UNOCCUPIED COAST.
[TD THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Your interesting article on this subject in the Spectator of July 21st, and the casual mention of the stretch from Bognor to Selsey Bill, "with the break of Pagham Harbour," makes me wonder when poor "Pagham Harbour" is to be finally laid to rest. Dead it is, long ago—about twenty years I am told—but it still enjoys a supposititious existence in maps. Even Bartholomew's latest contour map for cyclists shows blue water where in fact there is nothing but green grass, for in point of fact the sea has been banked out and the old mill at Sidlesham, direct descendant I believe of one that stood there in Thomas Zs Becket's days when he had a palace at Pagham, stands now high and dry, with a deserted and meaningless wharf, by the side of a mere dribble of a river that drains the surrounding meadows into the sea. Nevertheless Pagham Harbour as an obstruction exists in full force. Roads go round it, not through or over it, and the visitor who would drive or cycle from Bognor to Selsey has to make a detour of many miles inland. Some day no doubt a coast road will be constructed along the bar of shingle that keeps out the sea. Only a little more than a mile is needed to connect the ends of two existing roads ; and as it would run over a sort of " no man's land " right on the coast the undertaking would not be expensive. A great attraction would thus be added to the neighbourhood, and the drive would be a charming one, shortened by many miles.—
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