INLAND NAVIGATION.

I 3 I

pearance, and demonstrate in the most satisfactory manner the greatutility of an inland navigation to any country.

" I cannot omit mentioning the great quantities of cheese that areyearly carried to Bridgenorth fair from most parts of Chelhire and Staf-fordshire : it is impossible to make an exact calculation, but suppose wemay fay a thousand tons from these parts, which are now carried byfarmers’ waggons for twenty or thirty miles, being obliged to stay outwith their team, at a great expence, three or four days, perhaps at littleless than thirty shillings, with two tons of cheese only; which might beconveyed by this canal for twenty miles, freight and tonnage for sixshillings only, and from Tern-bridge to Bridgenorth for three shillingsmore ; so that we fee in this article alone there is one pound oneshilling saved, besides the work that the horses may do whilst at homefour days. Surely, from this convenience, the farmer can afford to partwith his cheese much cheaper, and the poor may have provisions at amore moderate price.

" The next manufacture that seems to claim our attention, with re-spect to diminishing the heavy burdens of land carriage, is the potteriesof Burflem and Newcastle, great quantities of the manufacture ofwhich are sent weekly from thence to Bridgenorth, through Eccleshalland Newport. There are constantly two, and sometimes three waggonswhich go every week to Bridgenorth, and usually carry about eighttons of pot ware, to be conveyed to Bristol by water; and their loadingback usually consists of all forts of groceries, foreign iron, and whiteclay for Burflem, to supply the inland towns of Newcastle, Stafford,Eccleshall, Newport, and many others, and the countries between.Sometimes they bring Worcestershire hops and cyder from thence.Thel)ack carriage of the iron and clay, being heavy goods, may be com-puted at ten tons per week. But as there is a great traffic carried onin the cyder and hops alone by farmers’ waggons, which are hired onpurpose to fetch them, I will therefore compute that two thousand tons of

8 2 hops