CANAL TRANSPORT.

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 17803, 30 August 1929, Page 9

CANAL TRANSPORT.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —Under the name of “Wanting to Know,” a correspondent in your issue of August 14 asks for information concerning how the canals of Britain and Europe are faring in competition with motor traffic. There would appear to be no recent comparative statement showing this position and the case of the proposed Waiuku canal is hardly one of a similar nature, n this instance we have an existing waterway in the Waikato River and the Manukau Harbour representing over nine-tenths of the journey between Hamilton and Auckland, and no one would seriously suggest that a canal be constructed all the way. The canal system in England was responsible during the 18th and part of the 19th century for a tremendous 'development of the country, so much so that the canals were quite unable to cope with the traffic offering, and as a result the invention of the railway made its appearance and gained the instantaneous success it deserved. The canal system was hampered by the following limitations: 1. Where there were locks the volume of traffic which any one canal could handle was obviously limited. 2. There were over a hundred different canal systems operating in England, each under different ownerships and each constructed without reference to each other or any gneral plan. Then, generally speaking, traffic could not travel from one system to another and the success of the canal as a means of internal communication was thus seriously hampered. 3. The limited quantity of inland water available in England for the purpose of feeding the canals was an absolute barrier to the construction of further canals. The Waiuku canal would not be subject to any of these limitations. A similar comparison would be ‘ the St. Lawrence Ship Canal, which has Improved the St. Lawrence River and joined to it for navigation purposes the five great lakes of Canada, thus creating a cheap means of transport and providing a vast internal waterfront. To this feature is attributed the great expansion in the industrial development of Canada and the prosperity which is following in its wake. In England at the present day there is a strong agitation for the construction of the Mid-Scotland Ship Canal joining the Forth and the Clyde, the estimated cost of the wbrk being £56,000000. This is also a comparative work. —I am, etc., JAS. E. TIDD.