To the Eaitor of the Noira-Curva Daty News, Sm,—I have been much interested in reading an article in the Daily News, under the above heading, by Mr. John C, Fergusson, and would like to adda word. What he says about the silt deposit is worthy carefull consideration, and I believe the principle he refers to by which anyer seeks to be freed from this foreign matter is the garret one, and if so, the problem it what is the best method by which this prin may be made available for the cent the n Now, about the plan he proposes, that of building immense reservoirs to hold the surplus water in time of floods; provided they were of sufficient strength and capacity, and the river would always keep to the old channel, this plan would work well, but suppose a break in the banks above these reservoirs, or they fail in strength or capacity, the same old story would be re-eated, that of misery and death by the loods that would surely follow.
Would it not be better to let nature have her own way? This Prodigal Son" has cost China an herpes saonnt—s life and property, and very long use he lilian hot bean well treated, Like some parents, China has been too severe with this child, and hence the natural reaction against parental control. Had that lake in the north of Honan been allowed tw remain, these destructive floods would have been prevented.
The peuple have robbed the river of one lake and now the way is open to pay the debt. The river is providing o silt trap, and it has this great advantage over those your correspondent proposes to construct viz, that it has a lower level, and would never be a source of danger to the country.
The plan'I propose is that this new lake be allowed to remain, and when the water reaches a proper level, it will find an outlet, it may not be the shortest, but being the lowest, it will be the safest and best route to the sea. A river has a God-given right of way, and may safely be allowed to find it. en, as the water in the lake is freed from the silt, it will be in condition to deepen and widen the channel and thus drain so much of the lake as is not needed for this safely valve; and then, iflet alone, (except as labour is employed to deepen the channel) this river will bring to the empire prosperity and happiness instead of want and misery as in the past. The Government can then give the land reclaimed at the lower end of the old channel to some of those now driven from their homes, and could well afford to provide for the others. Respectfully, J. N. Hayes, Soochow, 23rd January.
Sm,—I£ you will permit me I shall reply in a very few words to Mr. Ferguson's letter of to-day as I daresay the public will not take much interest in many details. In his original letter speaking of his proposed reservoirs Mr, Fergusson says No excavation would be required as the plains are lower than the river; the only expense would be the cost of land and the labour required to surround it with asciid embankment." His proposal therefore distinctly was to make reservoirs in the plain. Moreover as the floods from the breach have run to the lowest to which they had access (and I believe to the lowest Fottions of the plain west of the Grand nal) and as they have covered an area estimated at some 7,000 square miles while the water is only about 15 feet deep it seems clear that if reservoirs are to be made, surrounding them by embankments is the only feasible method. As I stated in my letter the length of bank could be decreased by increasing the size of the reservoirs and diminishing their number but nothing can be done by cutting off bends of the river as there are no bends to speak of and there never should be any. As to the low wall over which the fi would enter effecting a saving in river embankments, they would cost at least twenty imes as uiuch as the embankment they placed. No valleys which can be dammed up to do any good, are to be found until one goes some hundreds of miles west of Kai-fung Fu which is clearly not the part of the river to which Mr, Fergusson originally referred. But my great objection to the whole scheme is that it proposes to retain the bulk of the silt which is the source of all the trouble while at present the bulk of it is carried out to sea, Tam, Yours faithfully, G, Tastes Morrtsox.
Shanghai, 25th Jan To the Editor of the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.