In the case of Paris, the second largest city in Europe, the total quantity of traffic brought within the municipal bounds for the use of the inhabitants amounted, in 1886, to 9,412,589 tons, of which 60 per cent. was received by railway and 40 per cent. by waterways. Of the traffic sent out from Paris, amounting to 2,989,000 tons, 80 per cent. was despatched by rail, and 20 per cent. by water.[61] In reference to the traffic entering Paris, it would seem as if the waterways competed with some measure of success with the railways, but as regards the traffic sent out from Paris, the railway is by no means so successful.
The waterways that give access to Paris are mainly the High Seine, the Low Seine, and the Canal de l’Ourcq. The Seine carried 1,979,000 tons to Paris in 1886, as compared with 1,791,000 tons carried on the canals as a whole.
These are the broad general facts of the situation in which Paris is placed as regards her supplies of food, fuel, and other requirements. The details of the movement of this traffic are equally interesting, but we have no space to devote to them here. We may, however, remark that from every part of the empire, from Belgium and the Ardennes, from the north and the east, from Marseilles on the one hand and from Rouen and Havre on the other, the traffic on which Paris is dependent from day to day is carried as well by waterways as by railways. From the coal basins of the Nord and of the Pas-de-Calais the waterways carry almost as much fuel to Paris as the railways; from the basins of the Loire and of the Centre they carry much more. Belgium, again, sends a large proportion of the total quantity of coal that she supplies to Paris by water, but German and English coal is received mainly by rail.[62]
It would be interesting to compare the quantities of merchandise and food supplies of all kinds received by water and by rail in different large centres of population, but the materials do not exist for a very exact comparison over a wide area. In no English city can such materials be obtained, inasmuch as no record is available of the different quantities that constitute the transit trade; but in several German cities there are more accurate materials at command, and the following figures show how the import traffic of Paris compares with that of some German towns for the year 1887:—
| Tonnage brought into | By Rail. | By Water. |
|---|---|---|
| tons. | tons. | |
| Paris | 5,647,000 | 3,765,000 |
| Berlin | 3,504,000 | 3,348,002 |
| Hamburg | 1,191,000 | 3,221,000 |
| Cologne | 1,132,000 | 314,000 |
| Magdeburg | 1,650,000 | 1,118,000 |
| Total | 13,124,000 | 11,766,000 |
During the year 1886 the traffic of the port of Paris amounted to a total of 5,455,000 tons, which was transported in 35,291 boats. The boats thus carried an average of about 155 tons.[63] This, however, was composed of a considerable range of variations, the boats from the Sambre, on the canal of that name, carrying an average of 216 tons, while those on the canals of the Aisne and the Ardennes only carried about 55 tons. On the Seine, from Oise to Paris, the average size of the boats was 166 tons.
More than a fourth of the water-traffic entering Paris belongs to the Ourcq Canal, which is connected with the Marne and with the Seine, both above and below Paris, by means of the St. Martin and the St. Denis Canals. These and the Ourcq Canals belong to the Municipality of Paris, which has recently increased the width of the swing bridge across the canal from 25½ to 50 feet, and has provided an uniform depth of 10½ feet
According to an interesting statement issued by the French Minister of Public Works in 1880,[64] the length of the canals then constructed in France was 2882 miles, of which 2248 miles were described as principal lines, and cost about 10,300l. per mile, while 634 miles were secondary lines, and cost 7200l. per mile. The total amount expended on canals of both categories was about thirty-three millions sterling.
There were besides, 4598 miles of rivers which had been adapted, by canalisation or otherwise, for purposes of navigation, at a total cost of about 11½ millions sterling. About 1398 miles of river routes were classed as principal lines, and upon these an expenditure of 7,918,000l. had been undertaken, or about 5700l. per mile. About 3200 miles more were classed as secondary lines, and had been improved for navigation at a total cost of 3,561,000l., or 1113l. per mile. On both canals and rivers the total amount expended had been over 44 millions sterling. Besides this, however, 190 miles of additional waterways had, up to 1880, been constructed and improved, at an additional cost of 3,400,000l., and were described as new waterways; and it may be added that, up to the same date, about 19¾ millions sterling had been expended on the ports of France, especially those of Havre (3,300,000l.), Marseilles (2,800,000l.), St. Nazaire (1,100,000l.), and Bordeaux (960,000l.).
These figures appear large, but while it may very well be that the amount expended upon canals pur et simple has been greater in France than in our own and other countries, the expenditure upon the rivers of France and upon the improvement of ports and harbours is very greatly below that incurred in our own country. At Liverpool alone the sums expended in this direction from first to last will probably exceed the total amount expended upon the harbours of France up to the present time. France is, however, so fully aware of the importance of providing good shipping facilities, that she has quite recently undertaken a large expenditure in improving the harbours of Havre and Calais, canalising the Seine, and other similar works.