The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-17 00:00:00

, APRIL 17, 1846.

in evidence that while more than half a million of money
had been laid out in improving the Upper Shannon, tb(
estuary of that river, from Limerick to the sea, has been
denied even a few hundred pounds to buoy and beacon
the dangerous shoals which, although easily removed.
are allowed to remain and obstruct the navigation of the
port.

At Galway, similarly situated at the head of a large
inlet on the western coast, sheltered from the Atlantic
swell by the natural breakwater of the Arran Isles, and
shortly to be connected inland with the extensive navi-
gation of Loughs Corrib and Mask, much spirit and
enterprise. have been shown since 1832, in making
a floating dock, nine acres in extent,
fit to contain
vessels of 500 tons ; in consequence the trade has in-
creased, and the revenue of the port has risen from 340/
to 2,0001. per annum. Yet unhappily the whole of this
income is mortgaged to pay the interest of the debt in
curred ; and, owing to some mismanagement, a rocky
bar of three feet high, on which a vessel might break
her back, has been left just without the sill of the dock-
gates. Great inconvenience is also stated to arise from
the distance the Claddagh fishermen have to go to their
fishing grounds, 30 miles off; and that a pier half way
down the bay would be a great boon to this valuable
body of men, as well as to the owners of numerous turf
boats which trade in this direction.
Sligo, with limited means, has recently extended its
quays 700 yards, and removed a portion of the Blennick
Point, while its trade has much increased. Private
quays, however, still cause great inconvenience ; weirs
exist, which obstruct the upward flow of the tide ; the
ebb and flood stream require directing to prevent the
increase of sand-banks ; and the channel generally
wants deepening, to enable the port to keep pace with
its thriving trade.
Londonderry, on the Foyle, where the river expands
into a spacious navigable estuary, has great natural
advantages, which have been ill seconded by art. Mud
balm encumber the foot of the quays, which might be
kept free by simply guiding the course of the stream.
The quays, chiefly private property, are in a neglected
state, and project apparently as the owners think fit into
the river. Complaints are made by sailors and pilots of
the leading lights on Innishowen Head being on the
same level, of the want of a light on Rathlin Island,
and of the more glaring want of a beacon on the Car-
righ-vanan Rock, which lies in the fair tracks of steamers
to and from the port.
Belfast, the first town in Ireland in enterprise and
commercial prosperity, ranks second only to Dublin as
a port, and has an income of 22,0001. a year. In the
year 1840, a channel up to the town was opened, having
nine feet water at low tides, which has proved to be a
great convenience to the fine steamers that daily run
from hence to Glasgow and Liverpool. But even with
this channel, the improvements in the harbour are far
from having kept pace with the rapid advance of the
town. Until very lately the quays and docks have been
private property, and thus have been permitted to oppose
a barrier to improvement. The evidence shows that
they are still in a very negleeted state, and that there is
so great a want of accommodation, that steamers are
often obliged to discharge their cargoes lying alongside
the quays three abreast. Complaints are made of the
state of the Custom-house; that the lower lock of the
Logan navigation is only a mile and a half above the
town, and thus prevents the upward flow of the tide; that
encroachments are making on the banks of the river,
and that still more extensive encroachments are threat-
ened by railway speculation; in short, that everything
points to the vigilant control which is absolutely neces-
sary to enable this fine port to keep pace with the rapid
strides, both in manufactures and trade, of the capital of
Ulster.
Newry has the great advantage of lying within Car-
lingford Lough, which, a moderate outlay, might be made
a harbour of refuge, an inestimable boon on this part of
the coast. The Navigation Company here, instead of
deepening the natural channel of the river, have em-
barked all their capital in an artificial canal.
Dundalk has recently made great efforts, guided by a
skilful engineer, to improve the harbour, and the increase
in steam traffic, consequent upon deepening the channel,
already demands leading lights at the entrance of the
river.

This fortunate psition has been in some measure
econded by the a)elt and ItAilway Company, who have
now a floating dock of twenty acre., where they can
load 5,000 tons of coal a day ; while the entrance is
illowed to be one of the mast easily accessible of any of
the tidal harbours alone. this coast. The success of this
oort has induced the 'formation of a Hartlepool West
Harbour Dock, about half a mile to the westward, the
works of which are in an advanced state.
Stockton-on-Tees, including Middlesbrough, is one of
the most thriving of our coal ports. Yet even here, on
a closer inspection, the want of some control is mani-
fest—the quays are nearly all private, and are falling
into the river ; the piers of the bridges are only sup-
ported by the loads of stone thrown down at their foot ;
rocks of whinstone impede the upper navigation, and
cause damage to the barges ; the entrance of the dock
at Middlesbrough, completed but five years since, is only
thirty feet wide ; wile about 2,000 acres of the estuary
have been enclosed, and the corresponding tidal water
excluded ; and the channel over the bar, which formerly
hGoruera to
fc srnenfpu aei ni tns of ran due east, has, in consequence, changed to N.N.E.
thean
d want
o f of f'
beacon
alicaorn-
on Bedear ,ck, upon which vessels
wrecked. are annually
Whitby has a revenue of 3,600 a derived
passing toll on coal borne by shipping,
year,ilfrom a
im-
posed for the improvement of the tilaprigogu, r.speltiaofTerstoshipping in return a west pier, of fine Whitby stone, not
placed in the best direction, which projects 100 yards
beyond the east pier, and causes an eddy at the en-
trance ; a circular head, inviting the run of the sea I
into the harbour ; an entrance one-third too wide ; a
rocky bar, that migh; easily be blasted, on which more s
than one ship has broken her back ; a mill-dam that g
,tops the upward flow of the tide ; a railway dam, re-
cently made, which excludes 30,000 cubic yards of !
water on every spring tide ; ballast and the rubbish of
the town thrown below high water mark and behind the
west pier ; and a dry harbour.
Scarborough, for some unexplained reason, has been
denied the passing toll that has been continued to
Whitby and Bridlington, immediately adjacent.
Bridlington, like itby, has enjoyed a passing toll
on coals for the last 150 years ; like Whitby, too, it
offers in return a harbour dry at low water ; a north
pier, built with public money at a very great cost, yet
not even carried out to low water ; no quay accommoda-
tion ; a heavy range of swell along the pier, so that no
moorings will hold the vessels • , and a pier-end light
furnished with a single candle ; yet Bridlington Bay is
the only good shelter in northerly gales on this coast.
Kingston-upon-Hull takes the lead as the first port
in the kingdom for inland trade ; while its position with
respect to the North Sea has made it the chief outlet-of
our manufactures to northern Europe, and raiseclii to
the rank of the third port in the country inefOreign
traffic. The approaches by the deep but intricate chan-
nel of the Humber are admirably buoyed and lighted by
the Hull Trinity Board ; floating docks to the extent of
23 acres already exist, and 15 acres in addition will
soon be opened. The activity at the docks is not sur-
passed by that of any other port in the kingdom, 75
vessels having lately passed through the Humber dock
lock in a single tide. The tonnage of the vessels that
have paid dock dues during the past year amounted to
700,000 tons, and the whole income of the port, derived
from tolls on shipping and goods borne by shipping, ex-
ceeds 75,000/. a year.
Commercially important as Hull appears to have been
in the infancy of British commerce, it was not till 1775
that the old Hull dock was set on foot ; the traffic still
increasing the Humber dock was begun in 1807 ;
more than twenty years elapsed, during which the
trade almost doubled, when the Junction doek was
opened in 1829, but not until Goole had been de-
clared a bonding port. Great as was the increase
of accommodation thus afforded, the trade more
then kept pace with it ; and, as it appears in evidence,
for want of dock room ships have been greatly damaged,
and some sunk in the harbour from its over-crowded
state, being at times so full that vessels could not get
in or out for weeks together ; and, on one occasion, a
vessel made a voyage to the Baltic and back, while
another, ready for sea at the same time, was endea-
vouring to proceed down the harbour. Thus Hull af-
fords a striking instance of the evil of permitting a com-
pany levying heavy dues on shipping to obtain power to
give or withold dock accommodation according to its in-
terests, instead of this power being vested in the Corpo-
ration or in trustees for the public good. The original
shares of the Dock Company, on which 250/, only Lave
been paid, are now worth 2,000/.
Grimsby, from its position near the entrance of the
Humber, will, when the proposed extensive works are
carried out and the projected railways completed, offer
great facilities to the trade with the Baltic and Northern
Europe ; it will be a ready coaling place for steamers,
and will, probably, become the principal resort of the
fishing vessels employed on the Dogger Bank, as
well as on the more distant grounds of the North Sea
fishery.
Great Yarmouth is of importance for its commerce
and fisheries ; and its roadstead is well known as the
most capacious in England, and as a great thoroughfare
and shelter for the coasting trade. Yarmouth Haven
has a depth of eight feet on the bar at low water, and
vessels of from thirteen to tburteen feet draught enter
at ordinary high tide. The registered tonnage of the
port is 40,000 tons, and the number of arrivals yearly
about 3,000 vessels, the aggregate tonnage of which
amounts to 176,828 tons.
One great impediment to the flow of the tide is the
narrowness of Yarmouth-bridge, and of the adjoining
part of the haven, which occasions in ordinary tides a
difference in the height of the water of one foot. and in
very high tides of from three to four feet, between the
bridge and the pierhead.
Norwich, a city containing 62,344 inhabitants, situated
in the centre of the county of Norfolk, and distant 30
miles by water from the sea, was constituted a port by
the opening of the Lowestoft navigation in 1832. Its
exports and imports being large, its citizens had long
desired a direct communication with the sea by the port
of Yarmouth ; and the river Yare, throughout its whole
course from Norwich to its junction with the Breydon
Water, being of sufficient depth to admit vessels of 200
tons burthen, the Burgh Flats and the narrowness of the
Yarmouth Bridge were, and still are, the only impedi-
ments to that desirable object ; but these portions of the
navigation were then intrusted to the charge of the Cor-
poration of the town of Yarmouth, who refused the citi-
zens of Norwich the desired communication with the sea.
Thus thwarted, the citizens of Norwich formed a joint-
stock company, and applied to Parliament fur access to
the sea by Lowestoft ; but even in that attempt they
were opposed by the Corporation of Yarmouth, who ex-
pended more than 8,0001. in Parliamentary opposition to
their object.
The communication, however, between Norwich and
the sea at Lowestoft, was obtained; but having failed is
realise the expectations of its projectors, there is again
a unanimous desire to have a direct navigation to the
sea through Yarmouth; but it is stated that there is still
the same opposition to this project on the part of the
Yarmouth Haven and Pier Commission, now intrusted
with the management of the localities referred to,
although it is generally admitted that the deepening of
the Burgh Flats and the widening of Yarmouth Bridge,
-Yrould not only afford the desired communication, but
also tend to the improvement of the harbour and bar at
Yarmouth; while at the sarre time the cost ofexecuting
the necessary works, to secure these objects, would not
greatly exceed the sum mentioned as having been spent
in fruitless opposition to the navigation by Lowestoft.
It is stated that if St. °lave's- bridge were removed
from the river Waveney, and the Burgh Flats deepened,
sea-borne vessels of much greater draught of wate
could easily reach Becclea through the port of Tar
mouth.

Blakeney and Cley, on the north coast of Norfolk,
have a common entrance, which, by a winding course,
is distant from the town f Cloy 5:1, and from Blakeney
3A miles. Within the memory of some of the present
pilots, 140 coasting vessels have taken refuge in this port
during one tide ; yet in the place where these vessels lay
afloat at low water there is now only a depth of
five feet, and the utility of the harbour has consequently
been almost destroyed.
It s stated that this evil has been caused by the en-
closure at different times of more than 1,200 acres of
land, over which the tidal waters formerly flowed.
Unfortunately, also, in 1817, Blakeney, by Act of
Parliament, became a proprietary harbour, and the mer-
chants and inhabitants, unless they are proprietors, have
no power to interfere in its management, or in the regu-
lation of the charges on the shipping ; and until legisla-
tive authority be given, no such power can be exercised
either by the gevermnent or by any other parties.
The port of Wells lies a few miles to the west of
Blakeney. The bar of its harbour is dry at low water,
but the rise of tide on it at ordinary springs is 21 feet,
though at the quay only 12 feet.
The inhabitants struggled for nearly half a century to
prevent the inclosure of the tidal lands by the adjoining
proprietors, even at the expense of many suits at law;
but all these efforts were frustrated, and 486 acres have
been inclosed, to the great detriment of the harbour.
The necessity of the supervision of harbours by Go-
vernment further appears from the fact that, under an
Act passed so recently as 1844, the sum of 9,6501. has
been borrowed, on an assignment of the harbour dues,
to erect a quay; and the expenditure of this large
amount has been left almost entirely under the control
of one of the Commissioners, who acts as secretary,
collector, treasurer, paymaster, and superintendent of
the steam-tug and of all public works; and who thus
has the whole management of the works and finances,
without even the check that would be afforded by the
assistance of a clerk or the employment of a practical
engineer.
The merchants and inhabitants complain of the heavy
burdens imposed on them by such gross mismanagement;
but, as in many similar cases, they have no
interfere or obtain redress, as the Commissioners named
and
in the Act, who now permit such misman g tnpower to
many of whom do not even possess any pop
town, have the poorer of mating 0 property anmtheed
others to fill up
vacancies.
At Harwich, besides the extension of Landguard
Point mentioned in our former
of cement atone near
report, it appears that,
Owing to the continued
excavationinroads in Mill Bay to
the coast, the sea has
made
great
siow to the eastward, and the
Admiralty surveyorthe westward, and --3, Felix stow
reported that the waves
are encroachingto a
greatr extent along Landguard East
Beach, at the rate of five-and-twenty feet a year, Mires.%

NORTH KENT RAILWAY.—There has just been pub-
lished, by order of the House of Commons, a statement in
support of the petition from the parish of Camberwell against
the North Kent Railway Bill. The petitioners, among other
reasons against the Bill, urge that it will require the dernoli •
tion of 640 houses in Southwark, Lambeth, and their
vicinities, and that it will pass close to several churches and
places of worship, and urge that as there has been issued a
Royal Commission to consider theasestion of Metropolitan
railways and termini, tleArth Kentlhie should be referred to
that commission, a reMgendatien thich is supported by
the authority of Sir R. Peel, who declared, that were he
Chairman of the Committee of Group 14, he should suspend
his judgment on the Metropolitan portion of the North Kent
line until that Commission had reported on the subject.
Various other reasons arc uited against the scheme, and the
petitioners declare that they are ready to support every
material allegation by the evidence of persons unconnected
either with the North Kent Railway or with any of the
rival schemes.
fPROGRESS OF RAILWAYLEGISLATION IN THE Housie,
oF COmmoNs.—From a Parliamentary Paper just published
entitled, "List of Petitions and Private Bills in Parliament,
and proceedings thereupon, Session 1846," it appears that
562 petitions for Railway Bills have been pres,nted, and
that in respect of 386 of such petitions Bills have been read
the first time, of which 370 have been read the second time,
and 7 the third time, viz., Brighton and Chichester (Steyning
Branch) ; Brighton, Lewes, and Hastiogs Deviations, Sec. ;
Direct London and Portsmouth ; Eastern Union and Had-
leigh Junction ; London and York ; Sheflieldand Lincolnshire
Junction ; and South-Eastern, Tunbridge-wells to Bye.
Fourteen Bills have been withdrawn, and proceedings appear
to be suspended as to 4318i115, and there are 130 petitions for
Bills upon which no reports have been made.
IMPROVED TASTE AMONGST THE EAST-ENDERS.—
The vast advance which the people at the East-end of the
town are making in literary taste is a source of frequent con-
versation in the City. Mr. Charles Kemble read
Shakespeare's play of " As you Like it," on Easter Tuesday,
to an immense audience at the splendid building iu the
Commercial-road, called " the Eastern Institution," and,
amidst loud cheers, he announced that on Tue•,:dav next he
would read the play of " Hamlet" in the same room, which
he considers admirably adapted to the occasion.
Prince Sehwarenberg and suite arrived at. the St.
Kitherine's Wharf yesterday morning, by the General Steam
Navigation Steam Ship Bambon, after a quick passage of
seventeen hours, from Havre.
A NEW YORK AUCTION.—I strolled into one of the
auction-rooms of New York ; I had been in them before, but
not to stop long—l stopped half an hour to-day. These
sales are for goods by wholesale ; and certainly, if any
English merchant could have seen the rapidity with wletch
his goods were knocked down at the most erfiitrary prices,
but rarely, very rarely, good prices, he would be staggered
in his desire to send further consignments. Yorkshire wool-
len cloths were selling when I went in, and during my stay :
I sin no great judge of them, but I should he inclined to
say, from what I could judge, that all were sold at a loss—
and some at a great loss. A nice si.,ei tiee b:-earl cloth, the
colour "invisible green," as it is eiofi.d, was knocked off in
about a minute or a Minute :nil a lilt at 2,,, dollars per
yard, and would net, a i ut 6 '.i.l t., tue exporter, as this
price, of course, must p:y all d i;i,,s and charges. Other
things (woollen) went in !,rap ',Gr.. voicing from 11,1 to
216 dollars per yard. They are s,•:d .•! rito,-e than a minute
in Knocking down a I ,t ; if 1-1 th vs,, : , ,le: are 4 ways under-
stood to be bona fi,l ~ 1. ~. the, ;-,,5,:-ing in ag tin. There
were ten or a d0.z•,1 w:i., .4,....,,,,••! ~, 1r.,,-, conic- as buyers,
i . :aotioneer; but the
fine piece of superfine
language is someillitg lite
,t,.
n.
malkievani;
want
iannawraistinng'antyheinqari'ckl'l'-kot'ili.l;iri of
ititl* ,i,•"'"l'bic t"
describe
a bid for .
/id a bid—a bid. IV hat shall I
a bid—a bid—a bid—a I
broadcloatthlii,3
gentlemen, what shall I say? One dollar and a half is
cloth?—lnnn'll beautiful‘ ''b"iec4'lo't.eht,'n gentlemen,;‘'liowi,li
bid,s gentlemen—ono and a half—one and a half—one and a
half—only one and a half, gentlemen—going, going, going at
000
nnn
eee andssiex‘,t
e.. an, ,
.seven-eights," half—one
onegi 1
seventy,ts,
ec . dollar
,8,) n 0 sc. i
;xs taeyln,
e(cents,
seventy-five,
tso
..
fi l
vi oeen, sixty,egoon ees
soe
Nn. use,.,lluntil,
.. c
i sixty,,
:hii,ll,
double quick time, down it comes at two dollars, perhaps.
eightlngoods
tean• h
pieces,i eli are
or not
quarter:,so cp
oe expensive, siN, e
half, etahseesl o, t&s
ea.; are
,iimht:su.p in
tion system is much reprobated by the respectable''' .unc-
tion
New York, The British •
consigner, however, must always
remember, that if he wants to sell his goods immediately,
the auction-room is the only place for that purpose—and he
must take his chance accordingly; for if once offered at
auction, his goods are not to be withdrawn. —llleinoir of B.
Braidley, Esq.
RENEWING THE SUGAR-CANE FROM THE SEED.—The
Royal Agricultural Society of Jamaica have been making
inquiries on this important subject ; Dr. Shier, the agricul-
tural chemist of British Guiana, having pressed it on their
attention. They sent to Mr. Trail!, the superintendent of
the garden of Ibrahim Pasha, at Cairo ; but he reported
that the cane is propagated in Egypt by cuttings alone, and
is scarcely ever seen to produce flowers. Mr. Lambert, tiu
secretary of the Ceylon Agricultural Society, stated that he
had been unable to obtain cane seeds during an employment
in cane cultivation in Spain for fifteen years, and in Ceylon
for four years. During his residence in Spain, he had only
seen three canes in flower. He had heard that cane seeds
did germinate in 25 degrees north latitude in India, but had
been unable to ascertain the fact. It was stated that we
must look for seeds of the plant from spontaneous vegetation
in India or China. There is reason to believe that in many
The Jamaica and prevented as much as possible. .
far the colony.
parts of India the flowering of the cane is deemed unfortu-
nate,Churchill to study under They are about to sand a Mr.
six months, and prebablY
So-
ciety desire to have an agricultural chemist Pro-
fessor Johnston, in Scotland, for six nlop
a further
period. • • of our countrymen
1 EMIGRATION.—The
then to study under Dr. Shier,
emigration
z,nni.
Our qua" s are
1 this year is incomparably larger thal,iveir
clad
pea
nre_
covered with crowds olhealthy and 1
in Guiana,' for
refuge in other lands fom
. his. At the close of the
will sailed
the poverty of t
thousand individuals have
sidered that over eight
neighbouring districts fir the Canadaa or
from Cork and its
nber of the emigrants seem to belong
f season it is con-
sidered to seek a livlihood and a
America. A greatfnaruti
able farmers. The failure of the po-
tato the class of
theircom
gloomy anticipations of the future seem
their natural reluctance to quit the
forefathers and their kindred.--Code E • aa-
country of then
miner.
An extraordinary phenomenon toA ploce on the 13th
ult., at Karoly, in Hungary. Mount normentzee, about
ttoatohacvroep
1,800 feet high, situated at the entrance of the defile of
(t)i,i_icilreo.their forefathers
Borsoe, suddenly split 10 two, and stopped up the course of
the river running through the hollow. The whole country
above the place where the earth fell was immediately flooded.
[ADVERTISEMENT.]—CASE OF A BAD LEG of SIX-
TEEN YEARS' STANDING CURED BY HOLLOWAY'S OINTMENT AND
Pius. --Copy of a letter from Mr. Frederick, chemist, 32, Woven-
street, Exeter ;—" To Professor Hoiloway.—Sir,—l live the ',tea-
sure to inform you that the demand for your pills and ointment is
rapidly increasing, several remarkable and wonderful cases of cure
b3' their means have lately come to my none( . One in particular, an
old gentleman of this city who had an ulcerated leg for sixtren yeara,
and had spent hundreds of pounds without obtatrim; ten% bat was
afterwards perfectly cured by the use of lionowny':, Ointment and
Pllls.--Bold by all dealers 11 medicine, an.d at Profess or- Ibi.oway's
Establistumnt, 244, Strand, London, ' -