118 W. WItitaker — Geology of Coasts of England and Wajes. 



only be rightly done on a comparativ^ely large scale, with a large 

 amount of combination between landowners, local authorities, and 

 perhaps some more central body. I do not see, however, that the last 

 point can be pushed to what may seem its logical end, that is, universal 

 protection, for reasons now to be given. 



In the first place, the land of much of our sea-bord is of little value, 

 as land ; often, indeed, the cost of effective protection would be many 

 times that value. In such a case, of course, it would be a losing game 

 to make such protective works as would be needed, unless by so doing 

 the protection of some far more valuable or important parts in the 

 neighbourhood could be aided by the protection of the comparatively 

 valueless land, as far as is possible. On the other hand, it is equally 

 possible that the protection of the less important part might add to the 

 difficulty of dealing with the more important. It is not always that a 

 coast-town can do all the work needed for its security within its own 

 boundary, neither has such a town power to stop or to control work, 

 beyond its boundary, that may be harmful. 



Again, were protection practically universal, if it could be for a time, 

 what would happen ? Clearly no fresh, material for the formation of 

 beach would be brought to the shore from the cliffs, and there would 

 be nothing to replace wear and tear of the constantly moving beach. 

 Moreover, the steady movement of beach along the shore, in given, 

 directions, would result in its I)eing swept away from certain parts, 

 which would then be left in a state more fully open to the action of 

 the' sea, so that their defences might be overstrained and broken, 

 when rapid erosion would probably set in. 



As regards those parts of the coast which are composed of hard 

 rocks, generally speaking, protection is needless, and moreover would 

 often be impossible. Sometimes there is little or no shore, the cliffs 

 being in places reached by the sea at all states of the tide, or nearly 

 so ; so that protective works could hardly be made. Moreover, it is 

 from the comparatively slight waste of the cliffs of hard rock that 

 some material is provided for the natural protection, by beach, of other 

 and more attackable parts of the coast. 



I think, therefore, that in the first place efforts should be directed 

 to the ijrotection of the more important parts of the coast, such as 

 where there are towns and villages. The towns, of course, have done 

 much work in this way and often with great success ; but it seems to 

 have become essential to extend the work far beyond their boundaries, 

 and the spirit of parochialism should be exorcised in this matter. 

 Harbours and the mouths of rivers naturally fall into this class. 



There are parts of the coast where, as a rule, little interference is 

 needed, that is, in the large low alluvial tracts. In such cases as the 

 Wash it has paid in the past to do large works of enclosure (so as to 

 reclaim land) and to make seaward defences for that land. Presumably, 

 therefore, it will pay in the future to keep those defences in order, 

 and in some cases also to extend the work of reclamation. Land so 

 gained is of value and can pay for itself ; but here, too, there may be 

 need of concerted action. Well thought out large schemes will be 

 better and cheaper than patchwork. 



