Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

1.58 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. original estimates of cost would be entirely inadequate. By the end of 1890 fully £9,000.000 had been spent, and it was calculated that at least £4,000,000 more would be needed. At this trying moment the Manchester Municipal City Corporation came to the Aid. assistance of the Canal Com- pany with a loan of £3,000,000, which Parliament readily sanctioned. Five members of the City Council were appointed directors of the company, and with the fresh capital thus available it became possible to complete in September 1891 the tidal section of the Canal from Eastham to the river Weaver. This enabled vessels of large tonnage to reach the Upper Mersey. But it was obvious that the Canal could not be finished unless another £2,000,000 were EASTHAM LOCKS—PERSPECTIVE VIEW. A Second Corporation Loan. raised. Appeal was again made to the City Council for a loan ; and although there was no precedent for such heavy obli- gations being incurred on be- half of ratepayers, Parliament approved further contribution by the municipal authorities. It was stipulated, however, that the board of directors of the Canal Company should be reconstituted, and that the Corporation of Manchester should hold thereon eleven out Mr. Bythell appointed Chairman. of twenty-one seats, so that they might al- ways have a preponderating vote. The directors elected by the shareholders being allowed to appoint the chairman from their own number, in 1894 they unanimously selected, in succession to Earl Egerton of Tatton, Mr. John Kenworthy Bythell, a Man- chester man. Mr. Bythell first j oined the Board in 1887 with a valuable experience gained in India, where he had for many years been a member of the Bombay Legislative Council. He had also served on the Bombay Port Trust Board, and had taken an active part jn the con- struction by that body of the first wet docks opened in Bombay. In Manchester Mr. Bythell was known as a commercial man of the highest repute, possessing rare administra- tive ability. Difficulties which no one could have predicted were experienced in every section of the Canal. But the immense labour was pursued with dogged pertinacity. The entrance is at Eastham, 19 miles above the bar at the mouth of the Mersey. A dredged channel gives access from the deep water of the lower estuary. Three parallel locks form the entrance. They