THE EROSION OP THE COAST. 185 



the tidal wave ; though the effect of the latter is probably limited 

 to the movement of sand only. At various times attempts were 

 made to stop the shingle by the erection of groynes, which were 

 generally short-lived owing to original faulty construction and 

 subsequent neglect. Of the groynes now on the beach one 

 remained for years in the absurd position of being entirely open at 

 the bottom. Xow that it is too late it has been repaired and 

 another erected to the south-west of it. This formidable structure 

 is some ten feet high, but then, on the other hand, it is some 

 60 feet too short on the sea side, and 20 feet on the land ! A 

 proof of its ridiculous inefficiency is afforded by the fact that at 

 the present time the shingle is at the same height on either side of 

 it, and that the Oxford clay is actually exposed in its immediate 

 vicinity. 



We have, in fact, to face not the possibility but the probability 

 of the first heavy gale from the east breaking over, or, perhaps, 

 through, the beach, destroying the road, and with it the pipes 

 conveying the water supply of \Veymouth, and finally flooding 

 Lodmoor. 



These unpleasant contingencies have recently been brought to 

 the notice of the Government, but the application for aid lias not, 

 I believe, met with a favourable response. Any effectual remedy 

 must necessarily be a costly one, and it rests with the civil 

 engineer to say Avhat it is to be. I will only venture one remark, 

 and that is in reference to the natural accretion of fresh shingle. 

 The only source (barring the carrying back bodily of what has 

 been displaced) of flint pebbles that can be relied upon is the small 

 yield furnished by the gradual disintegration of the chalk cliffs and 

 the liberation of flints embedded in them. This goes on at an 

 extremely slow rate, and it would probably require centuries to 

 restore the Preston beach to its old condition by this means. As 

 regards the movement of sand towards "Weymouth, it is thought 

 four or five feet in depth have been added during the last 20 years ; 

 it has, in fact, become an evil. The tide now recedes too far, and, 

 moreover, the condition of the sand at its southern end has 



