competition on the part of the inland waterways. Of the 580 miles of
canals in Ireland a considerable part are owned by the railway
companies, and their weed-choked condition shows the use to which they
are put in the national economy.

Whoever it was that said the carriers of freight hold the keys of trade
was stating what appears almost an axiom, and an illustration is
afforded of the results of reduced rates in an analogous business in the
way in which the establishment of penny postage sent up the receipts of
the General Post Office.

The difference in the freights in the three kingdoms may be seen by a
comparison of the average rate per ton of merchandise in the year 1900--

In England In Scotland In Ireland

4s. 10.26d. 4s. 11.64d. 6s. 7.90d.

In the decade from 1890-1900 the figure in England and Wales decreased
8.79d., in Scotland 1.7d., and in Ireland increased by 1.92d.

Again, the control of the great English railway corporations over the
small companies in Ireland has led to a state of things by which
freights for imported goods are relatively lower than are those for
purely internal carriage, and by this means the railways of Great
Britain maintain their grip of the carrying trade, and incidentally
destroy the industry of Ireland.

The trade of Ireland is not two per cent. of that of the three kingdoms,
and this policy of swamping the Irish market with English-made goods at