On Tuesday, January 09, 2007 9:21 PM [GMT+1=CET], trainfinder22 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> "If you're asking why they stll exist today - because despite their > small size and general lack of modernisation, they survived as cargo- > carriers for just long enough that most of them were still usable > when it was first realised (initially only by a very few > visionaries) that they could have a future as leisure boating > routes." > Ok then why are they funded out of the AGraculture budget? They're not, well not as such. The relevant Government Department is the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and its remit covers quite a wide range of things of which Agriculture and Inland Waterways are just some. Why the Agriculture budget has suddenly become relevant to the waterways is that DEFRA has made almightly *****-up of the European Farm Payments which has left is big whole in DEFRA's budget which they are clawing back from all the other activites thagt come under their remit. Mike Stevens narrowboat Felis Catus III web-site www.mike-stevens.co.uk Defend the waterways. Visit the web site www.saveourwaterways.org.uk
