Page:The Canal System of England.djvu/77

 mile varying with the paying load, while in the year 1889 the same figures were accepted by the late Sir George Findlay and other railway experts in giving evidence before the Board of Trade Commission on Railway Rates and Classification. Thus from 1865 to 1889 there has been practically no reduction made in English railway rates, in spite of the greater economy that more scientific and intelligent methods have enabled railway managers to exercise.

Thus it is evident that where there has been competition between waterways and railways, as in the case of America and the Continent, the result has been to reduce the rates on both Railways and Canals, but where as in our own country, there has been practically no competition, the rates have remained abnormally high.

There is, however, one important English waterway which has been able successfully to compete with the railway, with the inevitable result that the freightage by rail has been very considerably reduced. The Manchester Ship Canal was constructed to enable ocean-going vessels to discharge their cargoes at Manchester instead of unloading at Liverpool.

The economic effects of the Canal on freights are shewn by the following table. In every case the cost is given per ton—delivered in Manchester.