Aprit 30.
We have received from the Chinese-Foreign Famine Relief Committee a most interesting jand valuable report on flood relief prevention problems in Chekiang province.
It will be remembered that in the autumn of 1922 and the spring of the following year <lisastrous floods devastated large areas in the province of Chekiang. Dykes and bridges were carried away, terraced hillsides swept bare of cultivation, whole villages blotted out of existence, and fertile fields filled with sand and bouldfers to the thickness of several feet, so that many thousands of lucres of rich rice land were utterly ruined. committee wi formed in Shanghai, composed of I ding foreigners and inese, to raise funds for the relief of the destitute people. Altogethi $1,243,343.86 were collected and a report has already been issued on the manner of distribution. But it was felt that something further should be done if possible to prevent recurrence of such disasters. This was very strongly "lurged by Mr. F. W. Carey, ther Commissioner of Customs in Ningpo, and Taoyin C. L. Wong. Mr. von Heidenstam, chief engineer of the Whangpoo Conse vane Board, with the Board's consent Lindiy put his services at the disposal of the Committe three assistant engineers, a for eigner and two Chinese, were seconded, to make the best survey of the stricken district that they could, and the result is the present valuable publication, which detail the work necessary to be done, gives ea timate of its cost, and is furs th jer illustrated by excellent raps and plans of the works recommended and data of the cal uses of flocd and the damage resulting.
Altogether four districts were examined those of the Tsao Ngo River, the Fenghua district, the ' Taichow, and "the district. Of these the bul the report is given te the Tsao Ngo ar which appears to have the worst and is sufficiently, typical of all to serve as a good iti jastration of what the report recommends.
The Tsao Ngo Ri ver has its source in the mountains of the eastern part of Chekiang and flows northwards into the Hangchow Bay bout the point where the Bay merge:
into the Chientang estuary.
Above the town of Chinshien, say thirty miles, crow flies, from its mouth, th river is formed by four principal tri put aries, coming fror among the mountains and co1 rging into one stream at this report:—of the Tsao Ngo rectangular, with a length of abo sixty miles, and an average width thirty miles; this latter spreads towards the source. Approximately seventy-five per cent the basin is mountainous, average elevation of about 800 1,000 feet. The slopes of the mountains have been denuded of their trees and only a tage of the upper vated. The fan-like of the tribute ow, reaching the main stream a:
common point of discharge of tite tru ibutaries at about the same time. Anybody with the slightest acquaintance of mountains of Chekiang can tell at once what likely to happen torrential rains of the mer and early autumn arrive. The repor: gives the following records of the intensity and ation of storms at Wenchow, which, says, are probably typical of a storm in the {ributaries of the Tsao Ngo:
Date.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.