the time the damage was done was merely a coincidence, it being so diverted because it was more convenient, and not because the Company considered that harm would be done. Counsel’s opinion was, however, obtained by the Commissioners, which was strongly in favour of an action lying either against the Company or the contractors, but not undertaking to say which.
Mr. Major Vidler’s opinion was also that the said bank of earth had caused the damage, and he recommended the Commissioners to employ Mr. Elliott, of Dimchurch (sic) (Surveyor of Romney Marsh) to act as their surveyor at a proposed meeting with Capt. Barlow. This was done, and Mr. Elliott afterwards expressed his opinion in the following letter:—
“There can be no doubt that the damage was caused by the throwing out, at some small distance to the westward, of a large bank of earth brought from the works of the Hastings and Ashford Railway. The effect of this, which acted as a groyne on a large scale, would be to stop the natural progression of the shingle eastward, and it would then follow that deeper water and a stronger eddy would be created on the east side of the bank of earth. The result of all this, combined, would be precisely what has occurred at the spot referred to. By what right—legal or illegal—the Company deposited the earth I have nothing to do with; I can only speak as to the fact; and that this bank caused the damage there can be no reasonable doubt. The question now is—What is to be done so as to give security and confidence to the owners or occupiers of property? My opinion is that as the earth bank has now considerably worn away, and released a large body of beach that had been accumulating westward, a groyne is unnecessary, as the shingle will continue to increase at the spot most wanted; and at the best, a groyne would do but little beyond preventing matters getting worse than they now are, and would not restore the esplanade which has to some extent been carried away. Without such restoration it is probable that every extreme tide will continue to encroach on the highway, even though there should be the usual quantity of shingle below. I should rather recommend the construction of an inexpensive sea-wall, which, I think, would answer every purpose at this point for many years. This, built of concrete, and faced with small hard stone, would not cost, probably, more than £400, the whole of which, it might be too much to ask the Railway Co. to pay; but as the necessity for the outlay has arisen and great positive damage occurred from—to say the least—by an oversight of -
