The Neglect of Canals
The Minister of Transport has at length done what he might advantageously have done far sooner—he has appointed -that brilliant traffic organiser, Mr. Frank Pick, " to investigate and report upon the carriage of traffic on canals and inland water- ways." For many years the country has been suffering from the neglect of the excellent system of canals which it once. possessed—a neglect due to the deliberate policy of the rat ways in the last century, which set out to kill a competing imam of transport. Though in recent years Ministries of Transport have come to realise the possibilities of proper use of the can* little has been done. But these are still waterways, such as the Lea Navigation and the Grand Union Canal, which are capable of carrying a far larger volume of traffic than at present, and there are many unemployed barges available. But ways will have to be found of releasing labour both for working the vessels and maintaining the waterways. We are constantly told that the pressure on the railways threatens to reach breaking-point. Through difficulties of transport great hard- ship has been inflicted on householders who cannot get coal Canal traffic is admittedly slow, but in the transport of many kinds of goods the time-factor is not important. A way must be found of making more use of the rivers and canals. An early task of post-war reconstruction should be the restoration of the inland water-ways and a reclamation of the capital locked up in them.
Previous page
