296 History of Inland Transport 



had established some central authority with a view to securing 

 such uniformity in construction and such connected routes 

 as were practicable, it would have rendered a greater service 

 than by simply approving schemes put forward in what the 

 Final Report itself describes as a " piecemeal " fashion. This, 

 however, was not done ; nor, in fact, was action taken to 

 prevent the canal companies, after they had shown their enter- 

 prise and risked their millions, from becoming in the pre-railway 

 days grasping monopolists whose one idea was to exploit the 

 trader to their own advantage, leading him to welcome the 

 railways, as an alternative to the canals, still more cordially 

 than he had previously welcomed the canals as an alternative 

 to the roads and rivers. 



So long as the locomotive remained in a comparatively 

 undeveloped stage, the canal companies refrained from re- 

 garding railways as serious rivals, and continued to look upon 

 them in the light, rather, of contributors of traffic to the 

 waterways ; but in proportion as the locomotive was im- 

 proved and the rivalry of the railways became more and more 

 pronounced the canal companies grew alarmed for the prospects 

 of their own concerns. They entered on no new undertakings 

 the last inland canal, as distinct from ship canals, was com- 

 pleted about 1834 and they got anxious as to the future of 

 those they had on their hands. They had first scoffed at the 

 railways as " nothing but insane schemes," or as costly 

 " bubbles," and they had then worked up a powerful opposition 

 against them. Having failed in each of these directions, they 

 next took steps which they would have done well to take 

 earlier they reduced their tolls, and they also began to con- 

 sider how they could improve their canals. 



In 1835 there was a general reduction of rates on the Old 

 Quay Navigation between Liverpool and Manchester, but this 

 belated policy of seeking to make terms with the traders did 

 not prejudice the fortunes of the new railway between those 

 places. As regards the improvements sought to be introduced 

 on the canals, Nicholas Wood, in the third edition (1838) of 

 his " Practical Treatise on Rail-Roads," says : 



" Canals, ever since their adoption, have undergone little 

 or no change ; some trivial improvements may have been 

 effected in the manner of passing boats from one level to 

 another, and light boats have been applied for the conveyance 



