Another Big Canal

Accordlng to the English Journala the comr-letion of the Manchester ship canal is likely to spur Bristol to a similar engineering enterprise,' competent authoritites havirg already been Intrusted with the planning of the best means of providing doek accommodations on the Avon for the largest vesseis, with an estímate of the probable cost. The river Avon, from Bristol te Avonmouth, is said to resemble a deep trench some seven miles long, and at no part more than 900 feet wide, se that, when the tide is in, this trench is more or less filled with muddy water of a depth varying according to the height of the flood, and, when the tide is out, the Bteep black sides are exposed to a considerable depth, and down in the central hollow a narrow stream hastens away rapldly to th mouth; the channel is available f o navigaiion by largre shlps only at high tide, and the idea is to transform th sntlre estuary of the river into a hug doek Beven miles or so in length, with dock yates and a lock entrance rur out in the frame of an immense dam 900 feet long, stretching right across the mouth of the river, pierced by a lock entrance at the north end of the passage of ships, and by sluices at the south end for the emission of the overflow of the river water, outside jettir to facilítate the warping of vessels iiuu the lock and outside breakwaters to protect the entrance channel, inside quays wiih a sufneient depth of water to permit the biggest liner to He alongside of them, a graving doek adapted to the largest craft, and a pier for pasttengers.