EVIDENCE FOR DEFENDANT.

Robert Bridson, of Ballafletcher, in the parish of Braddan, farmer, being sworn and examined, saith — I think I am fifty-eight years of age. I know Tromode Mills. I was reared in that neighbourhood. I have been employed at those mills from my childhood up to the year Eighteen hundred and twenty-one. I have worked at that mill. The mill I worked at was at Ballabeg; it was at the opposite side to the present one and about facing it. There was a mill upon both sides of the river. The Defendant's father worked one, and Edward Moore, his brother, worked the other. The Defendant's father had the mill on the west side of the river. I have worked at both mills. Edward Moore had the mill on the east side of the river. When I left the employ of the Ballabeg Mill, in Eighteen hundred and twenty-one, it was standing and did stand for some years after. It was built by the Defendant's father while I was in his employment. The Ballabeg Mill was built about three years before I left. They got the water to the Ballabeg Mill by a dam-head below the dam-head of the other mill, and brought a race in from the river to that mill. We had a dam to keep the water in, I have been on the ground where the Ballabeg Mill was. Mr. Malcolm, Mr. Moore, Robert Watterson, and John Quayle were with me. I gave Mr. Malcolm as correct a description cf the former site of premises as I could. The old race to the Tromode Mill, before the present dam was made, ran much in the same direction as it does now. I have looked at a Plan now produced, marked with the letter B, which correctly represents the former state of the premises on both sides of the river, with the exception of the new dam. Sometimes when there was a scarcity we used to keep the water for the mill on the east side of the river by a flag which stood across the race, and taking some sods from the side of the race beside the flag and let the water flow down into the meadow which lay alongside, and the stone across the race was a little below the spot where the sluice leading out of the dam now is. There was a sluice down at the mill also ; there were two sluices on the race before it got to the mill. The letter A on the Plan E represents where the flag lies. By throwing the water into the meadow there was a good deal of water lodging in ; enough to hold the water collected at dinner time in the race ; and all as it was, we were used to shut the dam at Ballabeg in the night and day in the summer time.—There was a sod fence at one side and a brow at the other, about twenty yards across and one hundred yards in length. We were always stopping the dam when the work stopped at Ballabeg. I remember the old dam-head and race at Port-e-Chee. The present dam-head is not of the same construction. I knew the Ballaughton Mill before the one that was burnt. The Ballaughton Mill requires more water now than what it did when I remember it. When the water was dammed into the meadow, as before mentioned, we let it out below by taking sods out of the said race. I do not know that they dam the water at night on the Tromode side.

Cross-examined, saith— Ballabeg dam was built about One thousand eight hundred and eighteen, The Defendant's father took the mill on the other side about three years after I left the premises, and the Ballabeg Mill was made into dwelling-houses. And when the mill was made into dwelling-houses the mill-dam and race were done away with. At that time a man of the name of Hutchinson was miller under Mungo Murray, who had the management of it. The Ballabeg Mill was a bleach-mill, and was used for no other purpose. The mill that was inade into dwelling-houses has all been taken down since. The land upon which the Ballabeg Mill was made belonged to Major Taubman. The dam-head belonging to the Ballabeg Mill that I have spoken of was made of piles of timber, sods, gorse, and cob stones, taken from the bed of the river. And the present dam-head of the Defendant's is the same as it was then. The meadow into which they let the water out of the mill-race is lower than the mill-race. I remember the Tromode Mill first as a paper-mill, and afterwards the paper-mill was turned into a mill for spinning yarn, and it is so now. There was a bleach-mill a few yards further up. And the property at the Tromode side belonged also to Major Taubman, and the Defendant's father and Edward Moore were his tenants, who rented a good deal of land there from Major Taubman, And he built all the mills he has spoken of, and threw down the paper-mill which had stood there before. I cannot tell who built the paper-mill. The old mill-dam I have spoken of was a meadow a little better than an acre ; they sometimes cut hay off it, and at other times pastured it. Excepting damming in the meadow they never dammed any other place, except shutting the sluices to dam the water back in the race.

[18] Re-examined saith - The meadow was high enough to let the water flow into the race. The dam holds a deal of water. By the dam I mean the meadow.

Re-cross examined, saith - The said meadow was called Ballanerd Beg's Meadow.

By a Juror - I have seen both Ballabeg and Tromode dam full at the same season. I have seen both dams in use at the same time. The Ballabeg dam, when it was full, could run off about four feet deep. The two dams together could hold fully as much water at the present dam. They did not use the Tromode dam at night.

Robert Watterson, of the parish of Lonan labourer, being sworn and examined, saith - I am sixty-six years of ago. I was partly reared at Tromode and left it nearly thirty years ago; I lived in the neighbourhood until that time. When I first remember it the paper-mill was there, but it was not working. The said paper-mill was turned, by the Defendant's father and Edward Moore, into a mill for spinning yarn, and a bleach mill. And I think that it has continued so ever since. it was supplied by water by the mill-race, which was very much in the same situation as the present mill-race. The mill-race commenced at the dam-head, where it is now. There was a sluice near about the place where the sluice from the new dam is now. There was a fence running angular from that sluice towards the river. The water was dammed back behind that hedge on Ballanerd-Moar. The water was dammed there on purpose to work the mill, The fence that I have spoken of ran from the point C on the Plan E to the point D, and it dammed the water on behind that fence and on Ballanerd Moar: and the boundary-fence between Ballanerd-Moar and Ballanerd-Beg kept it there. The water. was let off from Ballanerd-Moar to Ballanerd-Beg by a sluice. They were able to let the water into the race and out of the race by removing sods. There was a flag across the race for the purpose of turning the water from the race into the meadow. The water from Ballanerd-Moar was let into the race by the sluice, then ran down the race to the flag, and if the sods were not out the water went over the flag in the race ; if they were out it ran into Ballanerd-Beg meadow. The water was let into Ballanerd-Beg Meadow to keep a little store. When the water at Ballanerd-Beg Meadow was used it was let into the race by removing some of the sods below the flag. On the other side of the river there was a bleach-mill. I remember it and the race to it being made upwards of thirty years ago, The race led into a dam. The dam was about a hundred yards long and twenty wide. They were damming the water for both mills at the same time, and between them they dried up the river altogether ; they were damming in the Ballabeg Mill dam at night, and also in the day time during meal time. On Tromode side they would be damming whenever they wanted in dry weather. They could not do without damming. I cannot say how often they dammed on the Tromode side ; I have seen them using the dam in the night ; and I know that they dammed it in the night time. I never worked at that mill, but I was backwards and forwards often enough. I know the Defendant's present dam. The dam on Tromode side did not hold near the quantity of water the present dam does. Both Tromode dam and Ballabeg dam would hold near about as much as the present dam. I remember Ballaughton Mill. When I first remember it there was one pair of stones in the mill ; this is the old mill, before the one that was burnt.

By the Court — I do not remember any older mill than that.

Cross-examined, saith — The land at Ballanerd-Moar in which the water was dammed belonged to John Kewley, and Ballanerd-Beg belonged to the father of the late William Kewley, advocate. The sluice between Ballanerd-Moar and Ballanerd-Beg was in the boundary-fence between the proprietors. And the race from that sluice was upon Kewley Ballanerd-Beg's property. The little meadow described upon the Plan E, as the old mill-dam, was the property of Kewley, of Ballanerd-Beg, and it continues to be the property of Kewley, of Ballanerd-Beg still. There is no dam whatever upon Major Taubman's property upon which the mills were situated; and the Ballanerd-Beg people grazed that part of the meadow which was not covered with water, and sometimes cut hay off it. That fence behind which the water was dammed has been taken away by the flood. I was brought to the ground by the Defendant when the Jury of View were there ; but I did not point any of these things out to the Jury, because I had my own home to mind; nor was I asked anything. Since the Jury of View was there I was brought there by the Defendant to point out the premises on Plan E. When I first recollect the Ballaughton Mill it was in the tenancy of John Gelling. I remember the Plaintiff's Mill about fifty years ago, or between forty and fifty years, at which time John Gelling was tenant of the mill. I never remember anybody occupying the old mill besides the said John Gelling. There was a second mill built by the Duke of Atholl, and in the possession of Mungo Murray, who was the first that had the mill after it was built. As much as I understand, a man from Ballasalla took the said mill for a short time after Mungo Murray left it, and then Donaldson got it; I believe the Ballabeg Mill before spoken of was built in some parts by sods, and other parts by stones and sods and after it was converted into dwelling-houses part fell of itself and the rest, was taken down. After the Ballabeg Mill was turned into dwelling houses, the dam and mill-race were done away with. The fence I have spoken of ran towards Castleward ; and I am not sure that the whole was on. Robert Watterson

This cause is adjourned till Thursday, the 10th day of July, Eighteen hundred and fifty at Ten o'clock, Forenoon.

This cause is adjourned till Monday, the 22nd day of September, 1856, at Ten o'clock, Forenoon

[19] This cause is adjourned until Thursday, the 6th day of November, Eighteen hundred and fifty six, at Ten o'clock, Forenoon,

This cause is adjourned until Tuesday, the 20th day of January, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, at Ten o'clock, Forenoon.

At an adjourned Court of Common Law, holden at Castle Rushen, this 20th day of January, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven (1857.)

John Quayle, of Douglas, sawyer, being sworn and examined, saith—I know the Tromode Mills ; I was employed there. I went there when I was about ten years of age, and am fifty years of age now. At first I was at the spinning work ; I was there till I was 18 years of age; I was brought up as a child there. I was going up and down frequently. When I first went there Mr. James Moore had no mill. I afterwards went to Cottier's mill for about a year, and then built a little mill on the Ballabeg side ; and on the other side there was the same mill as is there now. There was a dam at the mill at Ballabeg. We would be damming all night ; at times in the middle of the day ; regularly in the summer time. The dam at Ballabey Mill was more than one hundred yards long, and from twenty to thirty yards broad. When I left Mr. Moore I went to Cowin's farm. I know Lewin's mill, and Plaintiffs sent their corn to Lewin's mill, which is on the same river as Tromode Mill. I have known the corn remain there four or five weeks before it could be ground ; the reason was from the want of water. I do not know but that the mill would be full of corn at the time when we would be waiting our turn. I have known this stoppage from the latter end of May to the latter end of August. Sometimes the mill would he stopped altogether. We could work the mill for two or three hours in the morning and two more in the evening. In the year 1826 both Lewin's mill and Oates' mill were stopped three months for want of water; and also before and since that time. I have known it stopped for want of water. I know the Ballaughton Mills. I have been working there for Mr. Donaldson for one summer. This was twenty-seven or twenty-eight years ago. I was chiefly employed in the mill-race and the river, getting as much water as we could for the mill. It was a very dry summer. We would be putting three or four rows of sods at top of Ballaughton dam-head.During that summer the mill was stopped four or five weeks altogether; and we also made a new dam-head six or eight inches higher than the old one. We also put rows of sods on the top of Port-e- Chee dam-head. Last summer I saw a sufficient quantity of water running through the dam-head at Port-e-Chee, not over it, to drive a pair of stones. There was also leakage from the race into the river below the dam-head at different places; there was a good deal of water coming down. The people on the Tromode side were putting piles of timber on the dam-head, and thereby raising it, and the water was dammed in the river, and about an acre of waste land covered with it. The usual way was to stop it all night. There was a sluice in the race turning it down. They were driving piles in the dam- head, and two boards, one above the other, nailed to the piles. The Ballabeg dam-head was below the Tromode dam-head. During the dry weather it would take the whole place on which the water was dammed at night to fill the dam at Tromode: and when the dry weather would be over, and there would be a sufficiency of water, we would be taking the boards off the dam-head. The meadow lower down than the piece of waste land aforesaid was rented by John and Edward Moore, which meadow was used sometimes for bleaching yarn, and sometimes in dry weather they dammed the water on it for the use of the mill. Mr. James Moore, the Defendant's father, succeeded John and Edward Moore in the possession of Tromode Mill, and had possession until the time of his death. Since Mr. James Moore, the Defendants father, died, the Defendant has had possession of it. The meadow and the piece of waste land aforesaid was to the opposite and east side of the mill-race and lower down than the present mill-dam. During the summer I was at Ballaughton Mill they had three pair of stones in the mill ; but they never used more than one pair during the time I was there.

Cross-examined, saith-Mr. John and Edward Moore rented the Tromode Mill from the proprietor of the Nunnery; and Mr. James Moore, the Defendant's father, also rented the land on which the Ballabeg Mill was built from the proprietor of the Nunnery. My knowledge of Tromode Mill was gathered during the eight years I was there. I was ten years of age then. During that time, and for many years before and after, a man, of the name of Sam. Hill, rented the Ballaughton Mill as tenant. The year 1826 was an extraordinary dry year ; there was no rain from May till September. The year 1829 or 1830 that I was employed at Ballaughton Mills was also an extraordinary dry year, and that was the reason I was employed as a labourer, to try and get all the water we could to the mill. The Ballabeg Mill was worked for eight years before it was turned into dwelling-houses ; and Mr, James Moore, the Defendant's father, had it as long as he wanted it, until he removed to the other mill, when he removed the machinery. It is about twenty-eight years since it has been worked, and ever since it was knocked down the ground has been used for grazing ground, Excepting the piles and boards and meadow, which answered the purpose of a dam, there was no dam at Tromode Mill, The meadow was about an acre. Two streams join the Bright River between Lewin's Mill and Tromode Mill; one is usually dry in summer, and the other stream drives Oates Mill. The old Port -e-Chee dam-head leaked, but the present one leaked a power. Tho meadow that was used for danming the water on was not rented from the Nunnery, It was rented from Kewley, Ballanerd, I cannot [20] tell how much water, except from looking at it, would drive a pair of stones. I have seen less water than there ran through the Port-e-Chee dam-head turn a pair of stones at Ballaughton Mill. I never saw the Bright river quite dry.

Re-examined, saith— The proprietors of the Nunnery resided at the Nunnery occasionally Taubman was proprietor, and afterwards the Goldies. The Nunnery is about a couple of miles from Tromode, After I had left Tromode my father and mother lived there a long time afterwards and I was in tho habit of going there. The premises remained much in the same state until the Defendant made considerable alterations. John Quay, my + mrk

William Camaish, of Ballamillacan, in the parish of Braddan, labourer, being sworn and examined, saith— I am seventy-five years of age. I am not much acquainted with Tromode Mill ; but I have been working at Castleward, which is close to it. I was working there for more than twenty years, doing farmers' work; I was bruising gorse and getting it from Castleward Claddagh, which is about 100 yards from Defendant's mill-dam, There was a gorse-mill on the Claddagh ; I was working at the gorse-mill when the present mill-dam was building. It is more than fourteen years since I left Castleward. To the best of my knowledge the dam at Tromode was commenced in Eighteen hundred and thirty-two, and finished in 1833. I was thirteen years working at the gorse-mill. I know that the dam was commenced in 1832, because I began to work at the gorse-mill in 1830 it was in the second year after that that the dam was made. I do not remember any dam-head except the dam-head for the old mill. I do not understand that the race has been altered since. I cannot tell how they managed to get water in the dry season for Tromode Mill.

Cross-examined, saith— I never could read or write. I am not sure of the year I went to Castleward to work. I cannot tell how many years I was working there when I went to work at the gorse-mill. After I gave up working at the gorse-mill I went away. That was fourteen years last May.— The reason I fix upon 1830 is because I heard them talk of it ; but as for tell-tale and talk I cannot tell anything about it.

Re-examined, saith — I was working at the gorse-mill thirteen years.

By a Juror— I worked about twenty years with George Redfern, who was tenant at Castleward The gorse-mill was not built when I went there. It was built afterwards ; how many years afterwards I cannot tell. I was working with Thomas Minto, who was tenant at Castleward before Redfern, about one year. I worked with no tenant after Redfern left it.

Re-examination continued— When I left Castleward I was working with Redfern. Altogether I was working at Castleward five or six-and-twenty years

Wm Camaish his + mark.

John Carran, of Tromode, bleacher, being sworn and examined, saith— I am in the Defendant's employment at Tromode; I have been there twenty-eight or twenty-nine years. I remember Mr. Henry Moore, the Defendant's brother. He was connected with his father at the Tromode Mills. The said Henry Moore died in eighteen hundred and thirty-seven. The present dam was then built, and, to the best of my knowledge, it was made four years before said Henry Moore's death. At that time I lived as near as possible to the dam, within twenty or thirty yards of it. They were building the sides of it with sods, which they were getting from before our house. It was built to a certain height the first year, and was used as a dam ; and it was raised the second year with sods, which they got from the opposite side of the river. The piece of ground in front of my house, from which they took the sods, was turned into potato butts, and crops of potatoes taken out. This crop was taken out one year after the sods were taken away, and the year after they got a crop of barley off it ; and when it was sown with barley, rye-grass was also sown in it. That land has never been broke up since. I think, to the best of my knowledge, the barley was cut off before Mr. Henry Moore died. I assisted in making the dam from the very commencement. I had charge of the dam fifteen or sixteen years. I remember when the steam-engine was put up. Since the engine was put up the water was let off more gradually. We are getting some of it now, and we were not then; and since the engine was put up the dam took longer in emptying. I remember the old dam-head at Port-e-Chee, and I know the present one, and I know how they were both constructed. There was a great leakage in the new dam-head. I was at the dam-head with Mr. Malcolm, the Defendant's manager, last summer, and there was great leakage in it then. Mr Malcolm made a measurement of the extent of the leakage. I remember the old sluice, and I know the new one; the river was running down straight into the old one, and it was carrying the water from the river better than the new one does in my opinion. The old dam-head was not leaking so much as this one, I think, beacause it comes out everywhere in this one.

Alexander Lee Malcolm, of Tromode, manager of Tromode Mill for Defendant, being sworn and examined, saith — I am well acquainted with the premises; I knew the old dam-head at Port-e-Chee, and I know the new one. I have looked at the model now produced, marked number 1, and so certified. It represents exactly the old dam-head, and the relative position of the old sluice at Port-e-Chee before such old dam-head was carried away. The bars of wood represent banks of gravel across the dam head, which Kissack and others at Port-e-Chee made to conduct the water down the race, and which banks were from time to time swept away by the floods, and were from time to time replaced ; said Kissack was tenant at Port-e-Chee. The green pegs represent trees, three of which are still standing, and were standing before the old dam-head was carried away. I have looked at the model now produced, marked No. 2, and so certified. It correctly represents the new dam-head and the sluice attached to it; the white scoop in the green part represented in the model as within the banks of the river [21] represents the course in which the river ran from October 1846, after the old dam-head had been carried away until August, 1851 when the new dam was made. it is artificial. It is made of sods, scutch grass, gravel, straw, and mud. The green part, which is the bank, was constructed for the purpose of leading the river into the Port-e-Chee race. The river was brought in at point A along to and past B into the race, and that channel was used after the new dam-head was built, on account of the new dam-head leaking so much.Since then the banks of gravel have gradually accumulated at the point A, and no water now flows through that channel, But the water is backed up in that channel from the sluice The nicks at the entrance of the race represent where the old sluice-board stood on model No, 1.

Cross-examined, saith— The model No, 1 is constructed entirely, from the recollection a myself and other people, Thomas Quaggan and Matthias Kelly, who live close by, The corner of Defendant's garden in model No. 1 forms a sort of reservoir for damming the water down the sluice, To the best of my knowledge the lower side of the crown of the dam-head had not a drop, but it was as it is on the model. The sluice-board was about eight feet from the entrance of the race to my knowledge. There would be in the old dam from one to six feet of water below the dam-head., I cannot tell whether at the upper side of the crown at the dam-head the stones were perpendicular or not, because they were always covered with gravel. The diagonal bars on model No. 1 do not correctly represent the state in which the banks always were, because they were removed by the water, and sometimes they formed a more obtuse and sometimes a more acute angle; and sometimes they were more in number and sometimes fewer. _ Sometimes there were six. The green bank with the seoop in it does not represent the bank correctly, because the bank has not a perpendicular edge. It has an irregular edge, not two inches of it being of the same form. In the model No. 2, the bank represented as being in the bed of the river occupies one-third of the bed of the river, but in some places it is more. I saw Kissack and Lawson working at that bank constructing it. The dam in model No. 2 does not represent exactly the different alti tudes of the bed of the dam and race, because in some places there are holes and altitudes in others occasioned by water and time. The difference in height between the crown of the dam and the top of the sill of the sluice is twenty-one inches. The green bank with the scoop aforesaid, in model No. 2, is an impediment to the water going in the race. It would be better away, and it is an injury to the Plaintiffs. I do not think that the bottom of the Mill-race is paved, nor do I think that the bottom of the former mill-race was paved.

Re-examined, saith— Model No. 2 is intended to represent, and does correctly represent, Defendant's garden, the relative position of Defendant's garden wall, the sluice, and the dam-head, as also the height of the dam head and the sill of the sluice. The Defendant's garden wall, which runs along the green bank from A to B, near to the sluice, and turns off at right angles, to my knowledge has been standing there for the last seventeen years.

John Carran's deposition continued— I recollect well the position of the old dam-head and the sluice, and having looked at the model now produced, marked No. 1, it correctly represents the relative position of the old dam-head and the sluice, and there were banks erected across the river, as I remember, sometimes more in number and sometimes less, for the purpose of preventing it from going over the dam-head and directing it into the sluice. The practice with regard to Defendant's dam in frost is to leave the sluice a little up; if we put it down altogether we could not get it up. I have seen it sometimes frozen over higher than the surface of the dam. There was no fixed time for closing the dam; sometimes eight, nine, or ten o'clock. We would be letting it off in the morning about one quarter to six. In the summer time it would take sometimes two, three, four, or five hours to fill. I have seen it full before I went to bed. From the construction of the old dam-head at Port-e-Chee it would carry more water into the race than the new one, in my opinion.

Cross-examined, saith— I have had the management of the dam for fifteen or sixteen years; I gave it up seven or eight years ago. The dam was commenced in spring, and finished and used that year. And the second spring there were three feet put upon it; then the next year there were potatoes put where the sods were taken off, and then barley taken off; and all that happened before Mr. Henry Moore's death. This is the reason I say that the dam was commenced four years before Mr. Moore died; the way I know the year Mr. Moore died is, that I saw it on a tomb-stone. The barley was not cut at the time Mr. Moore died; he died in August, 1837. If the water came to the present sluice it would take it.

Re-examined, saith — The dam was used the first summer it was made. I have got no reason whereby to remember Mr. Henry Moore's death, except from seeing it on the tomb-stone. I was there a parcel of years before he died. He was my master up to his death, and since then defendant was my master.

Joun Carran, his + mark.

John Watterson, of the parish of Conchan, farmer, being sworn and examined, saith— I was moar for the parish of Conchan for the year Eighteen hundred and fifty-five. I collected the Lord's rent for Tromode Mill that year. The Lord's rent was eleven shillings and one penny, ancient Manx currency, - seven shillings and fourpence for mill-rent, three shillings and fourpence for hog rent, fourpence for cottage, and one penny for intack. I got those Lord's from the Defendant. Sir Marcus Sommerville was the last entered for the mill. I live in the neigherhood of Tromode, and am well acquainted with it. I knew the old dam-head at Port-e-Chee, and I know the new one. I have looked at the model No. 1 now produced ; it is a very far representation of the old dam and sluice at Port-e-Chee. I have been getting my corn thrashed at the Port-e-Chee threshing-mill, I have assisted in putting up banks of gravel in the dam, in order to direct the water into the race. I know the present dam-head at Port-e-Chee. I have looked at model No, 2 now produced; I consider [22] it a very fair representation of the premises at Port-e-Chee. The present sluice will take in a third more of Awater than the old on. Formerly the water was so shallow that it appeared to go into the race with more speed; but now it forms a pond above the dam-head, and does not require to be led in. If the present dam were fill up with gravel as the former was, the water to require to be conducted into the race in channels. There is a bank forming in the river now higher up, and going down towards the dam head. It is about fifty yards above the dam-head, The dam adjoining and immediately above the Port-e-Chee dam-head is about five or six feet deep. Tt ia not of equal depth The deepest part is at the centre, rather to the road side; and not so deep at the sluice. Last time I saw it there was three feet of water going through the sluice. There is a quantity of dead water lying at the bottom of the pond; the sluice would take all the water if the bottom of the dam were on a level with it.

Cross-examined, saith In the river, above the dam-head, the gravel was on a level with the dam-head The diagonal bars on model No. 1 do not represent the banks that were in the dam. The banks ought to have been formed by hollows being gouged out above. The old dam-head used to be full of gravel, and the banks were formed by throwing up the gravel to make channels to convey the water to the sluice; and it was the channels that were of use, not the banks. The sluice on the old mill-race was a little lower down near the dam than represented on the model. The present dam-head answers its purpose better than the old one, but it would not answer so well as it does now if it were full of gravel; for in that case it would require to be led in as before, The green bank is no detriment to the water at present; but if above the dam-head were filled with gravel, it would have to be removed; and in that case it would answer as well as the old one. The mills below would have a greater advantage now than the old one, if the sluice were lifted up, as a larger body of water would run through the enlarged space if the sluice was up. I remember Defendant's dam-head of the Tromode Mills above it was rebuilt, and raised higher, and piles driven into it, and boards, and raised higher, to divert more water into the race. I was well acquainted with it; I was reared near that place, and have lived there for forty years. I have seen the piles and boards used several seasons, They would not have the effect of damming the water for five minutes if the sluice was down. The water could not be dammed upon the east, or Ballanerd side, because the land is about a foot and a half higher than the dam-head. The little Ballanerd meadow, that Defendant rented, was lower down. The Tromode mill-race ran through the Ballanerd little meadow, and when the meadow was overflowed it was caused by an overflowing of the race. I have known old Edward Moore dam above the present reservoir. There was a small dam, like a pond for ducks and geese, about two feet high, and a flag used as a sluice. That was near where the present sluice is. The place called waste land, as described in William Quilliam's evidence, it was there that Edward Moore's dam was, and there was no other dam except this one spoken of. They dammed in the race too. They stopped the sluice till it overflowed in the meadow. They did not use the meadow as a dam, because some places of the race are four feet above the level of the meadow. The seven shillings and fourpence rent that I have spoken of is the rent of a corn-mill. There is not a corn-mill at Tromode now, nor do I ever remember one there, and my memory goes back forty years. I remember the Ballabeg side. There was no dam there except the mill-race, which was ten yards wide, and then gradually narrows up. There has been no mill there for thirty years. It was a bleach-mill. It was not many years standing there as a mill. I know Ballanerd meadow that the water was on. Old Edward Moore used it for bleaching. Afterwards it came into the possession of William Kelly, who grazed his cattle upon it, and he complained to the Defendant's father for letting the water on to his meadow. He also used to cut hay upon it. I have never seen waste water going over Port-e-Chee dam-head, except when the race was full. I have seen the water going over the dam-head when Defendant was letting off his dam, and also when he was not doing so, when I have seen it going to waste. When Defendant was not letting off his dam it would be when there was plenty of water in the river. I have been thrashing at Port-e-Chee thrashing-mill, and found that when Defendant let off his dam we could thrash, but we would have to stop till the Defendant let off his water, and half-an-hour after they had to stop again.

Re-examined, saith — It is about thirty years ago that I have seen piles and boards used for diverting the water for Tromode Mill. I have seen boys bathing above Port-e-Chee old dam-head before it was filled with gravel. My reason for saying the seven and fourpence is on a corn-mill is, that I have never known a hog's rent attached to any mill but a corn-mill.

By a Juror — I never heard William Kelly complain to Defendant about the meadow being flooded; but I have met him when he said he had been at Defendant's complaining about it, at which time the meadow was flooded. When I said that there was three feet deep going down the mill-race, I mean three feet in perpendicular. When Defendant lets off his water from the dam, even if the sluice were up, all the water would not go through, but it would go over the dam-head. The tenants at Port-e-Chee used to raise or lower the sluice as they thought proper, otherwise the race would overflow into their kitchens. The miller of the thrashing-mill has the management of the sluice. When we would be making the channels in the river, it would be the summer time or harvest. There is a little leakage in the present dam-head ; but I have seen a greater leakage in the old one. The leakage that there is in the present dam-head would not affect any mill. I have also seen leakage in the race between the bank and the river, but it would not affect any mill. John Windsor

Edward Boyne, of the parish of Braddan, miller, being sworn and examined, saith — I am now miller at the Union Mills. The Union Mills is upon the Black River. There aro two mills : a corn-mill and a woollen one and two wheels. We supplied those wheels with water from the race. We have no dam; we have a race. The water is sometimes stopped in the race, The average breadth of the race is abou thirteen feet, but I have [23] not measured it I cannot tell how many yards long it is; I cannot tell the exact length of it; it is some where between ten and fifty yards long, We could not work the Union Mills in the dry weather without damming in the race.

Cross-examimation - When we do dam the race, every drop of water goes down to the Plaintiffs' mill We work the corn-mill all night, and also in the day, when there is plenty of water; we work the factory in the day time. When damming, we dam for two or three hours; and when we let it off, we let it off by degrees, I worked in the Ballaughton Mill when Donaldson first had it, They felt the loss then occasioned by Defendant damming on the White River,

John Cain, of the parish of German, miller, being sworn and examined, saith I am a miller on a river in Kirk German, which leads into the Black River. There are several other streams which run into the Black River. In the summer time the water is very light. We get water by damming; we have two little dams ; four hours' damming will fill both of them, and two hours would use them, and we go on in that way for the twenty-four hours, filime and emptying. We could not work the mill in the summer time without damming. I was in company with one of the Plaintiffs yesterday. Plaintiff Goldsmith said he did not care for Defendant's damming, so as he got the water afterwards. It was the water going over the dam-head that was the grievance.

Cross-examined, saith — When we let off the water there is no waste of water ; it all goes down into the river. Our mill is four or five miles up the river from the Plaintiffs mill ; our mill is a small mill that drives a pair of stones. John Cain.

Robert Rogers, of the parish of Braddan, miller, bemg sworn and examined, saith — I am in partnership with Mr. Whiteside, of the Nunnery Mills; we are tenants ; a miller is my occupation. I have been acquainted with mills and streams since the year Eighteen hundred and fourteen. I know the Tromode Mill; I have seen the dam constructed there. I know the present dam-head at Port-e-Chee. I have looked at model No. 2; it seems to me to be a correct representation of the premises. I have also seen and known the Plaintiffs' mill at Ballaughton. In my opinion the dam-head at Port-e-Chee is constructed for the water to go over it a good deal. The sending of the water down the mill-race depends very much how the little gutter is cleaned out; by the gutter, I mean the mill-race. If the dam-head was properly sodded up, and the gutter kept clean, all the water that came down from Defendant's would be saved ; but when the gutter is choked the water cannot run. I know the river all the way from our mill to Tromode. I do not know whether Defendant's damming would be beneficial to Plaintiffs or not. I know the Ballaughton dam-head. It seems to me to be very low; if there was any flow of water towards it it would be subject to go over. I consider that Ballaughton Mills are too large for the supply of water they get; and I think the wheels are too large also. The amount of corn a pair of stones would grind depends upon the size and state of the stones. I cannot tell what work they do at Ballaughton Mills, but I am ready to think that our mill grinds more. One pair of stones at our mill would grind from five to seven bushels in the hour.

Cross-examined, saith — I have been in the Isle of Man since 1849. In that time I have gathered all my knowledge of mills in the Isle of Man, I have been a miller and a baker. I have not constructed dam-heads, but I have improved them.

By a Juror— In all my experience I never saw dam-heads constructed as they are in the Isle of Man. I have looked at models No. 1 and 2. It strikes me that model No. 1 is better calculated to conduct the water down the race, but it all depends on the little gutter being kept clean. Robt. Rogers.

Thomas Welsh, of the parish of Marown, miller, being sworn and examined, saith — I have Ballaquinney Mill. The river I work on is called the Glass River; it runs into the Black River. We have a dam, and we have to dam the water in it in the dry weather. Our dam is from twenty-five to thirty yards square. In the the summer time we could not work our mill without damming it. I have dammed for forty-eight hours, and for twenty-four hours, at a time, and also for shorter times. Our dam is about four or five feet deep.

Cross-examined, saith — Though we dam, we waste none of the water; it all runs down into the river. We grind barley and oats. The stream is a very small stream; it would not drive a pair of stones without damming in summer. There is plenty of water in winter to drive a pair of stones. Our mill is about four miles from Ballaughton Mill.

By the Court - At request of Defendant's Advocate - I heard Plaintiff Goldsmith say last night that he did not care for Defendant damming, so that he got the water afterwards. Thomas Welsh his + mark.

John Skillicorn of Conchan, miller, being sworn and examined, saith — I know Ballacreetch mill in the parish of Conchan. I have lived there seven years, and have known it many years before, It is upon a small stream that flows to the Bright River. In the summer we worked the mill by damming the water. We dam it from six to fifteen hours, We were damming sometimes in tho night, and sometimes in the day time, Whenever the water ran dry, it would not be worth working the mill if we did not dam. There are two thrashing-mills further up, on two small streams that run into the stream that I work on, and they [24] dam to enable them to work. The thrashing-mills aforesaid only work at that season of the year when there is Plenty of water. When we dam we waste none of the water; it all runs down into the river. Mine is a small mill, for grinding oats and barley of fourteen pounds rent. The thrashing-mills do interfere with my mill sometimes, but I get all the water after them John Skillicorn

William Joseph Cain, of the parish of Conchan, miller, being sworn and examined, saith — I am a miller for Mr, Lewin, at the Mullin-a-Corrin Mill, which is on the Bright River, In the summer time the stream gets low sametimes There is generally sufficient water to keep the mill going in the summer season and we have occasionally to stop the race to got water, We sometimes are affected by the mill above as when they stop, we stop, and the water they stop we get afterwards. What I mean by stopping the water, is backing it up in the race William Joseph Cain

Thomas Quaggan, of the parish of Braddan, forester, being sworn and examined, saith — I am forester for Deemster Drinkwater. I have lived there for twenty-six years. I have known Port-e-Chee dam-head during that time. I know the present. dam-head at Port-e-Chee, and I knew the one that was there before it, I am well acquainted with the premises. I was born in Port-e-Chee. I have known the premises for the last fifty years, I was on the premises with Mr. Malcom and Matthias Kelly, giving him some information. I have looked at model No. 1; it represents as near as can be the old dam-head and sluice at Port-e-Chee. At the old dam-head the river used to bring down a body of gravel into the sluice, and they were obliged to make channels in the gravel to direct the water into the race. The bank of gravel was brought down to the mouth of the race, The river did not bring the gravel down in the winter time. Upon the old dam-head sods were put to keep the water. They would remain on two or three months in the summer time, except when a night of rain would come and carry them away. The water dammed at Defendant's, accompanied by heavy rain, would wash them away. The sods have remained there months in the summer time without being moved at all. Supposing it to be dry weather, and Defendant's dam full during the night, and let it off in the morning, it would not wash away the sods at the dam-head, except there would be some heavy rain. Supposing it to be very dry weather and Defendant to fill during the night, and to let it off in the morning, the flood coming down would not wash away the sods at the dam-head. The sods that were put upon the dam-head were put there by the tenants of Ballaughton Mill. I know the present dam-head. I have looked at model 2; it pretty nearly represents the present dam-head at Port-e-Chee. The bank marked A B upon model No. 2 was constructed after the old [30] dam-head was carried away, in order to form a channel to carry the water down the race, to go down to Port e-Chee thrashing-mill and down to Ballaughton Mills. The timber used for piles to form the bank was supplied by Sir George Drinkwater, from Kirby, and Edward Kissack, tenant at Port-e-Chee, superintended the work. The new sluice answers better for carrying the water down the Port-e-Chee race at the present time. The sods that were put upon the old dam-head used effectually to prevent all the water; and if sods were put on now as they used to be, they would keep all the water. I have noticed a great leakage in the present dam-head on the side near the road. I know the thrashing-mill at Port-e-Chee. Before the present thrashing-mill, there was an old paper-mill. I know the dam-head at Ballaughton, and I knew the mill and dam-head fifty years ago. It was a small concern altogether, working only one pair of stones. It was altered by the Duke of Athol, by building a new mill for working two pairs of stones. It stood some years, and was afterwards burnt when Donaldson had it; and after that the present one was built. The Plaintiffs at different times put up sods and a board on top of and across the dam-head, to keep the water in the race, which I, by Deemster Drinkwater's orders, have taken off. When I took them off the water went over the dam-head into the river. Ballaughton dam-head leaks enough, unless they have made it up in the last forty-eight hours. I have seen that leakage both in summer and winter. I have also seen leaks in the race, between the dam-head and the Castletown road, before it reaches Plaintiffs' mill. The thrashing-mill uses the water in the race first; and then down Port-e Chee Claddagh and the Kirby meadow to the Black River, which are both the property of Deemster Drinkwater. At different times I have seen the ice stopping the race near the Peel road, at the bridge at Port-e-Chee. - The ice that was so obstructing the race was the ice from Port-e-Chee Claddagh ; it obstructed the water under the bridge, and the highroad people would be clearing it away, and I have seen the millers of Plaintiffs helping them. -The ice that was formed at Tromode river came from Port-c-Chee dam-head. There is a side sluice in the Port-e-Chee race between the dam-head and the thrashing-mill, which lets the water from the race into the main river ; and, in case of having floods, they would have to open the side sluice to prevent Port-e-Chee being flooded. The person who acted under the present and previous tenants of Port-e-Chee had control of that side sluice.

Cross-examined, saith — At the time when they pulled up the side sluice it was for to prevent them being flooded. The ice that blocked the race was formed in the race of Port-e-Chee. It was three or four inches thick. I have seen the Black River frozen over so that I could walk upon it. The ice that was blocked up under the bridge did not come down from the thrashing-mill, It was all formed between the Port-e-Chee thrashing-mill and the Peel road. I suppose the millers put sods on the new dam-head as much as they used to 60 do on the old dam-head. The present dam-head and sluice takes the water down at present better than the old one; but I do not know how it would be if it were filled up with gravel as the old one was. It never has yet been choked up with gravel. There were sods upon the Ballaughton dam-head fifty years ago.

Re-examined, saith — In winter the sluice-board at Port-e-Chee was always partly in the water. It was raised from two feet to two feet and a half up; no large pieces of ice could get through; little gingles could, Thomas Quaggan, his + mark.

[25] Matthias Kelly, of the parish of Braddan, labourer, being sworn and examined, saith — I have been working at Port-e-Chee for the last two or three-and-twenty years, and during that time have been always living in the neighbourhood, I knew the former dam-head at Port-e-chee, and I know the present dam head, I have had to do with the sluices there, lifting them up and putting them down when there was occasion for it In doing so I waa acting under the orders of the present and two previous tenanta at Port-e-Chee. I attended on the premises with Mr. Malcolm and Thomas Quaggin, I have looked at model No. 1; I consider it is a correct representation of the old dam at Port-e-Chee, but I think the sluice-board was a little lower down the race, In the summer time they were putting sods on the top of the old dam-head, I have been helping to put them on, I have known them to stop there, in the auimmer tine two or three months, the year before last. They were green from one side to the other, so that a cow could eat grass on them, During that time Defendant was damming in his dam, This was upon the new dam-head, I have also known them to stop for a considerable time im summer on the old dam head, I believe that sods, properly put on, would keep all the flood coming down from Defendant's dam in the summer time, We would be very pinched to thrash in very dry weather at the Port-e-Chee Mill, unless the Defendant dammed, Defendant's damming would give us a nice lift in the morning. We could do more between six and eight in the morning, when the water was coming from Defendant's dam, than we could do from two in the after noon till half-past six or seven in the summer time. On one occasion, when we were stopped thrashing for want of water, and believing Defendant had stopped the water, we went up to complain, and on going to his dam we found it was not stopped. If there was a flood, I had orders from the tenant at Port-e-Chee to put the sluice-boards down, and when the flood went off I lifted them up to give the millers fair play. Nobody else that I know of had anything to do with the sluices at Port-e-Chee, except the millers at Ballaughton. I have removed sods from the top of the dam-head at Port-e-Chee ; this was since the new dam-head, a year after it was built. When I pulled the sods off the water went over cheerful ; I did this by orders ; I did not get those orders from the Defendant ; I did not get those orders from any person in the Defendant's employment. I afterwards mentioned the circum stance of having taken away those sods, by Deemster Drinkwater's orders, to Plaintiff Cowin, and Edward Kissack, and Windsor, of Pulrose Mill; and I also told them that I would do so again, and that I would do so that night, and that Deemster Drinkwater had promised to stand blame. I have seen ice collected under the bridge at the Peel Road ; that ice was formed in Port-e-Chee Race ; it never came down from Tromode. In the winter time the bottom of the sluice-board was about a foot and a half from the ground and about a foot of the sluice-board in the water, and no ice could get down through it. The new dam-head is leakier than the old dam-head. There are several leaks in the race between Port-e-Chee and the thrashing-mill. If all the water that escaped at the different leaks was collected it would drive a pair or two of stones, and would do a good dam in a day.

Cross-examined, saith — On the occasion aforesaid when I told plaintiff Cowin, Kissack, and Windsor about having promised Deemster Drinkwater to take the sods off the dam-head, I asked Kissack what I would do, and Kissack declined to give me any advice. Plaintiff Cowin told me I had better not take them off, but that he would write a letter to Deemster Drinkwater, at Ramsey, where he resided at the time. I never interfered with the sluices when there was a scarcity of water. I have known the sluice raised so high by the millers that the water would carry some of the barley from the floor of the thrashing-mill. Then they would have to put the sluice-boards down. The Plaintiff Cowin promised me a stone of barley-meal a week for attending to the waters. It was not for the sluices. I got thirteen pounds of barley-meal one time, and that is all I ever got from him ; it was for attending to the fences and sods. On another occasion I got a shilling from Plaintiff Goldsmith. I do not know why he gave it me, unless it was to keep all things quiet ; as he said at the time it was a good thing to throw something into a bad dog's mouth. The Plaintiffs lifted the sluice at the race in fine weather, and in case of floods I lowered the sluice. I have seen a little water going over the sods on Port-e-Chee dam-head when it was green, when Defendant would let the water go. The sods were a foot high. This was the year before last aforesaid. If Defendant had not dammed the water above, the water would not have gone over the dam-head. Upon the occasion when they were stopped thrashing as aforesaid was in the month of May. The leaks in the race are going worse regular. The leaks in the new dam-head and race last harvest, if they were collected, would be half enough to turn a thrashing-mill. If I had as much more I could turn the thrashing-mill. I saw the Plaintiffs repair one leak that was made by a tree falling. The millers were repairing the race between the thrashing mill and the dam-head. When they would repair one hole, there would be a leak somewhere else. When Defendant lets off his dam, and when there are no sods on the dam-head, some of the water goes over ; not a quarter of it goes over. I never saw the flow of water take the sods off the dam-head.

Re-examined, saith — When I have seen the water go over the dam-head from Defendant's dam the sluice-board would be a foot and a half in the water; the water would be backing up from the sluice-board. If the sluice-board had been taken up, the race had taken all the water from Defendant's dam when the sods were on. If the sluice-board was up when there are no sods on, the race would not take all the water ; it would take the most of it. If the bank was taken away, the water would have a better chance of going down the race. Defendant has no control of the leaks in the race. If the leaks were all collected they make a good dam in a few hours. I saw the water from the leaks aforesaid collected in a channel flowing last autumn, It is from that I form my opinion ; and I the flow of water would make a good dam in four hours.

By a Juror - I have no instructions whatsoever from my master, except for to keep plenty of water for the thrashing-mill. Sometimes more water comes than the thrashing mill requires; then I would have to lift the sluice at the side of the race. What escapes goes down the race. I have no instructions to limit the supply of water to the Ballaughton Mills, so that the Claddagh is not [26] flooded, The race requires to be full to work the thrashing-mill, When we thrash, the sluice-board is in the water. The channel across Port-e-Chee would take a much greater quantity of water than our mill requires, and we regulate the supply of the water according as we want it. There were repairs done in the race between the dam-head and the thrashing-mill last year. The leaks out of the mill-race I think I saw collected in a channel after the repairs were done but I am not certain when I saw the water collected in this channel Mr, Malcolm was with me and several others. Matthias Kelly, his + mk

Thomas Collister, of Douglas, labourer, being sworn and examined, saith - I know Tromode Mill I know the neighbourhood of Castleward I have lived there three years. I lived three fields above Tromode. When I resided at Tromode there was a dam there The mill belonged to Defendant. Twenty-six years ago I saw a young man swimming in the mill-dam ; the board was up, and with the force of the current he was carried down the mill-race under the board. I never saw the board down, At that time the dam was deep enough to swim in. I cannot tell the size of it. I know that there was a dam there for the use of the mill. The sluice the young man went under was very near the new mill-dam ; it was joining part of it.

Cross-examined, saith — This swimming aforesaid took place the last of the three years that I was there.

Re-examined, saith — It is twenty-six years since I saw the young man swimming in the dam as aforesaid.

By the Court— It is about twenty-eight or twenty-nine years since I went there, and twenty-six years since the swimming happened. The old dam aforesaid was very near the present dam, and adjoining part of it. Thomas Collister.

John Caveen, of the parish of Braddan, labourer, being sworn and examined, saith — I am forty five years of age. I was born just opposite the old dam at Castleward. I was brought up within a mile of that dam ever since. There was a dam there before the present dam. I cannot rightly tell the size of the old dam. There was a good lump of a dam in then. The water was stopped by a sluice very near where the present sluice is. That sluice lets off the water from the new dam. I know Ballanerd meadow. I have seen water on that meadow. The mill-race went alongside that meadow. There was a big stone put across the race below the dam, and the water was flowing into the meadow. That water would flow back as soon as they took sods out of the side of the race. I remember the dam-head. It was made of stones with timber on the top of it. That timber would not always be there. The boards had the effect of damming the water when the top sluice was down. When the top sluice was down, and the boards were on the dam-head, the water would be overflowing back to Castleward meadow among the rushes. I cannot tell the quantity that would flow back ; and this water would not go to the mill. The overflow of the water dammed back by the boards on the dam-head went over the boards down the river, when the sluice-board was up; the rest went down Defendant's mill-race. The water that flowed in Castleward meadow was the water that flowed over the boards on the dam-head. The rest of the water flowed down Defendant's mill-race.

Cross-examined, saith — I cannot tell how many years ago since the circumstances mentioned in the examination-in-chief took place. I was working there when I was fifteen years of age, and it was that way then. Ballanerd meadow was lower than the race, but I do not know how many feet. I do not know of my own knowledge who ever occupied Ballaughton Mill, but I have heard. The old dam that I said I was born opposite was on Castleward. It was the dam that contained the water for Defendant's mill. The water upon Ballanerd meadow, when the sods were taken out of the race as aforesaid, went down the race to the mill.

By a Juror— When I said that the dam was on Castleward, I mean the dam-head across the river. The Defendant's old dam was not on Castleward. Excepting the old dam described, there was other dam that I can remember in the neighbourhood belonging to any of the Moores, except a little race running to a mill on the other side, on the Ballabeg side. The old dam was not near so large as the present one ; one part of it was on the same ground as the present is. In saying there was no other dam in the neighbourhood, I do not include the water collected on Ballanerd meadow. Joun Caveen, his x mk.

Caesar Fargher, of the parish of Conchan, fireman, being sworn and examined, saith — I am in Defendant's employment. I have been at Tromode altogether three years next May— that is, May, Eighteen hundred and fifty-four. We used in the summer time to put the engine on in the morning the same time as the mill was starting. When we used the engine we would not require the same flow of water as if the engine was not working. If the engine was not working we would require a great deal more water. That is the way we were working during the summer of Eighteen hundred and fifty-four. I know the present dam-head at Port-e Chee. I saw that dam-head in the summer of Eighteen hundred a and fifty-four. I saw it then with scutch grass and stones on it, and grass growing on it. That grass : remained there that summer, and a good part of harvest. The sods that were on the dam-head that time were sufficient to keep the flood of water coming down. Since I have been there there have been great quantities of ice collected at Tromode. I have seen quantities on the mill-dam. There was ice on the dam last year. When the ice was there the sluice-boards were down one night or two, and Mr. Malcolm, Defendant's manager, told me not to put them down, because the ice was bothering them in the race, The sluice-boards were never put down afterwards, No ice could get down to Port-e-Chee, except small lumps the size of your hand. When we stopped our dam tho water on Port-e-Chee would freeze, I cannot say that when we let go the dam the water would break tho ice; it might go over it, or under it. We wore so troubled with ice above that we did not dam, We did not dam when [27] the frost was there, Except one or two nights. I have seen people on Defendant's dam every year. I never saw the sods on the dam-head when the water came down upon them.

By a Juror - The fire was bedded all night in the summer of Eighteen hundred and fifty-four, I had to have the steam up at six o'clock in the morning. In my opinion Defendant could work his machinery with the natural flow of the water and the engine. I do not know the power required for the machinery I can make our engine as high as fifty-horse power. The extent of the power used depends on the flow of water. We have worked ten, twenty, and thirty horse power. The more pressure we get from the mill dam, the less power is required of the engine, and also we burn less coals. The lower the water is, the more power we require from the engine. If in the summer time we would let our engine off, the natural flow of the river would not work the machinery. If I had no engine, and the dam full of water, I would let the water off gradually, so as to keep the machinery going as long as we could ; but now that we have got an engine, I cannot swear that there would be any less necessity for the quantity of water.

By a Juror— I never drove the machinery of the engine without the help of any water. Caesar Fargher, his + mk,

Edward Kissack, of the parish of Braddan, farmer, being sworn and examined, saith — I formerly lived at Port-e-Chee, as tenant, for fourteen years. I knew the old dam-head at Port e-Chee, and I know the present one. When the old dam-head was carried away, we had to erect a sort of temporary dam-head along Defendant's garden wall. We first drove piles in, and then filled it up with gorse and branches of trees. It served as a channel, except in the case of a flood, when part of it was carried away, and we would build it again. It directed the water down the race. The Plaintiffs assisted in the work, and Deemster Drinkwater gave wood out of Kirby to help it. The Plaintiffs were sending men and carts to draw stones and sods, and so were we.

Cross-examined, saith — In the dry weather the dam-head at Port-e-Chee would carry a part of the natural flow of the river down into the race. In the dry season some of the water went through the dam-head. In the dry weather I have seen no water go over the dam-head at times; and on those occasions when Defendant lets off his dam in the morning the water goes over the dam-head, and all that goes over is lost to Plaintiffs. At my thrashing I have sometimes felt a convenience from Defend ant damming, and at other times an inconvenience. One morning when I missed the water and thought that defendant had dammed it, I went up to see, with Matthias Kelly, and Mr. Malcolm said that it was not dammed ; on that occasion we could not thrash for want of water; and sometimes in dry seasons we cannot thrash with the natural flow of the water ; we had no water but this, and no means of damming in the race. The inconvenience occasioned by Defendant's damming is, that when Defendant would dam at breakfast time we would have to wait. The natural flow would thrash, except in particularly dry occasions ; if we were thrashing, and Defendant dammed the water, we would have to stop. This is with the natural flow of the water in the summer time, and to avoid being stopped we would have to accommodate our hours to Defendant's hours. If we lost an hour, or half an hour, we always had the benefit of it after, for we would have more water. I did not thrash in the night time at Port-e-Chee. I have understood that the mill-race was for the purpose of conducting the water first to Port-e-Chee Mill and then for the supply of the mills on the Black River. The Ballaughton Mill is the first mill that has the benefit of the race after leaving the thrashing mill; the farm-yard and the house at Port-e-Chee are supplied also from the race, and such supply could not be dispensed with without great inconvenience. The race, after passing the thrashing-mill, would take a tail race of about one hundred and fifty yards to bring it back to the main river ; at present the tail race before it joins the river is close to half a mile in length, and during the whole time I was there the millers would be using it when they wanted it, and at times when I was not using it for thrashing. When we do use it we let it off into the race again. I was sometimes finding fault with Ballaughton people for taking too much water ; I often thought I was in danger, from the sluice-board being too high, in case of a flood. The only thing I interfered with with the millers, or took upon myself to object to, was their taking in such a quantity of water as to overflow upon me, or to injure me, and this was very seldom, and the means we adopted to save ourselves from being flooded were, by lifting up and putting down the sluice-boards. Matt. Kelly was the man that had the management of the sluice ; I often told him to put it down, to save a flood coming on us. The practice as to the management of the sluice was this, that the millers would lift it up in dry weather, and leave it wp, and Matt. Kelly's duty was to lower down the sluice when we thought it was likely to be a flood.

Re-examined, saith — Upon the occasions I have mentioned that the water would not go over the dam-head in dry weather, I do not consider that the natural flow of the river then would drive my mill, If there was a sufficient quantity of water in the natural flow of the river to turn my mill, the going over of the water over the dam-head depends very much upon the gravel that may be collected about the sluice. I have sometimes thought, on passing, as far as concerns the flowing of the water into the sluice, that it would be better if the remains of the old bank, marked A B, upon model 2, had been taken away altogether.

By a Juror — At the making of the temporary dam-head aforesaid, when the old one was carried away, the greater part of the expense of it fell upon me; I was not bound by my lease to do so at all, but I did it for my mill, and the millers did it for theirs. I think, upon the whole, that I would prefer the old dam-head, and old way of bringing the water; the impression upon my mind is that the old one was better, but the old sluice was rather out of repair, For the four or five years after the old dam-head was carried away, we depended as upon the temporary dam-head ; it did not answer as well as we could wish. There was not a word in my lease about the quantity of water to be allowed to go through Port-e-Chee sluice, I was not allowed anything from [28] the proprietor for keeping the temporary dam head in repair. Since the new dam-head I have been up clearing away the gravel and rubbish from the inside of the sluice-board, where there was a rising bank of gravel formed. We had to clear out the old race lower down also. We had to clear out both the old one and new one every year. When the old dam-head stood it formed a bank of gravel above the sluice In the old mill-race we had occasionally to clear out the rubbish from the inside of the sluice. We have occasionally to clear out the inside of the new mill-race also I cannot say whether the old one had to be cleaned out any more than the new. In the old sluice, after a heavy flood, we would be obliged to clear away a bank of gravel collected outside the sluice I cannot say that I have ever had to clear away gravel from the outside of the new sluice, In the old sluice the bank of gravel formed on the outside of the sluice, but in the new the bank of gravel formed in inside, and was not so much as in the old one. None of the multcher tenants of Ballaunghton Mill were called upon to assist in repairing the temporary dam-head aforesaid. Edward Kisssack.

John Cleator, of Tromode, overseer in Defendant's mill, being sworn and examined saith — I was overseer of the spinning work, I have been employed by Defendant for nineteen years; I have been overseer eleven years. I have always been setting on and off the mill from the race upon the wheel. I remember the time the engine was put up; before the engine was put up we were letting on as much water as would drive the machinery at a good speed. When the engine is on we use less water, Since the engine has been put up the water lasts longer. The wheel at Tromode Mill now is a new wheel ; there was one before this one in my time. The old wheel would require a greater quantity of water to drive it. I think the new wheel was put up in Eighteen hundred and forty-nine. We never dam in the winter time, except the water is very low, and that scarcely ever happens. I do not know whether the sluice was shut in frost, but in general it was not so. I do not think that any of the ice formed on Defendant's dam could get down to Port-e-Chee. I have looked at model No. 1 I think it fairly represents the old dam.

Cross-examined, saith — Defendant has more machinery now than when I went there. I think there are twenty power-looms there now ; there were none when I went there. The steam-engine was put up in Eighteen hundred and forty-nime. Owing to the construction of the machinery, and the superior construction of the new, I consider that the work of the mill required as much water then as it does now.

By a Juror— We do not turn on more water now than we did three years ago ; it is about the same. When we start the machinery in the morning we do not let all the water, because all the machinery is not started together. It takes from one quarter of an hour to half an hour to start the machinery. During the last three and five years there has been no difference at all in the quantity of the water used. I think ten years ago there was fully as much, if not more. John Cleator..

William Cain, of the parish of Conchan, weaver, being sworn and examined, saith — I am in the employment of the Defendant. I am nineteen years of age. I went there when I was ten years of age. I have charge of the sluice at the dam for letting the water out. I had to do this part of the day ; after breakfast I would be first letting it off; it would be half full then; I would be letting it off gradually. I would be sent up during the day to let off more water, as it was found necessary. The water was always let off gradually ; it was never let off at full flow. During the three winters that I was in charge I have never seen the sluice shut when there was frost. We never dammed in the winter, except there was a scarcity of water ; that very seldom happened.

Cross-examined, saith — I never opened the sluice in the morning from six to eight ; but other men do, whose names I do not know; nor do I know the force of water that is let off from six to eight. Caesar Fargher goes to let the water off in the morning from six to eight. Caesar Fargher has had that duty for three years. I think that when it would be opened at breakfast the water would be running over, and at breakfast time it would be half empty, and it would be very nearly full again by ten minutes to nine. Then I would let off again, and then it would run off by twelve, Then we shut it at one, and opened it again at one quarter to two, when it would be three-quarters full, and that would be run off by four, and close again at half-past six. We would be damming on occasions when the water, in its natural flow, would fill the dam in an hour. It was my object in damming to increase the flow of the water to more than its natural flow. Two years ago I saw people sliding on the dam, and at that time the boards were open and the dam kept full by the water flowing in in great quantities.

Re-examined, saith — The same quantity of water was coming in as was going out when the frost was on. There are about two feet of dead water in the dam that never can be drained off by the sluice ; the dam is not the same depth in all parts, The water coming into the dam would vary a good deal. We used to give up work at seven ; but now at half-past six. It is not a matter of course to put the sluice-board down at night when we leave off work ; it depends upon the flow of the river. It is, I think, four years since I ceased to have charge of the sluice.

Re-cross-examined saith — The dam is hollow in the middle, but the water is nearly all over it excepting in one corner, where the sluice is. William Cain, his + mk.

Richard Cowle, of Douglas, builder and joiner, being sworn and examined, nil I know the dam at Tromode. On the fourteenth of June last year I went to see the dam, at defendant's request. There was a boat on the dam. The two sluices were open but how long they were so I cannot tell. I was in a boat with two others, sounding the depth with a fishing-rod, I examined the depth in teens of places, The average of the [29] dam would be about three feet four On the two sides next the river it is as deep as in the middle; but in the opposite corner, which is not near so large, it ts much more shallow. When all that could be drained off by the sluice, the water left in the dam averaged from two feet to two feet six, At this time the corner mentioned before as shallow, was dry ; and also the course of the race was dry When I sounded it the last time I satis fied mysel! that no water could get out of the aluiee. T tool the measurement of all the slaices ; that at Tro mode dam-head is three feet eight high, and four feet six wide; from the top of Tromode dam-head to the site of the said sluice is two feet one inch and a half, The sluice letting the water out of the dam ie four feet six high, and three feet wide, The sluice-board out of the board lifts up one foot ten; and the sluice letting in lifts up two feet one and a half, The sluice down in the race at the bleach-mill is two feet three high, and three feet wide; and that one lifts one foot ten. I also measured the sluice at Port-e-Chee dam-head ; it is six feet one high, by six feet three wide, From the top of the dam-head to the top of the site is one foot nine— that is, one foot nine inches of water would go through, I also measured the bank marked A B on the model 2, on July the eighth it was two hundred and fifty feet long, and the width from six to ten feet to nothing. This width does not include the old channel; but the width of the bank and channel up to Defendant's garden wall was about twenty feet.

By a Juror— The depth of water running through the upper sluice at Tromode dam-head, when I saw it, was about one foot eight or one foot nine; the sluice-board being dipped in the water three or four inches. The depth of water running at the sluice leading out of the dam, and that out of the race to the mill, are each one foot ten. The sluice-board at Port-e-Chee was dipped ten inches ; the depth of water was eleven inches by six feet three. The water was equal with the top of the dam-head at the west side, but not running over. From the middle to the east side is a little bit higher than the west side ; when I made the measurement as aforesaid the water was in its natural flow. On the eighth of July it was owing to the sluice at Port-e-Chee dam-head being dipped in the water that the height of the water at the dam-head was higher than it would have been if the sluice had been raised. There was a leakage through the dam-head ; there was a good deal of water running through. Richard Cowle.

Examination of Alexander Lee Malcolm continued — I have been at Tromode seventeen years the 6th of Dec. last. I have been connected with mills since Eighteen hundred and twenty-two or Eighteen hundred and twenty-three. I have been the manager of Defendant's works since I came there. I know all the sluices. I have heard Richard Cowle examined. He was right as far as he went, but he did not go far enough. I was with him when he made the measurements. The size of the sluice is not the area of the water-way, because the sluice laps upon the sluice-frame. On that account the water-way would be less than the sluice-board, as in the present case. The sluice at the dam-head at Tromode is four square feet larger than the sluice that lets the water out of the dam. The area of the sluice at the mill is five feet and a half square, the same size as the sluice which lets the water out of the dam. All the water must go out of that sluice when the mill is not standing. When the bottom of the sluice is level with the top of the weir the area of the water-way is ten square feet and a half. The greatest depth of water that could go through is one foot nine, except the weir was raised that is at Port-e-Chee. I measured the sluice below the weir at Port-e-Chee, in the side of the race; the sluice is two feet three high by four feet wide ; the area is eight feet two. The said sluice at Port-e-Chee Thrashing mill, through which all the water must pass. When the mill is standing the area is five feet and a half. The average height of water we could draw off the dam at Tromode Mill is two feet and a half. That would be twenty-one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two cubic feet. The greatest average quantity in point of depth is three feet, that is 85,671 cubic feet, that is reducing it to the working level. To reduce it more would be of no use to us; we could not reduce it, excepting by closing the upper sluice. Properly speaking we have no dam; it is only a race widened to a considerable extent, because if it was taken away no water would go to the mill; we would have no water at all. The water cannot be reduced below the working level without stoppipg the water from going into the dam at all. I remember when the engine was put up; it was put up in 1849, and I came in 1839. I had the management of everything. Before we had the steam-engine we used the water which was dammed during the night as long as it would run; we dammed again at breakfast time and at dinner time. When the dam would be full in the morning, with the assistance of the natural flow it would last us from six to eight. After the engine was put up we used the water more gradually in the dry, season. In frosty weather we dam partially, not altogether, because the water is not sufficient to drive us ; it depends upon the severity of the frost. In very severe frost we do not dam, because we could not lift our sluices. I have looked at model No. 1. I remember the old dam at Port-e-Chee, and I know the new one. The old dam-head was better calculated for taking a larger supply of water than the new; but the new one is calculated for taking a limited supply. I do not recollect about the leakage in the old dam-head ; I remember when it was carried away. There is a considerable quantity of leakage in the new dam-head, and in the race from the sluice to the Port-e-Chee Thrashing-mill. I tested that leakage on the third of July last. I collected the greater part of the water leaking, and I discovered that there were two hundred and seventy cubic feet of water per minute waste to the Plaintiffs. There was no water going over the dam-head. The mode in which I ascertained the quantity lost was as follows :— In the bed of the River Glass, below Port-e-Chee dam-head, constructed a race of sods, thirty-six feet long and five feet wide, and collected the greater part of the water escaping through the dam-head and sluice in the side of the race above bridge at thrashing-mill, no water flowing over the top of the dam, I put wooden sods thirty feet apart; across the sod-race a wooden ball flooded down from the one to the other in eleven seconds. As to the velocity of the water at the bottom is to the Velocity of water at top, as two is to three from the square root of the velocity of the surface, subtract 103, the[30] square of the remainder is the velocity of the water at the bottom; these two added together is the mean velocity. The manner in which I discovered the quantity is, there was a quantity of water flowing in the channel, which I found equal to an area of two feet square, and the velocity of the water being 135 feet, and the area 2 feet, made 270 cubic feet of water lost per minute, That quantity of water would fill our dam in about five hours above the working level. My memory does not serve me, but I think a cubic foot of water contains ten gallons, The thrashing-mill at Port-e-Chee, if the buckets were full, would use 461 cubic foot per minute— it could not take more— it would not require that to work it; it could be worked with a less quantity I have seen scutch-grass, straw, and stones, but does not remember having seen sods on the Port-e-Chee dam head. If that dam-head was raised high enough it would take in all the water with those materials, or any other. When we let the water off it would not carry away the materials I have seen on, Since June last I have kept an account of the stuff put upon Port-e-Chee dam-head, The 12th June there were sods on the Port-e-Chee dam-head, the morning they were carried away by the flood, The flood was caused by rains. On the 2nd of July the sods were put on top of Port-e-Chee dam-head, and were washed away again on the 7th; there was a heavy flood on the night of the 7th. The straw and stones put there again on the 8th of August, and were washed away on the 9th. On the 12th of July I was passing to Douglas, and I did not see them on ; when I returned I saw them swept off again. There was a great flood in the river that day, proceeding from the rains. I have been in the Ballaughton Mills. If the water from our dam ran down on Ballaughton mill wheel, it would keep that wheel going for twenty minutes. In the dry season I believe Defendant's dam ming does good to Ballaughton Mill, taking into consideration the construction of it. During the summer time we dam five working days in the week. From the time I came to the mill up to August, 1855, we worked 24 till seven, and after that till half-past six. From the 18th June, 1849, to the 24th of August of the same year, we did not dam during April and May. We would be half damming during June, July, and August; we would be not wholly damming ; and in September we were wearing off; but at intervals during those month, we would not be damming; during the whole year we would be damming very partially, from sixty to ninety days; and about ninety days the damming would be greater, and inclusive of the last number there would be twenty days of total damming. These are the outside averages during the year. I remember the old machinery. I know the quantity of water the old machinery required, and I know what quantity the new requires. We require no more water for the extra machinery than the Defendant did require for the old machinery. This is owing to the superior construction of the new wheel. Plaintiff Goldsmith told me twice on one occasion that Defendant's damming did him no harm, so that he got all the water. This was at Castletown, the day before yesterday. On the twentieth of January I was in Messrs. Harris and Adams' office, after the commencement of this law-suit ; Defendant's Advocate, and Mr. Adams, Plaintiffs' Advocate, the Plaintiff Cowin were present upon that occasion. The Defendant asked the Plaintiff Cowin if he had ever complained, or had any cause of complaint, while the old dam-head stood, as to the want of water. I did not take down Plaintiff Cowin's answer. I do not know what the words were ; the answer was a negative one. By a negative answer I mean "no;" but I do not remember that he used that word.

Cross-examined, saith — I have taken a very great interest in this cause. I have examined witnesses to ascertain what they knew, and have instructed Defendant's Advocate throughout. Often in the dry weather we partially open the top sluice. We dam on Sunday morning, and we do not dam from Friday till Sunday, except that we dam on Saturday morning at breakfast time and dinner time. When we shut the dam on Sunday it remains shut till Monday ; but the sluice is shut Sunday morning. We shut the dam on Sunday, and we continue shutting the dam as we require it until Saturday at dinner time.

Re-examined, saith — After the dam was filled on Sunday, the water would flow in its natural course; It always did so from some time on Sunday afternoon, and from midnight on Sunday night. All the millers below would have the natural flow of the river from that time ; and after six o'clock on Monday morning Plaintiffs, beside the natural flow of the river, would have the water that came from Defendant's dam. A. L. Malcolm

Defendant exhibits the entries relating to the Tromode Mill from 1709 to 1799; a deed of sale from Sir Marcus Summerville, Baronet, and Mary, his wife, to John Taubman, dated twenty-fourth of February, Eighteen hundred and eight.

Taken and sworn before me, Charles Hope

House of Keys 27th March, 1857

James Cowin and George Goldsmith Appellants and William Fine Moore Respondent

Upon hearing this appeal in presence of the counsel for the parties, and upon proceeding to take the votes majority of votes was not made out for or against the legality of the verdict traversed or appealed from, bearing date the 23rd January 1757. This cause is therefore continued until our next meeting for the hearing of appeals. By order of the House, Edw. M. Gawne, Speaker