Institution of Civil Engineers Meets: Dr. Chatley on Unsolved Flood Prevention Problems Regretfully Mr. H. G. W. Woodhead had. to confess on Friday night to the Shanghai Association of the Institution of Civil Engineers that war fave greater scope than peace to the development of engineering skill, Apart from the construction of the Queen Mary, the biggest engineering feat in 1925 was, in Mr. Woodh opinion, the penetration of thi by Mahan road-builders and chenized armament, leading to the occupation of Addis Ababa.
If China could spend on engines ug research funds approaching the amount devoted to medical research she would probably be able to give definite impetus to schemes of con~ siderable moment for her economic advancement.
Tu thus winding up the speeches: at the annual dinner of the Association, Mr. Woodhead was taking his cue from the President, Dr. Herbert Chatley, who revealed that the train-Ing. of China's rivers presented a problem witch still escaped solution. In giving the toast of the Institue tion Dr. Chatley posed the problem thus: What were the best. measures to control the height of floods in alluvial rivers and, in particular, where should flood dykes he placed? Controversy was unsettled on the point, but increased knowledge should provide a solution. What was the effect of dyke position en flood jove!? Broad flat foreshores not deeply submerged at flood stage, did little to provide storage oF discharge capacity; indeed they might achieve the reverse. Wide spacing of dykes postponed undercutting and might reduce the specd of rise of water level in spates.
In the Yangize and Yellow Rivers suck foreshores tended to silt to a high level. Close spacing might improve the hydraulic form of the charnel and maintain water depths, so helping to stabilize the water course, but it also encouraged the rapid rise of the water level in spaies, The engineers in shor: had to decide how to achieve the training of the mean water channel to standard form and course combine with optimum location of flood dykes.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.