§ Mr. Graham PageI beg to move Amendment No. 6, in page 11, line 36, leave out 'capable for use' and insert:
'navigable in a reasonably convenient manner'.This is very much a drafting Amendment. It meets a point made by the Dock and Harbour Authorities' Association. It provides that when diversion of a length of navigable watercourse takes place 472 under Clauses 10 or 11, the new channel shall be reasonably convenient for navigation by vessels of a kind which immediately before the diversion were accustomed to use the old channel.The Bill, as printed, provides only that the new channel shall be capable of use by such vessels—that is, those which immediately before the diversion were accustomed to use the old channel. The Dock and Harbour Authorities' Association argued that a new channel constructed to meet this criterion—that is, capable of use by vessels using it previously—might nevertheless be difficult to navigate, for practical reasons, if it provided only just sufficient clearance for a craft which was handled perfectly.
As anyone who has travelled on the waterways and tried to handle a barge knows, it is not always possible to handle it perfectly. It does not respond like the wheel of a motorcar. One has to anticipate a long time before what one is going to do with a large barge.
There is some point in this, and the words to be included in the Bill by the Amendment would give effect to the intention of the Government rather better than the original drafting.
§ Amendment agreed to.