BRITISH CANALS PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES.
British Canals Problems and Possibilities. By J. E. Palmer. (T. Fisher Unwin. 5s. net.)—Mr. Palmer, who has some practical acquaintance with the subject, argues on the side of the canals. Without doubt water-carriage is intrinsically cheaper than its rival. On the other hand, the waterway is less accommodating,— you cannot take it so well into difficult places. You could not take a canal—the illustration is ludicrously extreme, but still significant--up to the top of the Rigi. Mr. Palmer puts the case fairly enough, but we part company with him when he comes to his " conclusion." " There can hardly be reasonable objection," he writes on p. 240, "to the principle of State assistance to inland waterways." Railways have been made by private effort without such assistance, and if canals are to compete with them—Mr. Palmer actually proposes that railways should not be allowed to reduce their rates to 20 per cent. above waterway rates—the same principle must be observed.
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