in amending and repairing the public bridges and certain highways within the said county, and in such manner as the justices of the peace at the quarter sessions shall yearly direct; and if there should be a surplus over and above, such surplus shall, under the directions of the magistrates, be applied towards the repairs of the other highways within the county.
The undertakers acting under the 7th George I. having proceeded to carry the work into effect, had incurred a debt of £20,500, when another act was passed in the 33rd George II. entitled, 'An Act to amend an Act passed in the Seventh Year of the Reign of his late Majesty King George the First, for making the River Weaver navigable, from Frodsham Bridge to Winsford Bridge, in the county of Chester, and for the more effectual preserving and improving the Navigation of the said River.' This act relieves the undertakers appointed by the 7th George I. from their liability to the payments of the debt incurred by them, and directs that all engagements and contracts, and all sums of money owing, shall be discharged by the trustees appointed by this act.
This act also directs that all the locks upon the navigation shall, with all convenient speed, be made of the same dimensions as the lock at Pickeren's, (they are now constructed 90 feet long and 18 feet wide;) the act provides that the depth of water-way shall be 4 feet 6 inches at the least for the whole course of the navigation; but there is now 6 feet and upwards over the sills of the different locks.
The navigation of the River Weaver having hitherto been from the Mersey up the tideway to Frodsham Bridge, it was found to be very inconvenient and dangerous; to remedy which, an act was therefore passed in the year 1807, entitled, 'An Act to authorize the Trustees of the River Weaver Navigation, to open a more convenient Communication betwixt the River near Frodsham Bridge and the River Mersey near Weston Point, in the township of Weston, in the county of Chester, and to amend Two Acts relative to the said River.' A fourth act was passed in the year 1825, entitled, 'An Act to repeal certain Parts of, and to alter and amend an Act passed in the Forty-seventh Year of the Reign of his late Majesty King George the Third, to authorize
