ENGLISHMEN do not, as a rule, realise the perishable and perishing nature of the land on which they live. Although more than fifty years have now elapsed since Sir Charles Lyell collected and emphasised the evidences which showed that the structure of the solid rocks might be in- terpreted by rightly reading the changes going on at the present day, it is doubtful whether one Englishman in a hundred knows that many thousands of tons are yearly and regularly subtracted from our country by the action of rain, atmosphere, and rivers, thus steadily reducing the average level of the land, and transport- ing the old surface of England into the sea. It may be supposed that a larger proportion, who live near the sea-shore or annually visit it, are aware of the reality of inroads of the sea and the serious necessity which exists in many places for taking strong measures against the devouring element which at times rages so furiously. But the experience of any given seaside resident, and even of migratory visitors, is limited, and although geologists have from time to time noted evidences of the erosion of the coast, or derived important geological evidence from new exposures of surface by cliff falls, there does not yet exist a complete record from which the average English- man may know how fast his country is wasting, and which may guide our national and municipal authorities as to the best means of limiting the destruction and making it less injurious if inevitable. The British Association, however, in 1882 made an important step in advance by appointing a strong committee of geolo- gists, engineers, and naval authorities to inquire into the rate of erosion of the sea coasts of England and Wales and the in- fluence of artificial abstraction of shingle or other material on that process. For some four years this committee has been engaged in collecting and collating evi- dence from many local inhabitants who have long noticed the state of the coast in their respective neighbourhoods, and from engineers who have had practical experi- ence ia. constructing harbours or other works of defence against the sea. The first substantial report of the committee, recently published, is chiefly confined to the districts south of the Thames, the reports from other districts being less complete. It must be remembered that accurate reporting, while vitally necessary, cannot at first accomplish much, for the evidences which a single half century can accumulate are but slight compared with the facts of many centuries; and until the principles of geology were formulated, observation founded upon them could not be adequately commenced. It may not be before many such reports have been made and until a complete system of correct observation shall have been estabr lished by the nation (not necessarily at great expense) that we shall be in a position to judge whither our land is tending, and what should be done.

The coast-line of England consists of a very great variety of materials, in a varied state of consolidation, and of very different height in successive localities. From mud to elvan, from chalk to granite, from sand to limestone and flint, it passes at irregular intervals, and often consists of numerous strata of different hardness overlying one another, and making all angles with the sea-level, from horizontal to vertical. The coast is exposed to wear and tear, not only from the force of the sea and wind, bnt also from the effects of rain and atmospheric changes, which for the most part tend in one direction, towards destruction of the existing land.

These forces all tend to reduce everything to one dead level, and however construc- tive they may be in other localities, on that portion of the earth which exists above water they concentrate almost un- varying efforts of destruction. Yet the very process of destruction in most local- ities establishes a preservative action.

Unless the cliffs consist of mere clay or fine sand a bank of gravel or shingle is formed, which acts as a valuable barrier between the sea and the land. But like many natural operations this is liable to variations, owing to the changes of wind and tide. At one period, or for a series of years, the quantity of shingle may diminish greatly along a particular part of the coast, giving correspondingly greater access to the violence of the sea and accelerating the progress of its de- structive effects.

Naturally these operations have run counter to the schemes of man. Wishing to dwell near the sea-shore or to protect his shipping, he has often found his structures threatened or destroyed; and these results more than any other have led to very extensive works of repair or preservation, which have been carried out locally, without much concert, often with- out skilled advice, and certainly, for the most part, without any Government or national concern being felt in them. It is now time that some general informa- tion should be collected and made avail- able as to these matters, so that local authorities shall not be left in the dark, and that people living inland may have some notion of what is going on along our coasts.

First, as to the actual rate of destruc- tion. Without going into the wearing back of the cliffs during uncertain num- bers of centuries, which can be proved by various evidences, and coming down to the time when the one-inch ordnance survey map was published, in 1813, at Langney, near Beachy Head, the Martello Towers 69, 70, 71, and 72 were all some distance above high-water mark. They are now all destroyed, and only the ruins of two of them are laid bare at half tide.

Near the Wish Tower a house stood fifty years ago, the site of which is now covered with shingle, and a furlong of land appears to have wasted in 100 or 130 years. Beachy Head itself, 532 feet high, being composed at the base of the hard lower chalk, offers great resistance to the sea, and the upper portion wastes faster, owing to rain, frost, and salt spray, than the lower. These facts give a re- presentation of the state of things over a considerable region of the south and east coasts where artificial works have not interfered.

On the Dorset coast a very considerable destruction of the cliffs, composed of very varied material, takes place by landslips, and the sea gradually clears away the debris. Golden Gap, 620 feet high, has, during th* past thirty or forty years, been lowered as many feet. Some fields have been reduced to one-half their former size. Better draining would in some cases reduce the rate of decay, by pre- venting so much erosion by rain-water and frost action. From Sidmouth the opinion comes that there is a slight sinking of the land going on, perhaps not more than ten inches in a hundred years. But accurate observations over a sufficient length of time are wanting.

They should be undertaken by some Government department at well-selected stations all over the coast.

But it may be thought that the land gains in some directions what it loses in others. Notably, the district known as Romney Marsh is a comparatively modern accretion. The estuary of the Wantsum, which once separated the Isle of Thanet from the mainland, has been recovered from the sea, partly by human agencies, and in great measure by the silting up of the river, caused by the sea currents diverting its mouth in a northerly direc- tion, by the travelling of sea beaches, and by accumulation of blown sand. The embankments of Brading Harbour, in the Isle of Wight, have reclaimed a tract of 600 acres from, the sea. Much of the lowland of Sheppey has been reclaimed from the sea in the past 300 years. All this, however, is but slight compensation for what is lost; new low land, mud flats requiring constant protection, and sand banks do not replace lost cliffs. And it behoves every Englishman to protect his land as far as he can from a more power- ful destroyer than human potentates.

But if the coast is being destroyed rather fast, it is chiefly due to human action, and first in the removal of shingle, gravel, and sand. All along the coast we find almost the same tale of unchecked removal of material for agricultural road- making and building purposes. Thus at Sidmouth, when the Board of Trade some years ago set up a claim to the foreshore, and forbade the removal of shingle, such a disturbance was made by the inhabitants that the attempt was given up; and now shingle, gravel for walks and roads, and sand for mortar are taken without let or hindrance. In some parts, as near Lyme, limestone is taken from the cliffs and ledges, and lime is copiously extracted from them. The very ledges of the shore are stripped off. From a tract east and west of the River Brit, belonging respec- tively to General Pitt-Rivers and the Earl of Ilchester, and leased to private in- dividuals, something like 10,000 tons may be carted away in six months.

Between Littlehampton and Brighton it is said that most of the walls within two miles of the sea have been built with boulders from the beach; hence it is only natural that the shingle has been diminishing, as also has the broad tract of fine or mud sand. At Brighton the sands are clearly at a lower level than formerly. No one part of the country is much more guilty than another in respect of the removal of shingle, although some parts are more injured by it than others.

The common answer to objections is that a single tide will sometimes bring in more shingle than a year's operations will take away, and that no real harm can be done by such abstraction. But it must be remembered that every existing portion of shingle is a product of destruction, and although its removal may not appear to make much impression, the same sea which destroyed cliffs to make that shingle will almost certainly destroy an equal portion to make up for that which is removed; and this process will go on faster in proportion to the increasing demands of mankind. And although in a state of nature shingle varies in its distribution at different times, moving as a circulating medium of defence, according to the prevailing wind and set of the tide, the preponderating movement at present being up channel, in consequence of the prevalence of south-west winds, yet be- cause nature moves shingle from one spot to another, that is no argument for man removing it altogether, causing nature to manufacture more shingle out of cliffs.

This is peculiarly an imperial matter.

It concerns the imperial dominion, which extends over the sea-shore and all estuaries within reach of the tide, and must naturally control all proceedings tending to damage the cliff or diminish the sea- shore. We believe it is, prima facie, illegal to remove anything from the coast or from the region between high and low- water mark, and that no special legislation would be required, and that after adequate notice prosecution could be maintained against offenders. But probably some further inquiry would be desirable before putting restrictions in force which have been so long unobserved.

A second and equally important ques- tion concerns the methods to be adopted by local authorities to protect the coast- line from erosion. It is asserted that during the present century great injury has been done by the extensive building of groynes, or rows of piles banded together, and intended to stop the natural travelling of the shingle and prevent the loss of coast. Some of these do damage by heaping up the shingle along one side of the groyne, while a corresponding de- ficiency is created on the other side, and thus a natural process of movement is barred, diminishing the supply to a less favoured locality. Thus, although in some localities this process may seem to answer, it is injurious to others, and from many of the places where they have been extensively adopted we hear complaints of failure, of faulty construction, of diminish- ing shingle, of costliness, and of the groynes being out of order. It is only where strong broadside sea-walls have been built that a definite cessation 01 inroads of the sea has been effected, and progress in this matter appears to look towards the general substitution of strong stone embankments of judicious form, instead of wooden ramparts, which are :ostly, more easily destroyed, and often want renewing. But there are some, perhaps timber merchants, who will assert that there is nothing like wood. So they said about ships and railway bridges; but we have learnt better. Watering-places especially will find their account in con- structing good walls, for they are of the highest service as furnishing first-class marine promenades.

The erection of stone harbour piers in many ports has been alleged as seriously aiding in the destruction of the coast.

Folkestone is a typical case, and a con- nexion is believed to be made out between the elongation of the pier to the westward of the harbour, and the denudation of East Wear Bay of shingle, causing an alarmingly rapid fall of the chalk under- cliff, to the imminent jeopardy of the South-Eastern Eailway. Dover presents much the same phenomena since the building of the Admiralty Pier. From the Castle jetty to St. Margaret's the base of the cliff is being abraded, and what forriftd a carriage-way into Dover under the cliff some 30 years ago has now en- tirely disappeared. It is suggested that in most cases where a moving beach has to be crossed, it would be best to com- mence the solid work of the pier sea,ward of the shingle mass, connecting it by open piling with the shore, and leaving the littoral movement uninterfered with. How far all these evils and dangers can be met by legislation or by more skilful engineer- ing is certainly a subject worthy of con- sideration. At any rate, we ought not to acquiesce calmly in any more rapid wast- ing of our coast line than is inevitable.

All actions which are detrimental to the Queen's dominion should be forbidden and prevented, and wherein the forces of nature cannot be gainsaid, much may be saved by skilful works of defence. We may add that Mr. W. Topley has edited the report of the British Association Committee on this subject, and that Mr.

W. Whitaker has supplied a valuable bibliography of works, papers, and pamph- lets bearing on coast changes and shore deposits in England and Wales. A further report dealing with the erosion of the East Coast of England will appear in the next volume of the British Association reports.