A gentleman of considerable experience in the matter of soa defences, by whom our ial Commissioner was accompanied on his recent visit to Holland, has favoured us with the following observations upon the Dutch methods. As for centuries the Dutch have with marked success defended their coasts against the inroads of the sea it is becoming that one should speak of thole doings with considerable reserve. They have some brilliant engineers, and presumably they know best what ought to dono in their own circumstances, but still they are themselves divided on most important questions both of principle and practice, and therefore a stranger may well be excused for expressing views and preferences of his own. There is for example, great divergence between the methods adopted at Schoveningon and at Petten. il the Scheveningen eyston was resorted to no other method of coast defence seems to have been practised in places where the dunes have been swallowed up, than that of constructing a great dyke of wall with a long seaward slope, and at the foot of it a series of greyness.. By comparison with this system the. Scheveningen sea-wall representa quite a new departure. view of the beautiful stretch of foreshore which has been maintained there, notwithstanding the encroaching tendencies of the sea, it appears to be by far the preferable method. However, there are Dutch engineers who assert that it will require the case of a long slope the bank must always teat of time to prove its utility." Tu the carried to a great height, and. the necessity may arise to carry it still higher. The longer the slope the bigger the structure must be, and the maintenance of it i a matter of perpetual cost and The Scheveningen sea-wall would require to be much higher if it were built on the Petten system, and the slope would be so long as to monopolise nearly all the fore. shore. The advantages of the Scheven. inten system are obvious in the case of watering-place where it is essential to pre serve the natural beauty of the sea front and even at Patten and Westkapelle it, would probably meet with favourable consideration if defence works had now to be constructed.
It is an interesting fact that in England we have some defence works which combine both methods. At Dymehureh, on the coast of Kent, there is a sea-wall very much like that of Scheveningen; and from the- base of it down to the sea, a distance of 150 ft., the beach is paved much the samees at Petten, These works for a considerable time appeared to be a complete success. In 1886 a report was published on the authority of an eminent engineer that the Dymeburch aystem proved not only the. inefficiency, but the danger: of
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