ON THE EROSION OF THE SEA-COASTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. 3oo 



made since 1887. The three Reports published were edited by the late 

 Mr. W. Topley, whose loss your Committee have deeply to deplore, as 

 doubtless his judgment would have greatly aided them in formulating 

 the resolutions embodied in this Report, in tiie production of whicli they 

 are also deprived by death of two of their former Chairmen, Sir John 

 Hawkshaw and Mr. Granthan;. 



In the preliminary Report of your Committee in 1884 it was stated 

 that ' the importance of the subject referred to ' them ' for investigation 

 is universally admitted, and the urgent need for inquiry is apparent to 

 all who have any acquaintance with the changes which are in progress 

 around our coasts. The subject is a large one, and can only be success- 

 fully attacked by many observers working with a common purpose and 

 upon some uniform plan.' Since that date important changes have taken 

 place, affecting both divisions of the reference of inquiry. The success 

 of the British Association in initiating the investigation of the more 

 important subjects now being undertaken by the provincial corresponding 

 scientiiic societies has resulted in offers of assistance from an increasing 

 number of observei-s able and willing to collect facts locally all over the 

 United Kingdom ; and your Committee are of opinion that the necessity 

 for their existence has ceased, and that the work could be successfully 

 carried on by local effort. The local information, however, so acquired 

 cannot be readily obtained for public purposes when only locally published, 

 and it appears to them that the corresponding societies might usefully 

 furnish their results annually to some department of the public service. 



Your Committee, nevertheless, consider that, valuable as would be 

 the results obtained locally in some districts by the local scientific 

 societies, there are large areas where no such societies exist, and many 

 where they might not care to undertake the work ; and, further, that the 

 work, however well carried out, is, in some cases, simply the noting of 

 the erosion of coasts, the destruction of churches, forts, villages, and 

 coastguard stations which they are powerless to prevent. They are of 

 opinion that the abstract of information obtained, herewith appended, is 

 amply sufficient to show the imperial necessity of preserving the area of 

 this country from the inroads of the sea in an efficient manner. It also 

 proves that the work of devastation is largely aided by artificial opera- 

 tions of two classes : Jlrst, the abstraction and selling of shingle, sand, 

 cement- stone, and other rocks ; second, by badly designed preservation 

 works, sea-walls without sufficient land ties or concrete backing, and with 

 bad foundations and ill-designed slopes ; groynes of unsuitable material, 

 incorrect construction, and improper direction to meet the storm-waves 

 at such angle as to arrest and detain the shingle brought to them. 



As pointed out by Mr. Redman in 1885, the legal aspect of the case is 

 ably brought out in Hall's 'Essay on the Rights of the Crown to the 

 Sea-shore,' republished in 1875 by Mr. Loveland Loveland, of the Inner 

 Temple, from which it appears that the ' dominion or ownership over the 

 British seas, vested by law in the King, extends not only over the open 

 seas, but also over all creeks, arms of the seas, havens, ports, and tidal 

 rivers, as far as the reach of the tide,' and, further, ' is not confined to the 

 mere usufruct of the water and the maritime jurisdiction, but it includes 

 the very fundum or soil at the bottom of the sea.' And it is further 

 stated that ' with regard to the "constant and usual fetching of sea sand, 

 seaweed, and gravel, between the high-water and low-water mark, and 

 licensing others so to do, and embanking against the sea, and enjoyment 

 1895. _^v A 



