Page:The Canal System of England.djvu/36

 on this navigation from St. Neots to Louth, the timber-work had become rotten and decayed, the masonry was falling to pieces, whilst the locks were almost useless; yet on this navigation there are nine toll-taking bodies, all having a voice in its administration.

The Birmingham Canals, according to the Board of Trade returns for 1888, conveyed by far the greatest tonnage of all the inland navigations of Great Britain, amounting to 7,713,000 tons in that year, and yet nothing has been done to bring them up to modern requirements. There are still the small locks, shallow water, and horse haulage as in former days, and all attempts to open up an improved waterway to the sea-ports have proved abortive.

The difference in the dimensions of the English canals is perhaps their greatest disadvantage. Two examples will suffice.

(1) The sectional area of the Trent and Mersey Canal averages 336 square feet, while that of the Aire and Calder is 475 square feet, and the Weaver Canal 780 square feet. The smaller canal locks have an average width of 7 feet, while those of the Aire and Calder reach 18 feet.

(2) There are three through routes from the Mersey to the Humber. The shortest runs from the Mersey via the Bridgewater, Rochdale, Aston, Huddersfield, Sir John Eamsden's, and the Calder and Hebble, to the Aire and Calder