CHAPTER XV 



DISADVANTAGES OF RIVER NAVIGATION 



IT will have been assumed, from the two preceding chapters, 

 that rivers, whether naturally navigable or rendered navigable 

 by art, were of material service in supplementing defective 

 roads, in opening up to communication parts of the country 

 that would then otherwise have remained isolated, and in 

 aiding the development of some of the greatest of our national 

 industries. 



While this assumption is well founded, yet, as time went on, 

 the unsatisfactory nature of much of the inland river navigation 

 in this country became more apparent. 



Some of the greatest troubles arose from, on the one hand, 

 excess of water in the rivers owing to floods, and, on the 

 other, from inadequate supplies of water due either to droughts 

 or to shallows. 



The liability to floods will be at once apparent if the reader 

 considers the extent of the areas from which rain water and 

 the yield of countless springs, brooks, and rivulets may flow 

 into the principal rivers. In the Report of the Select Com- 

 mittee of the House of Lords on Conservancy Boards, 1877, 

 there was published a list which showed that the 210 rivers 

 in England and Wales had catchment basins as follows : 



1000 miles and upwards n 



500 ,, to 1000 miles 14 



100 500 59 



50 ,, ,, 100 ,, 24 



10 50 102 



Total 210 



The rivers having catchment basins of 1000 miles or up- 

 wards are given thus : 



150 



