THE GREAT THAMES BARRAGE
BY
T. W. BARBER
M.INST.C.E.
It is not necessary to emphasise in any way the fact that something must be done in the tidal Thames to bring the Port of London up to date, and to maintain it as the great inlet of British commerce. What with numerous newspaper articles, magazine reviews, reports of Royal Commissions and others, and a general murmur of complaint from all persons who use the port for their business or the river for traffic purposes, there have recently been abundant evidences that things are not as they should be. Everyone is agreed on this point, but when it comes to the question of a remedy, there agreement ends and confusion begins.
What is complained of.
And, first, to briefly catalogue the complaints from all sources. They are as follows:—(a) Insufficient depth of water in the river for the increasing size and tonnage of steamships. (b) Tide-waiting at Gravesend and at the dock entrances, inward and outward. (c) Excessive dues. (d) Vexatious restrictions owing to conflicting and overlapping authorities in the river. (e) Excessive cost of barging, pilotage, and labour in loading and discharging. (f) Loss of time at the port. (g) Dangerous navigation, due to tides, bends in the river, narrow channel, fogs, and the crowded state of the river. That these complaints are well founded is generally admitted.