Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/261

 as engineer to the Chester Canal Company, and Mr. J. Duncombe for the Ellesmere Canal Company, to examine the country between the Whitchurch Branch of the Ellesmere Canal and the Chester Canal at Stoke, and report upon the practicability of forming a junction; they did so; and their estimate for this purpose amounted to £36,478.

Eighteen days after the passing of the last-recited act, another received the royal assent, on the 14th May, 1796, entitled, An Act to explain and amend an Act, entitled, An Act to explain and amend an Act, passed in the Thirty-third Year of the Reign of his present Majesty, entitled, An Act for making and maintaining a navigable Canal from the River Severn, at Shrewsbury, in the county of Salop, to the River Mersey, at or near Netherpool, in the county of Chester; and also for making and maintaining certain collateral Cuts from the said intended Canal; andfor varying and altering certain Parts of the Course of the said Canal and collateral Cuts, between Ruabon and Chester, and for making and maintaining several other Branches and collateral Cuts, to communicate therewith, by which, power is given to vary the original line, and make a new branch from near Pont-y-Cysylte, in the parish of Ruabon, to the parish of St. Mary on the Hill, in the city of Chester, with a collateral cut from the same on Cefn Common, to near Acrefair Coal Works, in the county of Denbigh; and another from the same branch, in the township of Gwersyllt, to Talwern Coal Works, in the parish of Mold and county of Flint; and one other collateral branch from the Broad Oak in the township of Burton, into the township of Allington.

It is by this act that the canal company are bound to make good any deficiency which may arise in the amount of tolls payable to the Dee Navigation Company, by reason of the Ellesmere Canal being made, in case the annual amount be less than £235. The discrepancy between the amount here stated and what appears in the account of the Dee Navigation, (page [PNRC0199.htm#PNRC193 193],) arose in consequence of the Dee Company having neglected to take into consideration the toll for and in respect of coal, which on the average amounted to £25 annually.

The act of the 41st George III. is entitled, 'An Act to authorize the Company of Proprietors of the Ellesmere Canal, to extend