148 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[Mat, 



TIDAL HARBOURS. 

 Second Report of the Commi99IONer9. 



A more eitcnilpd inquiry has fully confirmerl the views which the limited 

 eiamination of last year led ua to submit to your majesty. Not only Is there 

 a ceneral want of control over the manageiiient and revenue of the ports, 

 but tlitre is not a single exception aiuon^ the numerous cases which have 

 come hefore us in which such a control might not have been the means (if 

 saiing unnecessary outlay; of preventing encroachments that can now 

 scarcely he remedied; or of stopping works that must be removed in order 

 to necure the objects to which the attention of the commission is directed. 



The necessity of such supervision has alio become more apparent since 

 the publication of the returns to the orders of the House of Commons of 

 August last, from which we learn that the income of Ihe various ports of 

 Ibe United Kingdom considerably exceeds the sum of £HO(1,0(IO a year — the 

 whole levied bv charters and acts of Parliament, or otherwise, from dues on 

 shipping, anil on goods borne hy shipping, but over the expenditure of which 

 I'arliament has not at present the slightest control. 



That much of this money has been and is misapplied will excite no sur- 

 prise, when we find that several harbours are governed by numerous sclf- 

 ebcted, irresponsible Commissioners, (in some places exceeding even 100 in 

 nunihcr), often conducting their proceedings in private, auditing their own 

 sicounis, publishing no statement of income or ex|ienditure, and lading out 

 Urge sums of money without the advice of an engineer ; and that these 

 commissioners are frequently landed proprietors, sometimes non-resicient, 

 Iind occasionally a shipowner, hut rarely a sailor aniong them. Such, how- 

 ever, is the constitution of many of the harbour boards of this country, 

 acting under authority conferred by Parliament. 



Since the date of our first report we have, in compliance with that clause 

 of her Majesty's Commission which directs us to visit and personally inspect 

 all the harbours and shores of the United Kingdom, examined the chief 

 ports on the east coast of England, from Ihe river Thames to the Tyne,thu3 

 including Yarmouth, Hull, and the principal coal potts of Durham and 

 Northumberland, which, owing to the extraordinary increase in steam navi- 

 gation, are daily rising into greater importance. 



On the west coast we have personally inspected the rivers Lune, Wyre, 

 Rihble, and Dee ; and the ports of the Isle of Man, which, although of small 

 extent as harbours, become of consequence from their position in the centre 

 of the Irish Channel, and as the head-quarters of an extensive and increasing 

 tiihing trade. 



In Ireland we have been enabled to visit most of the ports and fishmg- 

 piers around the coast, and have been strongly impressed by a sense of the 

 great value of its natural harbours, their depth and capacity, and the extent 

 and capability for improvement of its fisheries, which, even in their present 

 itate, and with the fishery-piers often in ruins from neglect, afford employ- 

 ment to 19,880 vessels and boats, and 93,000 hardy fishermen. 



But these natural advantages are very far from having been turned to the 

 best account. 



The harbour of Dublin and the river Liffey offer an instructive example of 

 the correctness of this statement. Within the last 30 years many improve- 

 ments have taken place. The depth of water over the bar and up to the 

 city quavs has been increased several feet, by dredging, and by the bold 

 measure' of running out the great north wall. The tratKc and consequent 

 revenue of the port have more than doubled, and the latter has risen to 

 jE34,000 a yoar. Yet the evidence shows that the foundation of the quay 

 is generally so imperfect that they will not, in their present state, admit of 

 the river being further deepened; that the south quay, the resort of three- 

 fourths of the shipping of the port, is encumbered at its foot by heaps of 

 mud ; that the entrance into the grand canal dock is all but blocked up hy 

 sand-banks ; that there is a great want of graving docks ; that there is but 

 one pulilic crane ; that the port charges are very high ; and that the ballast, 

 of which, hy Act of Parliament, the ballast-office has a monopoly, and for 

 ■whi( h it charges about double the market price, is in many cases bad. 



The Isle of Man occupies an important position in the Irish Channel, di- 

 rectly in the track of commuication between Liverpool, Glasgow, and Bel- 

 fast, and of the coal trade from Whitehaven and Maryport to the whole of 

 the east coast of Ireland. It has been aptly termed the " Beacon of the 

 Irish Sea," and as such everything that care and skill can suggest, as to 

 lights, beacons, and improvement of its harbours, would be well bestowed, 

 »nd tend to prevent that recurrence of the numerous wrecks that have taken 

 place around its shores. Yet such is far from being now the case; on the 

 contrary (with the exception of the coast lights maintained by the Board in 

 Scotland), marked neglect prevails throughout ; and here the evils of irre- 

 dponsible, seif-elected authority are but too manifest, the commissioners 

 meeting onlv once a year to go through the form of auditing their own ac- 

 counts, keeping no regular minutes of their proceedings, and practically 

 leaving the whole power and authority in the hands of a single person. 



On the north-west coast of England, the river Lune and the port of Lan- 

 saster are capable of much improvement. 



The river Kiiible and port of Preston offer a proof also of the value of 

 skilful engineering, as applied to navigable rivers. Only five years since, 

 •pring tides rose hut six feet, and neap tides not at all, at Preston quay, so 

 that vessels were obliged to unload their cargoes at Lytham, near the mouth 

 of the river, and send them up to Preston in lighters or flats drawing but six 

 (cet of water ; whereas uow, by means of straightening the channel, »ud 



deepeLing its bed, spring tides rise ten feet, and vesiels of 200 tons, drawing 

 eleven feet of water, come up to the quay. 



It appears from the Parliamentary returns that the aggregate debt of the 

 several ports of the United Kingdom, exclusive of ducks in the port of Lon- 

 don, exceeds jLM.OOO. 000 sterling ; one-fourth part, therefore, of the whole 

 harbour income of £800,000 a year must be annually appropriated to pay 

 the interest of this ilebt, which will consequently materially cripple the 

 means for future improvements. This Uirge sum, although borrowed with the 

 sanction of the Legislature, has been laid out entirely by the several local 

 hoards, without the sli;;btest control being exercised over it either by Par- 

 liament, or by any other power specially charged to watch over the iuteresU 

 of the public. 



Among the numerous cases of the misapplication of the harbour fund?, 

 to whiih we have already had occasion to refer, the sura of more than 

 £28,000 expended last year in Parliamentary and legal expenses connected 

 with bills for the improvement of harbours, seems to your commission to b« 

 a most impolitic unnecessary outlay, and one which might he entirely pre- 

 vented hy the establishment of a Harbour Conservancy Board, such as we 

 have hiinihly ventured to submit for your Majesty's consideration. 



From the competition already commenced between railroads and the coasl- 

 ing shipping, we fear that unless immediate measures be taken to improve 

 the harbours and navigable rivers of this kingdom, and, where practicable, 

 to lessen the dues, a large portion of the goods which these vessels now 

 carry will soon he conveyed by the railroads rapidly extending to almost 

 every part of the coast. ' We would, therefore, strongly urge such assistance, 

 not only on economical hut on political grounds of the highest importance 

 to the mantiine interests of the kingdom, as the coasting trade has ever 

 been the best nursery for the hardy race of seamen who have so ably main- 

 tained the honour and power of the country. 



We alluded in our first report to the obstructions and shoals which so 

 seriously impede and endanger the navigation of the Thames, betwee» 

 Gravesend and London-bridge; all the additional informaiion and evidence 

 we have received since that report was presented, fully convince us of the 

 correctness of the opinions we then expressed, and we feel confident that, if 

 the various and frequently conflicting authorities to whose guardianship the 

 conservancy of this noble' river is entrusted, could be induced to co-operate 

 cordially in its improvement, and to carry on their operations jointly on one 

 sound and uniform system, the impediments which now discredit the local 

 administrations and endangered the commerce of the metropolis, might he 

 speedily and cheaply removed. And in strong corroboration of our own view 

 of this 'subject, we subjoin the following extract from the report of a select 

 committee of the House of Commons in the year 1836, specially appointed 

 to inquire into the state of the port of London: — 



"That this committee are of opinion that the various conflicting jutisdit- 

 tions and claims of the Admiralty, the Trinity House, and the Corporation 

 of the Citv of London over the river Thames heluw the bridges, have had a 

 most injurious effect upon the interests of navigation; that it is desirable 

 they should be consolidated and vested in some one responsible body, and 

 that means should be found to provide for the removal of shoals and ob- 

 structions in the bed of the river." 



All these facts and considerations induce us most earnestly to repeat the 

 recommendation, which we ventured dutifully to submit to your Majesty in 

 our former report, that all the tidal harbours in the United Kingdotu be 

 placed under the special care of a hoard of conservancy, to be formed under 

 the authority and provisions of an act of Parliament, being fully convinced 

 that any less stringent and decisive measures will be found wholly inadequate 

 for the accomplishment of the great national object which your Jh.jesty has 

 been graciouslv pleased to direct us to consider and examine. 

 ' All which we humbly certify to your Majesty, 



W. Bowles, Ke'ar-Admiral, M.P., Chairman. 



J. J. Gordon Bremer, Captain R.N. 



Joseph Hume, M.P. 



Aaron Chapman, M.P. 



Edward R. Rice, M.P. 



Thomas Baring, M.P. 



F. Beaufort, Hydrographer. 



G. B. Airy, Astronomer Royal. 

 John Washington, Captain R..N. 



Richard Godson, Q.C. and M.P., Counsel to the Admi- 

 ralty. 

 London, March 20, 1846.' 



The Valve of Smokf.. — A strikin;; instance of economic talent came !• 



our knowledge in the district of Alston Moor. From the smelting earths of one " honse," 

 nn arched tunnel conducts the smoke to an outlet at a distance from the work., id a 

 waste spot, where no one can complain of it. T]|9 gathering matter or " fume" resBltog 

 from the passage of the smoke is annually submitted to a process, hy which at thnt ti»e 

 it yielded enough to pay for the construction of a chimney. A slmilarlnnntl chimney 

 three n;lle» In length was erecting at Allenoale. Its fume will yield thousands of pounds 

 sterlinBP'rM'""". Truly, here it maybe said that smgk. doea ngt end in smoke.— 

 * British tjuarterly UcTiewr.* 



