the town itself as in the harbour and its adjuncts. Readers hardly need to be told that Newhaven is situate on the navigable river Ouse, and that a great storm in 1570 completely changed the outlet of that river from Seaford to a more direct course at Meeching; hence the altered name to Newhaven —a distance of about 3 miles from the then choked up haven at Seaford. In 1882 Newhaven was declared to be a port by the provisions of the Customs Consolidation Act of 1876. Its jurisdiction as a port was to be 3 miles seaward, and to extend eastwards to Galley Hill, near Hastings, and westward to Rottingdean, where its eastern boundary would meet the western boundary of Folkestone port, and its western boundary would meet the eastern boundary of Shoreham Port. The harbour, thus situated between Beachy Head and Brighton, is acknowledged to be the safest of its kind between Spithead and the Thames. The natural harbour was used for centuries by small coasting vessels, but it was of no importance until 1878, when the steamers plying to Dieppe forsook the Brighton Pier and made Newhaven their depot and starting point. From that date, at an immense expense, the harbour has rapidly improved its accommodation, and its traffic has proportionately increased. It is entered at all times of the tide and in all weathers. At spring tides (high water) there is as much as 30 feet of water on the bar and inside the harbour, and at neap tides the depth of water is not less than 26 feet. By the constant operation of powerful steam dredgers — of which I noticed six or seven, the water is kept to a depth of 12 feet even at low-water spring tides. By this means the silting-up process, which averages six inches per year, is entirely kept under, and the Continental steamers of the London, Brighton and South-Coast Railway and Ouest of France Railway, which draw 9 feet, are enabled to enter and depart at all times. I saw some of these splendid vessels alongside the quay, and another one entering during my comparatively short stay. The Dieppe steamers became the property of the London, Brighton & South-Coast and the Ouest of France Railway companies in 1878, and with a desire to keep pace with the times, these two companies resolved to build a larger and better class of vessels for the Continental traffic. Then it was that for their accommodation the great additions and improvements described in the Iron Roads Dictionary (published in 1881) were being put into operation by the Newhaven Harbour Company, which in 1878 was formed by members of the L.B. & S.C. Railway Company.
The said operations have resulted in a magnificent concrete Breakwater, Sea-defence Esplanade and a West pier, which completely protect the harbour from W. and S.W. winds. There is also an East pier, 1400 feet long. The two piers are 250 feet apart, but narrow to 200 feet at the northern ends. The breakwater, running out in a south-easterly direction, is 3,000 feet long from the cliff, and the -
