Page:The Canal System of England.djvu/68

 (ii.) Goods can be carried in greater bulk.

(iii.) The landing or shipment of cargo is not necessarily confined to certain fixed stations, as is obligatory on railways, but boats can stop at any point on their journey to load and unload, and discharge their cargoes direct over the ship's side.

(iv.) The dead weight to be moved in proportion to the load is much less.

(v.) The capacity for traffic is practically unlimited provided the locks are properly designed.

(vi.) There is no obligation to maintain enormous or expensive plant or establishments, as all these can, and would, be provided by separate agencies and distinct capital. Thus a large outlay in first cost and subsequent maintenance is avoided.

The disadvantages and defects, besides those of original construction, in existing British Canals are:—

(i.) A total absence of unity of management.

(ii.) A want of uniformity of gauge in the locks as well as in the canals themselves.

(iii.) The difficulty in the use of steam power which cannot be adapted except in a few notable instances.

(iv.) The lack of a uniform system of tolls.

(v.) The fact that so many links are in the hands of the Railway Companies, a fact which paralyses any unity of action, and renders any scheme of amalgamation between the several parts of a through-route impossible.