On Waterways in Great Britain.” by JOHNARTHUR SANER, M

Proceedings.] SANER ON WATERWAYS IN GREATBRITAIN. 21

14 November, 1905. Sir ALEXANDER RICHARDSON BINNIE, President, in the Chair.

(Paper No. 3593.)

“ On Waterways in Great Britain.” By JOHNARTHUR SANER, M. Inst. C.E. WHEN the Author undertook to write a Paper on the present con- dition of waterways in Great Britain and themeasures necessaryfor their improvement, he scarcely realized the magnitude of the task, or how few bright spots there wouldbe inthe narrative. He hopes, however, not only that full discussion of the subject by the Institution may stimulatethe awakening interestin it, but also that engineers who are called upon to advise as to improvements, alterations, or new schemes, may resolve on the adoption of cer- tain general principles ; so that expenditure on isolated works may prove useful hereafter, when the value of inland waterways becomes fully realized in thiscountry, and thatsuch mistakes as were made in the latter partof the eighteenth and thebeginning of the nineteenth century, in the adoption of different gauges and systems, may not be repeated. In the inquiries necessary for the compilation of this Paper, the Author has worked upon the basis of the Board of Trade Returns of 1898 ; but, in order to supplement those Returns and to bring the information up to date as far as possible, he issued a circular to sixty-three engineers or secretaries of canals, and received replies from forty-seven of them. The information thus obtained in regard to the present physical and commercial conditions of the canals of Great Britain is tabulated in Appendix I. The Author does not propose to deal with the Irish canals. Their

“ Returns made to the Board of Trade . . . in respect of the Canals and Navigations in the United Kingdom, for the year 1898.” London, 1899. The Tables in the Appendixes should be read in conjunction with these returns.

aggregate length at present is about 586 miles, and the gauge is nearly uniform, for small barges. Although thestatement presents a fair number of satisfactory features, especially in regard to the independent canals, it discloses on the whole anything but a cheerful state of affairs ; and, with the notable exception of the Trent and Mersey Canal, the story, SO far as railway-owned canals are concerned, is;one of stagnation. Beyond what may be termed bare maintenance, no money has been spent on the works, andthe traffic haseither remained the same or has decreased, except in a few cases, in which there has been a slight increase. TheSecretary of theWilts and BerksCanal (independent) pathetically statesthat his traffic has decreased to that point at which any change must be for the better. There are so many accounts of the different pioneer works, that it is scarcely necessary to give here any historical account of the utilization of the rivers and construction of the canals inthis country ; but it may be of interest to mention that in 1423 an Act waspassed relatingto the River Thames, andin 1425 one entitled “An Act for the Preservation of the River Lea.” In 1503 was passed “ An Act concerning the River Severn,” and in 1664 one relating to the Upper Medway, and another for making the River Avon navigable from Christchurch to Salisbury : in the latter case the works were all swept away by a flood, and were afterwards abandoned. In 1670 powers were obtained for improving or cleansing the celebrated Fossdike Navigation ; and in the same year the Brandon (Norfolk) Navigation Act was passed. The River Larke was made navigable under an Act passed in 1700, the River Derwent in 1701, and the River Stour in1705 ; and the RiverAvon (Le. the upper part of the Bristol Avon), now