(l) Reduced cost of towage, barging, repairing river banks, camp-shedding, quays, dredging, management, control and policing of the river.
(m) Greatly increased safety of navigation: no grounding, swinging with the tides, collisions due to tidal drift. The tides are responsible for most of these accidents and for many lives lost—casualties which would not occur in a lake.
In addition to these there is a most valuable asset created in the advantage the new conditions open up for—
(n) Pleasure traffic, boating and sailing, fishing and the provision of efficient steamboat services, with fixed piers. London will be provided free with a lake of fresh water 45 miles long and from a quarter to half-a-mile wide. It is certain that this will give rise to extensive pleasure boating of all kinds, which will have ample room owing to the removal of all vessels from mid-stream anchorages to the shores.
The illustrations show the present crowded condition of some of the reaches of the river and the clearance that will be effected by a barrage.
Water Supply of London.
Perhaps the most important advantage created by the barrage will be the permanent supply of water for the increasing demands of the London area.
By the Act of 1903 has been created a Water Board which is empowered to purchase the water companies’ properties and to administer them in the public interest. These companies claim £47,000,000 for their properties. The ratepayers pay them £3,000,000 annually for their water, and the companies pay £30,000 annually for the greater part of the water which they draw from the Thames.
