Big "Hydraulic Reconstruction Scheme Indicated Nanking, July 18, Flood prevention in China should go side by side with navigation and Irrigation improvements in accord~ ance with a hydraulic reconstruction Programme worked out on reliable ata and after thorough investigation of the " various waterways In. tte country, declared Mr, N. A. fan den Heuvel, a Netherlands ' conservancy expert,' who is now director of the tional Hydraulle Laboratory of the National Economic Council, inn radio address over the Central Broadcasting Station. "Flood prevention may be considered as a defence against an enemy, whereas, by reg blating a river for navigation pur poses, and by using the water for irrigation, the river is no longer considered as an enemy, but rather as a servant," the eminent conser~ vane expert said. The Hydraulic Department of the NEC, according to Mr, van den Heuvel, is mapping out a general plan, covering all Phases of flood prevention and navigation and irrigation Improvements on the principal rivers of the country.
Discussing flood prevention work, Mr, van den Heuvel remarked that this implies two principal. phases—dyke-strengthening and reservoir construction. Whenever the water of a river threatens to overflow, the dykes must be heightened, or the water must be kept lower by draining it into reservoir lakes. However flood prevention constitutes only negative side of the hydraulic" plan for the Improvement of a river. The positive side—navigation and rrigaion improvements—should. be none the less emphasized in order to make the river beneficial to the Inhabitants along its banks.
Cheap Transport Mr, ven den Heuvel recalled that, from' olden times, inland navigation formed the principal means of com= munication, Even now, small ca and river' channels form. the only Tinks between "many villages and towns. "As water transport I much cheaper than any other Kind, of great economic importance to the ration to improve the conditions of "technically, Mr, van den Heuvel means. the building of sluices and ship-locks. in canals [connecting the large rivers, which have to be so regulated that. Jargo steamers may ascend them as far possible. "Urgent improvements of this kind concern the Hatho up to Tientsin, the Yangtze up to Hankow, and the' Whampoa up to Canton "To Prevent Famines Mr. van den lated country such as China, a good irrigation system may prevent. the ever-threatening famines, In the forcement of the irrigation scheme" he suggested, the distribution of water should be controlled by a dis-
Concluding, te Netherlands expert pointed out that any hydraulic Feconstruction programme in China cannot be expected to be completed within a short time, The timo need~ ed may be gauged from the fact that the regulation of the Rhine, whose discharge is only one-tenth of that fof the Yangtze River, took 100 to finish, and the development of the Irrigation systems in the Britis French, and Netherlands Indies took more than a century—Central News,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.