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carrying trade of the port to light-draught coasting steamers. It would be difficult indeed to find another city in the world of equal commercial importance, or serving so rich and extensive and so densely populated a hinterland, with so poor shipping facilities. A river improvement scheme of some importance was inaugurated in 1898 under the direction of Mr. de Linde, a local engineer who had studied conservancy matters here over a number of years, and later on raking operations on the Bar on a plan devised by Mr. T. T. Ferguson, of the Maritime Customs, resulted in deepening the channel and facilitating navigation for the time being. But it remained for the Hai Ho Conservancy Board, established by the Peace Protocol, to prosecute the work of improving the navigational interests of the port and thus render great services to shipping by successfully overcoming some of the chief difficulties. Four important cuttings have been effected in the River, for example, which have not only facilitated the movement of the flood tide but have shortened the distance to the sea by some 20 miles by the removal of some corkscrew windings and dangerous bends; and powerful dredgers have been acquired for work on the Bar.
During the first half of the year 1917 the country suffered from a prolonged drought, lasting for over six inonths. Later on there were incessent rains in the neigh- bouring province of Shansi, and reports of floods were circulated. Early in September the Hunho was in flood, and, finally, the Grand Canal burst its banks a few miles west of Tientsin, carrying away the main line of the Tientsin-Pukow Railway, which resulted in the Concessions being flooded before much warning of the impending danger could be given. The Racecourse and all the surrounding country were soon under water. Ef- forts were made to raise the bank of the Haikuangssu Canal, on the west of the British Concession, but the available time and labour were insufficient, and during the night. of the 24th September the floods penetrated into the Japanese, French, and British Con- cessions, which were soon covered with water to a depth varying from one to four feet. For a few days the greater part of Tientsin was virtually in a state of siege. As the electric light works were flooded, no current could be supplied to the British Concession, and the Municipal water supply was also interrupted. The acquisition of food by re- sidents in the submerged area became very difficult, as very few people possessed boats, and for several days they subsisted on whatever stores they happened to have in stock. Rough sampans were knocked together locally, and the British Municipal Council subsequently obtained a supply of dinghies, etc., from Chefoo. A service of public boats was organised in the flooded streets, and communications were restored. The Municipal authorities of the various Concessions dealt with these extraordinary conditions in a prompt and public-spirited manner, and it was ultimately decided to enclose the submerg- ed Concessions with a dyke and pump out the flood waters therefrom. The lengths of the various dykes in miles were approximately as follows:-Chinese (ex-German) 0.47; British, 1.40; French and British, 087; French, 0.32; Japanese, 2.27; total, 5.33 miles. Powerful pumps were then erected, and the whole undertaking for the British and French Concessions was successfully and expeditiously completed in a fortnight. It took longer to clear the Japanese Concession, however, where the water was from 7 to 10 feet deep in places. A commencement was made by employing hundreds of native chain pumps and paddle-wheels; but these inadequate methods were soon supplement- ed with steam pumps lent by the South Manchurian Railway Company and worked by a detachment of army engineers from Manchuria. It is estimated that over 15,000 square miles of the most populous part of the Chihli province between Paotingfu and Tientsin were flooded, and it has been calculated that crops to the value of $100,000,000 were utterly lost, and that 80,000 groups of dwellings, ranging from hamlets to large villages, were destroyed. The question of conserving the waterways of the Chihli province, with a veiw to preventing a recurrence of such disasters and safeguarding the trade and shipping interests of Tientsin, has occupied attention for some years past, and various conservancy engineers have individually issued reports on the subject; but no co-ordinat- ed scheme on broad lines and acceptable to all interests has so far been adopted. A proposal was brought forward in the autumn of 1917 by the Commissioner of Customs in connection with the appointment of a joint-commission" composed of representatives of the Chinese Government and of the Hailio Conservancy Board, etc., to study the general question and submit recommendations for the considera- tion and acceptance of the Government. The following extract from the Board's Annual Report for 1917 outlines the nature of the action thus taken, which, it is hoped, will prove effective:-"In view of the conflict of opinion between the Board's technical advisers and the National Conservancy Bureau on the general question of the prevention of floods in the Chihli province, the conservation of the waterways of the hinterland, and more especially the measures which should