streams furnis and to which, water-power for manufacturing purposes, aratively moderate expenditure, twenty feet navigation at low water can be brought. Two broad and deep entrances from the sea, one or the other of which can be made in a storm blowing from any direction, furnish easy access and make this bay an attractive haven to seafaring men. An Advisory Board, consisting of Commodore Daniel Ammen, Chief of Bureau of Navigation; Major Gouverneur K. Warren, United States Engineer; Captain Carlisle P. Patterson, Sup't. U. S. Coast Survey, has been appointed by the President of the United States, to aid this Board in the consideration of such subjects as are of national interest, and their advice, which is rendered gratuitously, will be of the highest value. Maps and plans in relation to our harbors and channels, obtained from the Coast Survey and from the Engineer Department of the United States, as well as others in possession of the city of Providence, and some from the office of the Secretary of State, with a few from other sources, have been or are being copied and collated so as to give us valuable information in regard to the changes which have occurred or may be going on within our public waters. Believing that the ship channels have been injuriously shoaled by the dumping of ashes from steamers, the Commissioners requested the agents of the various lines to prohibit the throwing out of ashes above Sand Point, east of Prudence Island, above North Point east of Conanicut Island and above Sand Point in the western passage. A dumping ground for the deposit of dredged material has been designated at the "deep hole" northwest of Rumstick Point, where all such material is now required to be carried. This ground is about nine miles from Providence harbor, but no suitable place above this is known to the Commissioners, and to go farther down the bay would not only cause increased expense but would subject the scows, at times, to a rougher sea than they could be expected to live in. A considerable portion, and perhaps the whole, of the dredged material can be taken care of in the construction of wharves within Providence harbor, if plans now under consideration are perfected, and it will be the aim of the Commissioners to aid in this result so far as they can. The Commissioners, having studied the needs of Providence harbor, advised with the Harbor Committee of the City Council, as to the most desirable points for expending the money appropriated by the City Council for dredging, from which good accommodations for the heavy coastwise steamers at this port will probably result. Consultations have been had with the Commissioners of Shell Fisheries in regard to the respective duties of the two boards. The attention of the officers of the Providence and Worcester Railroad has been called to the injury likely to result to the harbor from the cutting off of an estimated volume of more than three million cubic feet from the tidal flow by the construction of a railroad embankment, without an opening, across a portion of Seekonk river, near Walker's Point. This volume should be restored to the tidal flow, without delay, by the construction of an adequate passage-way through the embankment. Complaint having been made to the Commissioners of injury to the Pawtucket harbor, from the washing in of earth by storm waters from the highways of the town, and by the deposit of material above the dam, which washes into the harbor below, notice has been given to various parties responsible for such injury, to the end that a remedy may be provided. Meetings have been held in Bristol, East Greenwich and Pawtucket, to give opportunity to the inhabitants to offer any suggestions in regard to the public waters. It is intended to hold similar meetings in other towns. Many other subjects of interest in the development or preservation of the trusts committed to the Commissioners have been acted upon or are under consideration. The Commissioners offer the following suggestions: An office should be provided for the use of the Commissioners and the keeping of plans and records. The harbor line of East Providence is unsuitable, in the opinion. of the Commissioners, and they would suggest the repeal of the act establishing it. A new line will soon be proposed. It is desirable that the duties of the commission in reference to improvements within harbor lines, be more fully defined. The experience of the Massa usetts Harbor Commissioners will probably be useful in this regard. The commission would have greater apparent authority and probably greater weight in its appeals to Congress for aid in improving the harbor, if a clause directly conferring authority to act for the State, in such appeals, were added to the act. Additional legislation may be needed to insure suitable wharf accommodations for transient shipping, on account of the practice of permanently occupying wharves for private business. The desirability of requiring compensation, in kind or in money, for tidal space occupied by permanent structures, as is done in some States, should be considere. If such compensation is required in money, the funds resulting there from should be devoted exclusively to dredging ship channels near, or valuable to, the wharves or other structures, on account of which the money has been paid. While it is desirable to encourage, or at least to offer no obstacle to, the develop ment of wharf property, such development should, in our opinion, only follow the legitimate demand, including a fair amount of accommodation in excess of immediate needs, for the purpose of inviting an increase of trade, and a moderate tax in compensation for public property resigned to private control and use ought not to be objected to, especially when it is made for the purpose of obtaining a fund to expend in repairing the injury caused by such private occupation and in increasing the value of the property so taxed. The reason for imposing such a tax consists chiefly in the fact that the main channels are preserved by the scour of the tides, and the efficiency of this force depends upon the volume of water which passes into and out of a basin at each tide. Any lessening of this volume will have a tendency to cause the channels to fill up, and to preserve them dredging must be resorted to. The question arises then as to the source from which funds for this dredging should be obta ined, and although a part of it may fairly be raised by a general tax upon the community benefited by the increased facilities for trade, it seems most proper that the structures causing the injury should bear an additional part of the cost of the remedy. By this plan, also, the State which surrenders public property to private use, receives in Report of the Harbor Commissioners. 7 direct compensation therefor. There are rare cases in which the occupation of a moderate amount of tidal space, between high and low water, does not injure the chann ls, but it has been laid down as a law by high authority that "Where the high water level of the surface of the river, estuary, or basin is the same as, or higher than, the level seaward of the point of abstraction, a diminution of tidecovered area will reduce the effective backwater." Backwater being the term by which the volume of water between high and low tide levels is designated. Where the inner waters rise higher than the outer it may be concluded that the space for receiving the tidal flow is already smaller than is required for the fullest effect of tidal scour. This is the case with the waters of Nariagansett Bay and Providence harbor; the waters pile up as they flow inland and it is safe to say that any lessening of the space between high and low water, to receive the tide is an injury and that artificial means must be resorted to to preserve the channels. In view of all the facts of the case we recommend that a compensation fund be established from a tax to be levied on parties who displace tide waters by structures or otherwise, and that the fund thus obtained be used by the Board of Harbor Commissioners at their discretion in improving the channels most affected by the displacement. It is supposed to be the duty of the commission to foster and develop the rights and interests of the State in the public waters as well as to prevent direct injury. In this view it is desirable that an amendment be made to the act, empowering the Commissioners to make such examinations and observations as they may deem necessary. It is made the duty of the Harbor Commissioners to recommend such further legislation as they may deem proper, and they therefore submit herewith a new draft of the act, under which they were appointed, embodying such changes as seem to them desirable. J. HERBERT SHEDD, Harbor Commissioners. |