FIRTH OF FORTH

Hokitika Guardian, 25 May 1931, Page 6

FIRTH OF FORTH

£7.000,000 DAM

TO RIVAL SHANNON SCHEME,

LONDON, April 7

every tourist motoring in Nortli Scotland knows, the Firth of Forth cuts deeply so that to get to ttie north-east or north-west you must j needs take the road to Stirling. The ; boat terry at Burntisland takes up time; the Forth Bridge is for rail only. A bridge at Burntisland is therefore getting support, and there are good altruistic reasons for it. A scheme to I build a bridge, over the Forth theie would cost anything up to £0,000,0p0 and what a fine lot of work for the unemployed. But there are airier schemes even that that being launched. And one has ' a breadth to take the breath away—a £7,000,000 dam across the Firth. The architects of this have vision—wide vision. By building this dam at , Bo’ness, the Firth of Forth would be I transformed into a liugfe lake. ine dam would begin at a point west of Port Fdgar and would stretch to a point west of North Queensferry. Locks for ships to pass into the “pool” would be from the entrance to Inverkeithing- Harbour to St. Margaret's Bay on the north side. Of a sufficient breadth to accommodate adequate • roadways, the dam would be 2433 yards long. The lake formed would be kept at a, predetermined level, and would be navigable by the largest ships. Dock gates would became obsolete; piers and _iettie s would meet the requirements of vessels for loading and discharging cargoes. Power could.be generated- at the dam from turbines to work the locks and provide light. It would be posable to load coal right from the pit head. This, it is said, would cheapen the price for the foreign

: market, and trade would he recaptured. 1 The architect, Mr Matthew Steele, i claims that the dam would bring such ■ widely differing benefits as : | The complete and final solution of I the Forth crossings problem. | Increased facilities for shipping—the vast ‘‘poor’ would make. the Forth the .Sydney of Scotland. | A magnet for tourists, a yachtsman’s | paradise, and a bathing resort outvying | the Cote d’Azur. ' An electricity supply centre on the lines of the Shannon scheme in Ire--1 land. Abundant of work for the unemployed. This plan would take probably' five years to carry out! . !