At the annual meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute,
held in Westminster on Thursday, the new President, Mr. Daniel Adameon, expressed, in his address, a strong view on the absolute necessity for more canals. He said the mineral in. dustries of England were handicapped as against foreign com- petition by two heavy weights, one being the exorbitant royalties paid for mining leases, and the other, the charges on railways for the transport of heavy goods like ores and metals. " An Atlantic steamer can carry such goods at one-fiftieth of the price charged by railways, and in some favourable circumstances at one- hundredth." It " is, therefore, to increased and improved water- ways that we must look." We do not see how the canals are to be cut, unless it can be proved that they will pay ; and if they will pay, why are they not cut P Even the Regent's Canal is, it is said, to be superseded by a railway laid in its old bed. The expense of making canals would be a very different thing from what it was in the time of the Duke of Bridgwater.
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