The next act of parliament relating to this navigation was passed in 1798, and is entitled, 'An Act for amending and enlarging the Powers of an Act passed in the Thirty-first Year of the Reign of his present Majesty,' and it empowers the company to raise the additional sum of £149,929, 1s. 1½d. either amongst themselves, by the creation of new shares, in number twelve hundred and fifty-nine, to be called half shares, and to be of the value of £69, 8s. 10½d. each, by granting annuities or by mortgage of the tolls and rates, and to take the following additional
TONNAGE RATES.
| For all Coals, Iron, Iron-stone, Stone, Timber and other Goods and Things (except Lime and Lime-stone) upon any Part of the Canal, (except the first Fourteen Miles from Birmingham) the additional Sum of Three-pence per Ton per Mile, not exceeding in the whole | 1s 0d. |
| For all Lime and Lime-stone upon any Part of the Canal, (except as above) the additional Sum of One Penny per Ton per Mile, not exceeding in the whole | 0s 4d. |
And the additional Sum of One Penny per Ton to be taken on Goods and other Things carried to and from the River Severn, into or out of the Basin intended to be made in or near the City of Worcester, and not passing on any other Part of the said Canal; but nothing in this Act to affect the Rates granted to this Company by the Dudley and Stratford Canal Acts, except much Goods and Merchandize as shall pass from the Dudley Canal, and not pass from out of the Stratford Canal.
This was followed by an act which the company obtained in 1804, entitled, 'An Act for enabling the Company of Proprietors of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal Navigation to raise Money to discharge their Debts, and to complete the said Canal Navigation; and for amending the several Acts passed for making the said Canal Navigation,' which states that the company had not been able to raise the money authorized by the last act of parliament, and empowers them to raise the sum of £49,680 amongst themselves, by a contribution of £27, 12s. on each share.
In 1808 another act was obtained, entitled, 'An Act to amend and enlarge the Powers of the several Acts relating to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal Navigation,' which empowers the company to raise the further sum of £168,000, by the creation of four thousand two hundred new shares of £40 each, or by granting annuities or mortgage of the tolls and rates; and, if necessary, an additional sum of £40,000, by the creation of one thousand new shares of £40 each; and it repeals that part of the act of 1798 authorizing money to he raised by the creation of half shares.
