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The Great Thames Barrage

Chapter 2: What is complained of.
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About This Book

An engineering proposal argues for construction of a barrage across the lower Thames between Gravesend and Tilbury to create a non-tidal inland reservoir and maintain consistent deep navigation to central London, eliminating dredging, tide-waiting, and grounding, and improving safety and loading operations. The pamphlet catalogs complaints about inadequate depth, delays, overlapping authorities, high costs, and hazardous navigation, critiques dredging and administrative reforms as insufficient, surveys analogous international proposals, and advocates dockisation with locks and sluices as a comprehensive remedy while discussing technical, economic, and operational implications.

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.