It was
then in a sound condition and was inhabited. Now it is destroyed, and
the batteries farther north have gone too. The same thing is going on
at Dover. The Admiralty Pier causes the accumulation of shingle on its
west side, and prevents it from following its natural course in a
north-easterly direction. Hence the base of the cliffs on the other
side of the pier and harbour is left bare and unprotected; this aids
erosion, and not unfrequently do we hear of the fall of the chalk
cliffs.
Isolated schemes for the prevention of coast erosion are of little
avail. They can do no good, and only increase the waste and
destruction of land in neighbouring shores. Stringent laws should be
passed to prevent the taking away of shingle from protecting beaches,
and to prohibit the ploughing of land near the edge of cliffs, which
greatly assists atmospheric destructive action from above. The State
has recently threatened the abandonment of the coastguard service.
This would be a disastrous policy. Though the primary object of
coastguards, the prevention of smuggling, has almost passed away, the
old sailors who act as guardians of our coast-line render valuable
services to the country. They are most useful in looking after the
foreshore. They save many lives from wrecked vessels, and keep watch
and ward to guard our shores, and give timely notice of the advance of
a hostile fleet, or of that ever-present foe which, though it affords
some protection for our island home from armed invasion, does not fail
to exact a heavy tithe from the land it guards, and has destroyed so
many once flourishing towns and villages by its ceaseless attack.
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