Paris is the natural centre of the French canals. Barges find their way there from the ports of Dunkirk, Gravelines, Calais, and Havre, large quantities of coal, iron, and wheat being carried, and in the fall of the year the cargoes of numerous timber vessels are made into rafts and floated to their destination. Of late years, however, the increasing quantities of planks and deals sawn in the north, are loaded into the barges. The important coal and iron districts of Belgium, at Mons and Charleroi, provide a good deal of freight for Paris, which goes _viâ_ Condé from the former, and _viâ_ Landrecies from the latter, the two routes uniting at La Fere, whence the Seine, at Conflans, is reached by descending the river l’Oise. The river Rhine is communicated with at Saarbruck and Strasburg; Switzerland at Bâle, and the important ports of Marseilles and Cette by the Yonne, the Burgundy Canal, and the rivers Saône and Rhone. The western ports of Nantes, Brest, and Bordeaux have also canal communication with Paris. The large _péniches_ of 270 tons, which are about 116 feet long, 16 feet beam, bluff at bow and stem, and almost flat bottomed, draw 1·80 metres when loaded. They are usually worked by two men and the wife of the captain. The value of these craft, with their equipments, is from 10,000 to 15,000 francs, and they are always insured against damage or loss. In all rivers and places with the slightest risk, the use of pilots is compulsory. During the latter part of 1888, the French Chambers had under consideration a proposal to reimpose the tolls that were formerly levied on canals and navigable rivers, but which, within recent years, have been removed. It was contended that the waterways, exempt from tolls, were likely to be dangerous rivals to the railways. The railway interest clamoured accordingly for what they called fair play. The Budget Commission, however, refused to entertain the idea of resuming the canal tolls, holding, as expressed by their spokesman, that “by developing the waterways, and thereby serving industry in the cheap transport of raw materials which were incapable of bearing a high charge for carriage, production would be increased, and the traffic of the railways in manufactured goods would be proportionately augmented.”