The cost of haulage on the narrow canals is much in excess of the cost of conveyance by rail, and the difference remains,[109] notwithstanding all efforts to improve the canals; efforts which, to be really useful, it was estimated would cost about £12,000 a mile. Mr. F. Morton, a canal carrier, stated that his firm lost from £100 to £150 per boat, per year, on certain of their “Fly” or quick boats, which were worked as an auxiliary to their general business with a view to compete with the railways, and help to retain that portion of the “Slow” traffic which they still have.
In countries possessing a large network of canals and other waterways—in France, Holland, and Germany (the Rhine provinces) for example—and where railway accommodation is not so complete as in this country, canals are necessarily important channels of communication. In France the waterways consist of—
| Miles | |
| Navigable rivers | 4,627 |
| Canals | 2,967 |
| 7,594 |
Except 534 miles the whole of the mileage is the property of the State, and canals have been artificially fostered by it. According to a report prepared by M. Krantz, in 1872, and submitted to the Select Committee on Canals in 1883, the expenditure upon the waterways in France was on that date £32,738,715 on canals, and £13,557,867 on rivers, a total of £46,296,582, while the cost of maintenance for the year was upwards of £336,000[110].
In Belgium the aggregate length of the canals and navigable rivers is 1,254 miles, seven-eighths of which belong to the State. On a great portion no toll is charged; and on the remainder, sums varying from 3¼d. to 1s. 1d. per ton per 100 miles.
In Holland there are nearly 3,000 miles of canals and waterways, the former of which practically belong to the State.
If the explanation which has been given be not correct—if the great obstacle to the success of canals in this country be not their inferiority, as compared with railways, in the carriage of goods to answer the needs of trade—why have no new canals been made for some fourteen or fifteen years? They cost much less per mile than railways, and their maintenance expenses are not so heavy. That they are falling into decay in this country when left in private hands, is due, in the main, to the fact that this country is well supplied with railway accommodation, and that for most kinds of merchandise they are not such an efficient mode of transport as railways.[111]
CONCLUSION.
The chief complaints which have been discussed fall under two heads; first, the statements expressed in many forms that rates on the Continent are lower than rates here, that this difference injures our trade, and that English railway rates ought therefore, to be reduced; secondly, that rates are based on no principle, that a scientific system ought to be adopted, and that import, transit, and certain other special rates, as the greatest anomalies, ought to be prohibited. A few words remain to be said to summarise my arguments as to each of these statements.