2
being devoted for the present to the regulation and improvement of the lower river only.
M. de Rijke is, of course, correct in saying that it was not by him that the estimate in the Conservancy Agreement of the probable cost of the scheme was arrived at, but he is nevertheless responsible to some extent for the miscalculation that has been made. In the Report on the subject which he made to the Shanghae General Chamber in 1898, he estimated the cost of improving the lower approaches only of the river at 8,000,000 taels, and it was on his figures that the Chamber based its estimate of the annual revenue that would have to be raised to carry out the scheme. As we see now from the statement of the Conservancy Board's finances, the cost will in all probability be very nearly double M. de Rijke's original estimate, so that the balance left for other improvements will not carry the Board very far. At the same time it is only fair to M. de Rijke to state that, since his estimate was made, the conditions in the lower river have changed very considerably for the worse, and that he has always maintained that it was impossible for an honest man to give an estimate of the cost of carrying through the whole of the scheme from the Kiangnan Arsenal to the mouth of the Whangpoo.
The fact, however, remains that the question of raising further revenue to enable the scheme as stipulated in the Conservancy Agreement to be carried to a satisfactory conclusion must before long engage the attention of the Chinese Government.
I have, &c. (Signed)
PELHAM L. WARREN,
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
M. von Buri to M. Siffert.
Sir and dear Colleague,
Shanghae, December 15, 1908. REGARDING the conservancy of the Whangpoo, you will oblige me by circulating the following Memorandum, so that the matter may be discussed at the next Consular meeting.
According to previous Quarterly Reports of the Whangpoo Conservancy Board (cf. Reports of the 9th November, 1966; the 26th January, 1907), the expenses for carrying through M. de Rijke's scheme are higher than at first estimated.
Moreover, the Dutch Acting Consul-General has mentioned in his Memorandum of the 23rd July, 1907, that it seems quite certain that a few more millions will have to be invested in improvement works before the river will be in good condition." This two-fold additional expenditure, anticipated by the Quarterly Reports and by the Dutch Consul respectively, is liable to be still further increased by unforeseen expenses.
In the last Report of 1907 it was stated that the first cutting through the Junk Channel will be about 500 feet wide and 15 feet deep at low water," and that it "may be through by next March" (1908). As may be seen by the last Quarterly Report, there has so far not been much progress made in dredging this cutting, for a depth of 12 feet throughout the Junk Channel has not yet been achieved.
According to the last two Reports, this is due to constant, resilting, and much work still has to be done over again.
The repeated dredging of the same masses of soil in Junk Channel from March last until a further date, to-day not yet known, means therefore repeated unforeseen increase of cost.
If under these circumstances it should happen that some day before the comple- tion of the works the sum of 9,200 taels set aside by the Chinese Government (under the Whangpoo Conservancy Convention of the 27th September, 1905) for the purposes of the conservancy of the river should be used up, the conservancy works would come to a standstill.
If this should occur at a moment when the operations have brought the river into a critical state, from the point of view of navigation, there might be fatal conse- quences to the shipping of Shanghae.
To prevent the works being stopped at, perhaps, such a critical moment, and ou the other hand, to secure the completion of the improvement of the whole course of the Whangpoo from the Kiangnan Arsenal to the mouth, it becomes imperative to deal now with the financial part of the scheme.
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3
I am therefore of the opinion that the Consular Body should ask the Conservancy Board
1. To show by a full statement of accounts the total amount of money spent up to the end of the current year, in order that it may be clearly seen how much is still available for the conservancy scheme.
money
2. If the 9,200,000 taels stipulated under the Whangpoo Conservancy Agreement of the 27th September, 1905, are sufficient for carrying through the whole conservancy scheme from the Kiangnan Arsenal to the mouth of the Whangpoo.
3. If not, on what further funds the practicability of the scheme is based or how else revenue and expenditure are to be adjusted.
4. To furnish the Consular Body, for their information, with copies of M. de Rijke's scheme of the Whangpoo conservancy from the Kiangnan Arsenal down to the mouth of the river with a detailed estimate based on the latest experiences.
I have, &c. (Signed) P. VON BURI,
Consul-General for Germany.
Sir,
Inclosure 3 in No. 1.
Mr. Hobson to M. Siffert.
Whangpoo Conservancy Board, Shanghae,
February 4, 1909.
IN reply to your letter of the 26th January asking, on behalf of the Consular Body, for details of the state of Conservancy funds at the end of 1908, also for details of M. de Rijke's scheme of Whangpoo conservancy, I now send you inclosed copy of a Memorandum prepared by the Board's Secretary with regard to the state of the funds and copy of a letter from M. de Rijke in reply to the other questions.
The letter of the 5th March, 1908, referred to in M. de Rijke's reply, simply alludes to the mud-bank in front of the Chinese city bund; that of 6th June covered a Report sent to the Consular Body on the 18th June, 1908, on the subject of bunding.
Dear Mr. Hobson,
I have, &c.
(Signed) I. E. HOBSON,
Director of the Conservancy Board,
Inclosure 4 in No. 1.
Mr. Carruthers to Mr. Hobson.
Shanghae, February 2, 1909.
THE state of Conservancy finances at the end of the year 1908 was US follows:-
Annual revenue of 480,000 Haikwan taels for twenty
years
Exponded up to December 31, 1908
Duo, interest on loan of 44 million taels
Due, unpaid balance of dredging contract
Dne, unpaid balance of Fort Jetty contract..
Balance Shangine taels
Shanghae taels.
10,248,800-00
2,911,665-70
3 340,034 74
1,375,000.00 1,182,030-48
8.808,730 92
1,440,009-08
Thus at the end of 1908, reckoning all sums for which we are pledged as paid (Le., Fort Jetty and dredging contracts, interest on and principal of 44 million loan), we have 1,440,069-08 Shanghae taels left, available for payments of salaries, training works, under our own Administration, and all other expenses, which in 1908 amounted to 690,788-25 Shanghae taels, or roughly, funds for two years. our assets must be added the interest account kept by the Taotai in native banks, of which I only know that, in July 1907, Jui Taotai wrote it amounted to 116,854-90
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