Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/465



The commissioners may also tax the lands to the extent of five shillings per acre, for maintaining the canal and drainage, and for the payment of salaries and other expenses. The accounts of the drainage and of the navigation are to he kept separate.

Mr. Whitworth was the engineer. The work is well suited for the purposes intended, and highly beneficial to the town of Market Weighton and the neighbouring district.

MEDWAY RIVER.
17 Char. II. C. 6, R. A. 2nd Mar. 1664.

14 Geo. II. Cap. 26, R. A. 29th Apr. 1740.

32 Geo. III. C. 105, R. A. 15th June, 1792.

42 Geo. III. Cap. 94, R. A. 22nd June, 1802.

5 Geo. IV. C. 148, R. A. 21st June, 1824.

IT will not be necessary in the present instance to take particular notice of the first and second acts relating to this river, which were passed in the 17th of Charles II. and the 14th George II. more than to state that by these acts a company was incorporated under title of "The Company of Proprietors of the Navigation of the River Medway;" we shall therefore commence our remarks by quoting the act passed in 1792, entitled, 'An Act for improving the Navigation of the River Medway, from the town of Maidstone, through the several parishes of Maidstone, Boxley, Allington and Aylesford, in the county of Kent.'  By this act certain persons were named as a committee for improving the navigation of the Medway, from the lock in Maidstone to the lower part of an orchard belonging to Mr. G. Hunt, Jun. on the west side of the river below Aylesford Bridge, in Kent. They have the requisite powers for enlarging, widening and rendering straight the channel of the said river, and to make all necessary bridges, tunnels, and dams; they may also, with consent of the quarter sessions, alter or rebuild Aylesford Bridge, and make a collateral cut from a shoal in the river, called Preston Shelf, below the town of Maidstone, on the east side of the river, to any part of the same above and near the said bridge; they may likewise build a bridge or establish a ferry at Castle Shelf, purchasing the site thereof of Lord Romney; and for defraying all necessary expenses they are empowered to demand the following tonnage rates.