Note 6 — Chapter V · THE BIRMINGHAM CANAL AND ITS STORY

In the evidence he gave before the Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways on 21st March 1906, Sir Herbert Jekyll, Assistant Secretary to the Board of Trade, said (as reported in The Times of 22nd March):—"One remarkable feature was noticeable—that, although the tonnage carried rather increased than diminished between 1838 and 1848, the receipts fell off enormously, pointing to the conclusion that the railway competition had brought about a large reduction in canal companies charges. It was also noteworthy that on many canals the decrease in receipts had continued out of all proportion to the decrease, if any, in the tonnage carried."