HARBOUR ACCOMMODATION IN THE WEST. 
155 
Our member, Mr. R. N. Worth, in his researches as to Hawkins 
and Drake, and our own town of Plymouth, has also afforded us 
more prosaic but exceedingly interesting peeps of the maritime 
activity of the past. 
The gigantic strides made by our railway system were ably laid 
before this Society some time since by our member, Mr. P. 
Stewart Macliver, and I need not recapitulate figures, which after 
all convey no adequate conception of this our most vital and 
complicated engine of civilization. The varied functions which 
the railway system performs socially and economically are known 
more or less to all, and their vastness admitted ; but our maritime 
or shipping interest is less generally thought of, although this in- 
dustry has advanced of late years " on all fours " with the railway 
system, and it is one wdiich as time goes on will claim more attention 
than it receives even at present. It certainly is one where ex- 
perience and science progress at an increasing rate, and where the 
unexplored fields of applied science are larger than most imagine. 
The real subject for this evening's consideration is the means by 
which these two immense but perfectly distinct interests — the 
"land carriage " and the " sea carriage " — are brought into contact, 
how the one can be improved and be the complement of the other, 
and thus complete the chain of communication. Particularly 
speaking, the improvement of the harbours on our coasts means 
the accomplishment of three objects. Firstly, the connecting the 
land carriage and the water carriage ; secondly, the saving of a 
large number of lives and a great amount of property annually ; 
and thirdly, the development of the fishing industry, which is in 
fact the creating of an immense field for the absorption of labour, 
second in importance only in the economy of the State to the 
agricultural interests. 
A glance at the chart, showing the wrecks and casualties on the 
coasts of England and Wales during the five years — from July, 
1877, to July, 1882 — which I have taken from the last report 
published, shows the casualties which have occurred during that 
period. You will observe that the various marks indicating- 
casualties are very thickly placed on our own coast, especially 
between the Start and the Scilly Isles ; but I shall have occasion 
to refer to this more particularly further on. I may mention that 
on this map the names of every harbour, port, or place frequented 
