British Canals: Is their resuscitation practicable?

by Edwin A. Pratt

In these circumstances special efforts had to be made to obtain water for the canals in the district, and to ensure a due regard for economy in its use. The canals have, in fact, had to depend to a certain extent on water pumped from the bottom of coal pits in the Black Country, and stored in reservoirs on the top levels; the water, also, temporarily lost each time a canal boat passed through one of the many locks in the district being pumped back to the top to be used over again.

To this end pumping machinery had already been provided by the old canal companies, but the London and North-Western Railway Company, on taking over the virtual direction of the canals for which they were financially responsible, substituted new and improved plant, and added various new pumping stations. Thanks to the changes thus effected—at, I need hardly say, very considerable cost—the average amount of water now pumped from lower to higher levels, during an average year, is 25,000,000 gallons per day, equal to 1,000 locks of water. On occasions the actual quantity dealt with is 50,000,000 gallons per day, while the total capacity of the present pumping machinery is equal to about 102,000,000 gallons, or 4,080 locks, per day. There is absolutely no doubt that, but for the special provisions made for an additional water supply, the Birmingham Canal would have had to cease operations altogether in the summer of 1905—probably for two months—because of the shortage of water. The reservoirs on the top level were practically empty, and it was solely owing to the company acquiring new sources of supply, involving a very substantial expenditure indeed, that the canal system was kept going at all. A canal company with no large financial resources would inevitably have broken down under the strain.

Then the London and North-Western Company are actively engaged in substituting new pumping machinery—representing "all the latest improvements"—for old, the special aim, here, being the securing of a reduction of more than 50 per cent. over the former cost of pumping. An expenditure of from £15,000 to £16,000 was, for example, incurred by them so recently as 1905 at the Ocker Hill pumping station. In this way the railway company are seeking both to maintain the efficiency of the canal and to reduce the heavy annual demands made upon them in respect to the general cost of operation and shareholders' dividend.

For reasons which will be indicated later on, it is impossible to improve the Black Country canals on any large scale; but, in addition to what I have already related, the London and North-Western Railway Company are constantly spending money on small improvements, such as dredging, widening waterway under-bridges, taking off corners, and putting in side walls in place of slopes, so as to give more space for the boats. In the latter respect many miles have been so treated, to the distinct betterment of the canal.

All this heavy outlay by the railway company, carried on for a series of years, is now beginning to tell, to the advantage alike of the traders and of the canal as a property, and if any scheme of State or municipal purchase were decided on by the country the various substantial items mentioned would naturally have to be taken into account in making terms.

Another feature of the Birmingham Canal system is that it passes to a considerable extent through the mining districts of the Black Country. This means, in the first place, that wherever important works have been constructed, as in the case of tunnels, (and the system passes through a number of tunnels, three of these being 3,172 yards, 3,027 yards, and 3,785 yards respectively in length) the mineral rights underneath have to be bought up in order to avoid subsidences. In one instance the railway company paid no less than £28,500 for the mining rights underneath a short length (754 yards) of a canal tunnel. In other words, this £28,500 was practically buried in the ground, not in order to work the minerals, but with a view to maintain a secure foundation for the canal. Altogether the expenditure of the company in this one direction, and for this one special purpose alone, in the Black Country district, must amount by this time to some hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Actual subsidences represent a great source of trouble. There are some parts of the Birmingham Canal where the waterway was originally constructed on a level with the adjoining ground, but, as more and more coal has been taken from the mines underneath, and especially as more and more of the ribs of coal originally left to support the roof have been removed, the land has subsided from time to time, rendering necessary the raising of the canal. So far has this gone that to-day the canal, at certain of these points, instead of being on a level with the adjoining ground, is on an embankment 30 feet above. Drops of from 10 to 20 feet are of frequent occurrence, even with narrow canals, and the cost involved in repairs and restoration is enormous, as the reader may well suppose, considering that the total length of the Birmingham Canal subject to subsidences from mining is about 90 miles.

I come next to the point as to the comparative narrowness of the Birmingham Canal system and the small capacity of the locks—conditions, as we are rightly told, which tell against the possibility of through, or even local, traffic in a larger type of boat. Such conditions as these are generally presented as one of the main reasons why the control should be transferred to the State, to municipalities, or to public trusts, who, it is assumed, would soon get rid of them.

The reader must have fully realised by this time that the original size of the waterways and locks on the Birmingham Canal was determined by the question of water supply. But any extensive scheme of widening would involve much beyond the securing of more water.

During the decades the Birmingham Canal has been in existence important works of all kinds have been built alongside its banks, not only in and around Birmingham itself, but all through the Black Country. There are parts of the canal where almost continuous lines of such works on each side of the canal, flush up to the banks or towing path, are to be seen for miles together. Any general widening, therefore, even of the main waterways, would involve such a buying up, reconstruction of, or interference with extremely valuable properties that the expenditure involved—in the interests of a problematical saving in canal tolls—would be alike prodigious and prohibitive.