CHAPTER III.

THE ENGLISH CANAL SYSTEM. “Of famous cities we the founders know, But rivers, old as seas to which they go, Are nature’s bounty; ’tis of more renown, To make a river than to build a town.” —_Waller._ The general circumstances under which artificial navigation came to be adopted in our own and other countries have already been set forth to a limited extent. We have now to consider the special circumstances that have led to the adoption of particular routes and particular means of transport, as well as to make some attempt to indicate the conditions under which canals may be used with advantage. The routes that are provided by canal navigations are usually either local or national—local, when they only connect two inland centres; national, when they afford access from manufacturing or agricultural centres to the sea. In the earlier history of the canal system both of these ends were kept in view. It was just as important to bring raw materials from their place of production to the centres of consumption as to connect the centres of manufacture with the outer world. About the middle of the last century, the cost of goods by road, between Manchester and Liverpool, was 40_s._ per ton; whilst, by the Mersey and Irwell route, the water rate was 12_s._ per ton. After the opening of the Bridgwater Canal the cost was reduced to 6_s._ per ton, and a better service was given than either of the previous routes had afforded. Again, the cost of carriage on coal by pack-horse from Worsley to Manchester, which had been 6_s._ to 8_s._ per ton, was reduced to 2_s._ 6_d._ per ton on the same canal. In fact, the Duke bound himself not to exceed that freight, although the old Mersey and Irwell Company still held to their toll of 3_s._ 4_d._ for all the coal the Duke sent by their route. The costs of transports throughout the country were on a similar scale, except where held in check by the river traders, who, whilst competing, had still an interest in high freights. From Manchester to Nottingham the charge was over 6_l._ per ton; to Leicester, over 8_l._, and so on. These rates were reduced to 2_l._ and 2_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._, respectively, after the opening of the Trent and Mersey Canal, which also reduced the cost of transport between Manchester and Hull to less than 2_l._, per ton, owing to the back-carriage secured from that port, together with the tide service of 80 miles up the Humber and the Trent. The real commercial prosperity of England dates from this period of canal development and enterprise. Raw materials, manufactures, and produce, were easily transported at a reasonable cost between Liverpool, Manchester, Staffordshire, Nottingham, and places on the route to Hull and Northern Europe. These advantages were extended to the Severn route by the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Act, which was obtained during the year 1766, and by the navigation of the Soar to Leicester.[40] In 1761 it was estimated that the quantity of traffic carried between the two great cities of Lancashire—Manchester and Liverpool—was about 40 tons per week, or about 2000 tons a year. The cost of transport, as we have just seen, was upwards of 1_s._ per mile. It is calculated that the traffic now carried on between the two towns is not less than ten million tons, and the cost of transport is stated at from 3_s._ to 8_s._ per ton. But the present conditions of transport are nevertheless regarded as unsatisfactory, and hence the movement for the construction of the Ship Canal, which is expected to carry traffic for less than one-half of the amount charged by the railway companies. When the public mind became fully alive to the importance of providing internal means of transport by water, there were not wanting those who were able to provide the ability and the experience necessary to execute the plans proposed. The history of the Bridgwater Navigation has been so fully related by Smiles,[41] that nothing which we could say here would materially enhance the interest of the story. For all practical purposes, this was the first great artificial waterway in England. It was, indeed, so remarkable a work for the time that we shall briefly recapitulate its history. In 1758 the Duke of Bridgwater got his first Act of Parliament, which awakened a general ardour for similar improvements among the landowners, farmers, merchants, and manufacturers of the kingdom, and although there was not a Louis XIV. nor a Colbert to encourage them, engineers were found fully equal to Riquet, so that England, though late, began to make good use of the resources she possessed in her inland provinces. The history of the Bridgwater canal may fairly be said to occupy, in relation to the annals of internal navigation, much the same place that the Liverpool and Manchester Railway does in relation to the development of the railway system. It is necessary to review some of the circumstances connected with this enterprise in order that the actual position of transport at that time may be understood. Although an Act of Parliament had been obtained many years previously for the purpose of making the Mersey and the Irwell navigable from Liverpool to Manchester, the facilities thereby provided were defective and unsatisfactory in the extreme. The freight charged for water transport between the two towns was 12_s._ per ton, when the navigation was available, but this was not always at command. Boats could not pass between the lowest lock and Liverpool without the assistance of a spring tide. There were many fords or shallows in the Irwell, over which boats could not pass at all “except in great freshes, or by drawing extraordinary quantities of water from the locks above.” The consequence was that most of the traffic between the two towns was carried on by road, at a much higher cost for rather over thirty miles. The new navigation, although it promised to reduce this charge to 6_s._ per ton, to abridge the distance by nine miles, to provide wharfage that was not already available, and to give transportation facilities at all times, was strongly denounced and opposed. It was argued that the canal would cut through and separate the land in the possession of several gentlemen along the proposed line of route, that a great number of acres would be covered with water and for ever lost to the public, that the canal could confer no advantage not already secured by the Irwell and the Mersey, that the taking from those streams of the water required for the canal would greatly prejudice, if it did not totally obstruct, the old navigation in dry seasons, and that the property of the old navigation should not be prejudiced without full compensation being made to the proprietors.[42] A letter written in 1767,[43] at Burslem, states that “gentlemen come to see our eighth wonder of the world—the subterraneous navigation, which is cutting by the great Mr. Brindley, who handles rocks as easily as you would plum-pies, and makes the four elements subservient to his will. He is as plain a looking man as one of the boors of the Peake, or one of his own carters, but when he speaks all ears listen, and every mind is filled with wonder at the things he pronounces to be practicable. He has cut a mile through bogs, which he binds up, embanking them with stones which he gets out of other parts of the navigation, besides about a quarter of a mile into the hill Yelden; on the side of which he has a pump, which is worked by water, and a stove, the fire of which sucks through a pipe the damps that would annoy the men who are cutting towards the centre of the hill.” The Bridgwater Canal has had a very remarkable career. It was sold by Lord Ellesmere to the Bridgwater Navigation Company for 989,612_l._, including plant valued at 150,000_l._ In 1886, the Bridgwater Navigation Company sold the canal to the Manchester Ship Canal Company for 1,710,000_l._ The Bridgwater Canal was followed, after a few years, by a number of similar undertakings. We cannot pretend in this chapter to write the history of the canal movement; but we may, nevertheless, rapidly pass in review some of the prominent features of that movement, the better to illustrate the development of canal navigation, and to show how it came to be such as it is. About the year 1769 we find that the counties of Lancashire, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Leicestershire, and Warwickshire, were greatly exercised concerning the proposal to cut a canal between the Mersey and the Humber by way of Harecastle, Stoke, Burton, and Wilden, near which latter place it was intended to effect a junction with the Trent. Branches were proposed to Birmingham, Lichfield, Tamworth, and Newcastle-under-Lyme. The canal, it was expected, would develop the trade in white flint ware, “which is as strong and sweet as Indian porcelain;” in the noted quarries of Swithland slate, in Leicestershire, “a beautiful and durable covering for houses;” in limestone, “on which the village of Breden, in Leicestershire, is situated;” and “in that sort of iron ore, commonly called ironstone, proper for making cold-short iron, and which, when mixed with the red ore from Cumberland, makes the best kind of tough or merchant iron.”[44] It is somewhat curious, at this time of day, to find that the facilities which it would offer for the exportation of corn were put forward as one of the principal arguments in favour of the new navigation.[45] THE HULL AND LIVERPOOL CANAL. In the year 1755, the Liverpool Corporation authorised a survey to be made with a view to the construction of a line of navigation between Liverpool and Hull. Brindley made a survey of the same route three years later, and he, in turn, was followed by Smeaton. Brindley’s plans were ultimately adopted. He proposed to complete the canal “as far north as Harecastle, purchase the land, erect locks, make towing paths, build bridges, and defray every expense, except that of obtaining the Act of Parliament, for 700_l._ per mile,” but beyond Harecastle it was estimated that the works would cost 1000_l._ a mile.[46] Brindley proposed to make the canal 12 feet wide at the bottom, and three feet deep on an average, with a depth of 30 inches at the fords. The boats designed to be worked on the canal were 70 feet long, 6 feet wide, drawing 30 inches of water, and carrying 20 tons. Their cost was stated at 30_l._ each.[47] It is interesting to record that when the proposal to construct a canal from Liverpool to Hull was under consideration, about the middle of the last century, one of the arguments used in its favour was that it would enable American iron to be brought cheaper to the manufacturing towns from the ports of Liverpool and Hull, and so contribute to lessen the consumption of foreign European iron, “to the great profit of this nation in general, and our own ironworks in particular”; while it was even suggested that, in order to develop this branch of business between our then American colonies and the mother country, a bounty should be offered on the import of American pig-iron, thereby contributing to “clear the lands in America,” and “to preserve the woods in England.” The project to construct a new waterway through the manufacturing districts between Liverpool and Hull was strenuously opposed by a number of Cheshire gentlemen, who were the owners of the Weaver or Northwich Navigation, and who proposed to carry that waterway to Macclesfield, Stockport, and Manchester. In 1765, a plan was submitted for extending the navigation of the Weaver from Winsford Bridge, in Cheshire, to the river Trent, in the county of Stafford, there joining the Trent and the Severn by canals, and thereby “opening an inland communication between the great ports of Liverpool, Bristol, and Hull.” In view of the attention that has recently been given to the salt industry, it may be stated that the transport of that commodity was one of the principal reasons offered for the construction, in 1769, of a canal between Liverpool and Hull, _viâ_ Cheshire. At that time manufactured salt was carried on horseback “to almost all parts of Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, and Lincolnshire,” and it was stated that “so great is the home consumption of this article, that from the saltworks of Northwich alone, a duty of 67,000_l._ was last year paid into the Exchequer. At Northwich and Wisford are annually made about 24,000 tons.”[48] THE LEEDS AND LIVERPOOL CANAL. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which was commenced in 1770 and completed in 1816, is one of the most important lines of navigation in the United Kingdom, connecting, as it does, the Irish Sea at Liverpool with the German Ocean at Hull. The works were extended over a period of about forty-one years, and cost altogether 1,200,000_l._ The course of the canal from Leeds is _viâ_ the Abbey of Kirkstall, Calverley, Woodhouse, Apperley Bridge, Shipley, Bingley, Skipton, Burnley, Blackburn, Wigan, and so on to Liverpool. It is the longest canal in Great Britain, and in some respects, the most remarkable. It has many important works of art on its course, the summit level of which is reached at an elevation of 411 feet above the Aire at Leeds, 41 miles from that town. At Foulridge there is a tunnel 1640 yards in length, 18 feet high, and 17 feet wide. Near to this tunnel are two reservoirs for the supply of the canal. They cover an area of 104 acres, and store up 12,000 cubic yards of water. The canal is carried on aqueducts across the Aire, the Colne Water, the Brown, the Calder, the Henbarn, the Derwent Water, and the Roddlesworth Water. The total length of the navigation is 127 miles, and the total lockage 844 feet 7½ inches, while the canal basin at Liverpool is 56 feet above low-water mark on the river Mersey. The canal has several important feeders or branches.[49] KENNET AND AVON CANAL. The Kennet and Avon Canal starts from the port of Bristol and runs to Bath, Dundas (for the Somersetshire Coal Canal), Bradford-on-Avon, Semington (for the Wilts and Berks Canal), Devizes, Honeystreet, Pewsey, Burbage, Hungerford, Newbury, Reading, where it joins the Thames for Henley, Marlow, Maidenhead, Windsor, Staines, and London. The distance from Bristol to Bath is 15 miles, from Bath to Newbury 57 miles, from Newbury to Reading 18½ miles, and from Reading to London 74 miles. The river Avon, from Bristol to Bath, will admit of barges being worked carrying 90 tons when the water is high, but in low water this weight would be reduced to 50 or 60 tons, in consequence of the want of cleansing and dredging. This part of the navigation is under an Act of Parliament, 10 Queen Anne, 1711, and is to be free and open for ever upon payment of toll. The canal from Bath to Newbury (under an Act of Parliament of George III.) has been constructed for vessels drawing five feet of water, measuring 14 feet wide, and according to the present soundings on the lock-sills, vessels of that draught ought now to navigate the canal, but they are not able to do so from the great accumulation of mud, which is seldom less than one foot in thickness, and generally two feet or more. This not only prevents the barges from using the canal for carrying full cargoes, but necessitates the employment of extra towing power. One horse would tow a barge 2 to 2½ miles an hour, if the canal were kept in proper working order. At the present time two or more horses are required to do what ought to be only the work of one. Many of the lay byes throughout the canal were originally made to enable vessels to turn; nearly all of these are now of no use, owing to their being full of mud and weeds, consequently barges have often to go long distances beyond their proper destination in order to turn. Owing to the accumulation of mud on the sides of the canal, barges can only pass one another with great difficulty, causing much loss of time. The gearing of the paddles of most of the locks is very insufficient and out of repair. On all properly managed navigations, dredgers are kept almost constantly at work cleansing out the mud, which rapidly accumulates, but on this canal there are none. The only men employed on the canal are a few labourers to clean out the weeds with rakes, which are deposited on the towing-paths, and allowed to remain for months, thus obstructing the use of the paths. The pounds between the locks at Devizes are nearly all full of mud and weeds. The construction of the new port of Sharpness, opened in 1874, is due to the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal Company, which constructed at the small promontory of that name, about midway between Avonmouth and Gloucester, a large tidal basin, 350 feet by 300 feet, a lock 320 feet long, with three pairs of gates of large size, and a discharging dock 2200 feet long, and occupying an area of 13½ acres. The entrance to the docks from the Severn is 60 feet wide, and the depth at high water averages 26 feet. The canal company, by this provision, has been able to retain for Gloucester a great deal of the shipping which formerly, although chartered for that city, has, owing to the old canal entrance being too small, been obliged to discharge at one of the South Wales ports. Almost simultaneously with this step, the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal Company purchased the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, thereby enabling water communication to be opened up with the heart of the Midlands. THE ELLESMERE CANAL. The Ellesmere Canal, in North Wales, consists of a series of navigations proceeding from the river Dee in the vale of Llangollen. One branch passes northward, near the towns of Ellesmere, Whitchurch, Nantwich, and the city of Chester, to Ellesmere Port on the Mersey; another in a south-easterly direction, through the middle of Shropshire towards Shrewsbury on the Severn, and a third in a south-westerly direction, by the town of Oswestry, to the Montgomeryshire Canal, near Llanymynech; its whole extent, including the Chester Canal, incorporated with it, being about 112 miles. The heaviest and most important part of the works occurred in carrying the canal through the rugged hill country, between the rivers Dee and Ceriog, in the vale of Llangollen. From Nantwich to Whitchurch the distance is 16 miles, and the rise 132 feet, involving nineteen locks; and thence to Ellesmere, Chirk, Pont Cysylltan, and the river Dee, 1¾ mile above Llangollen, the distance is 38¼ miles, and the rise 13 feet, involving only two locks. The latter part of the undertaking presented the greatest difficulties, as, in order to avoid the expense of constructing numerous locks, which would involve serious delay and heavy expense in working the navigation, it became necessary to contrive means for carrying the canal on the same level from one side of the respective valleys of the Dee and the Ceriog to the other, and hence the magnificent aqueducts of Chirk and Pont Cysylltan, characterised by Phillips as “among the boldest efforts of human invention in modern times.” The Chirk Aqueduct carries the canal across the valley of the Ceriog, between Chirk Castle and the village of that name. At this point the valley is above 700 feet wide; the banks are steep, with a flat alluvial meadow between them, through which the river flows. The country is finely wooded. Chirk Castle stands on an eminence on its western side, with the Welsh mountains and Glen Ceriog as a background; the whole composing a landscape of great beauty, in the centre of which Telford’s aqueduct forms a highly picturesque object. The aqueduct consists of ten arches of 4 feet span each. The level of the water in the canal is 65 feet above the meadow, and 70 feet above the level of the river Ceriog. The proportions of this work far exceeded anything of the kind that had up to that time been attempted in England. It was a very costly structure; but Telford, like Brindley, thought it better to incur a considerable capital outlay in maintaining the uniform level of the canal than to raise and lower it up and down the sides of the valley by locks at a heavy expense in works, and a still greater cost in time and water. The aqueduct is an admirable specimen of the finest class of masonry, and Telford showed himself a master of his profession by the manner in which he carried out the whole details of the undertaking. The piers were carried up solid to a certain height, above which they were built hollow with cross walls. The spandrels also, above the springing of the arches, were constructed with longitudinal walls, and left hollow. The first stone was laid on the 17th of June, 1796, and the work was completed in the year 1801. AIRE AND CALDER CANAL. The Aire and Calder Canal, in Yorkshire, which is connected with the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Leeds Bridge, and thence communicates with the Mersey at Liverpool, was originally constructed with locks 60 feet long by 15 feet wide, and with a depth of 3 feet 6 inches. It has been subsequently twice reconstructed in all its main features. In 1820, the diversion between Knottingley and Goole was constructed, with locks 72 feet long, 18 feet wide, and with 7 feet depth of water; but this being found inefficient, the whole of the works between Goole and Leeds, on the Aire branch of the navigation, and Wakefield on the Calder, have been again reconstructed, with locks of 215 feet long, 22 feet wide, and 9 feet on the sills. In addition to this, the undertakers have purchased and improved the Barnsley Canal, and also, to some extent, as lessees, they have extended their improvements to the Calder and Hebble Navigation. From time to time, the port of Goole, which forms a part of the Aire and Calder Navigation, has been improved, and its capacity enlarged, new docks and entrance-locks have been built, and the channel has been generally improved. The accompanying diagrams show the lines of canal communication between the Severn at Bristol and the Thames, and between the ports of Liverpool, Goole, and Hull. They give the length and profile of each canal, and require but little explanation. The Aire and Calder Canal has been in many respects one of the most remarkable in England. Its original capital was 150,000_l._, but it is now stated to amount to 1,697,000_l._ The difference has mainly resulted from accumulations of profit. After deducting the cost of maintenance, the sum available for distribution in 1888 was 85,000_l._ The gross yearly income is now as large as the original capital. MIDLAND CANALS. A glance at the canal map of England and Wales (p. 57) will show that in the Midlands there are many existing canals, some of which are still utilised to a large extent. The more important of these are the Worcester and Birmingham, the Birmingham, and the Dudley Canals. The first of these was constructed under an Act obtained in 1791, which authorised the raising of a capital of 180,000_l._ for the purpose. The length of the canal is 29 miles, and it has 6 feet depth of water and 42 feet of top width. The canal is exceptional in passing through no less than five tunnels in its course—the first at West Heath, the second at Tardebigg, the third at Shortwood, the fourth at Oddingley, and the fifth at Edgbaston. There is also a fall of 428 feet in 15 miles by 71 locks, which are 15 feet wide and 18 feet long, to the level of the Severn. Priestley wrote of the canal that it was “the channel for supplying Worcester and the borders of the Severn down to Tewkesbury and Gloucester with coal, and, in return, conveys the hops and cider of that part of the country northwards, and more particularly affords a ready means for the export of the Birmingham manufactures, through the port of Bristol, to any part of the world.” [Illustration: SECTION OF THE LINE OF NAVIGATION FROM THE RIVER SEVERN AT BRISTOL BY WAY OF DEVIZES TO THE RIVER THAMES AT LONDON BRIDGE.] [Illustration: SECTION OF THE INLAND NAVIGATION BETWEEN THE PORTS OF LIVERPOOL, GOOLE, AND HULL.] The general direction of the Dudley Canal is nearly north-west by a crooked course of 30 miles in Worcestershire, a detached part of Shropshire, and Staffordshire; it is situate very high; its two ends are on the eastern side of the grand ridge, while its middle, by means of two very long tunnels, is on the western side of the same. The communication of this canal with the Stourbridge Canal, by the Black Delph branch, and the terminating canals, occasions a considerable carrying trade thereon. This canal commences in the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Selly Oak, and terminates in the old Birmingham at Tipton Green. From near Dudley there is a branch of two miles to the Stourbridge Canal at Black Delph in Kingswinford; there is another branch of 1¼ mile to near Dudley town, and a branch from this last of three-quarters of a mile to the Dudley collieries. From the Worcester and Birmingham Canal to the Black Delph branch 10½ miles are level, thence to near the entrance of the Dudley Tunnel, about three-quarters of a mile, there is a rise of 31 feet by five locks, thence through the tunnel it is level, and thence again in the last one-eighth of a mile a fall of 13 feet is overcome by two locks to the old Birmingham Canal. The Black Delph branch has a fall of 85 feet by nine locks to the Stourbridge Canal; the Dudley branch has a rise of 64 feet in the first three-quarters of a mile, the remainder being level. The depth of water in this canal is 5 to 6 feet; the width of the locks on the Black Delph branch is 7 feet. To near Lapal, or Laplat, the canal passes through a tunnel 3776 yards long; at Gorsty Hill it passes through another of 623 yards, under a collateral branch of the Grand Ridge; and at Dudley there is another tunnel of 2926 yards in length, near the summit-level of the canal. The arch of this last tunnel has a height of 13½ feet. At Cradley Pool a large reservoir exists for supplying the lockage of the Black Delph branch. It is provided, that level cuts may be made from this canal towards any coal-mine to the extent of 2000 yards. A stop-lock is erected at the junction with the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, by which either company has a power of preventing the other from drawing off their head of water. The Black Delph branch was first executed, and this was then united with the Dudley part of the canal, which had been constructed by Lord Dudley and Ward; these were completed and in use before the extension or main length to Selly Oak was designed. The company was authorised to raise a capital of 229,100_l._, the amount of the shares being originally 100_l._ each. Owing to the different Acts under which the parts of the canal were progressively undertaken, the rates of tonnage differ considerably. CANALS IN WALES. The principal artificial waterways in Wales are the Swansea Canal, about 19 miles in length, which was opened in 1798, and which connects the harbour of Swansea with the various copper and other works between that point and Pen Tawe; the Neath Canal, which is about 14 miles in length, and which, commencing near Abernant, and terminating at Neath river harbour, with a branch to a short canal called the Briton Canal, near Giant’s Grave, Pill; the Aberdare Canal, which, about 6½ miles in length, connects the Glamorganshire Canal with Aberdare, and runs through a district of great mineral and manufacturing resources; and the Glamorganshire Canal, which in a total length of 25 miles has a rise of about 611 feet, and which, commencing on the east side of the Taff river, and near its entrance into Penarth harbour, terminates in the town of Merthyr Tydfil. The canal was opened between Merthyr and Cardiff in 1794, and at the end of the canal, which terminates in the Taff river, there is a sea-lock, with a floating dock, capable of admitting vessels of considerable tonnage. In May 1885 the Glamorganshire and Aberdare Canals, in South Wales, were transferred to the Bute Dock Company, who formally commenced working them in September 1887. The old system of conducting the traffic on these canals was to charge toll rates, but the Marquis of Bute has adopted the system of charging through rates from any place on the Bristol Channel to Cardiff. There are many continuous lines of water communication between different commercial points of importance in England, as, for example, between London and Liverpool, Liverpool and Hull, Birmingham and London, Leeds and Liverpool, &c.; but it often happens upon such through routes that there are great differences in the sizes of the locks, which are shorter or narrower at one point than at another. Thus, for example, between the Derbyshire district and London, the canal communication is in the hands of seven different companies, with four different gauges at least, the effect of which is to limit the carrying capacity of the boats to the very low maximum of 24 tons. A considerable number of canal boats continue to navigate these through routes in spite of all these drawbacks, but they have very little encouragement to do so, inasmuch as the different canal companies impose different rates of toll, the aggregate of which comes to almost, if not quite, as much as would be paid to the railway companies for the service. It is hopeless to expect to see this condition of affairs quite remedied until all these through routes pass into the hands of the same companies. It has been computed by capable engineers that an average expenditure of 10,000_l._ or 12,000_l._ would enable the canal system of England to become efficient, and it is probable that before long this expenditure will be found worth while. According to the most recent returns available, the canal mileage owned by the principal railway companies in England and Wales, and the number of employés thereon, were as under:— ───────────────────────────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────── │ Miles of │ No. of Employés │ Canal Owned. │ thereon. ───────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────── Great Western │ 258 │ 270 London and North-Western │ 488 │ 214 Midland │ 50 │ ··· Manchester, Sheffield, │ │ and Lincolnshire │ 180½ │ 538 North Staffordshire │ 121 │ 263 Caledonian │ 60 │ 340 ───────────────────────────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────── The total number of employés on the canals of England and Wales in 1884 was 1479 for 1333 miles owned, being an average of little more than one employé to the mile. On the railways of England and Wales for the same year the number of employés was 310,568 for 18,000 miles worked, being an average of 17·2 employés per mile. As, however, there are no returns of canal traffic available, we cannot say how the two sets of figures compare in the matter of results. While several new canal projects are in process of incubation the existing canal property of the United Kingdom, which has cost not less than sixty millions sterling, has been allowed to go to rack and ruin by reason of defects and neglect that are quite inexcusable, and which seriously prejudice not only the canals themselves, but the trade and commerce of the country as a whole. The unsatisfactory condition of the waterways of the United Kingdom is sufficiently proved by a few returns that were presented to the Select Committee on canals[50] (1883). At that date there were fifty-seven canals in England and Wales belonging to independent companies, twenty-seven canals and navigations under public trusts, forty-five owned or controlled by railway companies, and fourteen that were either derelict, or had been converted into railways. Of the canals under the control of independent companies, a considerable number were in anything but a flourishing condition, and most of them, apparently, because they entirely failed to meet the requirements of commerce. So far as mere mileage is concerned, the waterways of England, including canals and canalised rivers, are really of very considerable, if not sufficient extent, as the following figures show:— Miles. Owned by public trusts 927¼ Independent canals 1445¼ Guaranteed and owned by railways 1333 Derelict 118½ Ownership not known 36¾ Besides these, there have been about 120 miles of canals converted into railways. But these canals are of very limited use, because of the haphazard and unsystematic way in which they have been laid out. Scarcely any two canals have a common gauge, and upon the same canal several gauges of locks may often be found. The four great industrial rivers of England, and the four most important maritime outlets, are connected with each other by 650 miles of inland waterway. The Thames and the Humber, the Severn and the Mersey, and the Severn, Mersey and the Humber, ought to be placed in communication with each other by as perfect a system of waterways as it is possible to provide. But this desirable end has been frustrated by railway action. In the first group, 175 miles of canal have been acquired by railway companies; in the second group, 490 miles; and in the third group, 360 miles. It has been computed that the average cost of the canals in the first group was 5000_l._, and in the second group 9000_l._ per mile. The railways that connect the same four maritime points have a total mileage of about 9500 miles, and an aggregate capital of about 360 millions. The history of British canals, with all the most interesting information bearing upon their extent, capacity, and traffic, has been written by Priestley in a work that is to this day the standard authority on the subject. The same subject has been dealt with very extensively in Rees’s ‘Cyclopædia,’ under the heading of “Canals.” With these sources of information open to all the world, it would be quite supererogatory to go into much detail relative to these waterways of Great Britain, except in so far as they are of cardinal importance, or are likely to exercise an influence in the future development of canal navigations. It will be understood, therefore, that in these notes no attempt is made to afford minute details of the different canals dealt with; while many of the canals that have either been abandoned, or have become the property of railway companies, or have otherwise ceased to be of public importance, have been entirely disregarded. It is an axiom in water transport that the larger the vessel employed, within certain limits, the more inexpensive is the cost of the service performed. It has been calculated[51] that at the present time, the cost of transporting fifty tons of material between London and Liverpool, a distance of 180 miles, is 25_l._, or 10_s._ per ton exclusive of tolls. But then the boats employed are only 25-ton craft, which take eight days on the journey, with one day to load, and one day to unload, making, with two spare days, twelve days in all. If, however, large craft were substituted, capable of carrying 120 tons each, and towed by a steam barge carrying 90 tons—making a total load of 450 tons—the cost would be reduced to about 2_s._ 6⅕_d._ per ton, or about one-fourth of the existing cost, and the time occupied by the journey would be lessened by two days. In both cases profit is included, at the rate of 25 per cent. In order, however, to have this substitution generally effected, a large number of the existing canals would require to be deepened and widened. The size of the craft suggested for the more economical trip would be 84 feet by 12 feet by 6 feet 3 inches draft. A smaller vessel would not answer the purpose. Now, there are comparatively few canals that would at the present time admit of the passage of such craft, and in some cases waterways that are nominally adapted for even larger boats, are in such an imperfect condition of repair that they are not suited for use. The canals of the independent companies that profess to be adapted for vessels of this size, and the size of craft which they severally admit, are— ───────────────────────────────┬───────────┬───────────────────── │ Length of │ Canal. │Navigation.│ Size of Craft. ───────────────────────────────┼───────────┼───────────────────── │ miles. │ ft. in. ft. in. ├───────────┼────────────────────── Aire and Calder │ 80 │ 212 0 by 22 0 Bridgwater │ 97 │ 84 0 ” 15 0 Bude[52] │ 35½ │ 104 0 ” 29 6 Gloucester │ 16 │ 163 0 ” 29 6 Leicester and Northampton │ 24 │ 88 0 ” 15 6 Louth │ 11¾ │ 87 6 ” 15 6 Medway Navigation │ 7¾ │ 86 0 ” 23 0 Regent’s and Hertford Union │ 10¼ │ 90 0 ” 15 0 Stort │ 13½ │ 100 0 ” 13 6 Thames and Medway │ 9 │ 94 8 ” 22 8 Trent River │ 72 │ 90 0 ” 15 0 ───────────────────────────────┼───────────┼───────────────────── Total[53] │ 306¾ │ ───────────────────────────────┴───────────┴───────────────────── Here then we have only 306¾ miles of canal suited to the passage of craft 84 feet by 12 feet, including the river Trent, which, of itself, contributes 72 miles to the total. In other words, only about twenty per cent. of the total independent waterways of the country can admit craft that would enable them to realise the full value of economical transport. Of the remainder, a great part of the navigations vary from 60 to 75 feet in width, so that presumably they could be adapted for the larger sizes of craft without very material expense. [Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE CANALS AND NAVIGATIONS IN ENGLAND AND WALES.] The canals and navigations managed by public trusts are in a decidedly better position. Commencing with the noble Severn, which, for a great part of its canalised course of forty-four miles, admits craft 270 feet by 35 feet, there are the Thames (from London Bridge), the Lea, the Weaver, and the Wye, which are suited to craft of considerable dimensions, but these for the most part can hardly be described as canals proper. The canals that have passed into the possession of the railway companies are not, as a rule, so well adapted for navigation as those controlled by independent companies. On the face of it, indeed, there is a presumption that the railways could not have acquired the property if it had been as it should have been. The only railway canals that are capable of admitting craft exceeding 84 feet in length are the Kennet and Avon, 85 miles long; the Grantham Canal, 33½ miles long; and the Nottingham Canal, 15 miles in length—about 133 miles in all. Out of a total of 1333 miles of the derelict and converted canals, only the Melton Mowbray, 14¾ miles in length, was adapted for the larger size of vessels. The preceding map shows the canals in England and Wales that are in the hands of independent owners or public trusts, and in the possession of railway companies, respectively. Under the circumstances stated, it is perfectly evident that the canals of England and Wales have not had a fair chance. Out of a total of over 4000 miles of canal and river navigations, the proportion that is suited to craft of 200 tons burden is almost fractional. With such a size of vessel, cheap transport is difficult. Between London and Birmingham the following canals form a system of communication:— ───────────────────────────────────┬────────┬──────────────────────── │ Length │ Canal. │of Navi-│ Size of Locks. │ gation.│ ───────────────────────────────────┼────────┼──────────────────────── │ miles. │ ft. ft. in. ft. in. Grand Junction, between Brentford │ 92 │ 80 by 14 6 by 4 6 and Braunston │ │ Oxford, between Braunston and │ 5½ │ no lock. Napton Warwick and Napton, │ │ between those places │ 13½ │ 72 by 7 by 4 0 Warwick and Birmingham │ 21½ │ 72 by 7 by 4 0 ├────────┤ │ 132½ │ │ │ Paddington Arm of the Grand │ │ Junction │ 13½ │ ├────────┤ │ 146 │ ───────────────────────────────────┴────────┴──────────────────────── The diagram on the next page shows the section of the line of canal navigation between the Mersey and the Thames by way of Birmingham, the total distance being 260 miles. It will be observed that the system is an extensive one, embracing no fewer than twelve different waterways, the more important of which are the Trent and Mersey, and the Grand Junction canals. [Illustration: SECTION OF THE LINE OF NAVIGATION FROM THE RIVER MERSEY AT LIVERPOOL BY WAY OF BIRMINGHAM TO THE RIVER THAMES AT LIMEHOUSE, LONDON.] The principal advantages afforded by canals are thus concisely stated by General Rundall:—