Directory_and_Chronicle_1926 — Page 891

HANKOW

835

Shanghai Harbour Investigation Committee, mentioned above, has been requested by the Chinese Government to visit the Yangtsze and submit a preliminary report on the general subject of conservancy in conjunction with Mr. H. von Heidenstam, of the Whangpoo Conservancy Board, and Mr. Yang Pao-ling, of the Commission for the Im- provement of the River System of Chihli, and further investigations on the same lines will be continued during the autumn of 1922. It is idle for a layman to speculate upon such a highly technical subject as the conservancy policy which ought to be adopted in connection with so large a river as the Yangtsze, but obviously one of the chief objects to be attained is to render it possible for steamers of larger draught than are at present admitted in the winter season to come up to Hankow at all times of the year. And to accomplish this end it will be necessary to proceed on general lines and not confine operations merely to improving local conditions at individual ports, but rather to have one co-ordinated scheme for the whole river, or, at least, from Hankow to the sea. Financial difficulties will arise, of course, but the capacity of the trade dealt with on the Yangtsze to pay for such expenditure as would be involved may be presumed. At other centres in China the slight increase of taxation imposed to meet the cost of conservancy works has not adversely influenced general business interests, while the economies effected in transportation, and in many cases the elimination of transhipment charges, etc., have far outbalanced such charges. The collarse of a cluster of those curious dwellings erected on piles on the shores of the Han River, on the 7th December, which resulted in the loss of some 10 lives, emphasises the highly unsatisfactory conditions which exist along the banks of this stream in the vicinity of Hankow. In the first place, a number of these ramshackle houses overhang the waterway in an alarming inanner, the object being to escape the high ground-rents on shore; and secondly, jetties and such-like structures have been permitted to spring up on both banks to an extent which has seriously impeded the flow of water and resulted in narrowing the fairway to an inconvenient extent by the dangerous accumulation of silt. The last right-angle bend just before the Han debouches into the Yangtsze is in a particularly unsatisfactory condition, and if the erosion there continues unchecked the question of either cutting a new mouth, as has already been proposed, or taking steps to preserve the left bank at this point from further damage should receive careful consideration, in view of the danger of the flood waters breaking through, etc. The conservation of the lower reaches of the Han, indeed, would appear to bear a direct relation to the improvement of the Hankow harbour, and, if this opinion is correct, it follows that in the interests of navigation and trade the matter demands serious attention."

The Yangtsze River Conservancy Board has been established with headquarters in Peking, and a branch of the Board, known as the "Technical Committee," has been appointed and functions in Shanghai. During 1922 comprehensive surveys have been made on the Yangtsze under the supervision of this Committee, cross-sections have been taken at selected controlling points, and a vast amount of information, including Customs surveys, has been gathered and placed at the disposal of Mr. Palmer. The services of the latter were retained by the Government to make an investigation of the river and report upon the feasibility or otherwise of effecting improvement. He arrived in China in the autumn of 1923 and, with the Technical Committee, made an inspection of the river froni Wanhsien to Woosung during October. A report has been issued by him on the question of conservancy works, and the conclusion which he draws is that the cost would be entirely out of proportion to the benefits obtained and "utterly unremunerative and financially impossible." Seeing that the obstructions to 15-feet draught navigation are found at about eight "crossings" altogether and that they aggregate some 25 miles only in length, the impression existed that the rectification of these places could be effected without prohibitive expenditure and that it might even be possible to make Hankow a "deep-water port" for ocean steamers at all seasons, but, viewing the question from the economic as well as the engineering standpoint, Mr. Palmer disposes of these illusions. He estimates that to obtain freedom from restrictions to river steamers drawing 15 feet would alone necessitate a capital expenditure of not less than Hk. Tls. 25,000,000-a sum which places any improvement scheme in the nature of training-works outside the bounds of commercial possibility. This being so, it was natural to consider whether dredging operations, a so-called "persuasive method of im- provement" and less costly than training dikes, etc., would answer any useful purpose. After careful examination, however, it was found that there can be no certainty that the effects of dredging would be lasting and that it would therefore have to be regarded as purely experimental in the first instance. But here again the opinion was formed that the outlay involved would be too great and would not be justifiable from a