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aggregate net tonnage of about one million tons, then more than one-fourth of the steamship tonnage^[1] of the United Kingdom. They said:—

⁠^[2](1) The Canal will be navigable without difficulty by merchant steamers of the largest class.

(2) That if the charges of the Ship Canal are not higher than those of other ports, ship-owners will at once make use of the waterway.

(3) That the additional 3512 miles to Manchester will not cause the rates to exceed those to Liverpool by a steamer, for a long voyage.

That this Canal had a future before it had been gauged by the late Sir William Fairbairn, who remarked—"Any improvement which will enable ocean-going vessels to discharge their cargoes in a commodious wet-dock at Manchester, would form an epoch of such magnitude in the history of Manchester as would quadruple her population, and render her the first as well as the most enterprising city in Europe."

 

IV.—Present Condition.

Present Condition of English Canals.The present condition of our inland transport is a subject which calls for the close attention of all who are in any way interested in the commercial prosperity of the country at large. The enormous increase in our imports

1. The total is now (1904) over eight million tons.
2. The Manchester Ship Canal and its Commercial Attributes, p. 6.