CO129-457 - Public Offices - 1919 — Page 558

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only partially protected, the place will probably always remain unbeloved of shipmasters, but the Formo san Goverment seems determined to circunvent

the forces of nature as far as possible. Originally

the harbour now under construction was a shallow lagoon, some two or three feet deep with a very narrow entrance from the west off which lay a long shifting sandbar. The place was a terror to navigators and in the bad season ships were frequently

unable to make the small anchorage at all. lagoon was formerly much larger than at present as extensive tracts of water have been filled in and

The

the land thus reclaimed froms the site of the modern

town.

Some of this reclamation work was done by foreigners during the Chinese regime but the major portion is due to Japanese initiative.

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Large sums totalling over Yen 17,000,000 have been voted from time to time for the harbour works

by the Japanese Diet. The work was commenced in 1908 and, under the present appropriations, is to be completed in 1925, The engineers in charge, however utter the lament - so common among their kind all the world over that the money allowed them is insufficient to permit the building of the harbour of their dreams. How far this complaint is caused by the natural enthusiasm of experts and how far by real exigencies I cannot say, but if the works outlined for me by Mr. Yamagata, Chief Engineer of the Bureau of Public works, are to be carried out in full, the existing votes will require mich expansion. I give below a

description