TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 687 



conferred on local authorities by the Rivers Pollution and Prevention Act." It 

 will also he necessary that their powers should extend to the carrying out of any 

 Acts passed or to be passed for the protection of the fisheries. 



With regard to what is probably the most important point of all, the finding 

 of the money necessary to carry out these recommendations, the Committee advo- 

 cate the introduction of a new principle of taxation, the soundness of which cannot 

 •be questioned. Instead of the principle first introduced by the statute of Henrv the 

 Eighth, and observed ever since, of levying taxes in proportion to the direct benefit 

 conferred, the Committee propose that the rates should be distributed over the whole 

 area of a watershed, including not only the lands, but the towns and houses and 

 all other property situate within that area. This is in fact no more than a general 

 application of the law of highways, which in the time of the Eomans, according 

 to Justinian, applied equally to waterways. It is perfectly just that every acre, 

 the drainage of which contributes to the flow of the streams and rivers of every 

 watershed area, should, in some proportion or other, contribute also to the cost of 

 maintaining the channels of those streams and rivers in an efficient state. The 

 incidence of the taxation must of course, as has been pointed out, be determined 

 by the circumstances of each particular case, but there is no doubt that the con- 

 clusion of the Duke of Richmond's Committee, that " the taxation should be levied 

 on the basis of rateable value," is the only sound, and at the same time practical, 

 way of dealing with this difficulty. 



The word " taxation " is not, I fear, generally connected with any idea of profit to 

 the individual taxpayer. But in this case, as I hope in the course of this address 

 I have made clear, it is probable that the prevention of large present losses, and the 

 advantages gained by an improved system, will give not only a fair but an ample 

 return on the capital expended. 



It is my firm belief that an intelligent management of watershed areas would 

 be compatible with an absolute profit to every interest affected ; that we have here 

 no question of give and take, but that in this, as in every other case, the laws 

 of Nature, under proper and scientific regulation, can be made subservient to the 

 needs of the highest civilisation. 



The following Papers were read : — 



1. On River Control. By J. Clarke Hawkshaw. 



The author, after alluding to the growing importance of the question of river 

 control, pointed out the difficulties with which engineers have to contend when 

 called upon to deal with rivers piecemeal, owing to the divided jurisdiction to which 

 the rivers of this country are subject, and to the want of systematic observations on 

 them. The different j urisdictions to which the river Witham is subject were given as 

 an example. He then endeavoured to show that the works required for the purpose 

 of land_ drainage, navigation, and water supply were so connected that they should 

 be carried out under one authority. In conclusion, he advocated the appointment 

 of a commission for each river basin, with powers to carry out works, and to rate 

 all the land in the drainage area for that purpose ; the rate to be an equal rate 

 levied on all the land, whether covered by buildings or not, according to its annual 

 value, with the exception of lands liable to floods, which should be rated at a higher 

 rate until the works for prevention of the floods were carried out. 



2. On the Effect of River or Arterial Drainage Works upon River Floods. 

 By James Dillon, Mem. Inst. C.E.I. 



In this paper the author pointed out the large amount of damage done to pro- 

 perties in different countries by river floods overflowing their banks, such as the 

 Thames, Shannon, and other large rivers, and although much had been done 

 throughout the country to prevent flooding, still much remained to be done. It 

 was shown that year by year the applications for loans of money to carry out river 



