CXLVI ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



this difficulty, the port progressed rapidly ; ship-building was carried on 

 with spirit and industry, and, with the opening of the present century, 

 plans were projected to give Bristol extensive floating harbour accom- 

 modation. In 1803, a number of the leading merchants and citizens of 

 Bristol formed themselves into "The Bristol Dock Co.," and obtained an 

 Act of Parliament authorizing the conversion of the tidal river into a 

 floating dock. Operations were commenced in 1804, and the works were 

 completed in 1809. It was a bold engineering and financial effort for 

 that period, but the securing of two and a half miles of floating harbour, 

 or eighty-two acres of dock accommodation, even at the cost of £600,000, . 

 was worth all the energy which was devoted to the work. The completion 

 of the works gave a great impetus to the trade of the port, and but for 

 the short-sighted policy of maintaining the dock dues at too high a rate 

 in comparison with some of the other ports in the Kingdom, the success 

 attending their earlier enterprise would have been still greater. Early in 

 the history of the reformed town council, which, as I have already 

 stated, took place in 1835, the ratepayers advocated the control and 

 management of the docks by the corporation, and an extensive reduction 

 of port charges, with the object of attracting and developing the trade 

 resorting to the port^of Bristol. 



In 1846, the Free Port Association was formed, amongst its members 

 being men of all shades of politics. The agitation was conducted with 

 discretion and determination, and attained success in 1848, when an Act 

 of Parliament was passed, transferring the docks to the mayor, aldermen 

 and burgesses of the city of Bristol. It was provided in the Act that in 

 consideration of the corporation reducing the rates on vessels and goods, 

 a sum of money for the purposes of the docks should be paid annually 

 out of the rates of the borough ; thus setting forth clearly that the 

 acquiring of the docks was not for the simple purpose of earning a 

 revenue, but with the object of fostering, encouraging and developing 

 the trade and commerce of the city, and this is the main principle that 

 has governed the management of the docks by the corporation from that 

 period up to the present time. The repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, and 

 the triumph of the free trade principles, gave a great stimulus to the 

 people of Great Britain, in the direction of freedom of commerce, and 

 Bristol, impressed by the same sentiment, abolished the dock dues on 

 about 350 articles out of the 600 that were in the list, and also all dues 

 on exports, and the remaining dues were considerably reduced. 



In addition to the extensive trade of the port, Bristol was also an 

 important ship-building centre. It was in the year that Her Majesty 

 .Queen Victoria ascended the throne that there was launched at Bristol a 

 vessel destined to prove to the world that steam could be successfully 

 applied to the requirements of the transatlantic trade. The "Great 

 Western" designed by Brunei, and built by Paterson, at a cost of £63,- 



