RETURN to an Order of the Honourable The House of Commons, COPY" of the REPORT of the Board of Trade on the PRESTON GAS 189 4. REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE. PRESTON GAS BILL. By this Bill it is proposed, among other things, to empower the Preston Gas Company to construct a viaduct commencing at the south-eastern corner of lands upon which they propose to erect Gas Works, and terminating on the north bank or wall of the River Ribble, at a point about 30 chains below the entrance to the tidal basin of the Albert Edward Dock, with a jetty or wharf in or on the said bank or wall of the River Ribble. The Board of Trade have received from the Corporation of Preston, who are Conservators of the River Ribble, a communication urging objections to the proposed scheme. An extract from this document is printed as an Appendix to this Report, and the Board are advised that it deserves the serious consideration of Parliament. Board of Trade, March 1894. Courtenay Boyle. APPENDIX. Town Hall, Preston, 29 January 1894. By the Preston Gas Bill, it is proposed to empower the Preston Gas Company to construct a jetty or wharf on the north wall of the River Ribble. The jetty or wharf is proposed to run across the Corporation and project into the river about 90 feet beyond high-water line. height of 15 feet above the Corporation bank, and at a height of high water, according to the deposited plans. River walls and lands, It runs at a minimum about 21 ft. 3 in. above The effect of it, on the point of its projecting into the river, would, with a vessel moored to it, mean an additional projection of some 30 to 40 feet, making a total projection into the river of about 120 or 130 feet, and a reduction of the navigable width at this point of the river by 50 feet. Such a projection into the river is very serious, and more particularly so about this portion of the river, which is only about a quarter of a mile from the entrance to the dock; for the jetty itself, apart from the mere reduction of the navigable width, must seriously hamper the navigation of the traffic to and from the dock, but this traffic would obviously be more hampered when a vessel was moored to the jetty, and still more so when vessels are manoeuvred at the jetty, for then it would necessarily mean the stoppage of the whole river traffic. It must be borne in mind that the maximum length of time for docking great vessels is half-an-hour, and for ordinary vessels there is, at the most, an hour. Some vessels with favourable wind come up themselves, and any obstruction to these would be fatal. For vessels of deep draught, this is the most critical part of the river, because they have to frequently come with speed for steerage. For these reasons, the Corporation dredging plant, when anywhere in this part of the river, have always at high water been sheered out of the way and all manœuvring topped. There is another feature-that if any vessels moored there grounded (which they will do every tide), they will create a serious shoal, as they will be lying in the tideway on a bottom of loose friable material. Another feature, and an important one, is that the width of the proposed jetty is only 200 feet, not sufficient for safe moorings, especially during high floods. Attention is also directed to the power in Clause 7 of the Bill relating to Little Savick Brook. The abstraction from the river of this stream is serious. RETURN to an Order of the Honourable The House of Commons, REPORT of the Board of Trade] on the PORT TALBOT RAILWAY and DOCKS BILL. 1894. REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE. PORT TALBOT RAILWAY AND DOCKS BILL. By this Bill it is proposed to incorporate the Port Talbot Railway and Docks Company with powers to construct additional Harbour and Dock works at Port Talbot. By Clause 5 it is proposed to define the limits below high water mark of the Port and Harbour of Port Talbot by the circumference of a semi-circle having a radius of two miles from the tower on the pier of Port Talbot. Within these limits, extending for four miles along the coast, vessels may be liable for dues. The present limits of the Port are defined by the 14th Section of the Port Talbot Act of 1836 (6 Will. 4, cap. xcviii.), and include the area between high and low water marks between points one mile south of, and two miles north of, the then mouth of the River Avon. The proposed new limits practically embrace the same, or rather a larger area of foreshore than the present limits, and include the former entrance to the River Avon, about three-quarters of a mile south of the present entrance, and vessels using that entrance are and will be subject to taxation without deriving benefit from the works of the Port Talbot Company. It has always been held that applicants to Parliament for extended powers should be called upon to conform to the principles of modern legislation, and submit to necessary curtailments of existing powers. In the present instance, the existing limits of the Port were defined 58 years ago, when the interests of navigation and of shipping may be presumed to have not been so closely cared for as at present. It is now a cardinal principle of Parliament that tolls should not be imposed upon vessels which will derive no benefit from the works in respect of which such tolls are levied; and the Board would suggest for the consideration of Parliament, that the future limits below high water mark of the Port and Harbour of Port Talbot should be the circumference of a semi-circle having a radius of 1,000 yards from the tower on the pier of Port Talbot, as they are advised that vessels landing and embarking goods and passengers beyond such a semi-circle can derive no benefit from the works of the Company. Board of Trade, Courtenay Boyle. ABSTRACT "of RETURNS relating to PILOTS and PILOTAGE in the UNITED KINGDOM (in continuation of Parliamentary Paper, No. 263, of Session 1893)"-[as furnished by the various Pilotage Authorities]. Of all BYE-LAWS, REGULATIONS, ORDERS, or ORDINANCES relating to PILOTS or PILOTAGE for the Time being in force, issued by the respective Pilotage Authorities in the United Kingdom : Of the NAMES and AGES of the PILOTS or APPRENTICES licensed or authorised to act. by the respective Pilotage Authorities, and of all PILOTS or APPRENTICES acting either mediately or immediately under such Authorities, whether so licensed or authorised or not: Of the RATES of PILOTAGE for the Time being in force at the Ports under the Jurisdiction of the respective Pilotage Authorities, including therein the Rates and Descriptions of all Charges upon Shipping made for or in respect of Pilots or Pilotage: Of the TOTAL AMOUNT received for PILOTAGE at the respective Ports aforesaid; distinguishing the several Amounts received from British Ships and from Foreign Ships respectively, and the several Amounts received in respect of different Classes of Ships paying different Rates of Pilotage, according to the Scale of such Rates for the Time being in force, and the several Amounts received for the several Classes of Service rendered by Pilots; and also the Amount paid by such Ships. (if any) as have, before reaching the Outer Limits of Pilotage Water if Outward bound, or their Port of Destination if Inward bound, to take or pay for Two or more Pilots, whether licensed by the same or by different Pilotage Authorities; together with the Numbers of the Ships of each of the several Classes paying such several Amounts as aforesaid: Of the RECEIPT and EXPENDITURE of all MONIES (if any) received by or on behalf of the respective Pilotage Authorities aforesaid, or by or on behalf of any SubCommissioners appointed by them, in respect of Pilots or Pilotage. (PRESENTED PURSUANT TO ACT OF PARLIAMENT.) Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed, LONDON: PRINTED FOR HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, PRINTERS TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. And to be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from JOHN MENZIES & Co., 12, HANOVER STREET, EDINBURGH, and |