No Toll or Duty shall be paid, taken, or demanded, for any Goods, Wares, Merchandize or Commodities, carried or conveyed from Brayford Meer through the High Bridge in the City of Lincoln, and which shall not pass upon or through any Part of the said River Witham lying Eastward of the Place where the Old Stamp End Lock formerly stood, nor for any Goods, Wares, Merchandize or Commodities, carried or conveyed through or upon any part of the said River Witham above the said Place where the said Old Stamp End Lock formerly stood, through the High Bridge into Brayford Meer, nor shall any greater Toll or Duty be due or payable on the said Navigation upon Goods, Wares, Merchandise or Commodities imported from the Baltic immediately into the Port of Boston, and which shall pass from thence into the said River Witham, nor for any Flint, Stone, Pig-iron or Lime-stone, carried or conveyed on the said River Witham than the Proportion of Two-thirds of the Toll due and payable under the Authority of this Act.
For the purposes of this act, the commissioners are authorized to borrow, on security of the rates and tolls, the sum of £30,000 for drainage purposes; and a further suns of £70,000 on the credit of the navigation tolls.
In 1812 another act was obtained, entitled, 'An Act for rendering more effectual an Act of his present Majesty, for draining certain Low Lands lying on both sides of the River Witham, in the county of Lincoln; and for restoring the Navigation of the said River; and for repealing another Act of his present Majesty in relation to the said Drainage and Navigation.' By which act the proprietors are incorporated as "The Company of Proprietors of the Witham Navigation," with powers to deepen, widen and embank the old course of the said river, from the Grand Sluice, in the borough of Boston, to a certain lock to be erected in a certain new cut to be made near Hasley Deeps, and to make a cut from the said Hasley Deeps, through Branston to The Woadhouses in Fiskerton, and from thence to the High Bridge in the city of Lincoln; the company are also authorized to build a new lock in the said new cut, and a weir in the east bank of the river at Bargate Drain, in the parish of St. Botolph, Lincoln; with various other works near the said place: for completing the purposes of the act, they are to raise £120,000, in shares of £100; and in case of deficiency, a further sum of £60,000, by creating new shares or by mortgage; they have also an acre-tax amounting to £1,400 per annum, granted on the lands, adjoining the Witham, becoming payable on the passing of the act; together with another acre-tax of the same amount, payable in proportion to the distance from time to time completed; they are also empowered to receive the following rates.
