History of Canal and River Navigations. 187 



A Sketch of the History of the Canal and River 

 Navigations of England and Wales and of their 

 present condition, with suggestions for their future 

 development. By Lionel B. Wells, M. Inst. C.E. 

 Communicated by Rupert Swindells, M.InstC.E., 

 F.R.G,S. 



(Received November i^th, iSpj.) 



For some years public attention has been attracted to 

 the condition of inland navigation in this country. 



The extraordinary success of the Suez Canal, opened 

 24 years ago, the construction of the Ship Canal from 

 Amsterdam to Ymuiden, and the success of the efforts to 

 improve the navigation of estuaries, such as the Clyde and 

 the Tyne, have demonstrated the advantages to be gained 

 by the use of inland water transit. Moreover, the keenness 

 of trade competition among nations and individuals has 

 compelled merchants and manufacturers to consider the 

 necessity of cheapening to the utmost the cost of carriage. 

 The above are the chief, among many, causes, that have of 

 late years recalled attention to the system of locomotion 

 which served our forefathers before the development of 

 railways ; a system which was exemplified in our neighbour- 

 hood by the construction of the Bridgewater Canal, from 

 the coalfields, near Worsley, to Manchester, and via 

 Runcorn and the estuary of the Mersey to Liverpool. This 

 canal was at the time of its construction a great advance 

 on the means of locomotion, and its completion was due to 

 the enterprise and self-denial of the last Duke of Bridge- 

 water, and to the skill and perseverance of the great Canal 

 Engineer, James Brindley. 



A great cheapening of the cost of carriage, an expansion 



