108 CANALS. 



1829 the Newry navigfation was transferred to a private company. In the 

 same year a Committee of the House of Commons reported that the per- 

 manent continuance of the Board of Directors-General was " questionable." 

 In 1829, as in 1800, it seems to have been a subject of regret that great sums 

 of public money had from time to time been expended on inland navig-ation 

 without being- attended with corresponding- advantage to the public. 



On the constitution of the Board of Works in 1831 by the ist and 2nd 



Board of Public William the Fourth, cap. 33, all the property vested 



"WnrlrQ ^^ ^^^ Directors of Inland Navigation, and all the 



powers possessed bv them, were transferred to the said 



constituted. Board. 



Since 1 83 1 the following navigations have been constructed : — 



1. The river Suir navigation, by a private Company, from Carrick-on-Suir 

 to Granagh Ferry, near Waterford. 



2. The Ballinamore and Ballyconnell navigation, from Louq-h Erne to the 

 Shannon, by the Commissioners of Public Works, the expenses being defrayed 

 partly out of public funds, and partly by advances charged on the districts 

 adjoining the navigation, 



3. The Upper and Lower Bann navigations, the former from Blackwater- 

 town to and through Lough Neagh, the latter from Lough Neagh to Cole- 

 raine, by the Commissioners of Public Works, at the expense partly of the 

 public, partly at that of the localities affected. 



4. The Loueh Corrib navigation, from Galway to Cong, by the Com- 

 missioners of Public Works, at the expense partly of the public and partly of 

 the localities affected. 



5. The Ulster Canal, connecting Lough Erne with Lough Neagh, by the 

 Ulster Canal Company, 



This canal was vested by Act of Parliament in the Commissioners of Public 

 Works in 1865, the Company having been unable to pay interest on an 

 advance of /Ti 20,000 made to them by the Exchequer Loan Commissioners, 

 who consequently took possession of the property. The Shannon navigation 

 came under the exclusive management of the Commissioners of Public 

 Works in 1846.* 



The estimated total cost of these 708 miles of canal and river communication 

 is -^4,722,211, made up as follows: - — 



Charged on counties, .... ;^385,364 



Raised from private sources .... 2,296,349 

 Public money, ...... 2,040,498 



Total, . . ;^4,722,2ii 



* This is not quite accurate— The Act g & 10 Vic, c, 98, provided, it is true, for the 

 transfer, after the 30th September, 1846, of the powers and privileges of the special 

 temporary Commission, who had control of the Shannon Works, to the permanent 

 Department of Public Works in Dublin. Notwithstanding this Act, however, the execution 

 of the works never received the concerted attention of the members of the new and enlarged 

 Board. On the contrary, the superintendence of the works remained in the hands of the 

 same three Commissioners, who, though they had lost their legal identity as Shannon 

 Commissioners, by the Act g & 10 Vic, c 86, continued to make annual reports separate and 

 ■distinct from those of the Board of Works, as if the Act had never been passed. It was not 

 till the works had been finally brought to a conclusion in 1850, that the full Board recognised 

 amongst its duties the obligations, imposed upon it four years before by the Act of 1846, of 

 controlling the Shannon Navigation and its works. 



