16 H. D. WALSH. 



where it rises in places above low water and dips towards 

 the western channel carrying not more than twenty-six 

 feet of water for some six hundred feet west of the beacon, 

 its removal to give a depth of even thirty-three feet would 

 therefore be a work of very considerable magnitude. We 

 have no record of any vessel having grounded on this reef 

 since the schooner " Isabel " touched there some eight or 

 or nine years ago, and she was towed off by the Pilot 

 steamer without damage, so that the reef has certainly 

 not proved itself a danger to navigation, and I am strongly 

 of opinion that its removal would from an engineering 

 point of view be a serious mistake. 



At present this natural training wall guides both the 

 ebb and flood tide down the eastern channel, thus creating 

 a uniform scour sufficient to keep it deep enough for our 

 shipping requirements at a very small cost. In other 

 harbour entrances breakwaters have been constructed at 

 a great cost to effect the object that this natural guide 

 wall now serves. The removal of the Sow and Pigs reef 

 wouldtundoubtedly reduce the scour in the Eastern Channel, 

 with the result that frequent dredging would be necessary 

 to obtain the requisite depth for the safe navigation of the 

 harbour. 



Another much debated question in this State is that of 

 the improvements of our river entrances and bar harbours. 

 The coast line of New South Wales extends nearly north 

 and south for a distance of some 610 miles, and marine 

 works have, up to this time, been designed and started in 

 connection with nineteen river entrances and estuaries, 

 but in very few cases have any of these works been carried 

 out to completion as rapidly or in the manner that would 

 ensure the best results. This has not been the fault of 

 any of the many able engineers who have had to deal with 

 these works in the past nor of the Ministers presiding from 



