IN THE SUSSEX DUKERIES 25 



to lead to differences with unsympathetic owners 

 or holders of land and their representatives. You 

 must do your best to get out of such scrapes, 

 which do not matter much supposing you, being 

 in the wrong, take the right course and acknow- 

 ledge yourself so. What I do wish to point out 

 to friends who may be induced to follow the lead 

 given by my correspondents is that voyaging on 

 the Wey is a business which should only be taken 

 in hand quite seriously, because the locks used 

 to be frequently awkward to dangerous degree, 

 and I believe this is still so. You, as a rule, 

 have to work them yourself. Accidents at these 

 were of common occurrence, and are very easily 

 brought about. It is a pity that the Wey canal- 

 river — I fancy this was the first stream converted 

 into a canal- — should be made or left to be difficult 

 for transit ; but so it is, and bearing in mind how 

 people get into trouble for lack of a friendly hint, 

 I now give it. 



Some day we shall, I fancy, want to restore 

 many of the canals now fallen or falling into 

 disuse more or less partial or complete. These 

 waterways might be brought once more into 

 profitable use. A curious thing in connection 

 with some of them is that their natural enemies 

 the railway companies who by hook or by crook 

 took them over pursue so strange a policy in, so 

 to speak, strangling them as nearly as possible. 

 Though saddled with responsibilities which old 

 Acts of Parliament enforce, the new proprietors 

 go to work to starve the water traffic as much as 

 may be instead of trying for profit. We know 

 all about the ancient argument re the balance 

 of increment between the swings and the round- 

 abouts, but I fail to see why, in order to raise 



