Wed 24 Jun 1829
To Vizard Buchanan & Moore
Dursley
Concerning the supply of water from the River Frome to the G&B Canal
Copy
Canal Office, Wallbridge, 24th June 1829
Messrs Vizard. Buchannan & Moore
Gents
I have laid your letter of the 13th Inst before the Committee of the Stroudwater Navigation, & I am instructed to reply to it. From the Report of our Carpenter it appears that Mr Purmell has been misinformed with respect to the ne Hatches put into the feeder at Whitminster Mills as they are exactly of the same height as the old ones.
The leaving of the old Hatches unlocked was a matter of arrangement with the Miller at that Mill, but lately it has been deemed necessary to alter that arrangement to prevent inconvenience to the Canal. The new pair of Lock gates put into the Lock on the Canal near that Mill is on a different plan from the old one, which was so constructed as to allow the waste water from the level above to flow freely over them into the level below; but which it cannot now do, This has created the necessity of a Weir for that purpose and of the Culvert you mention. But there is no unusual waste of water from this cause, the effect of both plans being the same. Whatever waste of Water therefore may occur, it seems to the Committee not to result from their Works at Whitminster Mill & Lock; nor from any act or neglect of the Proprietors of the Stroudwater Navigation, but from some other cause wholly out of their control. The Committee are not aware of any new arrangements which (as you suppose) are made higher up the Canal.
The Committee will always be ready to attend to any application from the Mill Owners, & to prevent as much as in their power, any injury of which they may think they have cause to complain.
