Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/107



TONNAGE RATES.
And so in proportion for any greater or less Weight than a Ton.

If Goods remain upon the Company's Wharfs more than Twenty-four Hours, they are entitled to Wharfage, the Amount of which to be agreed on between the Parties.

That Fifty Feet of round, or Forty Feet of square Oak, Ash, or Elm Timber, or Fifty Feet of Fir, or Deal, Balk, Poplar, and other Timber Wood, shall be estimated as One Ton; and that Lime, Stone, Coal, and other Goods, shall consist of Twenty-two Hundred Weight of One Hundred and Twelve Pounds each.

No Boat of less than Twenty Tons Burthen to pass a Lock without leave, unlessTonnage is paid to that Amount.

The canal was finished in 1774.

For the purpose of giving a better supply of water to this canal, the proprietors were under the necessity of purchasing mills and lands contiguous to its banks, by which the shares were in creased, by additional calls, to £250 per share; and in order to secure this part of their property from the operations of the statute of mortmain, they applied to parliament, and obtained an act, entitled,  'An Act for vesting divers Estates in the parishes of Bradford and Calverley, in the West Riding of the county of York, purchased for the benefit of the Proprietors of the Bradford Canal Navigation, in Trustees, upon certain Trusts, discharged from all Claims of the Crown, in respect of any Forfeiture incurred under or by virtue of the Laws or Statutes of Mortmain.' 

As the neighbourhood of Bradford abounds in flag paving-stone, coal, and valuable beds of iron-stone, this canal has been of infinite advantage in conveying them to various parts of the country. The extensive iron works at Bowling, and Wibsey Low Moor, with others of inferior note in the vicinity, may, in a great measure, be said to have been founded, or at least greatly enlarged, in consequence of the facility which this canal afforded, by its connection with the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, for the conveyance of their castings to all parts of the kingdom.

From these foundries, iron railways approach the town of Bradford, but though they do not extend to the head of the canal, yet they have the effect of materially reducing the price of the carriage of the heavy articles from these works. Flag, stone and slate from the eastern bank of this canal, and also near its head, (where it is very extensively worked) finds its way to the London