The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-20 00:00:00

REMOVAL OF CARLINGFORD B.R.

(From the Belfast News Letter.)

On Monday last there was assembled in Newry one
of the most imposing and influential meetings ever wit-
nessed in the Court-house of that town. It was presided
over by the Marquis of Downshire. The object of the
meeting was to adopt measures for the removal of Car-

lingford Bar, in order to have Carlingford Lough made
a harbour of refuge.

The Marquis of DOWNSIIIRE said the undertaking was
not only a local one, but one which the whole Irish na-
tion was concerned. He had formerly taken the oppor-
tunity of impressing on the Government of the day the
Importance of the measure, but had been refused, in
consequence, -as stated, of the funds at the disposal of
the Government being at too• low an ebb. He only
hoped that it might be more successful with the Govern-
ment of the present day. The merchants on the other
side of the water constituting the shipping interests of
London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Chester, and he believed,
also, Bristol, so highly approved of the plan that they
were willing to tax themselves a farthing a ton on vessels
passing up the coast. This must show the advantage of
the present project over that of the harbour of Ardglass,
and coming as it did from practical men, it ought, he
conceived, to have great weight with the community.
(Hear, hear.) A scheme had been set afloat in favour
of the harbour of Ardglass. With regard to that,
he would only say that Ardglass never could be
more than a harbour light. (Hear, hear.) He defied
any seaman, whether belonging to the Royal Navy
or the mercantile marine, to gainsay that. Taking
it also in juxtaposition with that most dangerous
reef which ran out from St. John's Point, Ardglass was
not the place in which the public money ought to be ex-
pended. (Hear, hear.)
W3I. KIRK, Esq., M.P., said that, from the first
moment he cast his eyes on the magnificent lough, he
was astonished that any impediment should exist to the
makinc, of it a harbour of refuge, surrounded as it was
by lofty mountains, which formed a shelter not inferior
to any other in the empire, and possessing an anchorage
ground at the first entrance, within the lighthouse, of
about three hundred acres, for vessels of any draught ;
another farther up, of about one hundred acres, for yes-
sels,of a lesser tonnage. (Hear, hear.) It did seem
strange that, from causes, whether political or otherwise,
the Government of the country had not been induced,
long before this, to form it into a harbour of refuge,
especially as its situation was just where a harbour of re-
fuge was most needed, as mid-way between Dublin and
Belfast. After detailing his negotiations with the Go-
vernment on the subject, he said when the Merchants'
Shipping Bill was brought before the House of Commons,
it occurred to him that the sth clause could be advan-

tageously amended, so as to include the removal of Car-
lingford Bar. This bill united and consolidated the three
authorities—the Commissioners of English, Scotch, and
Irish Lighthouses—and, accordingly, when those three
apthorities were about to be made the same, it be-
came necessary that inquiry should be made as to the
actual state of the means of those respective bodies, on
foot of the collection of lighthouse dues. Mr. Fox,
of Longford, moved for returns, and they were
laid on the table in manuscript. From these he found
that the English board had about 30,000/., that the
Scotch board had about 2,0001., and that they owed
14,0001., therefore that they were 12,0001. in debt ; and
that the Irish board had no less a sum than 95,000/. in
Government stocks of a surplus, and between 2,0001.
and 3,0001. more. Now, as here was Irish money, col-
lected from Irish ports, he thought it ought to be ap-
plied to Irish purposes, and he therefore pressed it upon
the Parliament and the Board of Trade that it should be
so applied. The house rejected this strongly ; however,
he was incessant in his applioation, and he put a notice
on th 6 paper to move an amendment to the house.
After three weeks' anxious watching, the Merchants'
Shipping Bill at last came on. He moved his amend-
ment ; it was seconded ; there was a debate on the sub-
ject, and this was the result—Mr. Cardwell, President
of the Board of Trade, and the whole power of the
Government, rejected it. It was almost the only act of
his public life that he regretted, as he believed he ought
to have pressed the matter to a division. Afterwards,
to his great surprise, when the supplemental estimates
for the year 1853-4 were laid on the table at a late period
of the session, he found in them the sum of 20,0001. to
be laid out on the harbour at Ardglass. For this amount
it was advocated that Ardglass was to be made a good
harbour of refuge on the eastern coast of Ireland. He

immediately enlisted all those friends with whom he had
been in the habit of acting, to oppose the grant ; be-
cause he knew if the Government commenced to make
harbour of Ardglass, and to expend money on it, it would
require an endless expenditure to keep it in repair ; and
also, they must give up ali hopes of any improvement being
made on the harbour of Carlingford. He had no idea of
preventing the Government spending money on any Irish
harbour for a proper purpose, but he did say that it would
have been culpable in him to have suffered that grant to
pass without a strenuous opposition. Mr. Kirk then
went on to speak of the opposition which was instituted
against the grant, and the valuable assistance rendered
by Sir R. Ferguson, and Mr. Macartney, the hon. mem-
ber for the county of Antrim, and also by Mr. Cairns,
one of the representatives of Belfast, and several others,
who were all convinced of the great advantages of Car-
lingford as compared with Ardglass. That opposition
was successful, Sir Jas. Graham being most reluctantly
and unwillingly obliged to withdraw the grant. He had
little doubt, if gone to in a proper spirit, the Govern-
ment would support them in a movement they were now
making. (Hear.) Mr. Kirk concluded by moving a
resolution, which set forth the necessity of removing the
bar, and the advantages that would attend the pro-
ceedings.

DEims IVIAGuIRE, Esq., briefly seconded the re.
solution. •

The CHAIRMAN then put to the meeting the motion,
which was carried unanimously.
GEORGE MAOARTNEY, Esq., M.P., moved the next
resolution. It might appear strange, he said, that, as
the representative of another county, in which there was
one of the most enterprising towns in the kingdom of
Ireland, both as to internal and national resources, he
should be present, on that occasion, the advocate of Car-
lingford Bar. He had, however, takenl the matter up in
Parliament, believing that Carlingford was better fitted
for a harbour of refuge than Ardglass. Under no other
circumstances would he have appeared amongst them.
He had been in the habit of yachting for many years
along the Irish coast, and he could, therefore, speak
from experience of the great dangers of Ardglass. In
order to decide the merits of the two harbours it would
be necessary for him to call the attention of the meeting
to the evidence that had been laid before the Tidal Com-
missioners in the year 1846. He would read to them
one simple paragraph out of the testimony of Major
Beauclerc, and he would rest his case upon it. (Hear.)
He said, "If the Government can get a better place than
Ardglass, let them take it." Now, Ardglass only con-
tained thirty-seven acres, and was very badly sheltered ;
and how could it be compared to Carlingford ? (Cheers.)
Captain Beechy had declared that Ardglass harbour
would not be worth the money it would cost to mend
the pier ; it was too confined, and the water at its mouth
was too deep • and the meaning of Mr. Nimmo's and
Captain Vignolles' evidence was plainly that it would
not be wise to lay out money on it. (Hear, hear.) The
loss of property in that bay had been enormous. The
Government themselves were then making five or six
safety harbours under the provisions of the act that
passed after the taking of the evidence to which he had
referred ; and it was a well-known fact that upon Dover
and other English ports no less a sum than 2,553,0001.
had been expended, or would be expended, in the con-
struction of these works. When they looked upoa the
expenditure that dad been made upon the coast of Eng-
land, and when they remembered what had been done in
a similar manner for Ireland, had they not a right to
demand a share 1 (Hear, hear, and oheers.) One
harbour was a total failure, that of Howth ; and the
other harbour at Kingstown was falsely called a safety
harbour, for during some winds a vessel could not enter
it with safety, and he had himself seen a vessel go down
in it at her moorings. Of course they might point to
Cork and Belfast, but those were not harbours made by
men—they were naturally formed, and any improve-
ments that had been made in them were made at the
expense of the merchants and traders. The hon. mem-
ber concluded by moving the following resolution :
"That the Bay of Carlingford, which is midway between
Belfast and Dublin, appears superior to any other place
for a harbour of refuge, as it requires only the removal
of the bar.
Colonel CLOSE seconded the motion, • _

R. S. MOORE, Esq., M.P., said, if they referred to
the report of the Harbour Commissioners, who had been
sent forth to inquire into the subject by the Government,
it would be found that those gentlemen had decided that
a harbour of refuge upon that portion of the coast would
be an incalculable boon to all mariners trading in the
Irish Channel. Surely such an announcement as that,
coming from a commission appointed by themselves,
ought to have been sufficient to satisfy any Government.
(Cheers.) But he held in his hand a document which
he considered was even of greater importance than that.
It was a list of all the vessels that had been wrecked
or stranded from St. John's Point to Conroy Point,
between the years 1833 and 1852. It appeared from
that document that forty-six vessels had been driven
on shore, and the cargoes of many of them lost. He
regretted ta, be able to add to it a list •f four other
vessels that had been totally wrecked within the same
district in the months of November and December last,
making altogether an aggregate of fifty vessels that
had been lost within a period of twenty years. (Hear,
hear.) During the seven years previous to 1831, forty
six vessels were wrecked in the bay of Dundrum, and
the aggregate value of these vessels was 196,000.
Was it possible then, he might ask, for any man, under
these circumstances, and with these documents before
him, to deny the necessity of having a harbour of refuge
constructed in that neighbourhood ? (Hear, hear.)
It had been well put by all the previous speakers that
it was not merely a local question. It was not a ques-
tion that affected the interests of Newry alone, for it
was of great national importance and of imperial utility.
But while he perfectly concurred in thinking that that
was the proper and broad grounds upon which the mea-
sure should be rested, still the exports and imports of
that port were not to be underrated. He considered that
if the harbour was made, as it was probable it soon
would be made, it would tend to improve the trade of
every town in the north of Ireland. He did not believe
that it would in any way interfere with the people of
Belfast. They were too high-minded, he was certain,
even to be jealous of the project, if it did not interfere
with them. It was, in fact, a question which every Irish
member was interested in supporting. If they succeeded
in obtaining what they asked for, they would, he firmly
believed, be enabled to build a harbour of refuge which
would save many a valuable life, and rescue many a gal-
lant ship and costly cargo from the perils of the deep.
The hcon, member couchnled by moping the molt:dim