The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1876-12-03
RoLLANDS WAR ON THE SEA.
DUTCH PLUCK AND PATIENCE SCORE AN
OTHER VICTORY.

DUTCH PLUCK AND PATIENCE scoKE AN
OTHER VICTORY.
london TimesJ
In the North Sea Canal the Dutch have
finished work that may be ranked win
the beet Of the engineering devices oy
which they have fshed o whole country
out of the waters. The enterprise has
I aome special interest for Englisb people,
because the new canal will bring the capital
of Holland within twenty four houre' sail
of the Thames. To Amsterdam itself the
construction of the canal was q matter OF
vital necessity. Dutch towns are nothing
| If they have no easy opening to the sea,
and for q long time Amsterdam seemed co
stand a high chance of sharing some such
fate as that which has overtsken several
places on the shores of the Zoyder Zee
Those towps were once made wealthy by
the rare capacity of the Dutch for trade,
and ships from distant colonies brought
merchandise to quays which are now de-
serted bnt the wash of the sea gradually
choked up the entrance to their haroors,
aud the rich vessels come to them no more.
The inhabitants might have kept oat the
tida deposit if they had put forth the won
ted energy of their race; but they let the
opportunity slip, and it will not come
back again. Amsterdam would long ago
not taken artificial means to open way to
the ocean.
The sand banks and the shadows of the
Zny der Zse form oueOf the worst channels
in the world, and many years ago the
chief city of the Dutch found itself falling
behind Rotterdam, which has the great
outlet of the Rhine. In 1919 an attempt
was made to ship the balance of advanta-
ges by the construction of the North
Holland Canal from the Yedo to the Hslder.
The work was a bold piece of engineering,
tor the channel is more than forty miles
- fanf
neeolessly out of the way by going to the
end of the promontary which hems In the
". st side of the Zuyder Zee. The diver
gence from the natural course to the ocean
is 80 puzz ing that it is attributed to the
strength of private interests. So great are
the delays caused by the length of the
channel, aud by the insufficient depth of
water, that charter parties often expressly
leave Amsterdam out of the lists of ports
to which particular ship may be compell-
ed to go. A slight disadvantage is often
enough to turn the scale against trading
city in these days of keen competition /;
but Amsterdam has made splendid effort
to facilitate it's commerce by cutting
canal direct to the North Sea.
Although it is little more than fourteen
miles long, the difficulties of the work seem
to have been nearly as great as those of the
Suez Canal. Great reaches of submerged
land had to be reclaimed to afford o bed
for the canal minor canals had to be made
TO the neighooring villages; the sandbills
near the sea threatened to choke the chan
mel: gigantic locks had to be formed and
all the resources Of engineering skill seem
| to have been taxed in order to guard
against the tremendous force with which
tue waves are driven on the shore by the
northeast winds. A ship lock 3l5 feet long
aud SO feet wide and another 2a9 by 10
would be counted great achievements 10
any country, and in Holland the difficulty
of the task was peculiar, because they had
to be built on piles; no fewer than 6, 1856 of
those supports having been used. As last,
| however, the work is done, and ship
drawing more than twenty feet of water
has already passed through the canal,
while line of steamers to London and
Hull has already begun to rum The cost
was estimated at Cd 600 600, but the net
expense will, it is believed, be brought
down to little more than half that sum by
cause peculiar to Holland. Large tracts
OF land have, as We have said, been
snatched from the waters of the lake, and
they aft, ,rd admirably fertile soil. More
than IL 600 acres have thus been added to
the Territory of Holland, and the land is go
! valuable as to have fetched an average OF
$50 an acre. Some of it, indeed, has been
sod for agricultural purposes at Sl2O per
acre.
There was a time when all the soil which
| the Dutch are now regaiuipg was peop'ed
sea broke over it during storms forever
memorable in the history of Holland. The
ravages thus in ficted make those of wal
seem sliRht, but already the people have
done much to recover the lost ground. and
they seem determined to restore something
J like the old proportions of the country by
draining the waters of the Zuyder Zee
That would be by far the greatest feat o
engineering attempted 10 our time, but
would certainly afford profitable invest
ment of capital if the reclaimed land coult
be sold for ESQ an acre.
The value of the soil, when it ls rescuet
e from the waves, affords curious example
: of the compensations which often atten'
great natural disadvantages. The fogg.
. sandbanks of Holland might seem to be tn
= very worst part of Europe for the home O
n a nation. Elsewhere we find towns, lik
. St. Petersburg, butt on artificial fo1nda
4 tions, but the whe.e country of the DUtc
6 is work of art. Naturally it belongs &
d the sea, and the waves have often mad
70 good their claim to possession in spite o
> the enormous dikes which were built by tn
. helm of foreets of niles foundations I'll