This bill passed the House of Commons in the session of 1803; but having met with opposition from the corporation of the City of London, as including too great a range of coast in the collection of the duties, such amendments and alterations were proposed in the House of Lords, as rendered it necessary for the Lord Advocate to withdraw the bill. [Sidenote: Works proposed of less expence than a stone building.] The expectations of nautical and commercial men were severely disappointed by the loss of this bill, which occasioned a delay of several years in the prosecution of the object. It was obvious, that, without considerable funds at command, it was impossible to undertake a work of such magnitude. The annual funds of the Light-house Board at this period amounted only to about L. 4000, and the maintenance of the light-houses already erected was equal to one-half of this sum, which would leave a surplus fund of about L. 2000 _per annum_. But, as the Commissioners found it to be their duty to go on with their improvements on the other parts of the coast, without confining their attention to one object, however important, it was impossible that this great work could be undertaken for a series of years, without the direct aid of the Government, or an extension of the Light-house duties, on the security of which money might be borrowed. In consequence of the loss of this bill, the dangers of the Bell Rock now became very generally the topic of conversation; and various schemes were again suggested for constructing economical and temporary buildings to remedy the evil. [Sidenote: Difficulty of determining among these proposals.] In a work of so much apparent difficulty, it was not easy for the Light-house Board to determine what was the most advisable design. The pillar-formed building was supported by many arguments. It would have been executed in a very short period, and would not, perhaps, have cost one-sixth part of the expence of a building of stone. A light-house, supported upon wooden pillars, had also stood for many years, and still remains, upon the Smalls Rocks, off St David’s-Head, in Pembrokeshire, although the sea, in high tides, and stormy weather, occasionally breaks over the building. But a fabric of stone, for such a situation as the Bell Rock, was evidently preferable, and the examples of the Tour de Corduan, the Eddystone, and the Kilwarlin light-houses, already noticed, were all in favour of it. [Sidenote: Mr Rennie consulted and agrees with the Author in recommending a building of stone.]