
+to forward to destination by canal boat, they would
+still prefer to send off 25 or 30 tons at a time, in
+a narrow boat (and 25 to 30 tons would represent
+a big lot in most industries), rather than keep
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>everything back (with the incidental result of blocking
+up the factory) until, in order to save a little
+on the freight, they could fill up a barge of 200 or
+300 tons.</p>
+
+<p>So the moral of this part of my story is that, even
+if the canals of the country were thoroughly revived,
+and made available for large craft, there could not be
+any really great resort to them unless there were,
+also, brought about a change in the whole basis of
+our general trading conditions.</p>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+
+<h2 title="VII. CONTINENTAL CONDITIONS">CHAPTER VII<br />
+
+<small>CONTINENTAL CONDITIONS</small></h2>
+
+
+<p>The larger proportion of the arguments advanced in
+the Press or in public in favour of a restoration of
+our own canal system is derived from the statements
+which are unceasingly being made as to what our
+neighbours on the Continent of Europe are doing.</p>
+
+<p>Almost every writer or speaker on the subject
+brings forward the same stock of facts and figures as
+to the large sums of money that are being expended
+on waterways in Continental countries; the contention
+advanced being, in effect, that because such
+and such things are done on the Continent of
+Europe, therefore they ought to be done here. In
+the "Engineering Supplement" of <cite>The Times</cite>, for
+instance&mdash;to give only one example out of many&mdash;there
+appeared early in 1906 two articles on "Belgian
+Canals and Waterways" by an engineering contributor
+who wrote, among other things, that, in
+view of "the well-directed efforts now being made
+with the object of effecting the regeneration of the
+British canal system, the study of Belgian canals
+and other navigable waterways possesses distinct
+interest"; and declared, in concluding his account
+thereof, that "if the necessary powers, money, and
+concentrated effort were available, there is little doubt
+that equally satisfactory results could be obtained in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>Great Britain." Is this really the case? Could we
+possibly hope to do all that can be done either in
+Belgium or in Continental countries generally, even
+if we had the said powers and money, and showed
+the same concentrated effort? For my part I do not
+think we could, and these are my reasons for thinking
+so:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Taking geographical considerations first, a glance
+at the map of Europe will show that, apart from
+their national requirements, enterprises, and facilities,
+Germany, Belgium, and Holland are the gateways
+to vast expanses producing, or receiving, very large
+quantities of merchandise and raw materials, much
+of which is eminently suitable for water transport
+on long journeys that have absolutely no parallel
+in this country. In the case of Belgium, a good
+idea of the general position may be gained from
+some remarks made by the British Consul-General
+at Antwerp, Sir E. Cecil Hertslet, in a report
+("Miscellaneous Series," 604) on "Canals and other
+Navigable Waterways of Belgium," issued by the
+Foreign Office in 1904. Referring to the position
+of Antwerp he wrote:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"In order to form a clear idea of the great utility
+of the canal system of Belgium, it is from its heart,
+from the great port of Antwerp, as a centre, that
+the survey must be taken.... Antwerp holds a
+leading position among the great ports of the world,
+and this is due, not only to her splendid geographical
+situation at the centre of the ocean highways of
+commerce, but, also, and perhaps more particularly,
+to her practically unique position as a distributing
+centre for a large portion of North-Eastern Europe."</p></div>
+
+<p>Thus the canals and waterways of Belgium do
+not serve merely local, domestic, or national purposes,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>but represent the first or final links in a network of
+water communications by means of which merchandise
+can be taken to, or brought from, in bulk, "a
+large portion of North-Eastern Europe." Much of
+this traffic, again, can just as well pass through
+one Continental country, on its way to or from the
+coast, as through another. In fact, some of the
+most productive of German industrial centres are
+much nearer to Antwerp or Rotterdam than they
+are to Hamburg or Bremen. Hence the extremely
+keen rivalry between Continental countries having
+ports on the North Sea for the capture of these
+great volumes of trans-Continental traffic, and hence,
+also, their low transport rates, and, to a certain extent,
+their large expenditure on waterways.</p>
+
+<p>Comparing these with British conditions, we must
+bear in mind the fact that we dwell in a group
+of islands, and not in a country which forms part
+of a Continent. We have, therefore, no such transit
+traffic available for "through" barges as that which
+is handled on the Continent. Traffic originating in
+Liverpool, and destined say, for Austria, would not
+be put in a canal boat which would first go to Goole,
+or Hull, then cross the North Sea in the same boat
+to Holland or Belgium, and so on to its destination.
+Nor would traffic in bulk from the United States
+for the Continent&mdash;or even for any of our East Coast
+ports&mdash;be taken by boat across England. It would
+go round by sea. Traffic, again, originating in
+Birmingham, might be taken to a port by boat.
+But it would there require transhipment into an
+ocean-going vessel, just as the commodities received
+from abroad would have to be transferred to a canal
+boat&mdash;unless Birmingham could be converted into a
+sea-port.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p>
+<p>If Belgium and Holland, especially, had had no
+chance of getting more than local, as distinct from
+through or transit traffic&mdash;if, in other words, they
+had been islands like our own, with the same geographical
+limitations as ourselves, and with no trans-Continental
+traffic to handle, is there the slightest
+probability that they would have spent anything
+like the same amount of money on the development
+of their waterways as they have actually done? In
+the particular circumstances of their position they
+have acted wisely; but it does not necessarily follow
+that we, in wholly different circumstances, have acted
+foolishly in not following their example.</p>
+
+<p>It might further be noted, in this connection, that
+while in the case of Belgium all the waterways in,
+or leading into, the country converge to the one
+great port of Antwerp, in England we have great
+ports, competing more or less the one with the other,
+all round our coasts, and the conferring of special
+advantages on one by the State would probably
+be followed by like demands on the part of all the
+others. As for communication between our different
+ports, this is maintained so effectively by coasting
+vessels (the competition of which already powerfully
+influences railway rates) that heavy expenditure on
+canal improvement could hardly be justified on this
+account. However effectively the Thames might be
+joined to the Mersey, or the Humber to the Severn,
+by canal, the vast bulk of port-to-port traffic would
+probably still go by sea.</p>
+
+<p>Then there are great differences between the physical
+conditions of Great Britain and those parts of the
+Continent of Europe where the improvement of
+waterways has undergone the greatest expansion.
+Portions of Holland&mdash;as everybody knows&mdash;are
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>below the level of the sea, and the remainder are
+not much above it. A large part of Belgium is
+flat; so is most of Northern Germany. In fact
+there is practically a level plain right away from
+the shores of the North Sea to the steppes of Russia.
+Canal construction in these conditions is a comparatively
+simple and a comparatively inexpensive
+matter; though where such conditions do not exist
+to the same extent&mdash;as in the south of Germany,
+for example&mdash;the building of canals becomes a very
+different problem. This fact is well recognised by
+Herr Franz Ulrich in his book on "Staffeltarife und
+Wasserstrassen," where he argues that the building
+of canals is practicable only in districts favoured by
+Nature, and that hilly and backward country is thus
+unavoidably handicapped.</p>
+
+<p>Much, again, of the work done on the Continent
+has been a matter either of linking up great rivers
+or of canalising these for navigation purposes. We
+have in England no such rivers as the Rhine, the
+Weser, the Elbe, and the Oder, but the very essence
+of the German scheme of waterways is to connect
+these and other rivers by canals, a through route by
+water being thus provided from the North Sea to
+the borders of Russia. Further south there is already
+a small canal, the Ludwigs Canal, connecting the
+Rhine and the Danube, and this canal&mdash;as distinct
+from those in the northern plains&mdash;certainly does rise
+to an elevation of 600 feet from the River Main to
+its summit level. A scheme has now been projected
+for establishing a better connection between the
+Rhine and the Danube by a ship canal following
+the route either of the Main or of the Neckar. In
+describing these two powerful streams Professor
+Meiklejohn says, in his "New Geography":&mdash;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p>
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"The two greatest rivers of Europe&mdash;greatest from
+almost every point of view&mdash;are the Danube and the
+Rhine. The Danube is the largest river in Europe
+in respect of its volume of water; it is the only large
+European river that flows due east; and it is therefore
+the great highway to the East for South Germany,
+for Austria, for Hungary, and for the younger nations
+in its valley. It flows through more lands, races, and
+languages than any other European river. The Rhine
+is the great water-highway for Western Europe; and
+it carries the traffic and the travellers of many countries
+and peoples. Both streams give life to the whole
+Continent; they join many countries and the most
+varied interests; while the streams of France exist
+only for France itself. The Danube runs parallel
+with the mighty ranges of the Alps; the Rhine
+saws its way through the secondary highlands which
+lie between the Alps and the Netherlands."</p></div>
+
+<p>The construction of this proposed link would give
+direct water communication between the North Sea
+and the Black Sea, a distance, as the crow flies, and
+not counting river windings, of about 1,300 miles.
+Such an achievement as this would put entirely in
+the shade even the present possible voyage, by canal
+and river, of 300 miles from Antwerp to Strasburg.</p>
+
+<p>What are our conditions in Great Britain, as against
+all these?</p>
+
+<p>In place of the "great lowland plain" in which
+most of the Continental canal work we hear so much
+about has been done, we possess an undulating
+country whose physical conditions are well indicated
+by the canal sections given opposite this page. Such
+differences of level as those that are there shown
+must be overcome by locks, lifts, or inclined planes,
+together with occasional tunnels or viaducts. In the
+result the construction of canals is necessarily much
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>more costly in Great Britain than on the aforesaid
+"great lowland plain" of Continental Europe, and
+dimensions readily obtainable there become practically
+impossible here on account alike of the prohibitive
+cost of construction and the difficulties that
+would arise in respect to water supply. A canal
+connecting the Rhine, the Weser, and the Elbe, in
+Germany, is hardly likely to run short of water,
+and the same may be said of the canals in Holland,
+and of those in the lowlands of Belgium. This is
+a very different matter from having to pump water
+from low levels to high levels, to fill reservoirs for
+canal purposes, as must be done on the Birmingham
+and other canals, or from taking a fortnight to accomplish
+the journey from Hull to Nottingham as once
+happened owing to insufficiency of water.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 410px;"><a id="i_098fp"></a>
+<img src="images/i_098fp.jpg" width="410" height="600" alt="SOME TYPICAL BRITISH CANALS." />
+<div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">SOME TYPICAL BRITISH CANALS.</p>
+
+    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 98.</i></p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>There is, also, that very important consideration,
+from a transport standpoint, of the "length of haul."
+Assuming, for the sake of argument (1) that the
+commercial conditions were the same in Great
+Britain as they are on the Continent; (2) that
+our country, also, consisted of a "great lowland
+plain"; and (3) that we, as well, had great natural
+waterways, like the Rhine, yielding an abundant
+water supply;&mdash;assuming all this, it would still be
+impossible, in the circumscribed dimensions of our
+isles, to get a "length of haul" in any way approaching
+the barge-journeys that are regularly made
+between, say, North Sea ports and various centres
+in Germany.</p>
+
+<p>The geographical differences in general between
+Great Britain and Continental countries were thus
+summed up by Mr W. H. Wheeler in the discussion
+on Mr Saner's paper at the Institution of Civil
+Engineers:&mdash;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span></p>
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"There really did not seem to be any justification
+for Government interference with the canals.
+England was in an entirely different situation from
+Continental countries. She was a sea-girt nation,
+with no less than eight first-class ports on a coast-line
+of 1,820 miles. Communication between these
+by coasting steamers was, therefore, easy, and could
+be accomplished in much less time and at less cost
+than by canal. There was no large manufacturing
+town in England that was more than about 80 miles
+in a direct line from a first-class seaport; and taking
+the country south of the Firth of Forth, there were
+only 42&frac12; square miles to each mile of coast. France,
+on the other hand, had only two first-class ports, one
+in the north and the other in the extreme south, over
+a coast-line of 1,360 miles. Its capital was 100 miles
+from the nearest seaport, and the towns in the centre
+of the country were 250 to 300 miles from either
+Havre or Marseilles. For every mile of coast-line
+there were 162 square miles of country. Belgium
+had one large seaport and only 50 miles of coast-line,
+with 227 square miles of country to every square
+mile. Germany had only two first-class ports, both
+situated on its northern coast; Frankfort and Berlin
+were distant from those ports about 250 miles, and
+for every mile of coast-line there were 231 square
+miles of country. The necessity of an extended
+system of inland waterways for the distribution of
+produce and materials was, therefore, far more important
+in those countries than it was in England."</p></div>
+
+<p>Passing from commercial and geographical to
+political conditions, we find that in Germany the
+State owns or controls alike railways and waterways.
+Prussia bought up most of the former, partly with
+the idea of safeguarding the protective policy of the
+country (endangered by the low rates charged on
+imports by independent railway companies), and
+partly in order that the Government could secure,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>in the profits on railway operation, a source of
+income independent of Parliamentary votes. So
+well has the latter aim been achieved that a contribution
+to the Exchequer of from £10,000,000 to
+£15,000,000 a year has been obtained, and, rather
+than allow this source of income to be checked by
+heavy expenditure, the Prussian Government have
+refrained from carrying out such widenings and
+improvements of their State system of railways as
+a British or an American railway company would
+certainly have adopted in like circumstances, and
+have left the traders to find relief in the waterways
+instead. The increased traffic the waterways of
+Germany are actually getting is mainly traffic which
+has either been diverted from the railways, or would
+have been handled by the railways in other countries
+in the natural course of their expansion. Whatever
+may be the case with the waterways, the railways
+of Prussia, especially, are comparatively unprogressive,
+and, instead of developing through traffic at
+competitive rates, they are reverting more and more
+to the original position of railways as feeders to the
+waterways. They get a short haul from place of
+origin to the waterway, and another short haul,
+perhaps, from waterway again to final destination;
+but the greater part of the journey is done by water.</p>
+
+<p>These conditions represent one very material
+factor in the substantial expansion of water-borne
+traffic in Germany&mdash;and most of that traffic, be it
+remembered, has been on great rivers rather than
+on artificial canals. The latter are certainly being
+increased in number, especially, as I have said,
+where they connect the rivers; and the Government
+are the more inclined that the waterways should be
+developed because then there will be less need for
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>spending money on the railways, and for any
+interference with the "revenue-producing machine"
+which those railways represent.</p>
+
+<p>In France the railways owned and operated by the
+State are only a comparatively small section of the
+whole; but successive Governments have advanced
+immense sums for railway construction, and the
+State guarantees the dividends of the companies;
+while in France as in Germany railway rates are
+controlled absolutely by the State. In neither
+country is there free competition between rail and
+water transport. If there were, the railways would
+probably secure a much greater proportion of the
+traffic than they do. Still another consideration to
+be borne in mind is that although each country
+has spent great sums of money&mdash;at the cost of the
+general taxpayer&mdash;on the provision of canals or the
+improvement of waterways, no tolls are, with few
+exceptions, imposed on the traders. The canal
+charges include nothing but actual cost of carriage,
+whereas British railway rates may cover various
+other services, in addition, and have to be fixed on
+a scale that will allow of a great variety of charges
+and obligations being met. Not only, both in
+Germany and France, may the waterway be constructed
+and improved by the State, but the State
+also meets the annual expenditure on dredging,
+lighting, superintendence and the maintenance of
+inland harbours. Here we have further reasons
+for the growth of the water-borne traffic on the
+Continent.</p>
+
+<p>Where the State, as railway owner or railway
+subsidiser, spends money also on canals, it competes
+only, to a certain extent, with itself; but this would
+be a very different position from State-owned or
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>State-supported canals in this country competing
+with privately-owned railways.<a name="FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>If then, as I maintain is the case, there is
+absolutely no basis for fair comparison between
+Continental and British conditions&mdash;whether commercial,
+geographical, or political&mdash;we are left to
+conclude that the question of reviving British canals
+must be judged and decided strictly from a British
+standpoint, and subject to the limitations of British
+policy, circumstances, and possibilities.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<h2 title="VIII. WATERWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES">CHAPTER VIII<br />
+
+<small>WATERWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES</small></h2>
+
+
+<p>In some respects conditions in the United States
+compare with those of Continental Europe, for they
+suggest alike powerful streams, artificial canals
+constructed on (as a rule) flat or comparatively flat
+surfaces, and the possibilities of traffic in large
+quantities for transport over long distances before
+they can reach a seaport. In other respects the
+comparison is less with Continental than with
+British conditions, inasmuch as, for the last half
+century at least, the American railways have been
+free to compete with the waterways, and fair play
+has been given to the exercise of economic forces,
+with the result that, in the United States as in the
+United Kingdom, the railways have fully established
+their position as the factors in inland transport
+best suited to the varied requirements of trade
+and commerce of to-day, while the rivers and
+canals (I do not here deal with the Great Lakes,
+which represent an entirely different proposition)
+have played a rôle of steadily diminishing
+importance.</p>
+
+<p>The earliest canal built in the United States was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>that known as the Erie Canal. It was first projected
+in 1768, with the idea of establishing a
+through route by water between Lake Erie and the
+River Hudson at Albany, whence the boats or
+barges employed would be able to reach the port
+of New York. The Act for its construction was
+not passed, however, by the Provincial Legislature
+of the State of New York until 1817. The canal
+itself was opened for traffic in 1825. It had a total
+length from Cleveland to Albany of 364 miles,
+included therein being some notable engineering
+work in the way of aqueducts, etc.</p>
+
+<p>At the date in question there were four North
+Atlantic seaports, namely, Boston, New York,
+Philadelphia, and Baltimore, all of about equal
+importance. Boston, however, had appeared likely
+to take the lead, by reason both of her comparatively
+dense population and of her substantial
+development of manufactures. Philadelphia was
+also then somewhat in advance of New York in
+trade and population. The effect of the Erie
+Canal, however, was to concentrate all the advantages,
+for the time being, on New York. Thanks
+to the canal, New York secured the domestic trade
+of a widespread territory in the middle west, while
+her rivals could not possess themselves of like
+facilities, because of the impracticability of constructing
+canals to cross the ranges of mountains
+separating them from the valley of the Mississippi
+and the basin of the Great Lakes&mdash;ranges broken
+only by the Hudson and the Mohawk valleys, of
+which the constructors of the Erie Canal had
+already taken advantage. So New York, with its
+splendid harbour, made great progress alike in
+trade, wealth, and population, completely outdistancing
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>her rivals, and becoming, as a
+State, "the Empire State," and, as a city, "the
+financial and commercial centre of the Western
+Hemisphere."</p>
+
+<p>While, again, the Erie Canal was "one of the
+most efficient factors" in bringing about these
+results, it was also developing the north-west by
+giving an outlet to the commerce of the Great
+Lakes, and during the second quarter of the
+nineteenth century it represented what has been
+well described as "the most potent influence of
+American progress and civilisation." Not only did
+the traffic it carried increase from 1,250,000 tons,
+in 1837, to 3,000,000 tons in 1847, but it
+further inspired the building of canals in other
+sections of the United States. In course of time
+the artificial waterways of that country represented
+a total length of 5,000 miles.</p>
+
+<p>With the advent of the railways there came
+revolutionary changes which were by no means
+generally appreciated at first. The cost of the
+various canals had been defrayed mostly by the
+different States, and, though financial considerations
+had thus been more readily met, the policy
+pursued had committed the States concerned to the
+support of the canals against possible competition.
+When, therefore, "private enterprise" introduced
+railways, in which the doom of the canals was foreseen,
+there was a wild outburst of indignant protest.
+The money of the taxpayers, it was said, had been
+sunk in building the canals, and, if the welfare of
+these should be prejudiced by the railways, every
+taxpayer in the State would suffer. When it was
+seen that the railways had come to stay, the demand
+arose that, while passengers might travel by rail,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>the canals should have the exclusive right to
+convey merchandise.</p>
+
+<p>The question was even discussed by the Legislature
+of the State of New York, in 1857, whether the railways
+should not be prevented from carrying goods
+at all, or, alternatively, whether heavy taxes should
+not be imposed on goods traffic carried by rail in
+order to check the considerable tendency then being
+shown for merchandise to go by rail instead of by
+canal, irrespective of any difference in rates. The
+railway companies were further accused of conspiring
+to "break down those great public works upon which
+the State has spent forty years of labour," and so
+active was the campaign against them&mdash;while it
+lasted&mdash;that one New York paper wrote:&mdash;"The
+whole community is aroused as it never was
+before."</p>
+
+<p>Some of the laws which had been actually passed
+to protect the State-constructed canals against the
+railways were, however, repealed in 1851, and the
+agitation itself was not continued beyond 1857, from
+which year the railways had free scope and opportunity
+to show what they could do. The contest was
+vigorous and prolonged, but the railways steadily
+won.</p>
+
+<p>In the first instance the Erie Canal had a depth
+of 4 feet, and could be navigated only by 30-ton boats.
+In 1862 it was deepened to 7 feet, in order that boats
+of 240 tons, with a capacity of 8,000 tons of wheat,
+could pass, the cost of construction being thus
+increased from $7,000,000 to $50,000,000. Then, in
+1882, all tolls were abolished, and the canal has
+since been maintained out of the State treasury.
+But how the traffic on the New York canals as
+a whole (including the Erie, the Oswego, the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>Champlain, etc.) has declined, in competition with
+the railroads, is well shown by the following
+table:&mdash;<a name="FNanchor_10" id="FNanchor_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table class="bordered" border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" summary="New York freight">
+<tr><td class="tdc">Year.</td>
+    <td class="tdc">Total Traffic on New York Canals and Railroads.<br />Tons.</td>
+    <td class="tdc">Percentage on Canals only.<br />Per cent.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bb0">1860</td>
+    <td class="tdc bb0">&nbsp;7,155,803</td>
+    <td class="tdc bb0">65</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">1870</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bb0">17,488,469</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bb0">35</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">1880</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bb0">29,943,633</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bb0">21</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">1890</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bb0">56,327,661</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bb0">9.3</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">1900</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bb0">84,942,988</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0 bb0">4.1</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl bt0 bb0">1903</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0">93,248,299</td>
+    <td class="tdc bt0">3.9</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>The falling off in the canal traffic has been greatest
+in just those heavy or bulky commodities that are
+generally assumed to be specially adapted for conveyance
+by water. Of the flour and grain, for instance,
+received at New York, less than 10 per cent. in 1899,
+and less than 8 per cent. in 1900, came by the Erie
+Canal.</p>
+
+<p>The experiences of the New York canals have been
+fully shared by other canals in other States. Of the
+sum total of 5,000 miles of canals constructed, 2,000
+had been abandoned by 1890 on the ground that the
+traffic was insufficient to cover working expenses.
+Since then most of the remainder have shared the
+same fate, one of the last of the survivors, the
+Delaware and Hudson, being converted into a
+railway a year or two ago. In fact the only canals
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>in the United States to-day, besides those in the
+State of New York, whose business is sufficiently
+regular to warrant the inclusion of their traffic in the
+monthly reports of the Government are the Chesapeake
+and Delaware (connecting Chesapeake and
+Delaware Bays, and having an annual traffic of
+about 700,000 tons, largely lumber); and the
+Chesapeake and Ohio (from Cumberland to Georgetown,
+owned by the State of Maryland, and transporting
+coal almost exclusively, the amount depending
+on the state of congestion of traffic on the
+railroads).</p>
+
+<p>It is New York that has been most affected by
+this decline in American canals. When the railways
+began to compete severely with the Erie
+Canal, New York's previous supremacy over rival
+ports in the Eastern States was seriously threatened.
+Philadelphia and Baltimore, and various smaller ports
+also, started to make tremendous advance. Then the
+Gulf ports&mdash;notably New Orleans and Galveston&mdash;were
+able to capture a good deal of ocean traffic
+that might otherwise have passed through New
+York. Not only do the railway lines to those ports
+have the advantage of easy grades, so that exceptionally
+heavy train-loads can be handled with ease,
+and not only is there no fear of snow or ice blocks
+in winter, but the improvements effected in the ports
+themselves&mdash;as I had the opportunity of seeing and
+judging, in the winter of 1902-3, during a visit to
+the United States&mdash;have made these southern ports
+still more formidable competitors of New York.
+While, therefore, the trade of the United States has
+undergone great expansion of late years, that proportion
+of it which passes through the port of New
+York has seriously declined. "In less than ten
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>years," says a pamphlet on "The Canal System of
+New York State," issued by the Canal Improvement
+State Committee, City of New York,
+"Pennsylvania or some other State may be the
+Empire State, which title New York has held
+since the time of the Erie Canal."</p>
+
+<p>So a movement has been actively promoted in New
+York State for the resuscitation of the Erie and other
+canals there, with a view to assuring the continuance
+of New York's commercial supremacy, and giving
+her a better chance&mdash;if possible&mdash;of competing with
+rivals now flourishing at her expense. At first a
+ship canal between New York and Lake Erie was
+proposed; but this idea has been rejected as impracticable.
+Finally, the Legislature of the State of New
+York decided on spending $101,000,000 on enlarging
+the Erie and other canals in the State, so as to
+give them a depth of 12 feet, and allow of the
+passage of 1,000-ton barges, arrangements being
+also made for propulsion by electric or steam
+traction.</p>
+
+<p>In addition to this particular scheme, "there
+are," says Mr F. H. Dixon, Professor of Economics,
+Dartmouth College, in an address on "Competition
+between Water and Railway Transportation Lines in
+the United States," read by him before the St Louis
+Railway Club, and reported in the <cite>Engineering News</cite>
+(New York) of March 22, 1906, "many other proposals
+for canals in different sections of the country,
+extending all the way from projects that have some
+economic justification to the crazy and impracticable
+schemes of visionaries." But the general position in
+regard to canal resuscitation in the United States
+does not seem to be very hopeful, judging from a
+statement made by Mr Carnegie&mdash;once an advocate
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>of the proposed Pittsburg-Lake Erie Canal&mdash;before
+the Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce in 1898.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"Such has been the progress of railway development,"
+he said, "that if we had a canal to-day from
+Lake Erie through the Ohio Valley to Beaver, free
+of toll, we could not afford to put boats on it. It is
+cheaper to-day to transfer the ore to 50-ton cars, and
+bring it to our works at Pittsburg over our railway,
+than it would be to bring it by canal."</p></div>
+
+<p>Turning from artificial to natural waterways in the
+United States, I find the story of the Mississippi no
+less instructive.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a id="i_110fp"></a>
+<img src="images/i_110fp.jpg" width="600" height="345" alt="A CARGO BOAT ON THE MISSISSIPPI" />
+<div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">A CARGO BOAT ON THE MISSISSIPPI.</p>
+    <p class="right">[<i>To face page</i> 110.</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>This magnificent stream has, in itself, a length of
+2,485 miles. But the Missouri is really only an
+upper prolongation of the same river under another
+name, and the total length of the two, from mouth
+to source, is 4,190 miles, of which the greater distance
+is navigable. The Mississippi and its various tributaries
+drain, altogether, an area of 1,240,000 square
+miles, or nearly one-third of the territory of the
+United States. If any great river in the world had
+a chance at all of holding its own against the railroads
+as a highway of traffic it should, surely, be the
+Mississippi, to which British theorists ought to be
+able to point as a powerful argument in support of
+their general proposition concerning the advantages
+of water over rail-transport. But the actual facts all
+point in the other direction.</p>
+
+<p>The earliest conditions of navigation on the
+Mississippi are well shown in the following extract
+from an article published in the <cite>Quarterly Review</cite> of
+March 1830, under the heading, "Railroads and
+Locomotive Steam-carriages":&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"As an example of the difficulties of internal
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>navigation, it may be mentioned that on the great river
+Mississippi, which flows at the rate of 5 or 6 miles
+an hour, it was the practice of a certain class of boatmen,
+who brought down the produce of the interior
+to New Orleans, to break up their boats, sell the
+timber, and afterwards return home slowly by land;
+and a voyage up the river from New Orleans to
+Pittsburg, a distance of about 2,000 miles, could
+hardly be accomplished, with the most laborious
+efforts, within a period of four months. But the
+uncertain and limited influence, both of the wind
+and the tide, is now superseded by a new agent,
+which in power far surpassing the raging torrent,
+is yet perfectly manageable, and acts with equal
+efficacy in any direction.... Steamboats of every
+description, and on the most approved models, ply
+on all the great rivers of the United States; the
+voyage from New Orleans to Pittsburg, which
+formerly occupied four months, is accomplished with
+ease in fifteen or twenty days, and at the rate of not
+less than 5 miles an hour."</p></div>
+
+<p>Since this article in the <cite>Quarterly Review</cite> was
+published, enormous sums of money have been
+spent on the Mississippi&mdash;partly with a view to the
+prevention of floods, but partly, also, to improve the
+river for the purposes of navigation. Placed in
+charge of a Mississippi Commission and of the Chief
+of Engineers in the United States Army, the river
+has been systematically surveyed; special studies
+and reports have been drawn up on every possible
+aspect of its normal or abnormal conditions and
+circumstances; the largest river dredges in the world
+have been employed to ensure an adequate depth of
+the river bed; engineering works in general on the
+most complete scale have been carried out&mdash;in fact,
+nothing that science, skill, or money could accomplish
+has been left undone.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p>
+<p>The difficulties were certainly considerable. There
+has always been a tendency for the river bed to get
+choked up by the sediment the stream failed to carry
+on; the banks are weak; while the variation in water
+level is sometimes as much as 10 feet in a single
+month. None the less, the Mississippi played for a
+time as important a rôle in the west and the south as
+the Erie Canal played in the north. Steamboats on
+the western rivers increased in number from 20, in
+1818, to 1,200, in 1848, and there was a like development
+in flat boat tonnage. With the expansion of
+the river traffic came a growth of large cities and
+towns alongside. Louisville increased in population
+from 4,000, in 1820, to 43,000, in 1850, and St Louis
+from 4,900 to 77,000 in the same period.</p>
+
+<p>With the arrival of the railroads began the decline
+of the river, though some years were to elapse before
+the decline was seriously felt. It was the absolute
+perfection of the railway system that eventually made
+its competition irresistible. The lines paralleled the
+river; they had, as I have said, easy grades; they
+responded to that consideration in regard to speedy
+delivery of consignments which is as pronounced in
+the United States as it is in Great Britain; they were
+as free from stoppages due to variations in water level
+as they were from stoppages on account of ice or
+snow; and they could be provided with branch lines
+as "feeders," going far inland, so that the trader did
+not have either to build his factory on the river bank
+or to pay cost of cartage between factory and river.
+The railway companies, again, were able to provide
+much more efficient terminal facilities, especially in
+the erection of large wharves, piers, and depôts which
+allow of the railway waggons coming right alongside
+the steamers. At Galveston I saw cargo being
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>discharged from the ocean-going steamers by being
+placed on trucks which were raised from the vessel by
+endless moving-platforms to the level of the goods
+station, where stood, along parallel series of lines,
+the railway waggons which would take them direct
+to Chicago, San Francisco, or elsewhere. With
+facilities such as these no inland waterway can
+possibly compete. The railways, again, were able,
+in competition with the river, to reduce their charges
+to "what the traffic would bear," depending on a
+higher proportion of profit elsewhere. The steamboats
+could adopt no such policy as this, and the traders
+found that, by the time they had paid, not only the
+charges for actual river transport, but insurance and
+extra cartage, as well, they had paid as much as
+transport by rail would have cost, while getting a
+much slower and more inconvenient service.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a id="i_114fpa"></a>
+<img src="images/i_114fpa.jpg" width="600" height="304" alt="SUCCESSFUL RIVALS OF MISSISSIPPI CARGO BOATS 1." />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a id="i_114fpb"></a>
+<img src="images/i_114fpb.jpg" width="600" height="320" alt="SUCCESSFUL RIVALS OF MISSISSIPPI CARGO BOATS 2." />
+<div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">SUCCESSFUL RIVALS OF MISSISSIPPI CARGO BOATS.</p>
+
+    <p>(1) Illinois Central Freight Train; 43 cars; 2,100 tons.</p>
+
+    <p>(2) &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Banana Express, New Orleans to Chicago; 34 cars; 433 tons of bananas.</p>
+
+    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 114.</i></p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The final outcome of all these conditions is indicated
+by some remarks made by Mr Stuyvesant Fish,
+President of the Illinois Central Railroad Company
+(the chief railway competitors of the Mississippi
+steamboats), in the address he delivered as President
+of the Seventh Session of the International Railway
+Congress at Washington, in May 1905:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"It is within my knowledge that twenty years ago
+there were annually carried by steamboats from
+Memphis to New Orleans over 100,000 bales of cotton,
+and that in almost every year since the railroads
+between Memphis and New Orleans passed under
+one management, not a single bale has been carried
+down the Mississippi River from Memphis by boat,
+and in no one year have 500 bales been thus carried;
+the reason being that, including the charges for
+marine and fire insurance, the rates by water are
+higher than by rail."</p></div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p>
+<p>To this statement Mr Fish added some figures
+which may be tabulated as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="center">TONNAGE OF FREIGHT RECEIVED AT OR
+DESPATCHED FROM NEW ORLEANS.</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table class="bordered" border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" summary="New Orleans freight">
+<tr><td class="tdc">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdc">1890</td>
+    <td class="tdc">1900</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdc bb0">By the Mississippi River (all sources)</td>
+    <td class="tdr bb0">2,306,290&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr bb0">450,498&nbsp;&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdc bt0">By rail</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0">3,557,742&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr bt0">6,852,064&nbsp;&nbsp;</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>
+Decline of river traffic in ten years &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;1,855,792 tons<br />
+Increase of rail&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; "&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;"&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;         3,294,322&nbsp;&nbsp;"<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>These figures bear striking testimony to the results
+that may be brought about in a country where railways
+are allowed a fair chance of competing with even the
+greatest of natural waterways&mdash;a chance, as I have
+said, denied them in Germany and France. Looking,
+too, at these figures, I understand better the significance
+of what I saw at Memphis, where a solitary
+Mississippi steamboat&mdash;one of the survivals of those
+huge floating warehouses now mostly rusting out
+their existence at New Orleans&mdash;was having her cargo
+discharged on the river banks by a few negroes, while
+the powerful locomotives of the Illinois Central were
+rushing along on the adjoining railway with the
+biggest train-loads it was possible for them to haul.</p>
+
+<p>On the general position in the United States I
+might quote the following from a communication
+with which I have been favoured by Mr Luis
+Jackson, an Englishman by birth, who, after an
+early training on British railways, went to the
+United States, created there the rôle of "industrial
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>commissioner" in connection with American railways,
+and now fills that position on the Erie Railroad:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"When I was in the West the question of water
+transportation down the Mississippi was frequently
+remarked upon. The Mississippi is navigable from
+St Paul to New Orleans. In the early days the towns
+along the Mississippi, especially those from St Paul
+to St Louis, depended upon, and had their growth
+through, the river traffic. It was a common remark
+among our railroad people that 'we could lick the
+river.' The traffic down the Mississippi, especially
+from St Paul to St Louis (I can only speak of the
+territory with which I am well acquainted) perceptibly
+declined in competition with the railroads, and the
+river towns have been revived by, and now depend
+more for their growth on, the railroads than on the
+river.... Figures do not prove anything. If the Erie
+Canal and the Mississippi River traffic had increased,
+doubled, trebled, or quadrupled in the past years,
+instead of actually dwindling by tonnage figures, it
+would prove nothing as against the tremendous
+tonnage hauled by the trunk line railroads. The
+Erie Railroad Company, New York to Chicago,
+last year carried 32,000,000 tons of revenue freights.
+It would take a pretty good canal to handle that
+amount of traffic; and the Erie is only one of
+many lines between New York and Chicago.</p>
+
+<p>"A canal, paralleling great railroads, to some extent
+injures them on through traffic. The tendency of all
+railroads is in the line of progress. As the tonnage
+increases the equipment becomes larger, and the
+general tendency of railroad rates is downwards; in
+other words, the public in the end gets from the
+railroad all that can be expected from a canal, and
+much more. The railroad can expand right and left,
+and reach industries by side tracks; with canals every
+manufacturer must locate on the banks of the canal.
+Canals for internal commerce, in my mind, are out
+of date; they belong to the 'slow.' Nor do I believe
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>that the traffic management of canals by the State has
+the same conception of traffic measures which is
+adopted by the modern managers of railroads.</p>
+
+<p>"Canals affect rates on heavy commodities, and
+play a part mostly injurious, to my mind, to the
+proper development of railroads, especially on the
+Continent of Europe. They may do local business,
+but the railroad is the real handmaid of commerce."</p></div>
+
+<p>By way of concluding this brief sketch of American
+conditions, I cannot do better than adopt the final
+sentences in Professor Dixon's paper at the St Louis
+Railway Club to which I have already referred:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"Two considerations should, above all others, be
+kept in mind in determination of the feasibility of
+any project: first, the very positive limitations to
+the efficiency of rivers and canals as transportation
+agencies because of their lack of flexibility and the
+natural disabilities under which they suffer; and
+secondly, that water transportation is not necessarily
+cheap simply because the Government constructs and
+maintains the channels. Nothing could be more
+delusive than the assertion so frequently made, which
+is found in the opening pages of the report of the
+New York Committee on Canals of 1899, that water
+transportation is inherently cheaper than rail transportation.
+Such an assertion is true only of ocean
+transportation, and possibly also of large bodies of
+water like the lakes, although this last is doubtful.</p>
+
+<p>"By all means let us have our waterways developed
+when such development is economically justifiable.
+What is justifiable must be a matter of judgment, and
+possibly to some extent of experimentation, but the
+burden of proof rests on its advocates. Such projects
+should be carried out by the localities interested and
+the burden should be borne by those who are to
+derive the benefit. Only in large undertakings of
+national concern should the General Government be
+called upon for aid.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p>
+<p>"But I protest most vigorously against the deluge
+of schemes poured in upon Congress at every session
+by reckless advocates who, disregarding altogether
+the cost of their crazy measures in the increased
+burden of general taxation, argue for the inherent
+cheapness of water transportation, and urge the construction
+at public expense of works whose traffic
+will never cover the cost of maintenance."</p></div>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+
+<h2 title="IX. ENGLISH CONDITIONS">CHAPTER IX<br />
+
+<small>ENGLISH CONDITIONS</small></h2>
+
+
+<p>I have already spoken in Chapter VII. of some of
+the chief differences between Continental and English
+conditions, but I revert to the latter because it is
+essential that, before approving of any scheme of
+canal restoration here, the British public should
+thoroughly understand the nature of the task that
+would thus be undertaken.</p>
+
+<p>The sections of actual canal routes, given opposite
+page <a href="#i_098fp">98</a>, will convey some idea of the difficulties
+which faced the original builders of our artificial
+waterways. The wonder is that, since water has not
+yet been induced to flow up-hill, canals were ever
+constructed over such surfaces at all. Most probably
+the majority of them would not have been attempted
+if railways had come into vogue half a century earlier
+than they did. Looking at these diagrams, one can
+imagine how the locomotive&mdash;which does not disdain
+hill-climbing, and can easily be provided with
+cuttings, bridges, viaducts, and tunnels&mdash;could
+follow the canal; but one can hardly imagine that
+in England, at least, the canal would have followed
+the railway.</p>
+
+<p>The whole proposition in regard to canal revival
+would be changed if only the surfaces in Great
+Britain were the same as they are, say, between
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>Hamburg and Berlin, where in 230 miles of waterway
+there are only three locks. In this country there is
+an average of one lock for every 1&frac14; mile of navigation.
+The sum total of the locks on British canals is
+2,377, each representing, on an average, a capitalised
+cost of £1,360. Instead of a "great central plain,"
+as on the Continent of Europe, we have a "great
+central ridge," extending the greater length of
+England. In the 16 miles between Worcester and
+Tardebigge on the Worcester and Birmingham
+Canal, there are fifty-eight locks to be passed
+through by a canal boat going from the Severn
+to Birmingham. At Tardebigge there is a difference
+in level of about 250 feet in 3 miles or so. This
+is overcome by a "flight" of thirty locks, which a
+25-ton boat may hope to get through in four hours.
+Between Huddersfield and Ashton, on the Huddersfield
+Narrow Canal, there are seventy-four locks
+in 20 miles; between Manchester and Sowerby
+Bridge, on the Rochdale Canal, there are ninety-two
+locks in 32 miles, to enable the boats to pass over
+an elevation 600 feet above sea level; and at Bingley,
+on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, five "staircase"
+locks give a total lift of 59 feet 2 inches.</p>
+
+<p>Between London and Liverpool there are three
+canal routes, each passing through either ten or
+eleven separate navigations, and covering distances
+of from 244 to 267 miles. By one of these routes
+a boat has to pass through such series of locks as
+ninety in 100 miles on the Grand Junction Canal,
+between Paddington and Braunston; forty-three in
+17 miles on the Birmingham Canal, between
+Birmingham and Aldersley; and forty-six in 66
+miles on the Shropshire Union Canal, between
+Autherley and Ellesmere Port. Proceeding by an
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>alternative route, the boat would pass through fifty-nine
+locks in 67 miles on the Trent and Mersey;
+while a third route would give two hundred and
+eighty-two locks in a total of 267 miles. The number
+of separate navigations is ten by Routes I. and II.,
+and eleven by Route III.</p>
+
+<p>Between London and Hull there are two routes,
+one 282 miles with one hundred and sixty-four locks,
+and the other 305 miles with one hundred and forty-eight
+locks. On the journey from London to the
+Severn, a boat would pass through one hundred and
+thirty locks in 177 miles in going to the Avonmouth
+Docks (this total including one hundred and six
+locks in 86 miles between Reading and Hanham,
+on the Kennet and Avon Canal); and either one
+hundred and two locks in 191 miles, or two hundred
+and thirty in 219 miles, if the destination were
+Sharpness Docks. Between Liverpool and Hull
+there are one hundred and four locks in 187 miles
+by one route; one hundred and forty-nine in 159
+miles by a second route; and one hundred and fifty-two
+in 149 miles by a third. In the case of a canal
+boat despatched from Birmingham, the position
+would be&mdash;to London, one hundred and fifty-five
+locks in 147 miles; to Liverpool (1) ninety-nine locks
+in 114 miles, (2) sixty-nine locks in 94 miles; to
+Hull, sixty-six locks in 164 miles; to the Severn,
+Sharpness Docks (1) sixty-one locks in 75 miles,
+(2) forty-nine locks in 89 miles.</p>
+
+<p>Early in 1906 a correspondent of <cite>The Standard</cite>
+made an experimental canal journey from the Thames,
+at Brentford, to Birmingham, to test the qualities of
+a certain "suction-producer gas motor barge." The
+barge itself stood the test so well that the correspondent
+was able to declare:&mdash;"In the new power
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>may be found a solution of the problem of canal
+traction." He arrived at this conclusion notwithstanding
+the fact that the motor barge was stopped
+at one of the locks by a drowned cat being caught
+between the barge and the incoming "butty" boat.
+The journey from London to Birmingham occupied,
+"roughly," six and a half days&mdash;a journey, that is,
+which London and North-Western express trains
+accomplish regularly in two hours. The 22&frac12; miles
+of the Warwick and Birmingham Canal, which has
+thirty-four locks, alone took ten hours and a half.
+From Birmingham the correspondent made other
+journeys in the same barge, covering, altogether,
+370 miles. In that distance he passed through three
+hundred and twenty-seven locks, various summits
+"several hundred feet" in height being crossed by
+this means.</p>
+
+<p>At Anderton, on the Trent and Mersey Canal,
+there is a vertical hydraulic lift which raises or lowers
+two narrow boats 50 feet to enable them to pass
+between the canal and the River Mersey, the operation
+being done by means of troughs 75 feet by 14&frac12; feet.
+Inclined planes have also been made use of to avoid
+a multiplicity of locks. It is assumed that in the
+event of any general scheme of resuscitation being
+undertaken, the present flights of locks would, in
+many instances, be done away with, hydraulic lifts
+being substituted for them. Where this could be
+done it would certainly effect a saving in time, though
+the provision of a lift between series of locks would
+not save water, as this would still be required for the
+lock below. Hydraulic lifts, however, could not be
+used in mining districts, such as the Black Country,
+on account of possible subsidences. Where that
+drawback did not occur there would still be the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>question of expense. The cost of construction of
+the Anderton lift was £50,000, and the cost of
+maintenance is £500 a year. Would the traffic on
+a particular route be always equal to the outlay?
+In regard to inclined planes, it was proposed some
+eight or ten years ago to construct one on the
+Birmingham Canal in order to do away with a series
+of locks at a certain point and save one hour on the
+through journey. Plans were prepared, and a Bill
+was deposited in Parliament; but just at that time
+a Board of Trade enquiry into canal tolls and charges
+led to such reductions being enforced that there no
+longer appeared to be any security for a return on the
+proposed expenditure, and the Bill was withdrawn.</p>
+
+<p>In many instances the difference in level has
+been overcome by the construction of tunnels. There
+are in England and Wales no fewer than forty-five
+canal tunnels each upwards of 100 yards in length,
+and of these twelve are over 2,000 yards in length,
+namely, Standidge Tunnel, on the Huddersfield
+Narrow Canal, 5,456 yards; Sapperton, Thames and
+Severn, 3,808; Lappal, Birmingham Canal navigations,
+3,785; Dudley, Birmingham Canal, 3,672;
+Norwood, Chesterfield Canal, 3,102; Butterley,
+Cromford, 3,063; Blisworth, Grand Junction, 3,056;
+Netherton, Birmingham Canal, 3,027; Harecastle
+(new), Trent and Mersey, 2,926; Harecastle (old),
+Trent and Mersey, 2,897; West Hill, Worcester
+and Birmingham, 2,750; and Braunston, Grand
+Junction, 2,042.</p>
+
+<p>The earliest of these tunnels were made so narrow
+(in the interests of economy) that no space was left
+for a towing path alongside, and the boats were
+passed through by the boatmen either pushing a pole
+or shaft against the roof or sides, and then walking
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>from forward to aft of the boat, or else by the
+"legging" process in which they lay flat on their
+backs in the boat, and pushed with their feet against
+the sides of the tunnel. At one time even women
+engaged in work of this kind. Later tunnels were
+provided with towing paths, while in some of them
+steam tugs have been substituted for shafting and
+legging.</p>
+
+<p>Resort has also been had to aqueducts, and these
+represent some of the best work that British canal
+engineers have done. The first in England was
+the one built at Barton by James Brindley to carry
+the Bridgewater Canal over the Irwell. It was
+superseded by a swing aqueduct in 1893, to meet
+the requirements of the Manchester Ship Canal.
+But the finest examples are those presented by the
+aqueducts of Chirk and Pontcysyllte on the Ellesmere
+Canal in North Wales, now forming part of
+the Shropshire Union Canal. Each was the work of
+Telford, and the two have been aptly described as
+"among the boldest efforts of human invention
+of modern times." The Chirk aqueduct (710 feet
+long) carries the canal over the River Ceriog. It
+was completed in 1801 and cost £20,898. The
+Pontcysyllte aqueduct, of which a photograph is
+given as a frontispiece, carries the canal in a cast-iron
+trough a distance of 1,007 feet across the valley
+of the River Dee. It was opened for traffic in 1803,
+and involved an outlay of £47,000. Another canal
+aqueduct worthy of mention is that which was constructed
+by Rennie in 1796, at a cost of £48,000,
+to carry the Lancaster Canal over the River Lune.</p>
+
+<p>These facts must surely convince everyone who
+is in any way open to conviction of the enormous
+difference between canal construction as carried on
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>in bygone days in Great Britain&mdash;involving as it
+did all these costly, elaborate, and even formidable
+engineering works&mdash;and the building of canals, or the
+canalisation of rivers, on the flat surfaces of Holland,
+Belgium, and Northern Germany. Reviewing&mdash;even
+thus inadequately&mdash;the work that had been already
+done, one ceases to wonder that, when the railways
+began to establish themselves in this country, the
+canal companies of that day regarded with despair
+the idea of practically doing the greater part of
+their work over again, in order to carry on an
+apparently hopeless struggle with a powerful competitor
+who had evidently come not only to stay
+but to win. It is not surprising, after all, that many
+of them thought it better to exploit the enemy by
+inducing or forcing him to buy them out!</p>
+
+<p>The average reader who may not hitherto have
+studied the question so completely as I am here
+seeking to do, will also begin by this time to
+understand what the resuscitation of the British
+canal system might involve in the way of expense.
+The initial purchase&mdash;presumably on fair and equitable
+terms&mdash;would in itself cost much more
+than is supposed even by the average expert.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"Assuming," says one authority, Mr Thwaite,
+"that 3,500 miles of the canal system were purchasable
+at two-thirds of their original cost of construction,
+say £2,350 per mile of length, then the
+capital required would be £8,225,000."</p></div>
+
+<p>This looks very simple. But is the original cost
+of construction of canals passing through tunnels,
+over viaducts, and up and down elevations of from
+400 to 600 feet, calculated here on the same basis
+as canals on the flat-lands? Is allowance made for
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>costly pumping apparatus&mdash;such as that provided
+for the Birmingham Canal&mdash;for the docks and
+warehouses recently constructed at Ellesmere Port,
+and for other capital expenditure for improvements,
+or are these omitted from the calculation of so
+much "per mile of length"? Items of this kind
+might swell even "cost of construction" to larger
+proportions than those assumed by Mr Thwaite.
+That gentleman, also, evidently leaves out of account
+the very substantial sums paid by the present owners
+or controllers of canals for the mining rights underneath
+the waterways in districts such as Staffordshire
+or Lancashire.</p>
+
+<p>This last-mentioned point is one of considerable
+importance, though very few people seem to know
+that it enters into the canal question at all. When
+canals were originally constructed it was assumed
+that the companies were entitled to the land they had
+bought from the surface to the centre of the earth.
+But the law decided they could claim little more than
+a right of way, and that the original landowners might
+still work the minerals underneath. This was done,
+with the result that there were serious subsidences
+of the canals, involving both much loss of water
+and heavy expenditure in repairs. The stability of
+railways was also affected, but the position of the
+canals was much worse on account of the water.</p>
+
+<p>To maintain the efficiency of the canals (and of
+railways in addition) those responsible for them&mdash;whether
+independent companies or railway companies&mdash;have
+had to spend enormous sums of money in the
+said mining districts on buying up the right to work
+the minerals underneath. In some instances the
+landowner has given notice of his intention to work
+the minerals himself, and, although he may in reality
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>have had no such intention, the canal company or
+the railway company have been compelled to come
+to terms with him, to prevent the possibility of the
+damage that might otherwise be done to the waterway.
+The very heavy expenditure thus incurred
+would hardly count as "cost of construction," and
+it would represent money sunk with no prospect of
+return. Yet, if the State takes over the canals, it will
+be absolutely bound to reckon with these mineral
+rights as well&mdash;if it wants to keep the canals intact
+after improving them&mdash;and, in so doing, it must
+allow for a considerably larger sum for initial outlay
+than is generally assumed.</p>
+
+<p>But the actual purchase of canals <em>and</em> mineral rights
+would be only the beginning of the trouble. There
+would come next the question of increasing the
+capacity of the canals by widening, and what this
+might involve I have already shown. Then there are
+the innumerable locks by which the great differences
+in level are overcome. A large proportion of these
+would have to be reconstructed (unless lifts or inclined
+planes were provided instead) to admit either the
+larger type of boat of which one hears so much, or,
+alternatively, two or four of the existing narrow
+boats. Assuming this to be done, then, when a single
+narrow boat came up to each lock in the course of
+the journey it was making, either it would have to
+wait until one or three others arrived, or, alternatively,
+the water in a large capacity lock would be
+used for the passage of one small boat. The adoption
+of the former course would involve delay; and either
+would necessitate the provision of a much larger
+water supply, together with, for the highest levels,
+still more costly pumping machinery.</p>
+
+<p>The water problem would, indeed, speedily become
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>one of the most serious in the whole situation&mdash;and
+that, too, not alone in regard to the extremely scanty
+supplies in the high levels. The whole question has
+been complicated, since canals were first built, by
+the growing needs of the community, towns large
+and small having tapped sources of water supply
+which otherwise might have been available for the
+canals.</p>
+
+<p>Even as these lines are being written, I see from
+<cite>The Times</cite> of March 17, 1906, that, because the
+London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company
+are sinking a well on land of their own adjoining
+the railway near the Carshalton springs of the River
+Wandle, with a view to getting water for use in their
+Victoria Station in London, all the public authorities
+in that part of Surrey, together with the mill-owners
+and others interested in the River Wandle, are
+petitioning Parliament in support of a Bill to restrain
+them, although it is admitted that "the railway
+company do not appear to be exceeding their legal
+rights." This does not look as if there were too
+much water to spare for canal purposes in Great
+Britain; and yet so level-headed a journal as <cite>The
+Economist</cite>, in its issue of March 3, 1906, gravely
+tells us, in an article on "The New Canal Commission,"
+that "the experience of Canada is worth
+studying." What possible comparison can there be,
+in regard to canals, between a land of lakes and
+great rivers and a country where a railway company
+may not even sink a well on their own property
+without causing all the local authorities in the
+neighbourhood to take alarm, and petition Parliament
+to stop them!<a name="FNanchor_11" id="FNanchor_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a id="i_128fp"></a>
+<img src="images/i_128fp.jpg" width="600" height="333" alt="WATER SUPPLY FOR CANALS." />
+<div class="caption">
+    <p class="center">WATER SUPPLY FOR CANALS.</p>
+
+    <p class="center">(Belvide Reservoir, Staffordshire, Shropshire Union Canal.)</p>
+
+    <p class="right">[<i>To face page 128.</i></p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p>
+<p>On this question of water supply, I may add,
+Mr John Glass, manager of the Regents Canal,
+said at the meeting of the Institution of Civil
+Engineers in November 1905:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"In his opinion Mr Saner had treated the water
+question, upon which the whole matter depended,
+in too airy a manner. Considering, for instance,
+the route to Birmingham, it would be seen that to
+reach Birmingham the waterway was carried over
+one summit of 400 feet, and another of 380 feet,
+descended 200 feet, and eventually arrived at
+Birmingham, which was about 350 feet above sea
+level. The proposed standard lock, with a small
+allowance for the usual leakage in filling, would consume
+about 50,000 cubic feet of water, and the two
+large crafts which Mr Saner proposed to accommodate
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>in the lock<a name="FNanchor_12" id="FNanchor_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> would carry together, he calculated,
+about 500 tons. Supposing it were possible to
+regulate the supply and demand so as to spread
+that traffic economically over the year, and to permit
+of twenty-five pairs of boats passing from Birmingham
+to the Thames, or in the opposite direction, on 300
+days in the year, the empty boats going into the
+same locks as the laden boats, it would be necessary
+to provide 1,250,000 cubic feet of water daily, at
+altitudes of 300 to 400 feet; and in addition it would
+be necessary to have water-storage for at least 120
+days in the year, which would amount to about
+150,000,000 cubic feet. When it was remembered
+that the districts in which the summit-levels referred to
+were situated were ill-supplied with water, he thought
+it was quite impossible that anything like that quantity
+of water could be obtained for the purpose. Canal-managers
+found that the insufficiency of water in all
+districts supplied by canals increased every year,
+and the difficulty of acquiring proper water-storage
+became enhanced."</p></div>
+
+<p>Not only the ordinary waterway and the locks,
+but the tunnels and viaducts, also, might require
+widening. Then the adoption of some system of
+mechanical haulage is spoken of as indispensable.
+But a resort to tugs, however propelled, is in no way
+encouraged by the experiments made on the Shropshire
+Union, as told on p. 50. An overhead electrical
+installation, with power houses and electric lighting,
+so that navigation could go on at night, would be
+an especially costly undertaking. But the increased
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>speed which it is hoped to gain from mechanical
+haulage on the level would also necessitate a general
+strengthening of the canal banks to avoid damage
+by the wash, and even then the possible speed would
+be limited by the breadth of the waterway. On this
+particular point I cannot do better than quote the
+following from an article on "Canals and Waterways"
+published in <cite>The Field</cite> of March 10, 1906:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"Among the arguments in favour of revival has
+been that of anticipated rapid steam traffic on such
+re-opened waterways. Any one who understands
+the elementary principles of building and propulsion
+of boats will realise that volume of water of itself
+fixes limits for speed of vessels in it. Any vessel of
+certain given proportions has its limit of speed (no
+matter what horse-power may be employed to move
+it) according to the relative limit (if any) of the
+volume of water in which it floats. Our canals are
+built to allow easy passage of the normal canal
+barge at an average of 3 to 3&frac12; miles an hour. A
+barge velocity of even 5 miles, still more of 6 or 7,
+would tend to wash banks, and so to wreck (to public
+danger) embankments where canals are carried higher
+than surrounding land. A canal does not lie in a
+valley from end to end like a river. It would require
+greater horse-power to tow one loaded barge 6 miles
+an hour on normal canal water than to tow a string
+of three or even four such craft hawsered 50 or more
+feet apart at the pace of 3&frac12; miles. The reason would
+be that the channel is not large enough to allow the
+wave of displacement forward to find its way aft past
+the advancing vessel, so as to maintain an approximate
+level of water astern to that ahead, unless either
+the channel is more than doubled or else the speed
+limited to something less than 4 miles. It therefore
+comes to this, that increased speed on our canals, to
+any tangible extent, does not seem to be attainable,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>even if all barges shall be screw steamers, unless
+the entire channel can be reconstructed to far greater
+depth and also width."</p></div>
+
+<p>What the actual cost of reconstruction would be&mdash;as
+distinct from cost of purchase&mdash;I will not
+myself undertake to estimate; and merely general
+statements, based on the most favourable sections
+of the canals, may be altogether misleading. Thus,
+a writer in the <cite>Daily Chronicle</cite> of March 21, 1906,
+who has contributed to that journal a series of
+articles on the canal question, "from an expert
+point of view," says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"If the Aire and Calder navigation, which is much
+improved in recent years, be taken as a model, it has
+been calculated that £1,000,000 per 100 miles would
+fit the trunk system for traffic such as is dealt with
+on the Yorkshire navigation."</p></div>
+
+<p>How can the Aire and Calder possibly be taken
+as a model&mdash;from the point of view of calculating
+cost of improvements or reconstruction? Let the
+reader turn once more to the diagrams given
+opposite p. 98. He will see that the Aire and
+Calder is constructed on land that is almost flat,
+whereas the Rochdale section on the same trunk
+route between the Mersey and the Humber reaches
+an elevation of 600 feet. How can any just comparison
+be made between these two waterways? If
+the cost of "improving" a canal of the "model"
+type of the Aire and Calder be put at the rate of
+£1,000,000 per 100 miles, what would it come to
+in the case of the Rochdale Canal, the Tardebigge
+section of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, or
+the series of independent canals between Birmingham
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>and London? That is a practical question which I
+will leave&mdash;to the experts!</p>
+
+<p>Supposing, however, that the canals have been
+purchased, taken possession of, and duly improved
+(whatever the precise cost) by State, municipalities,
+or public trust, as the case may be. There will
+then be the almost exact equivalent of a house
+without furniture, or a factory without machinery.
+Before even the restored canals could be adapted
+to the requirements of trade and commerce there
+would have to be a very considerable expenditure,
+also, on warehouses, docks, appliances, and other
+indispensable adjuncts to mere haulage.</p>
+
+<p>After all the money that has been spent on the
+Manchester Ship Canal it is still found necessary
+to lay out a great deal more on warehouses which
+are absolutely essential to the full and complete
+development of the enterprise. The same principle
+would apply to any scheme of revived inland navigation.
+The goods depôts constructed by railway
+companies in all large towns and industrial centres
+have alone sufficed to bring about a complete
+revolution in trade and commerce since the days
+when canals were prosperous. There are many
+thousands of traders to-day who not only order
+comparatively small quantities of supplies at a
+time from the manufacturer, but leave even these
+quantities to be stored locally by the railway
+company, having delivered to them from day to
+day, or week by week, just as much as they can
+do with. A certain "free" period is allowed for
+warehousing, and, if they remove the goods during
+that period, they pay nothing to the railway
+company beyond the railway rate. After the free
+period a small "rent" is charged&mdash;a rent which,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>while representing no adequate return to the railway
+company for the heavy capital outlay in
+providing the depôts, is much less than it would
+cost the trader if he had to build store-rooms for
+himself, or pay for accommodation elsewhere. Other
+traders, as mentioned in the chapter on "The
+Transition in Trade," send goods to the railway
+warehouses as soon as they are ready, to wait there
+until an order is completed, and the whole consignment
+can be despatched; while others again, agents
+and commission men, carry on a considerable business
+from a small office, leaving all the handling of the
+commodities in which they deal to be done by the
+railway companies. In fact, the situation might be
+summed up by saying that, under the trading conditions
+of to-day, railway companies are not only
+common carriers, but general warehousemen in
+addition.</p>
+
+<p>If inland canals are to take over any part of the
+transport at present conducted by the railways,
+they will have to provide the traders with like
+facilities. So, in addition to buying up and reconstructing
+the canals; in addition to widenings, and
+alterations of the gradients of roads and railways
+passed under; and in addition to the maintenance
+of towing paths, locks, bridges, tunnels, aqueducts,
+culverts, weirs, sluices, cranes, wharves, docks,
+and quay walls, reservoirs, pumping machinery,
+and so on, there would still be all the subsidiary
+considerations in regard to warehousing, etc., which
+would arise when it became a question with the
+trader whether or not he should avail himself of
+the improved water transport thus placed at his
+disposal.</p>
+
+<p>For the purposes of reasonable argument I will
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>assume that no really sensible person, knowing anything
+at all of actual facts and conditions, would
+attempt to revive the entire canal system of the
+country.<a name="FNanchor_13" id="FNanchor_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> I have shown on p. 19, that even in the
+year 1825 it was recognised that some of the canals
+had been built by speculators simply as a means of
+abstracting money from the pockets of foolish
+investors, victims of the "canal mania," and that
+no useful purpose could be served by them even at
+a time when there were no competing railways. Yet
+to-day sentimental individuals who, in wandering
+about the country, come across some of these
+absolutely useless, though still, perhaps, picturesque
+survivals, write off to the newspapers to lament
+over "our neglected waterways," to cast the
+customary reflections on the railway companies,
+and to join their voice to the demand for immediate
+nationalisation or municipalisation, according to
+their individual leanings, and regardless of all considerations
+of cost or practicability.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Derelicts of the type here referred to are not
+worth considering at all. It is a pity they were not
+drained and filled in long ago, and given, as it
+were, a decent burial, if only out of consideration
+for the feelings of sentimentalists. Much more
+deserving of study are those particular systems
+which either still carry a certain amount of traffic,
+or are situated on routes along which traffic might
+be reasonably expected to flow. But, taking even
+canals of this type, the reader must see from the
+considerations I have already presented that resuscitation
+would be a very costly business indeed.
+Estimates of which I have read in print range from
+£20,000,000 to £50,000,000; but even these omit
+various important items (mining rights, etc.),
+which would certainly have to be added, while
+the probability is that, however high the original
+estimate in regard to work of this kind, a good
+deal more would have to be expended before it was
+finished.</p>
+
+<p>The remarks I have here made are based on the
+supposition that all that is aimed at is such an
+improvement as would allow of the use of a larger
+type of canal boat than that now in vogue. But,
+obviously, the expenditure would be still heavier
+if there were any idea of adapting the canals to the
+use of barges similar in size to those employed on
+the waterways of Germany, or craft which, starting
+from an inland manufacturing town in the Midlands,
+could go on a coasting trip, or make a journey
+across to the Continent. Here the capital expenditure
+would be so great that the cost would
+be absolutely prohibitive.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p>
+<p>Whatever the precise number of millions the
+resuscitation scheme might cost, the inevitable
+question would present itself&mdash;How is the money
+to be raised?</p>
+
+<p>The answer thereto would be very simple if the
+entire expense were borne by the country&mdash;that is to
+say, thrown upon the taxpayers or ratepayers. The
+problem would then be solved at once. The great
+drawback to this solution is that most of the said
+taxpayers or ratepayers would probably object.
+Besides, there is the matter of detail I mentioned
+in the first Chapter: if the State or the municipalities
+buy up the canals on fair terms, including the canals
+owned or controlled by the railways, and, in operating
+them in competition with the railways, make heavy
+losses which must eventually fall on the taxpayers or
+ratepayers, then it would be only fair that the railway
+companies should be excused from such direct increase
+in taxation as might result from the said losses. In
+that case the burden would fall still more heavily on
+the general body of the tax or ratepayers, independently
+of the railway companies.</p>
+
+<p>It would fall, too, with especial severity on those
+traders who were themselves unable to make use of
+the canals, but might have to pay increased local
+rates in order that possible competitors located within
+convenient reach of the improved waterways could
+have cheaper transport. It might also happen that
+when the former class of traders, bound to keep to
+the railways, applied to the railway companies for
+some concession to themselves, the reply given would
+be&mdash;"What you suggest is fair and reasonable, and
+under ordinary circumstances we should be prepared
+to meet your wishes; but the falling off in our
+receipts, owing to the competition of State-aided
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>canals, makes it impossible for us to grant any
+further reductions." An additional disadvantage
+would thus have to be met by the trader who kept
+to the railway, while his rival, using the canals,
+would practically enjoy the benefit of a State subsidy.</p>
+
+<p>The alternative to letting the country bear the
+burden would be to leave the resuscitated canal
+system to pay for itself. But is there any reasonable
+probability that it could? The essence of the
+present day movement is that the traders who would
+be enabled to use the canals under the improved
+conditions should have cheaper transport; but if the
+twenty, fifty, or any other number of millions sterling
+spent on the purchase and improvement of the canals,
+and on the provision of indispensable accessories
+thereto, are to be covered out of the tolls and
+charges imposed on those using the canals, there
+is every probability that (if the canals are to pay for
+themselves) the tolls and charges would have to be
+raised to such a figure that any existing difference
+between them and the present railway rates would
+disappear altogether. That difference is already very
+often slight enough, and it may be even less than
+appears to be the case, because the railway rate might
+include various services, apart from mere haulage&mdash;collection,
+delivery, warehousing, use of coal depôt,
+etc.&mdash;which are not covered by the canal tolls and
+charges, and the cost of which would have to be
+added thereto. A very small addition, therefore, to
+the canal tolls, in order to meet interest on heavy
+capital expenditure on purchase and reconstruction,
+would bring waterways and railways so far on a level
+in regard to rates that the railways, with the superior
+advantages they offer in many ways, would, inevitably,
+still get the preference.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p>
+<p>The revival movement, however, is based on the
+supposition that no increase in the canal tolls now
+charged would be necessary.<a name="FNanchor_14" id="FNanchor_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> Canal transport, it is
+said, is already much higher in this country than it
+is on the Continent&mdash;and that may well be so, considering
+(1) that canals such as ours, with their
+numerous locks, etc., cost more to construct, operate
+and maintain than canals on the flat lands of Continental
+Europe; (2) that British canals are still
+supposed to maintain themselves; and (3) that canal
+traffic as well as railway traffic is assessed in the
+most merciless way for the purposes of local taxation.
+In the circumstances it is assumed that the canal
+traffic in England could not pay higher tolls and
+charges than those already imposed, and that the
+interest on the aforesaid millions, spent on purchase
+and improvements, would all be met out of the
+expanded traffic which the restored canals would
+attract.</p>
+
+<p>Again I may ask&mdash;Is there any reasonable probability
+of this? Bearing in mind the complete transition
+in trade of which I have already spoken&mdash;a
+transition which, on the one hand, has enormously
+increased the number of individual traders, and, on
+the other, has brought about a steady and continuous
+decrease in the weight of individual consignments&mdash;is
+there the slightest probability that the conditions
+of trade are going to be changed, and that merchants,
+manufacturers, and other traders will forego the express
+delivery of convenient quantities by rail, in order to
+effect a problematical saving (and especially problematical
+where extra cartage has to be done) on the
+tedious delivery of wholesale quantities by canal?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Nothing short of a very large increase indeed in
+the water-borne traffic would enable the canals to
+meet the heavy expenditure foreshadowed, and, even
+if such increase were secured, the greater part of it
+would not be new traffic, but simply traffic diverted
+from the railways. More probably, however, the
+very large increase would not be secured, and no
+great diversion from the railways would take place.
+The paramount and ever-increasing importance
+attached by the vast majority of British traders to
+quick delivery (an importance so great that on
+some lines there are express goods trains capable
+of running from 40 to 60 miles an hour) will keep
+them to the greater efficiency of the railway as a
+carrier of goods; while, if a serious diversion of
+traffic were really threatened, the British railways
+would not be handicapped as those of France and
+Germany are in any resort to rates and charges
+which would allow of a fair competition with the
+waterways.</p>
+
+<p>In practice, therefore, the theory that the canals
+would become self-supporting, as soon as the aforesaid
+millions had been spent, must inevitably break down,
+with the result that the burden of the whole enterprise
+would then necessarily fall upon the community; and
+why the trader who consigns his goods by rail, or the
+professional man who has no goods to consign at all,
+should be taxed to allow of cheaper transport being
+conferred on the minority of persons or firms likely to
+use the canals even when resuscitated, is more than
+I can imagine, or than they, probably, will be able to
+realise.</p>
+
+<p>The whole position was very well described in some
+remarks made by Mr Harold Cox, M.P., in the course
+of a discussion at the Society of Arts in February
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>1906, on a paper read by Mr R. B. Buckley, on
+"The Navigable Waterways of India."</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"There was," he said, "a sort of feeling current
+at the present time in favour of spending large
+amounts of the taxpayer's money in order to provide
+waterways which the public did not want, or at any
+rate which the public did not want sufficiently to
+pay for them, which after all was the test. He
+noticed that everybody who advocated the construction
+of canals always wanted them constructed with
+the taxpayer's money, and always wanted them to
+be worked without a toll. Why should not the same
+principle be applied to railways also? A railway was
+even more useful to the public than a canal; therefore,
+construct it with the taxpayer's money, and allow
+everybody to use it free. It was always possible to
+get plenty of money subscribed with which to build
+a railway, but nobody would subscribe a penny
+towards the building of canals. An appeal was
+always made to the government. People had pointed
+to France and Germany, which spent large sums
+of money on their canals. In France that was done
+because the French Parliamentary system was such
+that it was to the interest of the electorate and the
+elected to spend the public money on local improvements
+or non-improvements.... He had been asked,
+Why make any roads? The difference between roads
+and canals was that on a canal a toll could be levied
+on the people who used it, but on a road that was
+absolutely impossible. Tolls on roads were found
+so inconvenient that they had to be given up. There
+was no practical inconvenience in collecting tolls on
+canals; and, therefore, the principle that was applied
+to everything else should apply to canals&mdash;namely,
+that those who wanted them should pay for them."</p></div>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+
+<h2 title="X. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS">CHAPTER X<br />
+
+<small>CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS</small></h2>
+
+
+<p>Taking into consideration all the facts and arguments
+here presented, I may summarise as follows the conclusions
+at which I have arrived:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>(1) That, alike from a geographical, physical, and
+economic point of view, there is no basis for fair
+comparison between British and Continental conditions;
+consequently our own position must be
+judged on its own merits or demerits.</p>
+
+<p>(2) That, owing to the great changes in British
+trade, manufacture, and commerce, giving rise to
+widespread and still increasing demands for speedy
+delivery of comparatively small consignments for a
+great number of traders of every possible type, canal
+transport in Great Britain is no longer suited to the
+general circumstances of the day.</p>
+
+<p>(3) That although a comparatively small number
+of traders, located in the immediate neighbourhood
+of the canals, might benefit from a canal-resuscitation
+scheme, the carrying out of such scheme at the risk,
+if not at the cost, of the taxpayers, would virtually
+amount to subsidising one section of the community
+to the pecuniary disadvantage of other sections.</p>
+
+<p>(4) That the nationalisation or the municipalisation
+of British canals would introduce a new principle
+inconsistent with the "private enterprise" hitherto
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>recognised in the case of railways, in which such
+large sums have been sunk by investors, but with
+which State-aided canals would compete.</p>
+
+<p>(5) That, in view both of the physical conditions
+of our land (necessitating an extensive resort to
+locks, etc., to overcome great differences in level)
+and of the fact that many of the most important of
+the canals are now hemmed in by works, houses,
+or buildings, any general scheme of purchase and
+improvement, in regard even to main routes (apart
+from hopeless derelicts), would be extremely costly,
+and, in most instances, entirely outside the scope of
+practicability.</p>
+
+<p>(6) That such a scheme, involving an expenditure
+of many millions, could not fail to affect our national
+finances.</p>
+
+<p>(7) That there is no ground for expecting so large
+an outlay could be recouped by increased receipts
+from the canals, and that the cost would thus inevitably
+fall upon the community.</p>
+
+<p>(8) That the allegation as to the chief canals of the
+country, or sections thereof, having been "captured"
+and "strangled" by the railway companies, in the
+interests of their own traffic, is entirely unsupported
+by evidence, the facts being, rather, that in most
+cases the canals were more or less forced upon the
+railway companies, who have spent money liberally
+on such of them as offered reasonable prospect of
+traffic, and, in that way, have kept alive and in
+active working condition canals that would inevitably
+have been added to the number of derelicts had they
+remained in the hands of canal companies possessed
+of inadequate capital for the purposes of their
+efficient maintenance.</p>
+
+<p>(9) That certain of these canals (as, for example,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>the Birmingham and the Shropshire Union Canals)
+are still offering to traders all reasonable facilities
+within the limitations of their surroundings and
+physical possibilities; and that if such canals were
+required to bear the expense of extremely costly
+widenings, of lock reconstruction, of increased water
+supply, and of general improvements, the tolls and
+charges would have to be raised to such a point
+that the use of the canals would become prohibitive
+even to those local traders who now fully appreciate
+the convenience they still afford.</p>
+
+<p>(10) That, in effect, whatever may be done in the
+case of navigable rivers, any scheme which aimed
+at a general resuscitation of canals in this country,
+at the risk, if not at the expense, of the community,
+is altogether impracticable; and that, inasmuch as
+the only desire of the traders, in this connection, is
+to secure cheaper transport, it is desirable to see
+whether the same results could not be more effectively,
+more generally, and more economically obtained in
+other directions.</p>
+
+<p>Following up this last conclusion, I beg to
+recommend:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>(<i>a</i>) The desirability of increasing the usefulness of
+the railway system, which can go anywhere, serve
+everybody, and carry and deliver consignments,
+great and small, with that promptness and despatch
+which are all-important to the welfare of the vast
+majority of industries and enterprises, as conducted
+under the trading conditions of to-day. This usefulness,
+some of the traders allege, is marred by rates
+and charges which they consider unduly heavy,
+especially in the case of certain commodities calling
+for exceptionally low freight, and canal transport is
+now asked for by them, as against rail transport,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>just as the traders of 1825 wanted the railways as
+a relief from the waterways. The rates and charges,
+say the railway companies, are not unreasonable in
+themselves, considering all the circumstances of the
+case and the nature of the various services represented,
+while the actual amount thereof is due, to a
+certain extent, not so much to any seeking on the
+part of the companies to pay dividends of abnormal
+proportions, akin to those of the canal companies of
+old (the average railway dividend to-day, on over
+one thousand millions of actual capital, being only
+about 3&frac12; per cent.), but to a combination of causes
+which have increased unduly capital outlay and
+working expenses, only to be met out of the rates,
+fares, and charges that are imposed on traders and
+travellers. Among these causes may be mentioned
+the heavy price the companies have had to pay
+for their land; the cost of Parliamentary proceedings;
+various requirements imposed by Parliament
+or by Government departments; and the heavy
+burden of the contribution that railway companies
+make to local rates. (See p. 10.) These various
+conditions must necessarily influence the rates and
+charges to be paid by traders. Some of them&mdash;such
+as cost of land&mdash;belong to the past; others&mdash;like the
+payments for local taxation&mdash;still continue, and tend
+to increase rather than decrease. In any case, the
+power of the railway companies to concede to the
+traders cheaper transport is obviously handicapped.
+But if, to obtain such cheaper transport, the country
+is prepared to risk (at least) from £20,000,000 to
+£50,000,000 on a scheme of canal reconstruction
+which, as I have shown, is of doubtful utility and
+practicability, would it not be much more sensible,
+and much more economical, if the weight of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>obligations now cast upon railways were reduced,
+thus enabling the companies to make concessions in
+the interests of traders in general, and especially in
+the interests of those consigning goods to ports
+for shipment abroad, for whose benefit the canal
+revival is more particularly sought?</p>
+
+<p>(<i>b</i>) My second recommendation is addressed to
+the general trader. His policy of ordering frequent
+small consignments to meet immediate requirements,
+and of having, in very many instances, practically
+no warehouse or store-rooms except the railway
+goods depôts, is one that suits him admirably. It
+enables him either to spend less capital or else to
+distribute his capital over a larger area. He is also
+spared expense in regard to the provision of warehouse
+accommodation of his own. But to the railway
+companies the general adoption of this policy has
+meant greater difficulty in the making up of "paying
+loads." To suit the exigencies of present-day trade,
+they have reduced their <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">minima</i> to as low, for some
+commodities, as 2-ton lots, and it is assumed by
+many of the traders that all they need do is to work
+up to such <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">minima</i>. But a 2-ton lot for even an
+8-ton waggon is hardly a paying load. Still less is
+a 10-<abbr title="hundredweight">cwt</abbr>. consignment a paying load for a similarly
+sized waggon. Where, however, no other consignments
+for the same point are available, the waggon
+goes through all the same. In Continental countries
+consignments would be kept back, if necessary, for
+a certain number of days, in order that the "paying
+load" might be made up. But in Great Britain the
+average trader relies absolutely on prompt delivery,
+however small the consignment, or whatever the
+amount of "working expenses" incurred by the
+railway in handling it. If, however, the trader
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>would show a little more consideration for the
+railway companies&mdash;whom he expects to display
+so much consideration for him&mdash;he might often
+arrange to send or to receive his consignments in
+such quantities (at less frequent intervals, perhaps)
+as would offer better loading for the railway
+waggons, with a consequent decrease of working
+expenses, and a corresponding increase in the ability
+of the railway company to make better terms with
+him in other directions. Much has been done of
+late years by the railway companies to effect various
+economies in operation, and excellent results have
+been secured, especially through the organisation of
+transhipping centres for goods traffic, and through
+reductions in train mileage; but still more could be
+done, in the way of keeping down working expenses
+and improving the position of the companies in
+regard to concessions to traders, if the traders themselves
+would co-operate more with the railways to
+avoid the disadvantages of unremunerative "light-loading."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>c</i>) My third and last recommendation is to the
+agriculturists. I have seen repeated assertions to
+the effect that improved canals would be of great
+advantage to the British farmer; and in this connection
+it may interest the reader if I reproduce the
+following extract from the pamphlet, issued in 1824,
+by Mr T. G. Cumming, under the title of "Illustrations
+of the Origin and Progress of Rail and Tram
+Roads and Steam Carriages," as already mentioned
+on p. 21:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"To the farming interests the advantages of a
+rail-way will soon become strikingly manifest; for,
+even where the facilities of a canal can be embraced,
+it presents but a slow yet expensive mode of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>conveyance; a whole day will be consumed in accomplishing
+a distance of 20 miles, whilst by the rail-way
+conveyance, goods will be carried the same distance
+in three or four hours, and perhaps to no class of
+the community is this increased speed of more consideration
+and value than to the farmer, who has
+occasion to bring his fruit, garden stuff, and poultry
+to market, and still more so to such as are in the
+habit of supplying those great and populous towns
+with milk and butter, whilst with all these additional
+advantages afforded by a rail-way, the expense of
+conveyance will be found considerably cheaper than
+by canal.</p>
+
+<p>"Notwithstanding the vast importance to the farmer
+of having the produce of his farm conveyed in a
+cheap and expeditious manner to market, it is
+almost equally essential to him to have a cheap
+conveyance for manure from a large town to a
+distant farm; and here the advantages to be derived
+from a rail-way are abundantly apparent, for by a
+single loco-motive engine, 50 tons of manure may
+be conveyed, at a comparatively trifling expense, to
+any farm within the line of the road. In the article
+of lime, also, which is one of the first importance
+to the farmer, there can be no question but the
+facilities afforded by a rail-way will be the means
+of diminishing the expense in a very material
+degree."</p></div>
+
+<p>If railways were desirable in 1824 in the interests
+of agriculture, they must be still more so in 1906,
+and the reversion now to the canal transport of
+former days would be a curious commentary on
+the views entertained at the earlier date. As regards
+perishables, consigned for sale on markets, growers
+obviously now want the quickest transport they can
+secure, and special fruit and vegetable trains are run
+daily in the summer season for their accommodation.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>The trader in the North who ordered some strawberries
+from Kent, and got word that they were
+being sent on by canal, would probably use language
+not fit for even a fruit and vegetable market to hear.
+As for non-perishable commodities, consigned to
+or by agriculturists, the railway is a much better
+distributer than the canal, and, unless a particular
+farm were alongside a canal, the extra cost of cartage
+therefrom might more than outweigh any saving in
+freight. If greater facilities than the ordinary railway
+are needed by agriculturists, they will be met
+far better by light railways, or by railway road-motors
+of the kind adopted first by the North-Eastern
+Railway Company at Brandsby, than by
+any possible extension of canals. These road-motors,
+operated between lines of railway and recognised
+depôts at centres some distance therefrom, are
+calculated to confer on agriculturists a degree of
+practical advantage, in the matter of cheaper transport,
+limited only by the present unfortunate inability
+of many country roads to bear so heavy a traffic,
+and the equally unfortunate inability of the local
+residents to bear the expense of adapting the roads
+thereto. If, instead of spending a large sum of
+money on reconstructing canals, the Government
+devoted some of it to grants to County Councils for
+the reconstruction of rural highways, they would do
+far more good for agriculture, at least. As for
+cheaper rail transport for agricultural commodities
+in general, I have said so much elsewhere as to
+how these results can be obtained by means of
+combination that I need not enlarge on that branch
+of the subject now, further than to commend it to
+the attention of the British farmer, to whom combination
+in its various phases will afford a much more
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>substantial advantage than any possible resort to
+inland navigation.</p>
+
+<p>These are the alternatives I offer to proposals
+which I feel bound to regard as more or less
+quixotic, and I leave the reader to decide whether,
+in view of the actualities of the situation, as set
+forth in the present volume, they are not much
+more practical than the schemes of canal reconstruction
+for which public favour is now being sought.</p>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+
+<h2>APPENDIX<br />
+
+<small>THE DECLINE IN FREIGHT TRAFFIC ON THE
+MISSISSIPPI</small></h2>
+
+
+<p>Whilst this book is passing through the Press, I
+have received from Mr Stuyvesant Fish, President
+of the Illinois Central Railroad Company&mdash;whom I
+asked to favour me with some additional details
+respecting the decline in freight traffic on the
+Mississippi River&mdash;the following interesting notes,
+drawn up by Mr T. J. Hudson, General Traffic
+Manager of the Illinois Central:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>The traffic on the Mississippi River was established
+and built up under totally different conditions from
+those now obtaining, and when the only other means
+of travel and transportation was on horseback and
+by waggon, methods not suitable in view of the great
+distances and the general impassibility of the country.
+In those days the principal source of supply was
+St Louis&mdash;and points reached through St Louis&mdash;for
+grain, grain products, etc., excepting that vehicles,
+machinery, and iron were brought down the Ohio
+River from Pittsburg and Cincinnati by boat to
+Cairo, and trans-shipped there, or to Memphis, and
+trans-shipped or re-distributed from that place. The
+distributing points on the Lower Mississippi River
+were Memphis, Vicksburg, Natchez, Bayou Sara,
+Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Goods were
+shipped to these points and re-shipped from there
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>over small railroads to short distances, and also
+hauled by waggon and re-shipped on boats plying
+in local trade on the Mississippi River and tributary
+streams. For example, there were Boat Lines making
+small landing points above and below Memphis, and
+above and below Vicksburg; also Boat Lines plying
+the Yazoo and Tallahatchie Rivers on the east, and
+the White, Arkansas and Red Rivers on the west, etc.</p>
+
+<p>All the goods shipped by steamboat were hauled
+by waggon or dray to the steamboat landing, and,
+when discharged by the boats at destination, were
+again hauled by waggon from the landing to the
+stores and warehouses, even in those cases in which
+re-shipment was made from points like Memphis,
+Vicksburg, etc. When re-shipped by river, the
+goods were again hauled to the steamboat landing,
+and, when reaching the local landing or point of
+final consumption, after being discharged on the
+bank, were again hauled by waggon or dray, perhaps
+for considerable distances into the interior.</p>
+
+<p>While the cost of water transportation is primarily
+low, the frequent handling and re-handling made this
+mode of transportation more or less expensive, and
+in some instances quite costly. River transportation
+again is slow, taking longer time in transit. The
+frequent handlings, further, were damaging and
+destructive to the packages in the case of many
+kinds of goods. Transportation on the rivers was
+also at times interrupted or delayed from one cause
+or another, such as high water or low water, and
+the service was, in consequence, more or less
+irregular, thus requiring dealers to carry large
+stocks on which the insurance and interest was a
+considerable item of expense.</p>
+
+<p>With the development of the railroads through the
+country, not only was competition brought into play
+to the distributing points along the river, such as
+Memphis, Vicksburg, etc., from St Louis, Cincinnati,
+and Pittsburg, but also from other initial sources of
+supply which were not located on rivers, but were
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>enabled by reason of the establishment of rail transportation
+to consign direct; whereas under the old
+conditions it was necessary for them to consign to
+some river point and trans-ship. What was still
+more important and effective in accomplishing the
+results since brought about was the material benefit
+conferred by the railroads on most of the communities
+situated back from the river. These communities
+had previously been obliged to send their consignments
+perhaps many miles by road to some point on
+the river, whence the commodities were carried to
+some other point, there to be taken by waggon or
+dray to the place of consumption&mdash;another journey
+of many miles, perhaps, by road. Progress was
+slow, and in some instances almost impossible, while
+only small boats could be hauled.</p>
+
+<p>Then the construction of railroads led to the
+development of important distributing points in the
+interior, such as Jackson, (Tennessee), and Jackson,
+(Mississippi), not to mention many others. Goods
+loaded into railroad cars on tracks alongside the mills,
+factories and warehouses could be unloaded at destination
+into warehouses and stores which also had their
+tracks alongside. By this means drayage was eliminated,
+and the packages could be delivered in clean
+condition. Neither of these conditions was possible
+where steamboat transportation was employed.
+Interior points are now enabled to buy direct, either
+in large or small quantities, from initial sources of
+supply, and without the delay and expense incident
+to shipment to river-distributing points, and trans-shipment
+by rail or steamboat or hauling by waggon.
+Rail transportation is also more frequent, regular,
+rapid and reliable; not to mention again the convenience
+which is referred to above.</p>
+
+<p>The transportation by river of package-freight,
+such as flour, meal, meat, canned goods, dry goods,
+and other commodities, has been almost entirely
+superseded by rail transportation, except in regard
+to short-haul local landings, where the river is more
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>convenient, and the railroad may not be available.
+There is some south-bound shipment of wire, nails,
+and other iron goods from the Pittsburg district to
+distributing points like Memphis and New Orleans,
+but in these cases the consignments are exclusively
+in barge-load lots. The only other commodity to
+which these conditions apply is coal. This is taken
+direct from the mines in the Pittsburg district, and
+dropped into barges on the Monongahela River; and
+these are floated down the river, during periods of
+high water, in fleets of from fifty to several hundred
+barges at a time.</p>
+
+<p>There is no movement of grain in barges from
+St Louis to New Orleans, as was the case a great
+many years ago. The grain for export <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">viâ</i> New
+Orleans is now largely moved direct in cars from
+the country elevators to the elevators at New Orleans,
+from which latter the grain is loaded direct into ships.
+There is, also, some movement north-bound in barges
+of lumber and logs from mills and forests not
+accessible to railroads, but very little movement of
+these or other commodities from points that are
+served by railroad rails. Lumber to be shipped on
+the river must be moved in barge-load quantities, and
+taken to places like St Louis, where it has to be
+hauled from the barge to lumber yards, and then
+loaded on railroad cars, if it is going to the interior,
+where a considerable proportion of the quantity
+handled will be wanted. Mills reached by railroad
+tracks can, and do, load in car-load quantities, and
+ship to the final point of use, without the delay
+incident to river transportation, and the expense
+involved by transfer or re-shipment.</p>
+
+<p>It is not to be inferred from the foregoing that all
+the distributing points along the river have dried up
+since the development of rail transportation. In fact,
+the contrary is the case, because the railroads have
+opened up larger territories to these distributing
+points, and in regard to many kinds of goods these
+river points have become, in a way, initial sources
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>of supply as well as of manufacture. Memphis, for
+example, has grain brought to its elevators direct
+from the farms, the same as St Louis, and can and
+does ship on short notice to the many towns and
+communities in the territory surrounding. There
+are, also, flour and meal mills, iron foundries, waggon
+and furniture factories, etc., at Memphis, and at
+other places. Many of the points, however, which
+were once simply landings for interior towns
+and communities have now become comparatively
+insignificant.</p>
+
+<p>To sum up in a few words, I should say that the
+railroads have overcome the steamboat competition
+on the Mississippi River, not only by affording fair
+and reasonable rates, but also because rail transportation
+is more frequent, rapid, reliable, and
+convenient, and is, on the whole, much cheaper.</p></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> That canals also played their part in the transport of passengers
+a hundred years ago is shown by the following items of news, which
+I take from <cite>The Times</cite> of 1806:&mdash;
+</p>
+<p><br />
+<span class="smcap">Friday</span>, <i>December</i> 19, 1806.</p>
+
+<p>"The first division of the troops that are to proceed by the
+Paddington Canal for Liverpool, and thence by transports for
+Dublin, will leave Paddington to-day, and will be followed by
+others to-morrow and Sunday. By this mode of conveyance the
+men will be only seven days in reaching Liverpool, and with
+comparatively little fatigue, as it would take them above fourteen
+days to march that distance. Relays of fresh horses for the
+canal boats have been ordered to be in readiness at all the
+stages."
+</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Monday</span>, <i>December</i> 22, 1806.<br /></p>
+
+<p>"Saturday the 8th Regiment embarked at the Paddington Canal
+for Liverpool, in a number of barges, each containing 60 men.
+This regiment consists of 950 men. The 7th Regiment embarked
+at the same time in eighteen barges: they are all to proceed to
+Liverpool. The Dukes of York and Sussex witnessed the embarkation.
+The remainder of the brigade was to follow yesterday,
+and Friday next another and very considerable embarkation will
+follow."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Illustrations of the Origin and Progress of Rail and Tram
+Roads, and Steam Carriages, or Locomotive Engines. By T. G.
+Cumming, Surveyor, Denbigh, 1824.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> A Letter on the subject of the projected Rail-road between
+Liverpool and Manchester, pointing out the necessity for its
+adoption, and the manifest advantages it offers to the public;
+with an exposure of the exorbitant and unjust charges of the
+Water-Carriers. By Joseph Sandars, Esq., Liverpool, 1825.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Mersey and Irwell Navigation.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Another of the speakers, Mr Gordon C. Thomas, engineer to
+the Grand Junction Canal Company, said that "notwithstanding
+the generous expenditure on maintenance, and the large sums
+recently spent upon improvements, the through traffic on the
+Grand Junction was only one-half of what it was fifty years ago,
+and now the through traffic was in many cases unable to pay as
+high a rate as the local traffic."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> In the evidence he gave before the Royal Commission on
+Canals and Waterways on 21st March 1906, Sir Herbert Jekyll,
+Assistant Secretary to the Board of Trade, said (as reported in <cite>The
+Times</cite> of 22nd March):&mdash;"One remarkable feature was noticeable&mdash;that,
+although the tonnage carried rather increased than
+diminished between 1838 and 1848, the receipts fell off enormously,
+pointing to the conclusion that the railway competition had brought
+about a large reduction in canal companies charges. It was also
+noteworthy that on many canals the decrease in receipts had
+continued out of all proportion to the decrease, if any, in the
+tonnage carried."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> In Mr Saner's paper the Birmingham Canal navigations are
+classed among the "Independently-Owned Canals," and Mr Saner
+says:&mdash;"There are 1,138 miles owned by railway companies, which
+convey only 6,009,820 tons per annum, and produce a net profit
+of only £40 per mile of navigation. This," he adds, "appears
+to afford clear proof that the railways do not attempt to make
+the most of the canals under their control." But when the
+Birmingham Canal, with its 8,000,000 tons of traffic a year, is
+transferred (as it ought to be) from the independently-owned
+to the railway-controlled canals, entirely different figures are
+shown.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> The fact that coal tipped into a canal boat would have a
+longer drop than coal falling from the colliery screen into railway
+waggons is important because of the greater damage done to the
+coal, and the consequent decrease in value.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Fuller information respecting traffic conditions in Continental
+countries will be found in my book on "Railways and Their Rates."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> The figures for the years 1860 to 1890 are taken from the
+"Report of the Committee on Canals of New York State," 1900,
+General Francis V. Greene, chairman; and those for 1900 and
+1903 from the "Annual Report of Superintendent of Public Works,
+New York State," 1903.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> "The St Lawrence River and the Great Lakes whose waters
+flow through it into the Atlantic form a continuous waterway
+extending from the Fond du Lac, at the head of Lake Superior, to
+the Straits of Belle Isle, a distance of 2,384 miles.... Emptying
+into the St Lawrence ... are the Ottawa and Richlieu Rivers, the
+former bringing it into communication with the immense timber
+forests of Ontario, and the latter connecting it with Lake Champion
+in the United States. These rivers were the thoroughfares in
+peace and the base lines in war for the Indian tribes long before
+the white man appeared in the Western Hemisphere.... The
+early colonists found them the convenient and almost the only
+channels of intercourse among themselves and with the home
+country.... The St Lawrence was navigable for sea-going
+vessels as far as Montreal, but between Montreal and the foot
+of Lake Ontario there was a succession of rapids separated by
+navigable reaches.... The head of navigation on the Ottawa
+River is the city of Ottawa.... Between this city and the mouth
+of the river there are several impassable rapids. The Richlieu
+was also so much obstructed at various points as to be unavailable
+for navigation.... The canal system of Canada ... has been
+established to overcome these obstructions by artificial channels at
+various points to render freely navigable the national routes of
+transportation."&mdash;<cite>"Highways of Commerce," issued by the Bureau
+of Statistics, Department of State, Washington.</cite></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_12" id="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> The use of a larger type of canal boat is generally regarded as
+an essential part of the resuscitation scheme. But of the narrow
+boats now in active service in the canals of the United Kingdom
+there are from 10,000 to 11,000. What is to be done with these?
+If they are scrap-heaped, and fresh boats substituted, we increase
+still further the sum total of the outlay the scheme will involve.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_13" id="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> At the Society of Arts' Conference on Canals, in 1888, Mr L. F.
+Vernon-Harcourt said:&mdash;"The statistics show that great caution
+must be exercised in the selection of canal routes for improvement,
+if they are to prove a commercial success, and that the
+scope for such schemes is strictly limited. Any attempt at a
+general revival and improvement of the canal system throughout
+England cannot prove financially successful, as local canals,
+through thinly populated agricultural districts, could not compete
+with railways. These routes alone should be selected for enlargement
+of waterway which lead direct from the sea to large and
+increasing towns like the proposed canal from the Bristol Channel
+to Birmingham, or which, like the Aire and Calder Navigation
+and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, are suitably set for the conveyance
+of coal and general bulky goods to populous districts.
+One or two through routes to London from manufacturing
+centres, or from coal-mining districts, might have a prospect of
+success, provided the existing canals along the route could be
+acquired at a small cost, and the necessary improvement works
+were not heavy."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_14" id="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> There are even those who argue that the resuscitated canals
+should be toll free.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>INDEX</h2>
+
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li class="ifrst">
+Agriculture and canals, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>-<a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Aire and Calder Navigation, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Allport, Sir James, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Aqueducts, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Association of Chambers of Commerce, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Barnsley Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Belgium, waterways in, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>-<a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Birmingham Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>-<a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Boats, size of, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Brecon Canal, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bridgewater Canal, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>-<a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>-<a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bridgewater, Duke of, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>-<a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Brindley, James, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>-<a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Brunner, Sir John T., <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Buckley, Mr R. B., <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Caledonian Railway Company, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-<a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Canada, waterways in, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>-<a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Canals, earliest, in England, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>-<a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">canal mania, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">passenger traffic, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>-<a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">shares and dividends, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">tolls and charges, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>-<a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>-<a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">handicapped, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">attitude towards railways, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>-<a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">Kennet and Avon, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>-<a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">Shropshire Union, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>-<a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">Forth and Clyde, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-<a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">"strangulation" theory, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>-<a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">Birmingham Canal, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>-<a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">coal traffic, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>-<a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">canals and waterways on the Continent, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>-<a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">in the United States, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>-<a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">in England, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>-<a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">in Canada, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>-<a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">conclusions and recommendations, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>-<a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Capitalists, attitude of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Carnegie, Mr, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Chesterfield Canal, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Child, Messrs, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Coal, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>-<a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>-<a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>-<a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Consignments, sizes of, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Continental conditions, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>-<a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cost of reconstruction, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>-<a href="#Page_136">136</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cotton, raw, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>-<a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Coventry Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cox, M.P., Mr Harold, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cromford Canal, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cumming, Mr T. G., <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>-<a href="#Page_148">148</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Dixon, Professor F. H., <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dredging, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Electrical installations, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ellesmere Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Engineers and canal question, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Erie Canal, the, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>-<a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Fish, Mr Stuyvesant, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>-<a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Forth and Clyde Navigation, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-<a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">France, waterways in, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Frost on canals, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst"><cite>Gentleman's Magazine</cite>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Geographical conditions, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>-<a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>-<a href="#Page_100">100</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Germany, waterways in, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>-<a href="#Page_102">102</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Glass, Mr John, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Government guarantee, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></li>
+<li class="indx">Grand Junction Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Grand Western Canal, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Great Northern Railway, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Great Western Railway Company, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>-<a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Grinling, Mr C. H., <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Hertslet, Sir E. Cecil, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Holland, waterways in, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Huddersfield Narrow Canal, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hudson, George, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Inglis, Mr J. C., <a href="#Page_38">38</a>-<a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Jackson, Mr Luis, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>-<a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Jebb, Mr G. R., <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Jekyll, Sir Herbert, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Kennet and Avon Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>-<a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lancaster Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Languedoc Canal, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Leeds and Liverpool Canal, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Leicester and Swinnington Railway, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lift at Anderton, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>-<a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Liverpool and Manchester Railway, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>-<a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Liverpool merchants, petition from, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>-<a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Local taxation, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>-<a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>-<a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Locks, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>-<a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">London and North-Western Railway Company, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>-<a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>-<a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">London County Council, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Loughborough Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Macclesfield Canal, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Manchester and Bury Canal, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Manchester Ship Canal, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">McAdam, J. L., <a href="#Page_12">12</a>-<a href="#Page_13">13</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mechanical haulage, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>-<a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>-<a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>-<a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Meiklejohn, Professor, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mersey and Irwell Navigation, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mersey Harbour Board, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Midland Railway, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mining operations and canals, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>-<a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>-<a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mississippi, the, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>-<a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Monmouthshire Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Morrison, Mr, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>-<a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Manchester, Sheffield and Lincoln Railway Company (Great Central), <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Municipalisation schemes, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>-<a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Nationalisation of canals, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Neath Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">North British Railway, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">North-Eastern Railway, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Old Union Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Oxford Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Packhorse period, the, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Paddington Canal, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>-<a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Physical conditions, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>-<a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Political conditions, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>-<a href="#Page_102">102</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Principle, questions of, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>-<a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Private enterprise, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Profits on canals, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Public trusts, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>-<a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pumping machinery, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>-<a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst"><cite>Quarterly Review</cite>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>-<a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Railways, position of companies as ratepayers, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>-<a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">cost of railway construction and operation, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>-<a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">effect on railway rates, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">advent of, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>-<a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">Liverpool and Manchester Railway, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">Leicester and Swinnington Railway, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">Midland Railway, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">Great Northern Railway, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">attitude of canal companies towards, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>-<a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">control of canals, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>-<a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>-<a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">railways in Germany, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>-<a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub2">in France, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">recommendations, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>-<a href="#Page_146">146</a>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></li>
+<li class="indx">Ratepayers, liability of, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>-<a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rates, regulation of, on railways and canals, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>-<a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Regents Canal, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rennie, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Road-motors, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rochdale Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ross, Mr A., <a href="#Page_45">45</a>-<a href="#Page_47">47</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Sandars, Mr Joseph, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>-<a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Saner, Mr J. A., <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sankey Brook and St Helen's Canal, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Saunders, Mr H. J., <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Select Committee on Canals (1883), <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Shropshire Union Canal, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>-<a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>-<a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Somerset Coal Canal, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Speed, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Stalbridge, Lord, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Stephenson, George, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Stephenson, Robert, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Stourbridge Extension Canal, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">"Strangulation" theory, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Stratford-upon-Avon Canal, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Swansea Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Taxpayers, how affected, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Telford, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Thames and Severn Canal, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Thames steamboat service, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Thomas, Mr G. C., <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Thwaite, Mr, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Trade, changes in, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>-<a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>-<a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>-<a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>-<a href="#Page_134">134</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Traders, advice to, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>-<a href="#Page_147">147</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Trent and Mersey Navigation, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Troops, transport of, by canal, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>-<a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Tunnels, canal, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Ulrich, Herr Franz, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">United States, waterways in, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>-<a href="#Page_118">118</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Vernon-Harcourt, Mr L. F., <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li>
+
+
+<li class="ifrst">Walker, Colonel, F. N. T., <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Water-supply for canals, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>-<a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>-<a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>-<a href="#Page_130">130</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Wheeler, Mr W. H., <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Widenings, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Wilts and Berks Canal, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Worcester and Birmingham Canal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li>
+</ul>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a><br /><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="center bigger">WORKS BY EDWIN A. PRATT</p>
+
+
+<p class="center big">THE TRANSITION IN AGRICULTURE</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Crown 8vo. 350 pp. Illustrations and Plans. 5s. net.</i></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"A book of great value to all interested in farming. Discusses, as
+correctly as possible, the hopeful development of subsidiary branches of
+agriculture, the prospects of co-operation, and the principles on which
+small holdings may be increased."&mdash;<cite>The Outlook.</cite></p></div>
+
+
+<p class="center big">THE ORGANIZATION OF AGRICULTURE</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Cheaper and Enlarged Edition. Paper covers. 1s. net.</i></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"The first impression produced on the mind of the thoughtful reader
+by a perusal of Mr Pratt's book is that, in one form or another, agricultural
+co-operation is inevitable.... To attempt to stand against the pressure
+of cosmopolitan conditions is as futile as Mrs Partington's attempt to keep
+back the Atlantic with a mop."&mdash;<cite>Guardian.</cite></p></div>
+
+
+<p class="center big">RAILWAYS AND THEIR RATES</p>
+
+<p class="center">WITH AN APPENDIX ON THE BRITISH CANAL PROBLEM</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Cheap Edition. Paper Covers. 1s. net.</i></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"A valuable book for railwaymen, traders, and others who are
+interested, either theoretically or practically, in the larger aspect of
+the economic problem of how goods are best brought to market."&mdash;<cite>Scotsman.</cite></p></div>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">
+<span class="big">OUR WATERWAYS</span><br />
+<br />
+A HISTORY OF INLAND NAVIGATION CONSIDERED AS A BRANCH OF WATER CONSERVANCY<br />
+<br />
+By URQUHART A. FORBES<br />
+<small>Of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister-at-Law;</small><br />
+AND<br />
+W. H. R. ASHFORD<br />
+<br />
+<i>With a Map especially prepared to illustrate the book. Demy 8vo. 12s. net.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"The history of these canals and waterways, and of the law relating to
+them, is clearly set forth in the excellent work. Should become <em>the</em>
+standard work of reference upon the subject."&mdash;<cite>The Standard.</cite></p></div>
+
+
+<p class="center mt2"><span class="big">MUNICIPAL TRADE</span><br />
+<br />
+THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES RESULTING FROM THE SUBSTITUTION
+OF REPRESENTATIVE BODIES FOR PRIVATE PROPRIETORS
+IN THE MANAGEMENT OF INDUSTRIAL UNDERTAKINGS<br />
+<br />
+By Major LEONARD DARWIN<br />
+
+<small>Author of "Bimetallism."</small><br />
+<br />
+<i>Demy 8vo. 12s. net.</i></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"This work should be carefully studied, for there cannot be a better
+guide to the understanding and solution of a difficult problem."&mdash;<cite>Local
+Government Chronicle.</cite></p></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p class="center mt2"><span class="big">MODERN TARIFF HISTORY</span><br />
+SHOWING THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF TARIFFS IN GERMANY
+FRANCE, AND THE UNITED STATES<br />
+<br />
+By PERCY ASHLEY, M.A.<br />
+
+<small>Lecturer at the London School of Economics in the University of London</small><br />
+<br />
+With an Introduction by the<br />
+Rt. Hon. R. B. HALDANE, LL.D., K.C., M.P.<br />
+<br />
+<i>Demy 8vo. 10s. 6d. net.</i></p>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"... A careful, fair, and accurate review of the modern fiscal history
+of three countries."&mdash;<cite>Times.</cite></p></div>
+
+
+
+<p class="center mt2"><span class="big">LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT</span><br />
+A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ENGLAND, FRANCE, PRUSSIA, AND THE
+UNITED STATES<br />
+<br />
+By PERCY ASHLEY, M.A.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="center mt2"><span class="big">THE BRITISH TRADE YEAR-BOOK</span><br />
+COVERING THE 25 YEARS 1880-1904, AND SHOWING THE COURSE OF
+TRADE<br />
+<br />
+By JOHN HOLT SCHOOLING<br />
+<br />
+
+<i>With 191 tables, each containing several sections of British or of International
+Trade. 46 Diagrams and various abstract Tables. 10s. 6d. net.</i><br />
+<br />
+This is the ONLY BOOK that shows the COURSE OF TRADE.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>"We believe, after careful examination, that Mr Schooling has dealt
+in a strictly honest and impartial fashion with the material at his disposal.
+Readers of the book cannot fail to get much insight into the course of
+trade from Mr Schooling's clear-sighted methods."&mdash;<cite>Times.</cite></p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="center mt2"><span class="big">THE PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF TAXATION</span><br />
+<br />
+By G. ARMITAGE SMITH<br />
+
+<small>Principal of Birkbeck College.</small><br />
+<br />
+<i>Crown 8vo. 5s.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>CHAPTER I.&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Grounds and Nature of Public Expenditure.</span>
+II.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Sources of Imperial Revenue, and Theories of
+Taxation.</span> III.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Principles of Taxation.</span> IV.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Direct Taxation&mdash;Taxes
+on Property and Income.</span> V.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Indirect Taxation&mdash;Taxes
+on Commodities and Acts.</span> VI.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Incidence of Taxation.</span>
+VII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">National Debts.</span> VIII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Some other Revenue Systems.</span>
+IX.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Local Taxation.</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="center mt2"><span class="big">THE RAILWAYS AND THE TRADERS</span><br />
+<br />
+A SKETCH OF THE RAILWAY RATES QUESTION IN THEORY AND
+PRACTICE<br />
+<br />
+By W. M. ACWORTH, M.A. (Oxon.),<br />
+<small>And of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law.</small><br />
+<br />
+<i>New Impression. Crown 8vo. In Paper Covers. 1s. net.</i></p>
+
+
+<p class="center mt2">
+<span class="smcap">London: JOHN MURRAY, Albemarle Street, W.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p class="center big mt2">
+PRINTED AT THE EDINBURGH PRESS,<br />
+9 AND 11 YOUNG STREET<br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="transnote">
+<h2>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES</h2>
+<p>Minor punctuation and printer errors repaired.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 47435 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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