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dredging in the junk-channel nor for further raising of the upper part of the ship- channel, the work, according to M. de Rijke's reports, of foremost importance for a permanent keeping open even of a finally opened junk-channel, at the same time a work causing naturally especially heavy expenses: that in the case of lacking funds the result must therefore be that the junk-channel, even finally opened, is bound to a gradual and probably rather fast resilting, ie., to soon becoming again closed and useless for navigation;
(c.) That in this case it is naturally indispensable that, may this fact be considered desirable or not desirable, the ship-channel has to remain the fairway; that therefore, as long as the necessary funds for a permanent opening of the junk-channel are not at disposal, it must appear at least useless and undesirable to form in the upper part of ship-channel a kind of new bar of a very firm and unremovable nature, even if at the time of exhaustion of funds the bottom of the upper part ship-channel might be left still about 20 feet deep at lowwater springtide (conservancy 1.w.)
(d.) That this raising of the upper part of the ship-channel, which is, naturally, and according to M. de Rijke's reports, intended to serve the purpose to diminish the an increase of volume of water running through the ship-channel in favour
the water volume running through the junk-channel must, the more it fulfils this purpose the more favour a gradual silting of the ship-channel's bottom, and first of all a rising of that part of the ship-channel which lends itself best to this settling, viz., the inner bar at the lower end of the ship-channel, a result not only undesirable, but fatal for the traffic, because in consequence of the diminution of the strength of water in the ship-channel, although this may be a diminution, which, in case of the junk- channel, owing to the lack of funds, resilting may later on prove only to be matters are bound to settle on temporarily an increasing amount of sinking
the inner bar, the more so as by and during the dumping of the dredging matter, as intended by M. de Rijke, into the upper part of the ship-channel a great amount of sinking matter in excess of the amount which is normally carried by the river through the ship-channel will be introduced into this channel.
(e.) According to the above considerations, after the now very near moment of the funds being exhausted, and as long as the necessary further funds are not secured beyond doubt, in case of raising the upper part of the ship-channel, although only to about 20 feet low water, the following serious result is to be apprehended :-
(A.) Resilting and unnavigability of the junk-channel;
(B.) Formation of a kind of new bar at the upper end ship-channel, and deterioration of the inner bar at the lower end of the ship-channel, ie., the risk of a seclusion of the port from the access to sea, or at least certainly not an amelioration, but probably a considerable deterioration of the traffic condition on the river, compared with the present state of things.
All these foregoing considerations are based exclusively on the until now undisputable fact of it being quite uncertain whether and when the funds further necessary for the conservancy work will be put at disposal, and, as far as any technical points are touched, on a perusal of the information contained in, and derived from the engineer-in-chief's own reports and statements, and they are not based, apart from that, on any technical knowledge which the majority of the consular body would pretend to possess by their own.
If in
Over these considerations of positive nature there is not lost sight of the considerations of what may be called the negative side of the question. accordance with the consular body's decision the dumping of dredging matter into the ship-channel is abstained from as long as the means and ways to raising the necessary funds for the further Whangpoo conservancy works will not have been secured, the result might be that the stream is not diverted in an increasing degree to the junk-channel, that the resilting in the junk-channel might start earlier and advance more rapidly, and that in case of the necessary and now lacking funds being put at disposal at any uncertain future time, some amount of labour might or probably would have then to be done or redone, which, if the funds were now available, could be performed at once, or would even-a portion of them-prove unnecessary, with also probably saving some costs; but all this remains mere theory as long as the funds are not secured, and the disadvantages and even enhanced costs just mentioned, regrettable as they may be, cannot be avoided, and must appear in proportion insignificant compared with the serious risks and very grave responsibilities, also of a financial kind, connecting with the raising of the ship-channel without the further funds being
secured.
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The above considerations, on which the decision of the consular body's majority is based, as far as the material side of the question is concerned, may be opened to a revision if and when the further necessary funds be secured.
As to the formal side of the question, it is to be pointed out that a due and careful regard of the above described risks and responsibilities forms merely a natural and essential part of the diligence to be used in the performance of the Whangpoo conservancy works as a whole, that any setting aside of this due regard and of diligence at this state of things cannot be retroactively remedied, but that the remedy in this case can only be prophylactic, and that therefore the majority of the consular body will certainly regard their decision as thoroughly within the competence conferred on the consular body by Article 11, sentence 50, of the Peking Convention of September 1905,
It is not doubtful to me that the majority of the consular body regard themselves entitled to assume that the decision, which was in a thoroughly correct way adopted in the last consular meeting (resolution under "c") may be now communicated to the Conservancy Board without any delay not foreseen by the decision. On the other side, I suppose it goes without saying that in the next consular meeting the question may be discussed and decided upon whether the Shanghae General Chamber of Commerce would have to be officially informed of the consular body's resolution and of the communication made accordingly to the Conservancy Board, as also of the reasons underlying this resolution, and whether eventually the Chamber of Commerce would have to be asked for their opinion; and also whether the resolution with its reasons, and eventually the opinions expressed by the Shanghae General Chamber of Commerce, mught be communicated to the diplomatic body in Peking.
I have, &c.
M. MÜLLER,
Acting Consul-General for Germany.
Inclosure 7 in No. 1.
Statement of M. de Rijke.
THE depth of water to be found in the junk-channel at the day of final opening must be 18 feet at low water over a width at least 600 feet, in some places 900 feet, as stated in my report dated the 9th April, 1909.
Without further restraining and stopping the stream of the ship-channel I do not believe that the new fairway along the junk-channel, to a depth and width as stated above, could be fully maintained without more or less continual dredging. Therefore from that time, ie, the day of final opening, all the seven damworks in the upper part of ship-channel must be raised gradually higher to about the level of low water, which is essential for shoaling up ship-channel.
Shanghae, May 1, 1909.
Inclosure 8 in No. 1,
Doyen of the Diplomatic Body to M. de Carcer.
JOR DE RIJKE.
Excellence,
Shanghai, le 19 mai, 1909. J'AI l'honneur de vous confirmer ma lettre du 27 avril, vous communiquant copie d'un rapport où M. J. de Rijke, ingénieur en chef du Whangpoo Conservancy Board, indique les différents travaux qu'il juge encore nécessaires pour l'achèvement de l'œuvre entreprise et évalue les dépenses à prévoir de ce chef à 6,619,765 dollars; auxquels il faut ajouter le montant des appointernents du personnel, frais de bureau, &c., que le secrétaire du Whangpoo Conservancy Board estime devoir s'élever à 1,470,000 dollars; soit 8,089,765 dollars.
En sa dernière réunion le corps consulaire a décidé de demander au corps diplomatique de bien vouloir presser le Gouvernement chinois de prendre telles
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