CHAPTER X
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Taking into consideration all the facts and arguments here presented, I may summarise as follows the conclusions at which I have arrived:—
(1) That, alike from a geographical, physical, and economic point of view, there is no basis for fair comparison between British and Continental conditions; consequently our own position must be judged on its own merits or demerits.
(2) That, owing to the great changes in British trade, manufacture, and commerce, giving rise to widespread and still increasing demands for speedy delivery of comparatively small consignments for a great number of traders of every possible type, canal transport in Great Britain is no longer suited to the general circumstances of the day.
(3) That although a comparatively small number of traders, located in the immediate neighbourhood of the canals, might benefit from a canal-resuscitation scheme, the carrying out of such scheme at the risk, if not at the cost, of the taxpayers, would virtually amount to subsidising one section of the community to the pecuniary disadvantage of other sections.
(4) That the nationalisation or the municipalisation of British canals would introduce a new principle inconsistent with the "private enterprise" hitherto recognised in the case of railways, in which such large sums have been sunk by investors, but with which State-aided canals would compete.
(5) That, in view both of the physical conditions of our land (necessitating an extensive resort to locks, etc., to overcome great differences in level) and of the fact that many of the most important of the canals are now hemmed in by works, houses, or buildings, any general scheme of purchase and improvement, in regard even to main routes (apart from hopeless derelicts), would be extremely costly, and, in most instances, entirely outside the scope of practicability.
(6) That such a scheme, involving an expenditure of many millions, could not fail to affect our national finances.
(7) That there is no ground for expecting so large an outlay could be recouped by increased receipts from the canals, and that the cost would thus inevitably fall upon the community.