TROCEEDINGS OP THE POLYTECHNIC ASSOCIATION. 423 



equal to rebuilding. It is a question of great importance what 

 they shall be built of, and what shall be their size and shape. 

 Nor is it unimportant to decide who shall build them; for it is 

 evident that a matter of so much moment demands the services of 

 a competent board of engineers ; and until the direction of these 

 works is so vested, nothing better than the former practice need 

 be anticipated. We have a water-front, of the city proper, of 

 about twenty miles, most of which is capable of being converted at 

 a moderate cost, into clean and convenient basins and substantial 

 piers, if the talent and skill of competent engineers be secured. 

 Our basins are now merely cess-pools, requiring to be dredged out 

 every season. It might have been said formerly that we did not 

 know where to build our docks. That cannot be said now. Yet 

 we allow one bulkhead to extend out one hundred and fifty feet 

 beyond another ; and but few of our drains empt}^ at the head of 

 the pier. The difficulty is that we leave the whole for anybody 

 to do as he pleases. It was not so when we wanted Croton 

 water ', and when we wanted a Central Park, we had a separate 

 and special board for that purpose. 



To show what some great sea-ports are obliged to do in order 

 to provide for commerce, let me refer you to the docks of Liver- 

 pool, formed partly by building quays within the low water mark 

 of the river Mersey, and partly by excavation. These quays 

 enclose basins which are entered from the river by locks. One 

 of these locks is 82 feet by 400. All of this work is of solid 

 masonry, of dressed stone, and extends over a front of about six 

 miles. The basins cover between three and four hundred acres. 

 On the opposite side of the river, at Birkenhead, are situated 

 works of nearly equal extent. These basins must necessarily be 

 built in this manner, in consequence of the great tide, the water 

 rising and falling about eighteen feet at such tides. The docks 

 of Liverpool were built by incorporated companies, • the city 

 having half the control and the company the other half. 



The trade of New York would be much increased by con- 

 structing suitable piers. It has been said that a great deal of 

 our water-front could not be relied upon for solid works of 

 masonar3^ But certainly we ought to have better piers than we 

 now have, and a better circulation of water in the basins. And 

 we shall never advance until this matter is taken out of private 

 hands and directed with some forethought and unity of pur23ose, 



Mr. Nash. — At Liverpool they are compelled to build their 



