Discussion.The Authors introduced the Papers with the aid of lantern-slides. Mr. Seaton observed that his Paper had been written quite independently of Mr. Irving, and he was very glad to see that the latter had come to similar conclusions in many cases. He wished to stress the importance of research into the subject of coast erosion and sea defence and'the vital necessity of conserving land and even reclaiming land now inundated by the sea. He hoped that it would be found possible for The Institution to bring the subject to the notice of the responsible Minister (if he could be found), for, since no political kudos could be gained by ventilating the subject, the natural tendency was for Parliament to shelve it. The subject was of paramount importance to the well-being and, indeed, to the continued existence of the nation. A country whose leaders were continually urging the necessity of food production and which permitted agricultural land, even of small extent, t o be inundated was surely insane, and it had rightly been said that " those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad." He had seen many acres of agricultural -land given up to the sea which could have been saved by the expenditure of a few thousand pounds. Surely it was but fair and equitable for the State to appropriate, under the guise of nationalization, the liabilities of the individual as well as his assets.Mr. M. A. Henry observed that the South Wales main line formed a very important link with the West. Originally it had terminated a t Neyland, but when the Pishguard harbour extension was opened in 1909, the Neyland branch had become of secondary importance.A co,mparison of the coast defences of North and South Wales showed that the latter were of much smaller magnitude than the former. The Bristol Channel had a great range of tide, varying from about 45 feet a t Chepstow to about 28 feet a t Swansea.Apart from the natural protection afforded to the South Wales main line by sand dunes and intervening ground, the principal artificial defences were situated west of Llanelly, on the Burry estuary. From Llanelly to Burry Port a sea wall extended for about 2 miles. When the railway had originally been laid the sea was far removed from the line, with saltings between it and the sea. The construction of a river training wall in the Burry estuary had had the effect of eroding the whole of the saltings right up to the railway. The sea wall was a very simple structure, because it had not been expected that it would be subjected to the action of the sea. It was a curved wall, only about 18 inches t,hick, and it supported the line a t a level of about 10 feet above the original salt marsh. It was now exposed to the full effects of the sea and had been protected by the usual stone tipping.In addition, artificial beaching had been put down in the form of slag, and the beaching had to be made good from time to time ; otherwise there would be a risk of voids amongst the 2-ton blocks that protected the wall and failure might occur. There had been one or...

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