TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 683 



principles which govern the administration of the law of running water : principles 

 identical mainly with that of our own Common Law. vSome of these related to 

 fishing, watering cattle, to the interruption of navigation of lakes, canals, and ponds, 

 to the preservation of the water supply, to the repairs of river banks, and to the 

 regulation of the summer and winter flow of what were termed public rivers. It 

 was enacted among other things, that nothing should be done to the stream or banks 

 of a public river, whereby the flow should be altered from its state in the preceding 

 summer. 



The earliest record in our own Statute Law of any enactment relating to rivers 

 is that contained in 25 Edward III. c. 4, which legalised all " gorces, mills, wears, 

 stanks, stakes, and kiddles " of a date previous to " the reign of his grandfather 

 Edward I. by which the common passage de neefs et batelx en les grantz rivers 

 d'Engleterre be oftentimes annoyed," and ordered the immediate pulling down of 

 all such erections which were of a later date. 



From that time, until the enactment of Henry VIIL, there were various laws 

 passed, chiefly relating to the navigations and rights of mills, and occasionally to 

 the preservation of fish. After Henry VIII . very many private Acts and Charters 

 granting powers for the drainage and reclamation of lands, for improvement of 

 navigation, and matters of a similar kind, were passed from time to time. A great 

 number also of Royal Commissions and Select Committees have conducted 

 enquiries, and made reports upon most of the various branches of the subject, e.g. 

 the pollution of rivers, the water supply, arterial drainage, navigation, fisheries, 

 &c, but, until the appointment last year of the Select Committee presided 

 over by the Duke of Richmond, no attempt, as far as I am aware, has been made 

 to grapple with the question as a whole, and the Report made by them to the 

 House of Lords omitted to deal with, at least, two of the objects I have indicated 

 as being necessary to the proper consideration of the subject. 



The recommendations made in the Report of that Committee were most im- 

 portant, and they will, if carried out, remote many of the difficulties which stand 

 in the way of a complete system of conservancy of our rivers. 



So much has been written on the engineering details of this subject, by 

 men far better qualified than I am to deal with them, that I shall confine myself to 

 the simple statement of the principles which have been recognised by the chief 

 authorities as essential, and to a few suggestions, which my own experience leads 

 me to think may be of some value. Almost all the great engineers of former 

 generations, who have paid attention to this question, Smeaton, Telford, Rennie, 

 Golborne, Mylne, Walker, Rendel, Stephenson, Jessop, Chapman, Beardmore, and 

 without mentioning names, many of the most eminent now living, have agreed to 

 the following general propositions : 



That the freer the admission of the tidal water, the better adapted is the river 

 for all purposes, whether of navigation, drainage, or fisheries. 



That its sectional area and inclination should be made to suit the required 

 carrying power of the river throughout its entire length, both for the ordinary flow 

 of the water, and for floods. 



That the downward flow of the upland water should be equalised as much as 

 possible throughout the entire year; and 



That all abnormal contaminations should be removed from the streams. 



In carrying out these principles, it is perhaps superfluous to say, that modifica- 

 tions must be introduced to suit the particular phenomena of each river. In some 

 watershed areas, it would be easy to construct reservoirs, which would to a great 

 extent equalise the flow and reduce floods. In others it might be better to con- 

 trol the floods by means of embankments. In others, to have weirs, and sluices, 

 delivering into side channels, parallel to the main stream, with the same object. 

 Sometimes reservoirs, or receptacles, must be made for catching the debris brought 

 down by the streams. In fact, every river must be treated as a separate entity. 

 It is therefore, necessary that a systematic collection of data, relating to rainfall, 

 the geological character of the gathering ground, and the volume of each separate 

 stream, should be made for each watershed area ; and this should be carried on for 

 a sufficient length of time to enable a fairly correct estimate to be formed of the 



