and  the  Cause  and  Prevention  of  Floods.  391 
the  conservators  power  of  dealing  with  rights  and  privileges 
which  have  been  allowed  to  spring  up  to  the  public  disadvantage. 
The  enormous  cost  of  obtaining  Acts  of  Parliament  for  the 
improvement  of  only  portions  of  a river  stand  forth  as  a bar  to 
improvement,  except  in  the  most  extreme  cases.  These  costs 
must  in  the  preliminary  stage  be  guaranteed  by  the  landowners, 
in  case  of  failure  to  obtain  an  Act  giving  the  necessary  power 
of  taxation,  a risk  not  lightly  to  be  incurred,  considering  the 
immense  number  of  interests  on  every  river,  and  the  spirit  of 
opposition  on  the  part  of  any  body  of  Commissioners  when 
there  is  the  chance  of  privileges  being  interfered  with. 
It  has  been  stated  that  the  contests  over  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  lower  section  of  one  of  the  second-class  rivers  on  which 
improvements  have  recently  been  carried  out  have  cost  100,000/. 
during  the  last  fifty  years ; and  that  the  cost  of  obtaining 
Parliamentary  powers  for  the  improvement  of  the  outfall  of 
another  river  draining  a large  section  of  the  Midland  district 
has  amounted  to  150,000/.  during  a like  period.  On  the  Don 
it  cost  7000/.  to  obtain  an  Act  to  improve  only  twelve  miles 
of  the  river,  3000/.  being  spent  by  the  opposition,  or  about 
one-third  of  the  total  cost  of  the  works.  An  unopposed  Act 
costs  nearly  1000/.,  and  the  smallest  opposition,  if  carried  on 
only  in  one  House,  trebles  or  quadruples  this  amount. 
It  frequently  happens  that  the  different  sections  of  a river  are 
under  separate  jurisdictions  ; perhaps  with  intervening  sections 
with  no  jurisdiction.  Some  portions  may  have  been  canalised, 
others  subject  to  the  rights  of  millers.  The  channel  may  belong 
to  one  set  of  commissioners,  the  banks  to  a different  set,  or 
even  divided  in  short  lengths,  with  a liability  to  maintain 
and  repair  devolving  on  the  riparian  proprietors,  and  mea- 
sured by  yards.  Take,  for  example,  the  river  Aire from 
Skipton  to  Keighley,  the  Aire-dale  Drainage  Commissioners 
control  the  channel,  then  follows  an  intervening  space  with  no 
control  beyond  that  of  the  individual  wills  of  the  riparian  pro- 
prietors through  whose  land  the  river  passes ; from  Leeds  a 
Navigation  Company  has  possession,  and  from  the  end  of  their 
jurisdiction  to  the  outfall  into  the  Ouse  there  is  again  no  con- 
trolling power.  The  consequence  is  that  the  improvements 
made  and  maintained  in  the  upper  portion,  and  the  requirements 
of  the  navigation  of  the  middle  portion,  subject  the  intervening 
country  to  constant  floods.  On  the  Nene,  over  a distance  of 
thirty  miles  from  Peterborough  to  the  sea,  there  are  at  the 
present  time  no  less  than  fourteen  different  bodies  having  control 
over  either  the  banks  or  the  channels.  On  the  river  Witham, 
between  Grantham  and  the  sea,  there  are  seventeen  sets  of 
trustees  or  commissioners  who  claim  jurisdiction  over  some  part 
