The Sun.
London, England, 1837-09-15 00:00:00

PORT OF BALLINA.

We understand that the Committee for improving the
port of Ballina and the navigation of the Moy river, are now
actively engaged in taking the necessary steps to attain the
accomplishment of this most desirable objr-ct. Mr. Wm.
Bald, civil engineer, has been for some time examining the
ship channel of the Moy, and we are informed ('.rat consider-
able improvements can be effected at a moderate expense.
The channel is capable of being made much more direct,
and even deeper, which would tend to increase and preserve
the depth of water on the Moy bar. The principle of the
improvement of this harbour is, to permit as great a flow of
the tidal waters inwards as possible, thereby increasing the
scouring power seawards ; and also to give a better regu-
lated velocity and direction to the ebbing and flowing cur-
rent in the navigable channel of the river.
Mr. Bald has strongly recommended a lighthouse to be
erected on the most eastern of the Carrig Phadrick rocks,
and a distinguishing round tower on the most western and
seaward of this extensive and dangerous reef of rocks, which
lie on the west side of the Bay of Kilalla, and within one
mile of Poulaclogar, where the French army landed under
General Humbert. The erection of a lighthouse and
tower ou the Carrig Phadrick rocks would be of great and
important service to the floating wealth and safety of the
navigator when overtaken by tempest and storm on these
shores. Indeed, the want of a lighthouse has been long felt
by the shipping on this coast.
Looking at the seaward position of the Moy as a har-
bour, and the prevailing south-westerly winds, it offers vast
facilities to commercial intercourse with the ports of Glas-
gow and Liverpool.

The great capabilities of this interesting portion of Ireland,
its fertility, the extent of unconnected existing natural lake
and river navigation, requiring little to connect them, offer
greater facilities than any other part of Ireland to the ex-
tension of inland navigation, and at a comparatively small
expense—the long and inviting level reaches of the Moy,
of the Turlough river, and the navigation of the Lough
Conn, being more that; twenty miles in length. If this lake,
with its navigable rivers, were connected to Ballina and the
stnary of the Moy, a very considerable traffic would spring
up, its the export of timber, turf fuel, sandstone, grariite, of
which there is an abundance of the most beautiful and du-
rable kind perhaps to be found in any part of the world, from
the dark grey to the bright Egyptian red, so much admired.
The many capabilities which this country presents calls
forth rcil •ctions of regret that it has been so very long
neglected, and which so very little would improve, and
make it even productive in point of revenue to the State,
and also to the trading and manufacturing interests.
Considering the water power of the Moy alone, fed by a
basin of more than 900 square miles of country, presenting
falls of twelve, fifteen, and thirteen feet, capable, under
proper management, of working machinery to RR extent of
power eqiiivalent to half the force of all the steam-engines
i❑ the city of Glasgow—Lough Conn, with an area of
14,000 acres, and a fall of nearly forty feet to low water
level, could be readily governed by dam and sluice, and con-
verted into an immense water power. And, besides, there
is a tract of country adjoining this rich and beautiful dis-
tract, stretching towards the western shores of Erris, of
more than 200,000 acres, consisting of undrained and un-
cultivated wastes, mostly all lying on limestone and lime-
stone gravel, possessing ample falls to drain every part, and
capable of being all converted into productive land.
Here is a country, in point of water-power, of lake and
river navigation, of improvable waste land, comparable to
any part of the Caned is, Van Diemen's Land, or New
South "Wales. Were a few thousand pounds expended in
improvements in this large district of country, it would in
a very short period indemnify the State three-fold.
Mr. Bald, in his examination before the Committee of
the House of Commons on Connaught lakes, in 1835, says—
" I think it would be extremely advantageous to the
trade of that rising country that ships should be enabled to
sail up to the net Ind basin situate in the Moy, and which is
at Vie bridge of, Ballina. But it would also be very de-
sirable to improve a portion of the channel of the lower part
of the Moy river navigation, between the Pool and the end
of Bertragh Island. Ido not know of any tidal river navi-
gation in Ireland where so much improvement could be ef-
fected at so moderate an expense, and be attended with so
much benefit."— Freeman's Journal.

At the Guildhall, Exeter, on Saturday, a girl named
Shapland summoned another girl, named Dymond, on a
charge of assaulting her. The defendant totally denied the
assault, but said that plaintiff had often accused her "of
being a witch," and used some very personal and violent
language towards her, to show her dislike for sorcery I The
plaintiff, on being asked by the magistrate if she really
thought defendant a witch, said, " Yes : she had been obliged
to draw a circle round her door to prevent defendant from
coming in. This, however, had not succeeded, for she had
taken the shape of a black cat, and had come in and run
over the room ; she had then changed into the Jack of
Hearts,' on which plaintiff was so frightened that she fainted
away ! Several times plaintiff had endeavoured to catch
the cat, and to put its head on the fire, and had procured a
long needle to draw its blood, which would have dissolved
the charm ; she had also applied to a conjuror, named
Baker, to charm it, but it was of no use !! I " The magis-
trates dismissed the complaint.

Extensive and most calamitous inundations are stated
to have occurred in Wallachia and Bessarabia, occasioned
by uninterrupted rain, during a period of more than six
weeks. Several hundred lives have been lost, and the de-
Oruct494 of property is supposed to have been very great.