346 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



LNoVEJIBEB, 



For the guidance of tliose who are interested in meteorology, I 

 suhjoin tlie results of my observations for the last (|uarter, iu the 

 form in which I usually print them for private distribution. 



Results deduced from Metenrutogkal O0'!ervutio>t.s. 



Taken at Mr. Drew's Observatory, Cumberland-place, Southampton, 



At 9 a.m., 3 p.m.. and 9 p.m. daily, during the months of April, May, and 

 June, 18o0. 



L.ititii'^e 50 dep. 't4 min. M sec. North; Longitude in ti-^e Oh. .'im. ;ir " sec. West. 

 Heiplit of Barometer above the mertti level of the sea, 5.7 feet; of the Therinometera 

 above the ground 4 feet 1* inches : aspect North. 



Fur the explanation of the mode of deducing the mean temperature, see Mr. Gla- 

 sliiwr's paper in the Philoaophital Transactions, part I., \^<AS. 



In estinialing the amount of vviiul, a calm is repiesenied as 0. a gale (5. 



In estiniiiiini< the portion of the sky occupied by clouds, a blue sky is represented by 

 0, a cl'/uritfd sky by In, at tlie time of observation. 



In the deduced results, which will be found useful for comparing the climate of South- 

 ampton with those pliices from which reports are sent to the Hegtsirar-General. the Haro- 

 meier reading, when coriected, may he considered as showint; the absohitp height of the 

 mercury nt a muan tem')erattire ••{ :<'d deg., after the application of various corrections, 

 including one which reduces It !■) the Koyal Society's st;indLir(!, with vvh ch the instru- 

 ment has been coniuared ; but no reduction of the sea level has been applied. 



For a full explanation of the various deductions, see Glaahier's Hygrometrical Tables* 

 an I the Report of the Koyal Society on Meteorology. 



THE GOVER.V.MENT AND PUBLIC ENTERPRISE. 



^V'E have often had occasion to point out the manner in whifli 

 the public interests are sacrificed by the government, more par- 

 ticularly as affecting public enterprise; but we know few instances 

 more flagrant than that of the claim of "foreshore." Is a sand to 

 he embanked.'' — a harbour constructed? — or a river improved.' — in 

 steps the claim of some government board for whatever land may 

 he recovered. This obstructive policy proves fatal on many occa- 

 sions; and the most valuable enterprises arc alianduiied. If the 

 government really representefl the ]>ublic, and discliarged the 

 duties incumbent upon it, it would be the most proper agency for 

 taking charge of land reclaimed, for t!ie very simple reason that 

 the government would, agreeably to its duty, recover every portion 

 of surface which could be made contributory towards the national 

 subsistence. The government of Iltdland thus takes charge of 

 tlie defensive works, and from time to time reclaims large tracts 

 of land, as is now going on in the Haarlem Sea. The government 

 of England does nothing of the kind; no public work of reclama- 

 tion does it carry out; from all does it take toll if it can. Not 

 content with mismanagement of tlie houses, woods, mines, and 

 lands belonging to the public domain, it sets up a usurping claim, 

 that all reclaimed land and tlie whole foreshore belongs to the 

 crown; whereas, historical evidence abundantly proves that the 

 crown could have no such rights, and that if any such existed, they 

 belonged to the townships, the community at large, or such mem- 

 bers as took possession of waste and reclaimed it. By land, 

 the pulilic rights are contested by the government; and iiy river 

 and sea the same invasion extends. If Stephenson proposes a 

 bridge over the Menai, or Brunei one over the Severn, the Admi- 

 ralty steps in and prescribes conditions supposed to be impossible 

 of fulfilment. Indeed, tlie conditions proposed to Robert Ste- 

 phenson might have figured in the Thousand and One Nights, or 



the collection of the Comtesse D'Anois, as those proflfered to some 

 laborious gin or subtle fairy. 



The reclamation of land is proposed in the M'ash, Morecambe 

 Bay, the Duddon, Loughs Swilly and Foyle, the River Dee, 

 Langston Harbour, and many others. Yet, who knows of any 

 countenance given liy the government to undertakings which will 

 add to the country one hundred thousand acres of the richest soil, 

 and yield food for nearly half-a-million of people.' The Norfolk 

 Estuary plan, now at length about to be begun, requires only a 

 relatively small capital; but so far from the government contri- 

 buting towards the funds, it has been the obstacle in the way of 

 their being raised The corporation of Lynn contributes 60,000/., 

 the landowners of the neighbourhood a large sum — but what does 

 the government contribute.'' Here, six and thirty thousand acres 

 will be brought under cultivation, and the cultivation and naviga- 

 tion of millions of acres in the upland will be improved. This is 

 a case, one would think, urgent on the government of a rich 

 country, and which levies such a large amount of taxes for unpro- 

 ductive purposes. 



Look at Birkenhead. There the government actually attempted 

 to mulct the parties of 100,000/., although it had refused to contri- 

 bute a halfpenny towards the reclamation of the foreshore to 

 which it propounded a title. 



In the instance of Morecambe Bay — which, though not the 

 original project of George Stephenson, remained his favourite 

 undertaking to the last day — when it was proposed to reclaim 

 above thirty thousand acres, and when even the freeholders and 

 lords of the manner had given way; when the Duke of Buccleuch 

 and the Earl of Burlington had given their sanction, the twogovern- 

 ment departments of the U'oods and Forests and the Duchy of 

 Lancaster, each set up a conflicting claim to the whole, and the 

 Admiralty interposed to set up hindrances. .411 the noble lords, and 

 others promoting the undertaking, could get from the government 

 was, that they might reclaim the land if they got the consent 

 in parliament of the A\'oods and Forests, the Duchy of Lancaster, 

 and the Admiralty; and the government would then see what it 

 would take as its share. This was so futile that the promoters of 

 the plan were at that time forced to abandon it. 



The result was this, that whereas an embankment carried right 

 across the bay would have borne a short line of railway, and taken 

 in a great area of soil, the railway actually made has been succes- 

 sively altered in its plans, so as to hug the land, and sacrifice the 

 original objects of the project. 



Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle present no more encouraging 

 results. A considerable sum has been expended; but though a 

 small amount of government aid would ensure success, the under- 

 takings remain in abeyance. Solvent contractors are willing, on 

 low terms, to execute the necessary works for embanking the slob; 

 but in the depression of all public undertakings the company 

 cannot obtain capital, and the government will not lend it. 



At present the government is engaged in a long Chancery suit, 

 to wrest from the Corporation of London its long-possessed jurisdic- 

 tion over the banks and bed of the river Thames; though no one 

 thinks tlie government would manage the river better than the 

 corporation. Indeed, had the latter the proper powers, it might 

 effect the embankment of the river throughout its course, and 

 remedy evils which are attributable solely to the obstructiveness 

 of the government, wliich does not leave freedom of action to the 

 corporation. 



Half-educated politicians may doubt the value of railways, 

 canals, docks, harbours, and other works, which they consider only 

 promote distribution; but they are forced to allow that every acre 

 added to the surface of these islands is an addition to our means 

 of production. To increase these means of production is one of 

 the first duties of a community and a government : and no prac- 

 tii-al man who has ever examined the (juestion fails to recognise 

 that abundant opportunities exist for the proper application of the 

 labour and resources of the nation on many parts of our coasts. 

 So long, however, as the fictions of lawyers, and the unfounded 

 claims of government departments are allowed to stand in the way, 

 these resources must remain in abeyance, and the progress ot 

 improvement limit itself to the single or ievr fields reclaimed by 

 tlie landcjuner, who is not forced to come into contact witli the 

 government or the legislature. The present state of matters 

 constitutes a grievance which prevents the a|)plication of h}-draulic 

 engineering and the development of the national resources. 



