PORT OF BIRMINGHAM.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 20 August 1925, Page 7

PORT OF BIRMINGHAM.

COST OF A SHIP CIAXAO. GiI,FIAT SCHEME PROPOSED. The proposal to make Birminghama port, by means of a, groat •ship canal which was recently advanced by Mr. J. 11. Berner, M.l’., for the Macclesfield Division of Cheshire, lias created much interest. Mr. 11 enter estimates that fclie cost, of the canal would be about £IOO,000,000, on which the annual -interest would be approximately £6,000,000. But about- 40.000,000 tons come in to or go- out of Birmingham and district each year; rail charges from and to the port probably working out at £1 per ton on. an -average. On this baisis the sa,ving to be anticipated from the canal is obvious. Then, too. it would undoubtedly create, employment. The scheme is a big one, but its advocates can point to the part which 'the systematic deepening and clearing of the Clyde last century played in the development of Glasgow. The 'Manchester Ship Canal also, which was declared to be an engineering impossibility. and wlllicit few jieople expected to, pay, lias proved a,n estimable boon 'to, the great cotton centre. Great Britain does not use waterways for the transport of goods to the same extent a.s some Continental countries, but canal transport is usually cheaper than rail. Another big scheme that has much influential support is that for a mid-Scotland ship canal. 'Comparatively little has been heard of this recently, but if the Birmingham scheme is pushed forward, the other will doubtless be revived. Whether any of these canal schemes, will he adopted is, however, problematical. Much British capital was lost in the period of canal construction which preceded the railways, and even the Manchester Sh ip Canal, though At is now paying dividends, .paid none loi 20 years.