Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/156



HARBOUR DUES ON THE TONNAGE OF VESSELS FREQUENTING THE PORT AND RIVER.
There is an exemption in favour of vessels belonging to the port of Arundel, in Sussex, which are made free of the harbours, ports, and havens of Dover, Rye, Ramsgate and Sandwich, by authority of an act of 33rd George III. (see [PNRC0039.htm#PNRC029 page 29], under the head of Arun River.) The ships and vessels in his Majesty's service are also exempt from payment of these duties.

There is, also, a special clause relating to the rates to be paid by the owner or occupier of the corn mill, wharfs, and warehouses, situate on the Little Stour or Seaton Navigation, at Seaton, in the parish of Ickham, directing the harbour duties to be paid in full; but for the period of twenty-one years from the commencement of such rates, one-half only of the river rates are to be demanded for and in respect of all cargoes belonging to them, conveyed in barges drawing 3 feet 6 inches only, and loaded or discharged in the Little Stour or Seaton Navigation. The navigation here referred to has been made without application to parliament, and extends from Seaton to the Canterbury Navigation, into which it enters a little below Stourmouth. Its length is little more than six miles, and no part of it is more than 15 feet above low water spring tides.

Ships receiving or unlading goods upon any part of the sea coast, between Cliffs End, in the parish of St. Lawrence, in the Isle of Thanet, and Sandown Castle, are liable to the aforesaid tonnage duties.