It is unnecessary to enter into the history of the development of the navigable resources of the rivers of the United Kingdom during the last two centuries, even if it were possible, which, of course, it is not in a work of this description. The dates when the several principal navigation works were undertaken will be found set out in Appendix I. But we may, nevertheless, bestow some consideration upon the principal steps that have brought about the remarkable facilities that England, Scotland, and, to a less extent, Ireland, respectively enjoy at the present time in the matter of internal transport. The Clyde, the Tyne, the Tees, the Wear, and other prominent English rivers have been transformed from shallow brawling streams, some of them easily fordable at all states of the tide, into magnificent waterways, capable of bearing on their bosoms the largest vessels afloat. This work has necessarily involved great engineering capacity, a large expenditure, and a judicious administration of their powers and resources by the public bodies through whom it has been carried to completion. THE MERSEY. On the Liverpool side of the Mersey there are sixty docks and basins of the ordinary type, having a total water area of 368 acres and 25 miles of quay berthing. On the Birkenhead side, there are 164½ acres of docks, with 9½ miles of quayage, three graving docks, having a total length of 2430 feet, and every facility for loading and unloading ships. The total expenditure incurred on this enormous provision for shipping has been upwards of twenty millions, and the total annual revenue of the Mersey dock estate is about a million and a half sterling. The entire length of the Mersey is 56 miles. For the first 37 miles of this distance, the river has a tortuous course, ill-adapted for navigation, and passes through an almost exclusively agricultural country. From Runcorn to the sea, the form of the river is that of a bottle, of which the wide expanse between Runcorn and Liverpool forms the body, and the narrow part opposite Liverpool the neck. Through this neck there annually passes nearly twenty million tons of shipping, including entrances and clearances.