i2 REPORT — 1856. 



Dock, and one foot off Canning Dock, during which its low-water margin 

 has yielded 50 yards directly off Brunswick Basin. Simultaneous with this 

 two years' fluctuation, the Devil's Bank has warped 143 yards towards the 

 eastern shore, lowered in altitude four feet, but elongated towards Plucking- 

 ton Shelf 250 yards, so that the spit of the Devil's Bank and Pluckington 

 Shelf is within one-fourth of a mile of uniting with each other, — an event to 

 be feared, seeing that the Devil's Spit has elongated two-thirds of a mile in 

 eight years, but which should be averted with all anxiety, for in the space 

 between them being shoaled up to a bar of six feet instead of fifteen, the 

 Garston branch of the Mersey will scour its way through the Swatchway 

 just above Otter's Pool, dividing the Devil's Bank from Eastham Sands, and 

 join the main column of ebb stream down the Cheshire side of the river. 



Report dated March ] 837 (No. 2). — Messrs. Mylne and G. Rennie state, 

 that from a rough estimate of the quantity of land which has been em- 

 banked out of the river above Runcorn, and which is still under the level 

 of ordinary spring tides (or 22 feet on the Old Dock Sill), the present water 

 surface only amounts to one-fifth of the whole. Below Runcorn the marshes 

 of Widness, Ditton, Frodshara, Stanlow, and Wallasey, amount to nearly 

 one-half the whole ; or in other words, the total quantity of land embanked 

 out of the Mersey exceeds the total quantity of water surface. In laying 

 down quay lines in the Mersey, the following principles should be ad- 

 hered to : — 



1st. To preserve to the fullest extent the receptacles for the tide water. 



2nd. To designate the boundaries by mere stones placed at intervals. 



3rd. To have power to excavate and improve the bed of the river. 



4th. To prevent encroachments, whether by embanking lands or accumu- 

 lating matter by means of jetties. 



5th. To prevent jetties, or other open or solid works of any kind, from 

 being projected into the river without the consent of the Conservators. 



6th. To prevent ballast or other solid matter from being thrown into the 

 river. 



7th. To raise and remove wrecks or other obstructions. 



8th. To cut off or remove projecting points of rocks, without prejudice to 

 existing interests, buildings or jetties which may tend to obstruct the 

 free effect of the current of the tides ; and to erect quay walls or other 

 works which may assist the operation or diversion of the tide for the 

 general benefit of the port. 



They conclude by recommending a Commission of Conservancy, not only 

 for the benefit of the port, but the public in general. 



For the remedy of the evils mentioned in their reports, the engineers all 

 recommend that the conservancy should be vested in the Corporation of 

 Liverpool by Act of Parliament, with powers to remedy these evils, and to 

 render the navigation as perfect as circumstances will admit. 



We have been induced to make these copious extracts from the reports, 

 as they so clearly point out the difficulties attending the navigation of the 

 river, and the probability of tlie most serious consequences following, if 

 powers are not given to the Corporation by Act of Parliament, to improve 

 the navigation. We have personally inspected the state of the river, and 

 are perfectly satisfied with the correctness of their reports and observations 

 thereon, and are convinced that the navigation is yearly becoming more 

 difficult, and that the obstructions will continue to increase if Parliamentary 

 provision is not made for its improvement, perhaps to the ultimate ruin of 

 the port. 



