138 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



was content "if the Lord Mayor would make proper application to 

 him and to him only," to grant a lease of a Ballast Office to the city of 

 Dublin for a term of years, provided that the surplus of the port dues 

 should be applied to the benefit of the Blue Coat School in the 

 manner already mentioned. The objections then raised by the 

 Admiralty were combated in a very vigorous letter addressed to 

 Lord Sunderland, the Secretary of State, in which it was pointed out 

 that the sand and soil whence the ballast was to be taken was the 

 inheritance of the city of Dublin, which by several charters had the 

 jurisdiction of the Admiralty granted to it, notwithstanding which the 

 city would be willing to waive all such rights and take a lease from the 

 Lord High Admiral, were it not that powers under an Act of Parlia- 

 ment were absolutely necessary, as a means of obviating the difficulty 

 raised by Prince George, to enforce payment of harbour dues.^ And 

 in token of the readiness of the city to admit the claims of the 

 Admiralty, an offer was made on the part of the Corporation to 

 add to the bill a clause saving the Admiralty jurisdiction, by pro- 

 viding in the following quaint teinns for the city's " yielding and 

 paying therefor and thereout to His Royal Highness Prince George 

 of Denmark, Lord High Admiral of Great Britain, and to his 

 successors. Lord High Admirals of the same, one hundred yards 

 of best Holland duck, that shall be made or manufactured within 

 the realm of Ireland, at the Admiralty Office of London on 

 every first day of January for ever hereafter." The solution thus 

 ])ropcped was accepted by the Admiralty, and the heads of the bill 

 having been approved in England, there was passed through the 

 Irish Parliament in 1707 the statute of the 6th Anne, chapter 20, 

 entitled, "An Act for Cleansing the Port, Harbour, and Paver of 

 Dublin, and for erecting a Ballast Office in the said City." 



The minute-book acquired by the Academy contains the record 

 of the steps first taken to put this Act in motion, and must form the 

 materials for the fii'st chapter in any history of the Ballast Office, or 

 of its successor, the Port and Docks Board (see Appendix I.). 



11. — Oeigi:n of the Dublin Chahbek of Comkehce. 



Xo record exists of the circumstances under which oiu' Dublin 

 Chamber of Commerce was' founded, and inquiries recently instituted 

 regarding its origin show that, save in so far as they are contained in 



' Lublin Corpoialion Eecoids, vol. vi. p. 621. 



