In practice, therefore, the theory that the canals would become self-supporting, as soon as the aforesaid millions had been spent, must inevitably break down, with the result that the burden of the whole enterprise would then necessarily fall upon the community; and why the trader who consigns his goods by rail, or the professional man who has no goods to consign at all, should be taxed to allow of cheaper transport being conferred on the minority of persons or firms likely to use the canals even when resuscitated, is more than I can imagine, or than they, probably, will be able to realise. The whole position was very well described in some remarks made by Mr Harold Cox, M.P., in the course of a discussion at the Society of Arts in February 1906, on a paper read by Mr R. B. Buckley, on "The Navigable Waterways of India." "There was," he said, "a sort of feeling current at the present time in favour of spending large amounts of the taxpayer's money in order to provide waterways which the public did not want, or at any rate which the public did not want sufficiently to pay for them, which after all was the test. He noticed that everybody who advocated the construction of canals always wanted them constructed with the taxpayer's money, and always wanted them to be worked without a toll. Why should not the same principle be applied to railways also? A railway was even more useful to the public than a canal; therefore, construct it with the taxpayer's money, and allow everybody to use it free. It was always possible to get plenty of money subscribed with which to build a railway, but nobody would subscribe a penny towards the building of canals. An appeal was always made to the government. People had pointed to France and Germany, which spent large sums of money on their canals. In France that was done because the French Parliamentary system was such that it was to the interest of the electorate and the elected to spend the public money on local improvements or non-improvements.... He had been asked, Why make any roads? The difference between roads and canals was that on a canal a toll could be levied on the people who used it, but on a road that was absolutely impossible. Tolls on roads were found so inconvenient that they had to be given up. There was no practical inconvenience in collecting tolls on canals; and, therefore, the principle that was applied to everything else should apply to canals--namely, that those who wanted them should pay for them." CHAPTER X CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Taking into consideration all the facts and arguments here presented, I may summarise as follows the conclusions at which I have arrived:-- (1) That, alike from a geographical, physical, and economic point of view, there is no basis for fair comparison between British and Continental conditions; consequently our own position must be judged on its own merits or demerits.