D O Y E R —D OWN water area of 75 acres, with a depth within the mouth of over 40 feet at low water. A great national harbour, estimated to occupy ten years in building and to cost £3,500,000, commenced in 1899, will comprise (1) an extension of the Admiralty pier east-south-east for a distance of 2000 feet, over 90 feet from base of wall to top of parapet ; (2) an east arm, projecting 3300 feet into the sea; (3) a sea-wall, 3850 feet long, from the Castle jetty to the base of the east arm; (4) reclamation of the foreshore between the back of the wall and the base of the cliff • (5) a breakwater 4300 feet long, f mile from the shore, from the south extremity of the east arm, south-west and west by south to a point 800 feet from the Admiralty pier extension, with entrance at each end of about 7 fathoms at low water. The Admiralty harbour will cover at low water an area of 610 acres, accommodating twenty of the largest ships and any number of armed cruisers, torpedo and dispatch boats, at any time needing its shelter. Coaling berths will extend 1800 feet along the inner side of the east arm. To strengthen its defences, the construction of three powerful forts was begun in 1899. Three pits have been sunk to work the coal discovered by boring. The water-works, which are the property of the corporation, are situated on Castle Hill, and have given a constant supply since 1870. The rainfall at this point, 200 feet above sea-level, was 24-34 inches in 1899 and 31-34 inches in 1900. The sewage outfall, constructed in 1885 at a cost of £7500, discharges into the sea, to the west of the Admiralty pier, at a distance of 1225 feet from the shore. There is a promenade pier (1893), costing £24,000; electric lighting, begun in 1894; electric tramways, with a length of 3J miles; and a public park (1883), of 22£ acres. Besides the mail and packet service, Dover does a trade in shipbuilding, timber, rope and sail making, and ships’ stores. Shipping at port in 1888, 46 vessels of 3478 tons; in 1898, 66 of 5066 tons. Entered in 1888, 2923 vessels of 720,337 tons; cleared, 2895 of 716,544 tons. Entered in 1898, 3718 vessels of 1,015,609 tons; cleared, 3675 of 1,006,951 tons. Imports of foreign and colonial merchandise in 1888, valued £6,333,468; exports of produce of the United Kingdom, £1,128,104. In 1898, imports valued £9,451,780; exports, £1,564,225. Area of parliamentary borough, 1317 acres. Population (1881), 30,270; (1901), 33,300. Area of municipal borough as now extended, 17791 acres. Population (1891), 33,503; (1901), 41,782. Dover, capital of the state and of Kent county, Delaware, IT.S.A., on the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad, at an altitude of 40 feet. It is the site of the state college for coloured students, opened in 1892. Population (1880), 2811; (1890), 3061; (1900), 3329, of whom 123 were foreign-born and 772 negroes. Dover, capital of Strafford county, Hew Hampshire, U.S.A., in 43° 14' N. lat. and 70° 54' W. long., on Cocheco river, 12 miles from its mouth, at the lower falls, and at the head of navigation. Its street plan is irregular, few of the streets are paved, and its water supply, derived from Cocheco river, is obtained by .gravity. It is at the intersection of two branches of the Boston and Maine Railway, and these, with the river, give it considerable commerce. Its manufactures consist mainly of cotton and woollen goods. Population (1880), 11,687; (1890), 12,790; (1900), 13,207, of whom 3298 were foreign-born. Dover, a town of Morris county, New Jersey, U.S.A., on the Rockaway river, at an altitude of 570 feet. It is on the Morris Canal, and on the Central of New Jersey and the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railways. It contains iron furnaces, rolling mills, and steel works. Population (1880), 2958; (1900), 5938, of whom 947 were foreign-born and 53 negroes.
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Dower, or the life interest of the widow in a third part of her husband’s lands, is governed in the United Kingdom, so far as women married after 1st January 1834 are concerned, by the Dower Act, 1834, and under it only attaches on the husband’s death to the lands which he actually possessed for an estate of inheritance at the time of his death. The wife is now entitled to dower out of equitable estates, but joint estates are still exempt. By the Act the wife’s dower is placed completely under her husband’s control. It does not attach to any land actually disposed of by him in his lifetime or by his will, nor to any land from which he has declared by deed his wife shall not be entitled to dower. He may also defeat her right, either as to any particular land or to all his lands, by a declaration in his will; while it is subject to all the deceased husband’s debts and contracts, and to any partial estates which he may have created during his life or by his will. A widow tenant in dower may make leases for twenty-one years under the Settled Estates Act, 1878. Free-bench is an analogous right in regard to copyhold land; it does not fall within the Dower Act, 1834, and varies with the custom of each manor. At common law, and prior to the Act of 1834, dower was of a very different nature. The wife’s right attached, while the husband was still living, to any land whereof he was solely seised in possession (excluding equitable and joint estates) for an estate of inheritance at any time during the continuance of the marriage, provided that any child the wife might have had could have been heir to the same, even though no child was actually born. When once this right had attached, it adhered to the lands, notwithstanding any sale or devise the husband might make; nor was it liable for his debts. In this way dower proved an obstacle to the free alienation of land, for it was necessary for a husband wishing to make a valid conveyance to obtain the consent of his wife releasing her right to dower. This release was only effected by a fine, the wife being separately examined. Often, by reason of the expense involved, the wife’s concurrence was not obtained, and thus the title of the purchaser was defective during the wife’s lifetime. The acceptance of a jointure by the wife before marriage was, however, destructive of dower; if after marriage, she was put to her election between it and dower. By the ingenuity of the old conveyancers, devices, known as “ uses to bar dower ” (the effect of which was that the purchaser never had at any time an estate of inheritance in possession), were found to prevent dower attaching to newly purchased lands, and so to enable the owner to give a clear title, without the need of the wife’s concurrence, in the event of his wishing, in his turn, to convey the land. All this has, however, been swept away by the Dower Act, 1834, and a purchaser of land need not now trouble himself to inquire whether the dower of the wife of the vendor has been barred, or to insist on her concurrence in a fine. (h. s. s.) Down, a maritime county of Ireland, province of Ulster, bounded on the N. by Belfast Lough and Antrim, on the E. and S. by the Irish Sea, and on the W. by Armagh. The area of the judicial county in 1900 was 612,093 acres, of which 255,745 were tillage, 262,237 pasture, 763 fallow, 13,573 plantation, 1688 turf bog, 4129 marsh, 41,495 barren mountain, and 32,463 water, roads, fences, &c. The new administrative county under the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, includes the portion of the town of Newry formerly situated in Armagh, but does not include the portion of Lisburn and the portion of Belfast formerly situated in Down. The population in 1881 was 272,107 ; in 1891, 267,059, of whom 126,268 were males and 140,791 females, divided S. III. — 65
