Certain it is, therefore, as the map I give shows beyond all possible doubt, that the causes for the failure of the British canal system must be sought for elsewhere than in the fact of a partial railway-ownership or control. Some of these alternative causes I propose to discuss in the Chapters that follow my story of the Birmingham Canal, for which (inasmuch as Birmingham and district, by reason of their commercial importance and geographical position, have first claim to consideration in any scheme of canal resuscitation) I would beg the special attention of the reader. CHAPTER V THE BIRMINGHAM CANAL AND ITS STORY What is known as the "Birmingham Canal" is really a perfect network of waterways in and around Birmingham and South Staffordshire, representing a total length of about 160 miles, exclusive of some hundreds of private sidings in connection with different works in the district. [Illustration: Map of the Canals & Railways between WOLVERHAMPTON & BIRMINGHAM [_To face page 56._ ] The system was originally constructed by four different canal companies under Acts of Parliament passed between 1768 and 1818. These companies subsequently amalgamated and formed the Birmingham Canal Navigation, known later on as the Birmingham Canal Company. From March 1816 to March 1818 the company paid £36 per annum per share on 1,000 shares, and in the following year the amount paid on the same number of shares rose to £40 per annum. In 1823 £24 per annum per share was paid on 2,000 shares, in 1838 £9 to £16 on 8,000, in 1844 £8 on 8,800, and from May 1845 to December 1846 £4 per annum per share on 17,600 shares. The year 1845 was a time of great activity in railway promotion, and the Birmingham Canal Company, who already had a canal between that town and Wolverhampton, proposed to supplement it by a railway through the Stour Valley, using for the purpose a certain amount of spare land which they already owned. A similar proposal, however, in respect to a line of railway to take practically the same route between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, was brought forward by an independent company, who seem to have had the support of the London and Birmingham Railway Company; and in the result it was arranged among the different parties concerned (1) that the Birmingham Canal Company should not proceed with their scheme, but that they and the London and Birmingham Railway Company should each subscribe a fourth part of the capital for the construction of the line projected by the independent Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Stour Valley Railway Company; and (2) that the London and Birmingham Railway Company should, subject to certain terms and conditions, guarantee the future dividend of the Canal Company, whenever the net income was insufficient to produce a dividend of £4 per share on the capital, the Canal Company thus being insured against loss resulting from competition.