)845.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



327 



head 17, and in the bay 23 feet, or greater than anywhere on tlie south- 

 east coast of England. At low water the harbour is left dry. 



For several miles round the town of Kye, and immediately adjacent to the 

 harbour, there are large tracts of marsli land, the greater part of which are 

 owned by proprietors residing in the neighbourhood. Over a great portion 

 of this plain the sea formerlly flowed, forming, at every tide, a considerable 

 back water, which operated as a scour to the harbour of Rye, and kept the 

 channel open. The proprietors, however, uncontrolled by any guardian of the 

 port, began by degrees to exclude the tide, and no steps being taken to re- 

 strain their encroachments, they obtained an Act of Parliament, erected 

 dams and sluices across the rivers, a short distance above the town, and 

 finally excluded the tidal waters. 



Bv these means, hundreds of acres of marsh have been reclaimed, while 

 the harbour, deprived of its back waters, yielded to the mass of sand and 

 shingle which rolled in with every wave, and which have now nearly oblite- 

 rated the appearance of a channel. 



The rivers drain this tract of country ; and had there been no obstructions 

 in their channels, they would have afforded an ample reservoir for tidal 

 waters ; and indeed would still do so, judging by the effect produced when, 

 in March, 1812, owing to a high tide blowing up Scott's Float Sluice, the 

 sea flowed freely to Kobertsbridge, 15 miles up the country, and the returning 

 ebb, as it appears in evidence, so scoured the harbour, that vessels drawing 

 16 feet water could get up to the town. 



Landed interest, however, again prevailed, and in the following year the 

 sluice was rebuilt. In 1830, a Jury at Croydon found "that Scot's Float 

 Sluice, as tlien erected, was a nuisance," and alterations in it were directed 

 to be made; these altejations not being made, the people assembled and 

 pulled the sluice down. 



An inquiry took place which led to the Acts of 1830 and 1833, under 

 which one of the live Commissioners was named on the part of the .'Vdmiralty, 

 and we learn from his evidence, that since bis appointment, an extensive 

 creek, called the Nook, to the westward of the entrance, and covered every 

 high water, has been in great part damned out ; and upwards of 700 acres 

 of marsh land, lying on both sides the river, and overflowed by the sea to 

 the depth of 3 feet, has been embanked, thereby losing the scour over the 

 bar of 30 million cubic feet of water on every spring tide. 



It appears, from reports of engineers and others, that between the years 

 1724 and 1/17, a sum of not less than 200,000/. was expended in vain 

 attemps to form a new harbour about two miles westward of the present 

 outlet to the sea, but which, after those 63 years' waste of time and money, 

 they were compelled to abandon. 



We have dwelt longer on this subject than, at first sight, it would seem to 

 warrant, but the case of Rye is extremely instructive, as bringing broadly 

 into view the apparently antagonist principles of the local and the shipping; 

 interests, and the absolute necessity of some controlling power to protect the 

 latter. There is a still more important consideration. Rye is situated on a 

 part of the coast, where a harbour is most wanted ; and where it would be 

 of the greatest benefit to our shipping, whether for steamers to obtain fuel 

 in the event of hostilities, or, which is of far more consequence, for the safety 

 of our merchant vessels in time of peace. And when we consider the capa- 

 bility it offers, the abundance of level land on either side of the river fit for 

 docks or basins ; the great value of a 23 feet rise of tide in the bay ; and the 

 extent of back water at command, we are led to believe that skilful engi 

 neering would readily turn these advantages to account for national benefit. 



The Risers Forth, Dee, ^-c. 



In addition to the examples we have given in detail, numerous instances 

 of encroachments, of neglect, and of want of efficient control, have come be- 

 fore us in the course of our inquiries. For instance, on the banks of the 

 Forth, near Stirling, large enclosures of marsh land have been formerly 

 effected. Similar embankments, but to a much greater extent, have been 

 carried out on the level lands by the side of the Dee, near Chester. At 

 Whitby, it is a common practice to throw the refuse of the town behind the 

 west pier head, which the next flood tide washes into the harbour. At 

 Bridlington, great delay has occurred in completing the works for the im- 

 provement of the harbour, while a passing toll to pay for them is leveled on 

 all shipping. 



At the Spurn Point, six vessels, of 50 tons each (payiui; \l. a load to the 

 lord of the manor), are daily engaged in carrying off the shingle from the 

 beach, at the rale of 50,000 tons a year, to mend the roads in Yorkshire 

 and Lincolnshire. Hy this reniotal of shingle the Spurn Point has lost 

 half its breadth within the last 20 years, and the lighthouses, as well as the 

 anchorage of Hawke Roads, may be eventually endangered. 



At Portland, ballast is thrown overboard with impunity. Similar com- 

 plaints come from Fowey and from Falmouth ; and with the addition 

 from Milford Haven, that the water-bailiff remonstrates in vain, and has 

 practically no power to enforce his commands. 



We have the evidence of engineers, and of the Admiralty surveyor, that 

 the rivers Lune and Ribble, and Dee, are all .susceptible of very great 

 improvement ; the Thames, even, the high road of the commerce of this 

 great empire, for want of systematic conservancy and dredging, has shoals 

 with only 11 feet depth over them, even as low as Barking Keacb, which 

 prevent more than half the loaded vessels that come up to London from 

 passing at low water spring tides ; in short, there is hardly a harbour we 

 have inquired into, that, under efhcient control, might not be in a much 

 improved state. 



Having thus briefly adduced a few examples of llie want of efficient con- 

 trol in all our ports, 'and shown the necessity of iinniediate legislative 

 measures in order to stop the daily increasing evils to navigation. 



The Conmiissioncrs conlude by recumniendiug: — That a Hoard of Con- 

 servancy be established fur the superintendence and protection of all the 

 tidnl harbours and navigable rivers in the united kingdom of Great Uritaia 

 uud Ireland ; that it be in connection with the Admiralty : and that it be 

 permanent. 



Tliat this board have jurisdiction by summary proceedings over the 

 waters of the tidal harbours and navigable rivers, notwithstanding any 

 charter or Acts of Parliament to the contrary, with a reservation of private 

 righta under the charters, and the cuutinuatiou of local commissioners 

 where the board may think fit. 



That the board should have full powers, by the assistance of engineers 

 surveyors, and others, to ascertain the extent of all nuisances and obstruc- 

 tions in tidal harbours and navigable rivers. 



That the board should be enabled to have a jury summoned by the sherifT 

 to ascertain w hether or not any encroachment or other nuisance in a tidal 

 harbour or navigable river, has existed jears ; and if it be found to have 

 been made within that time, that the board have power, by their own order, 

 at the expense of the parly who made such encroachment or nuisance, to 

 remove it. 



That the whole of the coasts of the United Kingdom be divided by this 

 board into districts, and that each be placed under the superintendence of 

 a competent person, who shall visit each river, port, harbour, and creek, at 

 least once a year, or oftener, as it may be necessary, to inquire into and 

 report on the state of each river, port, harbour, and creek, in his district, 

 and of all works which may be in progress there. 



That the board should have power to enforce the appointment of a resi- 

 dent engineer or harbour-master, or both, at every port they may consider 

 of sufficient importance to require such constant superintendence. 



That every commission or trust of a harbour or navigable river, or if 

 there be none, every resident engineer or harbour-master be required to 

 make out and forward to the board, before the Ist of March in each year, 

 a detailed report, made up to the Slstof December, consisting of an account 

 of all such works as have been executed, with the expenses thereof, 

 within the limits of his superintendence, during the past year; and a re- 

 port on those works he would recommend to be undertaken durmg the 

 e:isuing year. And, also, to include in that report an account of all 

 changes that may have taken place during the year in the depth of water 

 or formation of shoals, or any other change aflecting the navigation of the 

 river or harbour. 



That if any works, public or private, shall be commenced or proceeded 

 with on grounds within the high-water mark of ordinary spring-tides, 

 without having first obtained the sanction of the Board, or their superin- 

 teuding Ofhcer, it shall be lawful, and the Board should be empowered 

 immediately to stop such works, and to direct the removal of the same by 

 the parties erecting them, and if tliey refuse so to do, the Board may direct 

 their removal, and charge the parlies with the expenses. 



That for the protection of the public interests in the navigation of every 

 river, port, harbour, and creek of the United Kingdom, a clause be inserted 

 in every future Act, Charter, or Commission, which aflects the tidal har- 

 bours and navigable rivers of the country, giving power to, and requiring 

 the Admiralty to appoint one-third part of the w hole number of Commis- 

 sioners to execute the trusts nder such Acts, Charters, and Commissions, 

 and also to have the power to change the whole or any of such third part 

 of Commissioners from time to time, as the Admiralty shall think fit, so as 

 to secure at all times a suflicient number at each board or meeting of the 

 Trust, to protect the public interests against any bias or local interests. 



That the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty should direct the sur- 

 veying oflicers employed In the seas of the United Kingdom to transmit to 

 them, for the information of the Board of Conservancy, a list of all the parts 

 of the coast on vvhich they have been engaged surveying, and the harbours, 

 ports, creeks, and navigable rivers they have examined, and on which they 

 feel competent to give an opinion, in case of any improvements or altera- 

 tions being proposed : also, that in future, in every port they visit, they 

 shall make inquiries relative to any embankments or encroachments on the 

 harbour or river, and generally as to any neglect in the preservation of the 

 ports ; aud forthwith shall report the same to the Secretary of the Admi- 

 ralty for the information of the said Board. 



That the Board should have power to order that a tide scale be placed 

 in all harbours ; and in certain ports that a self-registering tide gauge be 

 erected, accompanied by a barometer, and that a record of these be strictly 

 kept ; as well as a journal of the winds and weather ; of the arrivals and 

 sailings, of cases of wreck, or of anything aiVecting the interests of naviga- 

 tion, and transmitted periodically to the Board of Conservancy. 



That accurate plans and surveys be procured on a suflicient scale of all 

 the ports and navigable rivers of the United Kingdom; not only for the 

 present value of such plans as showing the actual state of the port, and as 

 affording the basis for improvements ; but also to be preserved as docu- 

 ments for reference hereafter, in order to determine at any future time what 

 changes may have taken place. 



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