CHAP.V. FMIMMMS AND NAVHJAliMM IIIVMIJS. :;<>:; 



heirs for ever, ;nxl we came to ;ni agreement. I'pon 

 which I fell on, ;in<l made it compleatly Navigable from 

 Sturhrid^-e to Kederminster ; and carried down many 

 hundred 'Funs of ( 1 o;des, and laid out near one thousand 

 pounds, and 1 1 1 en it was obstructed for Want of Money, 

 which by Contract was to be paid." * 



There is no question that this "want of money" was 

 the secret of the little progress made in the improvement 

 of the internal communications of the country, as well as 

 the 1 cause of the backward state of industry generally. 

 Ki inland was then possessed of little capital and less 

 spirit, and hence the miserable poverty, starvation, and 

 hriru'ary which prevailed to a great extent amongst the 

 lower classes of society at the time .when Mr. Yarranton 

 wrote, and which he so often refers to in the course of 

 his hook. For the same reason most of the early Acts 

 of Parliament for the improvement of navigable rivers 

 remained a dead letter : there was not money enough to 

 carry them out, modest though the projects usually were. 

 Among the few schemes which were actually carried 

 out about the beginning of the eighteenth century, was 

 the opening up of the navigation of the rivers Aire and 

 ('aider, in Yorkshire. Though a work of no great diffi- 

 culty, Thoresby speaks of it in his diary as one of vast 

 magnitude. It was certainly, however, one of great 

 utility, and gave no little impetus to the trade of that 

 i 1 1 1 1 M )rtant district. 



It was, indeed, natural that the demand for improve- 

 ments in inland navigation should arise in those quar- 

 ters where the communications were the most imperfect 

 and where good communications were most needed, 

 namely, in the manufacturing districts of the north of 

 Kn^-land. On the western side of the island Liverpool 

 \\as then rising in importance, and the necessity became 

 in -cut tor opening up its water-communications with 

 the interior. By the assistance of the tide, vessels were 

 enaUed to reach as hi-'h up the Mersey as Warrington ; 



'-. ' Mii-l:iiii"s Improvement lv Sen and Land,' p. 6<i. 



