482 FOURTH REPORT — 1834. 



Various sums of money were granted by Parliament, and frit- 

 tered away in partial improvements of the Shannon, Boyne, 

 Barrow, and Newry rivers, besides the Grand, Royal, Kildare, 

 Naas, and Lough Earn navigations. 



Up to the year 1790 there had been expended £587,537 



And in 1800 a further sum of 423,798 



And from 1800 to 1831 an addition, for further 



improvements, of 800,000 



Making a grand total of 1,811,335 



The total number of miles of inland navigation which have 

 been completed in Ireland amounts to 483 miles, — i.e. of canal, 

 312 ; navigable rivers, 171 ; — exclusive of the river Shannon, 

 which is 234 miles from its source to the sea. 



In the year 1809 an act of parliament was passed for the ap- 

 pointment of Commissioners to inquire and examine into the 

 nature and extent of the bogs of Ireland, the practicability of 

 cultivating them, and the best means for effecting the same. 



The result was a very detailed report by Mr. Griffith on the 

 origin, composition, and extent of the Bog of Allen, and of the 

 first district, or eastern division of that bog, amounting to 36,430 

 English acres. 



Mr. Griffith found that the average thickness of the Bog of 

 Allen was 25 feet; that it was nowhere less than 12 feet, nor 

 thicker than 42 feet ; and that the height of the highest part 

 of the bog above high-water mark in Dublin Bay was 296 feet. 

 The cost of draining the whole of the eastern division was esti- 

 mated by Mr. Griffith at 70,000Z., and to increase the annual 

 value of the land 20*. per acre. 



The second Report of the Commissioners laid before Parlia- 

 ment stated, That they had received detailed reports from their 

 engineers on an extent of bog amounting to 197,000 acres ; 



That the several districts reported upon were intersected with 

 streams, the channels of which were found to be generally in 

 the under strata, usually consisting of gravel or clay ; 



That on the surfaces of these bogs there appeared to be abun- 

 dant falls towards these streams to carry the surface-water into 

 them; 



That in respect to differences of opinion which seemed to 

 prevail among the engineers, whether deep or surface drainage 

 is best adapted to the reclamation of bogs, there were satisfac- 

 tory proofs that the surface or bog might be highly improved, 

 so as to bear crops without drawing off the water from the 

 lower strata. 



I 



