604 
PRESENT STATE OF GLASGOW. 
one hour. A few years a^o the harbour 
was only 730 feet lon^ on one side ; 
whereas it is now 3340 feet lon^ on the 
north side of the river, and ] 260 on the 
south. Till of late years there were only 
a few punts and ploughs for the purpose 
of dredging the river ; now there are 4 
dredging machines, with powerful steam 
apparatus, aed 2 diving bells Till 1834, 
the river and harbour dues were annu- 
ally disposed of by public sale, but now 
they are collected by the trustees, con- 
sisting of the members of the Town 
Council, and five merchants appointed 
by them. 
Amount of Revenue, Expenditure, and 
Debt. 
Date. Revenue. Expenditure, Debt. 
^tuT 0 10 ^2,680 4 ll ^>2,533 4 \ 
1836 31,910 19 3 29,609 13 11 121,003 l3 9 
It appears from the evidence of Mr. 
James Russel, harbour master for the 
department of steam vessels, before a 
Committee of the House of Commons, 
in May, 1836, that there were 75 stea- 
mers plying to and from Glasgow, 
tonnage 688,568, and that during 1835 
there were 8101 arrivals of steamers, 
twenty of them of the largest class, and 
some of these about 200 feet long (equal 
in length to frigates of the first class). 
Amount of Customs Duties collected at 
Glasgow in Years ended 6th January. 
Year. Duties. 
Year. 
Duties 
S. 
d. 
£- 
s. 
d. 
1812. 
...3,124 
2 
182.5.. 
..41,154 
6 
7 
lS13. 
...7,511 
6 
5^ 
1826.. 
..78,658 
1.1 
8^ 
1814., 
. ..7,119 
12 
8| 
1827 . 
..71,929 
8 
04 
1815 , 
...8,300 
4 
1828 .. 
..74,265 
0 
n 
1816 . 
.. 8,492 
9 
2| 
1829.. 
..70,964 
8 
4 
1S17., 
. .8,290 
18 
1830.. 
..59,013 
17 
3 
1818 . 
. . 6, 802 
1 
3 
1831.. 
..72,053 
17 
4 
1819.. 
..8,384 
3 
4 
1832.. 
..68,741 
5 
9 
1820.. 
. 1 1 , ooo 
6 
9 
1833.. 
97,041 
ll 
ll 
1831 . 
.16, 147 
19 
0 
1834.. 
.199,913 
3 
3 
1899 . 
16, 847 
17 
7 
1835.. 
.270,667 
8 
9 
1823.. 
.22, 7 ’.8 
17 
2^ 
1336.. 
.314,701 
10 
8 
1821.. 
, .29,926 
15 
0 
It is probable, from present appear- 
ances, that the duties for 1837 will 
amount to 400,000Z. 
Steam Vessels. — The whole race of 
steam propeling projectors having left 
the field one by one, without being able 
to effect the object of their ambition, the 
ground was occupied by Mr. Henry 
Bell, who was bred a house carpenter. 
Having a turn for mechanics, and a 
great desire to follow out what others had 
abandoned, he employed Messers. John 
Wood & Co. of Port Glasgow, to build 
a boat for him, which he called the 
Comet, and having himself made a 
steam-engine of three horse power, he 
applied the paddles. After several ex- 
periments, the Comet plyed from Glas- 
gow to Greenock, on the 18th January, 
18 12, and made five miles an hour against 
a head wind, while in a short time, by 
simply increasing her power, she went 
seven miles an hour. This was the 
first vessel that was successfully pro- 
pelled on a navigable river in Europe ; 
and it is very remarkable, that notwith- 
standing the great progress in mecha- 
nical science, no improvement has yet 
been made on Mr. Bell’s principle, al- 
though numerous efforts have been 
made, here and elsewhere, for that pur- 
pose. It is true, that boats go swifter 
now than formerly, but the propelling 
system remains the same. — All the new 
boats, either for the out sea or river 
trade are of greater engine power, and 
are much more splendidly fitted up for 
the accommodation of passengers. The 
speed is also greatly improved. The 
Liverpool steam-boats, in 1831. were 
thought to have made good passages, 
when they performed the rup from Li- 
verpool to Greenock, a distance of 220 
miles in twenty-four to twenty-six hours. 
It is now done much sooner. On Wed- 
nesday, 24th June, 1835, the City of 
Glasgow steam-packet left Greenock 
and arrived in Liverpool, in the unpre- 
cedented short period of seventeen hours 
and ffty five minntes ; and the steam- 
packet Manchester left the Clarence 
Dock, Liverpool, on Monday evening 
the 15th DecemlDer, 1834, and arrived 
in Glasgow, a distance of 240 miles, 
discharged and loaded her cargoes, and 
was back again in the same dock, with- 
in the short period of sixty hours. 
The cabin fares of the river boats, 
are rather less than one penny per mile, 
and those of the out sea packets rat^i er 
more. The fare from Glasgow to Liver- 
pool is IZ. 55. 
Stage Coaches. — Stage coaches were 
first introduced into Scotland in 1678* 
On the 6th August, in that year, Pro- 
vost Campbell and the other Magistra- 
tes of Glasgow contracted with William 
Hume, of Edinburgh, that he should 
run a coach between Edinburgh and 
Glasgow, a distance of 42 miles. The 
following is an abstract of the inden- 
ture, which is rather curious. Hume 
engaged with all diligence to run a 
coach with six able horses, to leave 
Edinburgh every Monday morning, and 
return (God willing) every Saturday 
