Trunk Drainafje. 
69 
Annum. Income. 
Halfpenny tonnage on Wisbech shipping, which last 
year was lGf;,4(;8 tons £346 0 0 
Wash lands, ."iTSS acres, taxed at 8a- 1 ,494 0 0 
'J"ax on meadows in Standgrouiul 20 0 0 
Tolls at Dog-in-a-Doublet Bridge 200 0 0 
Navigation tolls, 40,000 tons at fir/ 1,000 0 0 
Increase 50 per cent., by improved navigation . 500 0 0 
Redmore district, 1700 acres, taxed at :2s. (!(/. . 212 10 0 
Feed or herbage of banks 200 0 0 
Payments in lieu of maintaining north and soutli 
side banks TOO 0 0 
£4,672 10 0 
Interest on 77,268?., at 4 per cent. . .3,090 14 5 
Leaving for annual repairs, sinking fund, &c. £1 ;581 15 7 
The total cost of the whole improvement will be al)out 
275,000/., and the income about 14,000/. a-year — equivalent to 
a trifle over 5 per cent. But this being the estimate of 1852, 
the subsequent rise in the value of labour and materials, fluctua- 
tions in the rate of interest, and other circumstances depending 
on the times, will influence the expense of actual performance. 
One item in the foregoing estimate is worthy of remark, viz., 
the " Outfall Tax" being capitalized. By mortgaging the taxes- 
the Commissioners are able to obtain money for present use in 
executing the works. This is a common and very advantageous 
method for raising immediate funds in fen drainages. Under 
the North Level Drainage Act, in 1831, capital was raised upon 
the credit of the taxes on the following terms : — the money re- 
quired for the undertaking was borrowed at the rate of 4 per 
cent., with a sinkiiuj fund of a half per cent., the latter being^ 
invested by half-yearly instalments in the funds, and a portion of 
the debt being agreed to be paid off when the sums invested, 
together with their accumulations of interest, amount to 8000Z. 
The interest of the reduced debt is carried from time to time to 
the increase of the sinking fund, and in this manner the whole 
debt will be discharged in about seventy years from its com- 
mencement. The lender is restrained fi'om demanding a more 
rapid repayment of the principal. 
The works in the lower division of tlie Third District — already 
actively proceeding in Wisbech Harbour — are fixed by the Act 
to be completed by May, 1857 ; in the remainder of the same 
district in 1859 ; and those of the Upper Valley in 1860 : that 
is, all the principal works ; as any drains, of a breadth not ex- 
ceeding 11 feet at bottom, may be cut after the expiration of this 
time. 
In order that future promoters of river-valley improvements 
may be fully prepared for any amount of opposition, and may 
