Various circumstances, which it is not necessary here to enumerate, having rendered an additional sum of money requisite for the completion of the work, by an act called An Act for enabling the Company of Proprietors of the Kennet and Avon Canal Navigation to complete the same; and for amending the several Acts passed for making the said Canal, the company were empowered to raise £240,000 by creating new shares and half shares, making in the whole four thousand new shares; three thousand to be taken by the original subscribers or their friends, and the remaining thousand to be sold by auction; but no interest was to be paid on the new shares, the tolls being directed to be applied towards completing the canal.
In 1805, a further sum being still wanting to complete the works, an act was obtained for that purpose, under the title of An Act for enabling the Company of Proprietors of the Kennet and Avon Canal Navigation to complete the same, and for altering and enlarging the Powers of the several Acts passed for making the said Canal. By this act £200,000 more was directed to be raised for completing the canal, and for paying off the debts already incurred. A deficiency, however, still existed; and application was again made to parliament; and by an act, entitled, An Act for enabling the Kennet and Avon Canal Company to raise a sufficient Sum of Money to complete the said Canal, and for amending the several Acts for making the same, an additional sum of £80,000 was directed to be raised, and to authorize the borrowing of £50,000 as granted by the act previously obtained in 1805. But, to render the undertaking complete, the various sums already recited did not prove adequate; the company also determined that it would be advisable to purchase the River Kennet Navigation; they, therefore, again obtained the sanction of parliament to their proceedings in 1813, in an act entitled, An Act for enabling the Kennet and Avon Canal Company to raise a further Sum of Money to purchase the Shares of the River Kennet Navigation, and to amend the several Acts passed for making the said Canal. By this last enactment, £132,000 were to be raised by creating five thousand five hundred new shares of £24 each. Power was also given to create a sinking fund; and those proprietors of shares, resident within the bills of mortality, were
