HARBOR COMMISSIONERS' REPORT.

To the Honorable the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island, etc.:

The Board of Harbor Commissioners respectfully submit their Third Annual Report.

APPOINTMENT TO THE BOARD.

At the May Session of this General Assembly, His Excellency the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, reappointed Nathaniel F. Potter, whose term of service as Harbor Commissioner expired in June, for a further term of three years.

OFFICE.

As a measure of economy, the office of this Board was moved, in July, to rooms in the building at the corner of Market Square and Canal street, in Providence, where accommodations are obtained at a rent of two hundred dollars per year.

U. S. GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATION.

The Harbor Commissioners are authorized and empowered by Section 4, of Chapter 611 of the Public Laws, passed at the January Session, 1877, to apply to Congress for appropriations for protecting and improving any harbor in the State. Acting for the State under this authority, they petitioned Congress for an appropriation for dredging the channels leading to Providence harbor. A copy of the petition, and a statement in regard to the need for a Government ap

propriation, made to Gen. G. K. Warren, U. S. Engineer, in charge of this district, were contained in the Appendix to our report of last year. In March, two of our members proceeded to Washington to attend a hearing before the House Committee on Commerce, to whom our petition had been referred. The Commissioners were accom

panied to Washington by the President of the Board of Trade, and by representatives of the city government of Providence, and of business interests in Providence. Full plans and profiles of the river and harbor, with documents in regard to the trade and need of improvement, were presented to the Committee, and explanations of the matter were made by members of the delegation and by Representatives to the U. S. Senate and House of Representatives from this State.

The application resulted in an appropriation of $50,000 for the improvement of the river and bay, to be expended under the direction. of the U. S. Engineer in charge of this district. It is estimated that the whole improvement projected by the Harbor Commissioners, and towards the cost of which this is the first appropriation, will require about $500,000. This expenditure will secure a channel twenty-three feet deep at mean low water, and of suitable width for convenient use, from the wharves in Providence to the sea, both by the western passage and by the middle passage. More detailed information in regard to this channel may be found in the Appendix to this report.

Gen. Warren, U. S. Engineer in charge, asked the opinion of this Board in regard to the most desirable channel to be gained by the expenditure of this first appropriation, and requested us to designate a dumping ground for the dredged material. The reply of the Commissioners is printed herewith as Appendix A. This was presented to Gen. Warren by two members of the Board, accompanied by Senator Anthony, Mayor Doyle and Mr. Aldrich, President of the Board of Trade, when a conference was held upon the subject. Gen. Warren approved the views of the Board, and his specification of the work contained the following provision: "To excavate in Providence river, R. I., between Fox Point. wharf and Field's Point, a channel of a depth of twenty (20) feet at mean low water, and of as great a width