14 REPORT — 1856. 



to communicate with the Board of Trade on all points affecting the 

 navigation. 



If it should be considered advisable, a fourth Commissioner may be 

 appointed, — the Canal and Navigation Companies to make this appoint- 

 ment from one of their body. 



The Corporation of Liverpool propose to bear two-thirds of the expense, 

 and the Dock Trustees the other third. The Conservancy can, in our 

 opinion, only be efficiently formed by a public Act, in which powers may 

 be given to the Board of Trade for increasing the number of Commissioners, 

 if hereafter found necessary; — or to commence by a Commission from the 

 Crown, as suggested by Lord Lowther to Mr. Huskisson, obtaining when 

 necessary increased powers from Parliament. 



The Conservancy of the River Thames appears to have been first ap- 

 pointed by charter in the third year of the reign of James L, and after- 

 wards extended by several Acts of Parliament from the reign of George IIL 

 We would take the liberty of recommending that tlie powers of the Con- 

 servators of the Mersey should assimilate, as nearly as circumstances will 

 admit, to those of the Thames ; and that the shore of the river or of the 

 sea within the Port of Liverpool should not be vested in them, but should 

 remain in the Crown, or in other persons legally holding the same, and 

 should not be taken or used by the Conservators without permission or 

 purchase. Nor should the Conservators be authorized to interfere with the 

 extensive enclosures of the marshes above Runcorn, or in the River Weaver, 

 which are of a very ancient date ; nor with the numerous jetties, chevrons 

 (unless they are longer than necessary, and obstruct the navigation of the 

 river), or other encroachments ; but that their operations should, in the 

 first instance, be confined entirely to the bed of the river, in scouring the 

 same with proper machinery, and in making new channels and removing 

 obstructions. 



It is not for Liverpool alone that a Conservancy is wanting, nor for the 

 Navigation Companies connected with the Mersey : it is of equal importance 

 to Manchester, and all the other manufacturing towns in Lancashire, 

 Cheshire, Yorkshire and Staffordshire, and to the general commercial and 

 shipping interests of the kingdom. If the measure is properly carried into 

 effect, it will be beneficial to the interests of the community at large. 



We have thought it advisable to request the Corporation of Liverpool to 

 state their views as to the plan of operations iu the event of Conservancy 

 being granted. 



The Town Clerk has favoured us with two letters from Lieutenant Lord, 

 R.N. (No. 2)*, the marine surveyor of the port, to the chairman of the Con- 

 servancy Committee. He recommends that the lines of high water should 

 be accurately marked and defined, and that no future encroachments should 

 be allowed without authority. That the edges of the banks, which in the 

 upper part of the river are composed of earthy sward, should be protected 

 by a facing of stone or other suitable material, to prevent any part from 

 being carried away by the tide. This, he says, would render permanent a 

 scouring force of water, which would maintain the sea-approaches in an 

 effective state, and it would then remain to watch the changes that might 

 arise in the sand-banks in the river and its approaches, and to adopt such 

 timely remedies as might be necessary. He refers particularly to the dredg- 

 ing operations which were so successfully carried on for a period of ten 

 months during the last year, by which means a most valuable channel was 

 * Nos. 7 and 8 herewith. 



