168 REPORT—1857. 
down water in floods to the extent of 33,885 cubic feet per second, it remained in a 
state of nature till 1768, having only about 2 feet depth of water. By different 
engineering appliances it has been rendered navigable for vessels drawing 20 feet of 
water. This has been accomplished, first, by placing jetties on its sides, whereby 
to contract the stream and cause it to deepen itself by its own flow and scour ; 
this obtained a depth of 8 feet; secondly, by connecting these jetties by half-tide 
parallel dykes, a depth of 10 feet, and thereafier by raising them to full-tide dykes, a 
depth of 113 feet; thirdly, by the combined processes of dredging and steam naviga~ 
tion prior to 1839, which augmented the depth to 15 feet ; and, fourthly, by the com- 
bined action of the dykes, deepening machines, and steam-boat traffic, an artificial 
river has been got at this moment of a depth of 18 feet water at neap, and 20 feet at 
spring tide. 
With respect to the harbour of Glasgow, its changes have been equally marked. 
In 1800, the whole quay was limited to a few hundred yards; now it extends to about 
two miles and a half, leaving an extent of harbour of upwards of sixty acres. From 
these causes the number of vessels arriving at the harbour of Glasgow has increased 
from 11,505, with a tonnage of 696,261, in 1828, to 17,960, with a tonnage of 
1,612,681, in 1857. While in ]828, there was not a steamer above 100 tons at the 
harbour, now such vessels as the ‘ Persia’ of 3600 tons sail down the river. The cost of 
the vast improvements made from 1770 to July 1856, has been £2,527,199. The 
revenue collected during the same period has been £1,603,219, the annual revenues 
being in 1771, £1046; in 1857, £82,797. The debt of the Clyde Trust is about 
£92,000, consequently a large portion of what may be called real capital has been 
paid out of revenue. 
The following commercial results may be mainly attributed to the improvement of 
the Clyde navigation. Before these operations were begun, Glasgow had little or no 
trade, whereas in 1854 the aggregate value of exports from its harbour was £4,905,557. 
Previous to 1801 her registered ships were ni/; in 1856 they amounted to 563, with 
a tonnage of 204,331. Formerly no ships were built on the river; now there are no 
fewer than thirty large ship-building yards, which in 1853-54 constructed no less than 
266 vessels, having an aggregate tonnage of 168,000 tons, which, with. the marine 
engines made during the same period, involved the enormous cost of nearly 
£5,000,000 sterling. Previous to the commencement of the river improvements, 
Glasgow had only 24,000 inhabitants ; now she can count 420,000, whilst its annual 
rental, which in 1750 was only a few thousands, was last year £1,319,720. The 
improvements on the Clyde have given a most decided impulse to the opening up and 
working of the rich fields of minerals by which Glasgow is surrounded, and which 
produced in 1855 from coal and iron alone nearly £4,900,000, and gave employment 
to 233,912 persons, who received for their labour wages to the amount of £1,975,919. 
So much for Glasgow. 
-In a national point of view these improvements have proved equally beneficial. In 
1796 the Customs duties levied at Glasgow were only £125, whereas last year they 
amounted to £718,855. In 1781 the revenue of the Glasgow Post-office was only 
£4341; in 1856, with a penny postage, it reached £64,958. In one word, while 
the taxes paid into the public treasury through the city of Glasgow before the Clyde 
improvements commenced were, comparatively speaking, nothing, the various crown 
revenues collected there last year reached no less a sum than £2,800,000, or about 
zsth part of the whole revenue of the country. 
On Criminal Statistics. By J.C. Symons. 
On the Criminal Statistics of this and certain Foreign Countries. 
By W.M. Tarrt, FSS. 
The paper under the above title was a ‘‘ Report on Criminal Returns,” prepared in 
conformity with a resolution passed by the Committee of Section F at the Meeting 
of the British Association in 1856. 
Its object was to inquire into “the present mode of framing our criminal returns, 
and the best means of improving them,” with especial reference to the forms adopted 
in France and Prussia, During the sittings of the Committee, its attention had fre. 
