TRANSPORTATION. England is exceptionally well provided with transportation facilities. The extensive coast-line and navigable waterways af ford excellent natural advantages, and these have been supplemented by a remarkable artifi cial system. Through the canalization of streams, and the construction of a network of canals, almost every part of tire country is ac commodated with this method of transportation. The importance of the canals has, however, great ly declined, as most. of them are too shallow and narrow for the present demands of traffic. Tire highways are kept in an almost perfect condition. The bulk of the transportation. however, is done by railways, of which there were in 1900 15,187 miles (including Wales). The railways now also have control of a considerable part of the canal system. London is the focal point of the principal lines, which include the Great West ern, the London and Northwestern, the Midland. the Great Northern, the Great Eastern. and the
Southwestern, all under private ownership and management.
Com MyucE. In varimis ways England has been greatly favored as a commercial centre and as a carrier of the wo•ld's commerce. London is the greatest trade centre aml has the largest shipping tonnage of any city in the world, while Cardiff (Wales) and Liverpool are exceeded in shipping tonnage outside of England only by New York, llamburg, Antwerp, llotterdam, and Chicago. The shipping of Cardiff is mainly confined to its heavy export of coal; the trade of Liver pool is largely with America and West Africa, consisting of heavy imports of grain, cattle. and other food products, cotton, and exports of manufactured goods and machinery. The trade of London is more widely distributed, but is par ticularly large with European and Oriental mint tries, its imports being considerably in excess of its exports. See Commerce, under GREAT BRITAIN.