34 Revieica — Royal Commission on Coast Erosion. 



li E -V I E -W S. 



I. — RorAr. Commission on Coast Erosion. 



Minutes of Evidence and Appendices thereto accompanying the Eirst 

 Report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into and 

 to report on certain questions affecting Coast Erosion and the 

 Reclamation of Tidal Lands in the United Kingdom. Vol. i, 

 parts 1 and 2. 1907. 



rpHE Commission was appointed on July 9th, 1906, and its first 

 X meeting was held on July 24th. The members comprise the 

 Hon. Ivor C. Gviest, M.P. (Chairman), Sir William H. B. ffolkes, 

 Bart., Sir Leonard Lyell, Bart., Sir William Matthews, K.C.M.G., 

 W. P. Beale, Esq., K.C., M.P., F.G.S., Commander G. C. 

 Frederic, R.N.. H. Rider Haggard, Esq., Professor T. J. Jehu, M.D., 

 A. L. Lever, Esq., M.P., R. B. Nicholson, Esq. (Town Clerk of 

 Lowestoft), P. O'Brien, Esq., M.P., T. Summerbell, Esq., M.P., and 

 A. S. Wilson, Esq., M.P. 



The Terms of Reference were as follows : — 



To inquire and report — 



(a) As to the encroachment of the sea on various parts of the Coast of the 

 United Kingdom, and the damage which has heen or is likely to be caused 

 thereby ; and what measures are desirable for the prevention of such damage : 



(b) Whether any further powers should be conferred upon Local Authorities 

 and owners of property with a view to tlie adoption of effective and systematic 

 schemes for the protection of the Coast and the banks of tidal rivers : 



(c) Whether any alteration of the law is desirable as regards the management 

 and control of the foreshore : 



(d) Whether further facilities should be given for the reclamation of tidal 

 lands. 



Part 1 of the Eirst Report (5 pp., price Id.) merely gives the 

 notification of the issue of the Commission, and a statement that 

 27 meetings had heen held and 56 witnesses examined. Part 2 

 contains Minutes of Evidence, with Index, 504 pp. ; and Appendices 

 with Index, 516 pp. (price 8s. 9(1.). Here, indeed, is abundant, nay 

 voluminous, material for study in the form of 11,367 questions and 

 answers, and copious appendices. 



Ofiicers of the Board of Trade, of H.M. Woods and Eorests, the 

 Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, the Board of Agriculture and 

 Ordnance Survey, the Local Government Board, and the Geological 

 Survey were examined ; likewise sundry local officials, other pro- 

 fessional geologists and engineers. 



'I'here is no doubt that great and serious erosion is taking place along 

 certain portions of the coast of England, notably between Bridlington 

 and Kilnsea in Holderness ; at Cromer, Happisburgh, and Caistor 

 in north-east Norfolk; at Lowestoft, Kessingland, Paliefield, and 

 Southwold in Suffolk ; in Essex and Kent ; at Rottiugdean in Sussex ; 

 at Freshwater in the Isle of Wight ; by Poole Harbour and at Lyme 

 Regis in Dorset ; and at Watchet in Somerset. 



Remarkable evidence was, however, given hj Colonel R. C. Hellard, 

 Director General of the Ordnance Survey, to the effect that during the 

 past 20 to 25 years there has been an actual gain of land of rateable 



