[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > "If you're asking why they stll exist today - because despite their=20 > small size and general lack of modernisation, they survived as cargo- > carriers for just long enough that most of them were still usable=20 > when it was first realised (initially only by a very few=20 > visionaries) that they could have a future as leisure boating=20 > routes." > Ok then why are they funded out of the AGraculture budget? Only way=20 > I could see this is to bring fresh water to farm lands in a country=20 > that is surounded by salt water?
They aren't funded out of the agriculture budget - they have been lumped together with various other things in a department called DEFRA - the Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs. Waterways don't easily fit into any department - they have tourist, heritage, regeneration, transport and various other aspects to them. Agriculture is the largest part of DEFRA, so unfortunately when an agriculture issue gets into a mess (as with the farm subsidies fiasco) it hits other parts of DEFRA too - even though they aren't really related to agriculture at all. It may seem crazy, but that's the situation at the moment. Martin L
