190 



Mr. Lionel B. Wells on the 



to make as much as possible out of each cargo, having no 

 idea of fostering trade by liberal treatment, or by acting on 

 enlarged views of its coming development. In spite of this 

 drawback the Companies prospered as a whole, and did 

 good service. Railways and tramways were first made with 

 a view to establish communication between waterways and 

 places which from physical causes were inaccessible to 

 canals. It was only after trams had been used for this 

 purpose, that the adoption of flanged wheels for the trucks 

 and carriages, and the use of the steam blast, disclosed to 

 engineers the new power at their disposal. 



Railways were speedily recognised to be capable in 

 many particulars of equalling and surpassing locomotion by 

 water. 



Canal navigation was at its best from 1820 to 1840, but 

 from that time forward until quite recently enterprise in 

 this direction became extinct. The marvellous increase in 

 general trade is meanwhile indicated by the tonnage of 

 shipping entered and cleared from British ports ; a return 

 of which has been furnished by the Board of Trade, com- 

 mencing with 1840 and covering the next 50 years. This 

 return shows the tonnage of vessels entered from the ports 

 of the United Kingdom in 1840 as 



TONS. 



British Vessels ... ... ... ... 6,490,485 



Foreign Vessels ,.. ... ... ... 2,949,182 



Total 1840 



9,439,667 



in 1889 as 



British Vessels 

 Foreign Vessels 



Total 1! 



TONS. 

 ... 52,469,654 

 ... 19,420,241 



... 71,889,895 



During this period the Mercantile Steam Marine may 



