390 
On  River  Conservancy, 
traffic  on  the  main  line  of  the  Great  Northern  Railway  was 
stopped,  and  the  lower  part  of  the  town  of  Stamford  flooded 
several  feet  deep.  The  flood  in  September  was  nearly  as 
disastrous,  the  sheaves  of  corn  floating  about  in  the  fields,  and 
the  stackyards  being  flooded  sufficiently  deep  to  seriously  injure 
the  ricks.  In  October  the  river  was  again  unable  to  contend 
with  the  water  poured  into  it ; thousands  of  acres  were  flooded, 
the  water  standing  up  to  the  bands  of  the  sheaves.  It  was  im- 
possible to  harvest  the  corn,  which  was  left  to  rot  in  the  fields ; 
and  even  after  the  flood  subsided,  the  lands  were  so  saturated 
that  they  could  not  be  ploughed  for  the  autumn  wheat-sowing. 
On  the  Witliam,  in  the  same  year,  a very  large  area  of  land 
was  covered  with  water  at  harvest  time ; river  banks  were 
broken,  part  of  the  city  of  Lincoln  inundated,  and  the  works  of 
some  of  the  large  agricultural  implement  works  brought  to  a 
standstill.  On  the  same  river,  in  1877,  many  thousands  of 
acres  were  submerged,  crops  destroyed,  tenants  ruined,  and 
a loss  incurred  estimated  at  100,000Z.  Hundreds  of  houses  in 
Lincoln  were  then  submerged,  and  the  comfort  and  health  of 
the  inhabitants  were  sacrificed. 
Similar  instances  in  other  parts  of  the  country  could  be  mul- 
tiplied to  an  extent  which  would  render  the  account  appalling ; 
sufficient  have,  however,  been  given  to  afford  some  general  idea 
of  the  enormous  loss  to  the  country  which  is  continually 
occurring  from  the  want  of  a proper  system  of  management  and 
control  over  the  rivers. 
These  floods  are  not  mere  passing  evils  due  to  abnormal 
causes,  but  are  constantly  recurring,  and  are  succeeded  bv 
droughts,  when  the  want  of  water  is  almost  as  greatly  felt  as  its 
excess.  Owing  to  their  magnitude,  and  the  causes  from  which 
they  arise,  these  floods  cannot  be  grappled  with  by  private 
enterprise,  and  can  only  be  adequately  dealt  with  by  some  com- 
prehensive Imperial  enactment.  If  it  had  been  practicable  to 
regulate  the  rivers  and  prevent  flooding,  by  any  combination 
of  the  landowners  whose  estates  have  suffered,  there  is  no 
doubt  this  would  have  been  done  long  ago.  The  extensive 
works  that  have  been  carried  out  for  the  reclamation  of  waste 
lands,  and  more  especially  in  the  drainage  of  the  Great 
Level  of  the  Fens,  where  upwards  of  two  millions  of  money 
have  already  been  expended  in  embanking,  straightening,  and 
deepening  the  rivers,  and  controlling  the  discharge  of  the  water, 
show  what  can  be  accomplished  when  the  circumstances  will 
allow  of  improvements  being  effected.  It  is  neither  money 
nor  energy  that  is  required,  but  a strong  enactment  fixing  the 
liability  of  maintenance  on  a representative  governing  body, 
laying  down  certain  fixed  principles  as  to  taxation,  and  giving 
