CANALS. 105 



harbour for malefactors, and that it has been ascertained that navig-able and 

 communicable passages for vessels of burthen to pass throug'h might be made, 

 from and through the said midland counties into the principal rivers, and that 

 by the benefit of such master drains, the bog^s and other lost grounds might 

 be improved, and also a cheap and expeditious communication betwixt His 

 Majesty's subjects inhabiting the several parts of his said kingdom might be 

 opened, proceeds to authorize certain persons, whose names are given, and 

 who are styled " undertakers," to make " at their proper costs and charges " 

 the river Shannon navigable, " portable and passable," for boats, barges, 

 lighters, and other vessels of burthen from the common landing-place of the 

 city of Limerick to the town of Carrick Drumrusk (now Carrick-on-Shannon) 

 in the county of Leitrim. 



Full powers are given to the undertakers to adopt every measure necessary 

 for their purpose, and in order to repay themselves for their original outlay 

 and for the expense of keeping the navigation in order, they are authorized 

 to take " to their own use " twopence toll for every loolbs. weight conveyed 

 ten miles, and three pence for every passenger conveyed the same distance. 

 The Members of Parliament and the Justices of the Peace for counties adjoin- 

 ing the navigation are nominated Commissioners for adjusting all differences 

 that may arise between the undertakers and the proprietors of the lands 

 adjacent to the river. The Act goes on to empower similarly qualified Com- 

 missioners in the districts drained by the " Liffy," the " Rye," the " Boyne." 

 the " Mungagh," the ■' Brosney," the " Barrow," the " Glyn." the " Bann," 

 the " Foyle," the " Earn," and in short nearly every river in Ireland, to 

 appoint undertakers to make and keep navigable the said rivers, and to open 

 communication between them and adjacent bogs and other lost and useless 

 grounds. No navigation seems to have been undertaken under the pro- 

 visions of this Act, except that of the river Maigue, which connects the towii 

 of Adare, in the county of Limerick, with the river Shannon, a distance of 

 eight miles. No attempt was made at that time to improve the Shannon. 

 The next Act of Parliament referring to drainage and navigation was passed 

 in the eighth of George the First, and merely amended that of second George 

 the First in regard to the numbers and powers of Commissioners. 



In the third year of George the Second (1729) an Act was passed referring 



K 4- t r rf IT ^° ^^^^ failure of the original Act (second of George the 



Act 01 ueorge 11. First) to accomplish its purpose Dy reason of " under- 



" Commissioners of takers" not coming forward to execute navigation 



Inland Navigation works on account of the expense and risk incurred in 



anpointed '' 1729 doing so, and appointing the Lord Lieutenant, the 



Lord Chancellor, the four Archbishops, the Speaker of 



the House of Commons, together with eighty other persons. Commissioners 



for Ireland to put the said Act into execution, with power also to encourage 



tillage, and to employ the poor on works of public benefit, and providing them 



with funds for doing so from duties afterwards called " tillage duties," levied 



on carriages, on cards and dice, and on gold and silver plate, the proceeds of 



which duties for twenty-one years were appropriated to their use. The only 



navigation works that were undertaken by the new Commissioners under the 



Act of 1729, appear to have been that connecting Newry with the Upper 



Bann and Lough Neagh, and the Tyrone navigation connecting Coalisland 



with Lough Neagh. It seems, however, that the Commissioners must have at 



any rate commenced other public works from the terms of the 23rd George 



II., chapter 5, which refers to the time for which duties were granted for the 



use of the Commissioners by the 3rd of George 11. , as being about to expire, 



and renews them for twenty-one years, " because divers sums of money 



arising from said duties had been applied towards making and carrying on 



