The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-12-23
] LAND ] I l SINKING, HOLLAND FEARS
 FOR TERRITORY
Famous Geologist Says the Country May Have to Re
 Abandoned Some Day

ThegHague, Netherlands. Dec. B. It may, not materially affect the pres ent xeneration or the next, but if the land level of Holland continues to sink, there Is danger of the subsistence becoming so great that, despite all the rroxress of engineering science, it will be impossible to much longer con- tinue the present ceaseless struggle with the waters That is the view ex- pressed before the Geological Mining Society for Holland and it's Colonies by professor Molengraaff, of the Poly technfc University of Delft, who is the foremost Dutch geological auth orfty.
 A large part of the Netherlands, particulArfy the western and north western provinces, lies some feet be- low the level of the sea, which is only kept from overffowing hundreds of square miles of land by the natural barrier of the long line of sand dunes that fringe the coast, reinforced at two or three points by artificial means. The level of rivers and many of the canals in such regions are like wise higher than the surround coun- try, being held in check by the dikes and entertainments that are maintain ed at great pains ane corresponding ly high cost by the nation. Natural ly, therefore, the question of the con- tinued, if very gradual fall of the land level bears an important aspect in the eyes of the Dutch people, and it has recently been the subject of discus sion among expert geologists and hy- biographical. engineers.
 .'.H."r declares Prof. Molengraaff, :'tlie subsistence is of such a nature that within measurable time posi- ton Of equilibrium comes about, then the cost of keeping the land drained will become so high that there will no longer be much advantage attach ed to it's possession, albeit there are always historical and sentimental ar gunnents for that. If, however, the total expediture should exceed the total income, then the common sense of the Dutch people would lead them to withdraw to higher regions"
 Opinions differ on the question of whether the ground is still sinking, and what influences are responsible for such a phenomenon. Some ex- perts, like the civil engineer, D. H. S. Blaupot ten Cate, suppose that the fall is a consequence of what happen Cd 1n m1QOlc ~ I0TLIdry peTlOO. NIT. ten Gates theory is that Holland is built up on alluvial mud flats, which still participate in various movements of the soil. Some authorities believe that material subsistence is still talk ing place, while others, again, are of opinion that the phenomena observed are a consequence of certain move ments of the sea level, whereby vari- ous influences of another nature play q role; that the sea level alters, but that the land itself does not sink,I
 Another civil engineer, J. e. Ra- maer, is convinced from the results of water guage observations that there has been a subsistence of the land of Holland, as we'll as of that of border ing countries and the greater part, of the British Isles. He says it may be deduced from the entire list of such observations that there has been an average subsidence of 30 centimeters per century, declining farther inland to 15 centimeters. That a very con- siderable subsistence is taking place 1t the present time in the p0lders or drained basins of the Netherlands in his opinion is undeniab1e.