25rd Dec.
Ir is only too possible that. the subject of the Woosung Bar will become tiresome to some of our readers, but it is: a matter of the deepest importance te-every one residing or doing business in Shanghai, and. we know by experience: that the Chinese authorities will do nothing if the. shipowners and the Chambers of Commerce and the foreign Ministers and the Press do not keep on hammering at them unweariedly until something is done. It is stated, and there is good reason to believe the statement to be correct, that the. attempt made by the Anding was only: made in deference to the importunity of" foreigners, that ineffectthe Chinese wast ed two hundred thousand taels to amuse: foreigners, without any idea that any" practical result would be obtained, and! just 2 fortnight since we urged that the: no practical result was obtained. It is:
Anding's efforts had no success because:
Bar was being attacked at the: wrong place; and what we said has since been confirmed by " Bar-bound," a man who has been sailing in and out of Shanghai for twenty years or more, and knows every inch of the river, and who has besides had special opportunities during the two last months to study the mouth of the Whangpoo. We print this morning another interesting letter on the subject from so eminent an authority as Mr. J. G. Morrison, an engineer ability and speriouce, and who has studied the subject of the Bar for nearly twenty years, He agrees that what is wanted is that attention should be paid to the Junk Channel. He wrote us, he says, as long ago as 1877 that dredging with the view of cutting away a bar which the river is constantly: ling up is an endless task; and this: is what the Anding did. The river is, as " Bar-bound" pointed out, trying to connect Gough Island with Pheasant Point. The banks below Gough Island, on which the mudlarks used to go about on large flat pieces of board to prevent M. their sinking; in, are now hard solid sand, avd they are extending by the, present bar, whose consistency has al 44 changed lately, to the right bath. of the river. It would be an endles*, task to make and keep a permanent channel through that bar. This sould be recognised now, and no st money should be wasted on attemp'is to improve this channel.
"The bar that should. be attacked is the continuation of Cough Island towards the left bank vf the river, that is, the bar at this end of the Junk Channel. Those who have studied the matter are agreed that the river is trying itself to make, this its. principal channel, and measures should Be token at.once to assist the. river in cutting away this bar, leaving the Ship Channel to silt up as much as it likes. Arguing from the analogy of the Avon, My. Morrison confirms our suggestion of a fortnight ago thatthe river will in time
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.