and Proposed Works for its Improvement 119 



passes from London in its course to the German Ocean; with 

 this disadvantage, we have here no corresponding lift of 

 tide to give us the scouring power which exists in the 

 River Thames. 



In reference to the condition of the river and the low 

 lying lands between Emerald Hill and Melbourne, Mr. 

 Gordon has very justly remarked, that in the case of heavy 

 floods we are in a worse position now than on the occasion 

 of the disastrous 14th December, 1863. 



The remedy I propose for the above evils is, the removal 

 of Raleigh and Cole's, and the Australian wharves, and 

 widening the river basin to 1000 feet to below the Gas- 

 works, and cutting an entirely new channel ] 000 feet wide 

 from the Queen's Wharf basin in the direction of Stoney 

 Creek, entering the bay at the old embouchure at Williams- 

 town, and removing the whole of the stone dykes con- 

 structed at the lower end of the Yarra, and deepening the 

 river, to give not less than 20 feet at lowest tide. Such a 

 width of channel would give ample space for the outflow of 

 flood waters, and the drawback of deposit must be met by 

 dredging. Many have objected to the length of the new 

 channel, and no doubt such objections will be strengthened 

 by the extreme width and depth proposed ; but when it is 

 borne in mind that every yard of material excavated is 

 highly valuable as a means of reclaiming land, which at 

 present is worse than useless, such objections ought to be 

 allowed to fall to the ground. 



On the western side of the Gasworks, a water float 

 excavated as shown would not only accommodate a large 

 trade, but afford materials for reclamation of land which at 

 present is but a noxious swamp ; and in lieu of a pestilential 

 marsh, give us land worth from five to six thousand pounds 

 per acre. 



By extending the eastern wall of the river at the entrance 

 as shown, the current would be confined to its proper 

 channel, and check deposit in the bay from that source ; 

 whilst on the east, from a point a little below the present 

 lagoon at Sandridge, a wall carried out over the rocky shoal 

 into five-fathom water would check the littoral drift from 

 the south and east. The lagoon at Sandrido-e should be 

 converted into a dock, as shown, with an entrance from the 

 harbour, the materials from which dock would reclaim land 

 equal in value to the cost of construction. 



On the Williamstown shore the river current should be 



