Chap. VIII.

BRITAIN.

555

of his business as practised at that time. For some years after he was employed in makingimprovements in the machinery of several mills in Cheshire and Lancashire , where he gaveconsiderable satisfaction to his employers. About the year 1758, the Duke of Bridgewaterturned his attention to the subject of inland navigation, and petitioned parliament to granthim permission to cut a canal; having previously observed some of the most important onthe continent, he was desirous of benefiting from their introduction into his coal-fields inSouth Lancashire . The Duke, having obtained his act, employed Brindley to execute acanal from Worsley to Manchester , a distance of 10^ miles. This is the first canal of anyimportance in England, and the skill displayed in carrying it over the river Irwell by anaqueduct at Barton excited much astonishment at the time. This aqueduct consists ofthree semicircular arches, one in the centre being 63 feet span, and 39 feet in heightabove the river; it is entirely built of dressed stones, and the channel for the water ispuddled at the sides to prevent leakage. Across the meadows at Stratford the canal,which is 24 feet in breadth at top, is carried on an embankment, 900 yards in length, and17 feet high, with a breadth at the base of 112 feet, the slopes being two to one.

Legislation relative to rivers and canals. — There is no general administration to regulatewater conveyance: the whole management of this important branch of commerce is eitherunder the control of municipal authority or special commissioners chosen by virtue of actsof parliament from among the inhabitants of the various districts to which the water transitbelongs. We find that at an early period of our history the navigable rivers throughoutthe kingdom were considered as contrilfuting to the advantages of trade, and every meanswere adopted to prevent private individuals from appropriating them to their own use.In Magna Charta , cap . 16., a clause is inserted, making the course of the Thames and allother rivers free of duty to those that navigated them, and enacting that any obstructions tothe transit should be removed.

In the reign of Edward the Third a special act was made (1351) to demolish all damswhich impeded navigation, without allowing any compensation to the owners or personswho had constructed them. Twenty years afterwards another act was passed, ordainingthat a fine of 100 marks should be paid by any individual who injured the navigation of therivers.

In 1427 (6 Henry 6th, ch. 5.) commissioners were appointed for the management ofrivers, either for the purposes of internal navigation or drainage, the removing of anyobstructions in the streams, and preventing inundations. By this act the chancellornominates commissioners to superintend the repairs of all dykes, bridges, roads, and thedamage done by natural or artificial streams of water. They have the right to constructany works, to destroy any ponds, dams, or mills, or reclaim land, and institute inquiriesor actions at law, on account of injury to any water-conveyance ; with the power of fixingthe amount of fines according to the damage sustained, of levying taxes for the executionof the several works on the property which is to be benefited ; and the law enjoins perfectequality in the territorial tax, without an£ exemption to either the church, the nobility, orthe king.

Individuals refusing to pay their portion of the tax are liable to have their property-confiscated ; or the commissioners may seize the land of any one refusing, and let it at alife-rent or for a term of years. They may put in requisition horses, waggons, oxen,and workmen, by paying suitable wages, and may take any timber requisite at their ownestimate of its value. The commissioners appoint bailiff's, collectors, treasurers, and super-intendents, who are answerable to them, and whose salaries they fix.

Commissioners, previous to taking the necessary oath, must show that they are possessedof a clear annual income equal to forty marks, or landed property to the value of 100/., orthat they are freemen of a city or an incorporated borough, or members of one of the fourprincipal Inns of Court.

When any seizure is made by order of the commissioners the party may prosecutethe agent executing the order, and a jury then decides upon the question according tolaw. If the agent gain the cause, he receives triple the amount of the expense of theaction.

There are besides several special laws for the management of currents of water. In theyear 1423 (Henry 6th) a committee was appointed to examine the course of the river Lea,and to render it fit for the purposes of navigation. In the following year, the parliamentauthorised the chancellor to select a committee out of the adjoining parishes, who werequalified to correct the defects of the river, by the execution of any works, or the removalof anything which impeded the navigation (3 Henry 6th, cap. 5.).

The river Thames is under the direction of the mayor and corporation of the city of Lon­ don , who, as conservators, have the management of all that regards the navigation, from themouth of the river to as high as the Hood tide extends, (4 Henry 7th, cap. 15.). They alsoexercise an inspection over all stagnant waters and currents which communicate with theThames . One half of the fines paid by persons convicted of having in any way damaged thebanks or injured the bed of the Thames goes to the city of London , (27 Henry 8th. cap. 18.).