9th and 10th February.
CHANG-YAO ON THE YELLOW RIVER, Chang-Yao, the Governor of Shantung, submits a memorial in which he makes a number of suggestions for repairs and im-River which falls under his control. The rovements in the portion of the Yellow Yellow River trouble is, he remarks, attributed by some, to the changeable nature of its waters, and is looked upon by others as a visitation of time and destiny. Neither of these views represents the whole truth. At Hsining, where the river enters China Proper, and from thence to Ninghsia, its waters are quite manageable and are carried off by canals and used for irrigation pures. When it reaches Luugmén, it receives the waters of the Ching, Wei, Ch'in, and other rivers, and mits eastern course from Shouchang in Shantung its volume is still further swollen by a number of mountain streams. The natural result of all this accumulation of water during its long course is the turbulent and reging river which causes such damage in Shantung. This damage is due to the insufficiency of human efforts and the lack of material resources which have hitherto been employed in averting it. During the three years which he has spent in studying the question, the memorialist has arrived at certain definite conclusions upon the subject. When the river first entered Shantung in the Tunga district, its bed, though narrow, was sufficiently deep to convey the volume of water. In process of time the banks fell in on both sides and towns and villages were swept away by the current. Had measures been at once adopted for shoring up the banks by means of fascines and of keeping the current in the centre of the river bed by the construction of breakwaters, all danger of disaster might have been permanently averted. Instead of this, the embankments were left to suffer by the action of the water, and the river was allowed to silt up at its pleasure. For a distance of 200 li or so above Shouchang there never were any embankments to confine the river in its channel, and as a result its course was of a very erratic and reckless character. This is the first head on which the memorialist finds human exertion to have been wanting. The second may be stated thus:—It wasn't until freshets occurred and the river spread wildly over the sonny test the idea of constructing proper embankments to supplement the dykes built by the people was given effect to by the Government, and even then the question of expense prevented the embankments being planned on a sufficiently large scale. The inequality of the ground and the looseness of the soil militated against their stability, and as a matter of fact they in' ly collapsed simultaneously with the dykes built by private enterprise, Me-monalist cannot claim to have special knowledge of river questions, but he has endeavoured to make up for his lack of experience by the exercise of the utmost cate and diligence. He has been greatly hampered by want of funds and has only been able to carry out absolutely necessary repairs. If the most complete measures of pretation have failed to ensure the safety of the river in the past, it can scarcely be expected that an economical policy, which trusts to weak and slender embankments to confine a huges mass of raging water, will meet with much success. A few openings may be closed, but the problem of how to keep the river under permanent control remains, and urgently demands solution. The question of river conser-fancy was carefully studied by men of former days, but their views on the subject presented much divergency of opinion. hia-jong of the Han dynasty looked upon enibankments as a poor device, while P'an Chi-hsun of the Ming period advocated their construction, and gave practical effect to his views. The explanation of such differences of opinion lies in the different circumstances of the time and the varying conditions of the river. Co1 i policy of making side chai off a portion of the water, it was at first favour of excavating ry river at Chaochuang to communicate with the T'uhai River and of erecting locks and dams to prevent greater volume of the water being diverted than might be desirable. On further reflection, however, he came to the cond sion that if the River burst its banks higher up stream, his subsidiary channel might be closed up by the deposit brought down by the overflow and prove utterly useless for the purpose it was intended to serve. He therefore abandoned the idea.
The following are the works which the memorialist considers to be urgently required. The Lin-ho embankment which runs along the Northern side of the river from Ptuchou to Shouchang and serves as protection to three district cities and over 1,100 villages, should be properly repaired and strengthened. The Chin embankment, which runs for a distance of 114 li and furnishes a safeguard to thirteen district cities in Chihli and Shantung, stands sorely in need of similar repairs. A new embankment connecting it with T'soch'éng ought to be built to protect the Grand Canal. The distance is The private dykes all along the northern bank from Tunga to Liching require to be overhauled, and the main embankment from the former place to the Chi River stands in urgent need of repairs. The following works. are suggested along the southern bank of the river:—The private dykes from Yiifu Ho to wang in the Changehiv district, a distance of 160 li, should all be put ina state of thorough repair, as their proximity to the provincial capital renders their present condition a source of danger. The main embankment for a dis. tance of 330 Li from the Yiifu River to Liching requires additions and repairs, From Chiho to Chi-yang the bed of the river does not exceed an average breadth of 95 chang, and the memorialist proposes to take advantage of this and construct about 20 locks and water gates for carrying off a portion of the water during the freshet seasons into a desert tract of country which communicates with the T'uhai River, These proposals have been made after a careful study of the systems advocated by men of an earlier generation, and aiter a consideration of the actual condition of the river as ascertained by personal inspection. In former days during the administration of the ablest Director-Generals of their time, the Emperor frequently deputed a high officer to report on any great works that might be recommended in connection with the river, and the memos rialist, feeling that his own experience does not qualify him to pronounce an authorita tive opinion on the subject, would venture est that the practice should be and that he should be assisted in his deliberations by a Minister specially commissioned to proceed to Shantung for this purpose.—Decree previously published. lith February.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.