202 Mr. Lionel B. Wells on the 



where there are so many companies, we have no directory 

 giving their offices. There is no uniformity of regulations 

 or bye-laws, and no ready means of ascertaining any of the 

 conditions under which navigation is practicable. Personal 

 experience, which is necessarily limited in extent, and 

 possessed by but few people, is the only reliable guide, and 

 yet our waterways are returned as carrying 50% more 

 traffic than those of France. 



It seems clear that if ordinary facilities were obtainable, 

 the growth of traffic would be commensurate, and that 

 independent waterways and improved channels would go 

 far in solving the vexed question of railway rates ; for it is 

 always open to an aggrieved trader to place boats of his 

 own on the waterway and become a carrier. The fact that 

 there is an independent route along the Severn Navigation 

 and the Worcestershire and Birmingham Canal has secured 

 for Birmingham a lower railway rate to the Bristol Channel 

 ports, than is obtained from the Mersey. The distance to 

 Liverpool is less, but the canals in that direction are in the 

 hands of railway companies. Even now the sea and 

 the canals are the important factor in determining rates 

 of carriage, and have been so acknowledged by the dictum 

 of that great authority, the late Chairman of the L. and N. 

 W. Railway Company. 



Facilities for locomotion and cheap locomotion are essen- 

 tial to trade, and the enhancement of the prosperity of a 

 district benefits the entire community. Competition does 

 not necessarily mean loss. There is traffic for which rail- 

 ways are best adapted, and other traffic best served by 

 canals. The improvement of the navigation to Frankfort- 

 on-the-Main has not lessened, but has increased, the traffic 

 on the railways serving that city. 



Obviously any information tending to elucidate the 

 subject and interest the public in the problem of how to deal 

 with our inland navigations to the best advantage is of 

 national importance. 



