There are many continuous lines of water communication between different commercial points of importance in England, as, for example, between London and Liverpool, Liverpool and Hull, Birmingham and London, Leeds and Liverpool, &c.; but it often happens upon such through routes that there are great differences in the sizes of the locks, which are shorter or narrower at one point than at another. Thus, for example, between the Derbyshire district and London, the canal communication is in the hands of seven different companies, with four different gauges at least, the effect of which is to limit the carrying capacity of the boats to the very low maximum of 24 tons. A considerable number of canal boats continue to navigate these through routes in spite of all these drawbacks, but they have very little encouragement to do so, inasmuch as the different canal companies impose different rates of toll, the aggregate of which comes to almost, if not quite, as much as would be paid to the railway companies for the service. It is hopeless to expect to see this condition of affairs quite remedied until all these through routes pass into the hands of the same companies. It has been computed by capable engineers that an average expenditure of 10,000_l._ or 12,000_l._ would enable the canal system of England to become efficient, and it is probable that before long this expenditure will be found worth while. According to the most recent returns available, the canal mileage owned by the principal railway companies in England and Wales, and the number of employés thereon, were as under:— ───────────────────────────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────── │ Miles of │ No. of Employés │ Canal Owned. │ thereon. ───────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────── Great Western │ 258 │ 270 London and North-Western │ 488 │ 214 Midland │ 50 │ ··· Manchester, Sheffield, │ │ and Lincolnshire │ 180½ │ 538 North Staffordshire │ 121 │ 263 Caledonian │ 60 │ 340 ───────────────────────────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────── The total number of employés on the canals of England and Wales in 1884 was 1479 for 1333 miles owned, being an average of little more than one employé to the mile. On the railways of England and Wales for the same year the number of employés was 310,568 for 18,000 miles worked, being an average of 17·2 employés per mile. As, however, there are no returns of canal traffic available, we cannot say how the two sets of figures compare in the matter of results.