Chapter XXIII: Part I: Navigation

1. _Public right of navigation._--It shall be lawful for all
persons, whether for pleasure or profit, to go and be, pass and
repass, in boats or vessels over or upon any and every part of
the River Thames, through which Thames water flows, between the
town of Cricklade and Teddington Lock, including all such
backwaters, creeks, side-channels, bays and inlets connected
therewith as form parts of the said river within the limits
aforesaid.

2. _Private artificial cuts not to be deemed parts of the
river._--All private artificial cuts for purposes of drainage or
irrigation, and all artificial inlets for moats, boathouses,
ponds, or other like private purposes, already made or hereafter
to be made, and all channels which by virtue of any conveyance
from or agreement with the Conservators, or the Commissioners
acting under any of the Acts mentioned in the First Schedule to
this Act, or by any lawful title have been enjoyed as private
channels for the period of twenty years before the passing of
this Act, shall be deemed not to be parts of the said river for
the purposes of the last preceding section, or any provisions
consequent thereon.

3. _Conservators may exclude the public._--Notwithstanding
anything in the first section contained, it shall be lawful for
the Conservators from time to time to exclude the public for a
limited period from specified portions of the said river, for
purposes connected with the navigation, or with any public work
or uses, or for the preservation of public order.

4. _Right of navigation to include anchoring and mooring._--The
right of navigation hereinbefore described shall be deemed to
include a right to anchor, moor, or remain stationary for a
reasonable time in the ordinary course of pleasure navigation,
subject to such restrictions as the Conservators shall from time
to time by by-laws determine; and it shall be the duty of the
Conservators to make special regulations for the prevention of
annoyance to any occupier of a riparian residence, by reason of
the loitering or delay of any house-boat or steam-launch, and
for the prevention of the pollution of the river by the sewage
of any house-boat or steam-launch. Provided that nothing in this
Act, or in any by-law made thereunder, shall be construed to
deprive any riparian owner of any legal rights in the soil or
bed of the river which he may now possess, or of any legal
remedies which he may now possess for prevention of anchoring,
mooring, loitering, or delay of any boat or other vessel, or to
give any riparian owner any right as against the public, which
he did not possess before the passing of this Act, to exclude
any person from entering upon or navigating any backwater,
creek, channel, bay, inlet, or other water, whether deemed to be
part of the River Thames as in this Act defined or not.

Provided also, that the powers given by this clause shall be in
addition to, and not to be deemed to be in substitution for, any
powers already possessed by the Conservators.

5. _Riparian owner to remove obstructions unless maintained for
twenty years._--Any person obstructing the navigation
hereinbefore described, by means of any weir, bridge, piles,
dam, chain, barrier, or other impediment, shall be liable to be
called upon by the Conservators to remove the same, and his
refusal to do so shall be deemed to be a continuing offence
within the meaning of this Act, and the obstruction itself shall
be deemed to be a nuisance to the navigation unless the same, or
substantially the same, has been maintained for the period of
twenty years before the commencement of this Act.

6. _Provision against shooting or use of firearms on the
river._--From and after the passing of this Act it shall be
unlawful to discharge any firearm, air-gun, gun, or similar
instrument over or upon the said river within the limits
aforesaid, or the banks or towpaths thereof, or any land
acquired by the Conservators under the provisions of this Act,
and every person discharging any firearm, air-gun, gun, or
similar instrument over or upon the said river limits as
aforesaid, or the banks or towpath thereof, or any such land as
aforesaid, shall be deemed to have committed an offence under
this Act.