Norwich bulletin., 1916-04-26
IMPROVEMENT OF GRAND
 CANAL IN SHANTUNG
To Being Considered by ". F. Carey of St. Paul, an American contrae- tor.


 Pel1ing. April 25-w. P. Carey of st. Paul. Minn-. an American contrac- tor. who is considering the improve ment Of che Grand Canal in Shantung and kIanssi provinces, has recently returned from a tour of inspection and has announced that the plan presents no great engineering dificulties.
 The plan involves the reclamation of many hundreds of thousands acres of land which now lie in iake-beds or districts subjected to the overflow of the Yellow River and other streams in the canal be sin. some of which have no outlet 10 the sea In flood times the waters of many of these streams pass into the canal, which was built through districts where formerly lakes afforded reservoirs for the flood wa ters. Of recent years the canal has been greatly neglected In places now the water is not more than six inches deep In dry times and the banks have been badly damaged by high water. Consequently the government Is un- able to derive the tolls which Is should have from such an important water way. Furthermore much of the ter rttory adjoining the canal has fallen into neglect, and the neighboring pop ulation suffers much from food and famine.
 Plans have been under consideration for many years for the reclamation of the great area tributary to the DOT tion of the Grand Canal which Hes | between the Yellow River in shan ] tung province and the Yang-tse river | In hiangsi province. IL has been es- ! timated that the cost of restoring the canal and dilking the streams in sudl a manner that food water could be ] carried to the sea, or allowed to pass | off through the canal, would be thirty | million dollars gold. The expense of | this improvement would, in the opin- ion of exports. before than met by the ! value of the government land ac- | tuaiiy reclaimed Furthermore the | increased value of the private lands | subject to flood would be very great | and an improvement tax could be i justly levied on these With the wa terway in perfect repairs, the tolls would be very large throughout the year.
 The American Red Cross and other agencies have been interested in ex- plotting the possibilities of this plan l-and have assisted the Chinese govern Inent in bringing 1t 10 the attention Oi l foreign financiers.
 | With the sale of reclaimed land. the possible improvement taxes and the l invcreased tolls would pay for the i'm ] p-ovement within a very few years
 the difficulty has been in raising tho
 money for the initial cost of the work
 C. D. Jameson, the engineer represent
 ing the American Red Cross. Fl. Van
 dervecn, consulting engineer of tn, Chinese National Conservancy Bureau
 and a number of other engineers have
 investigated the project, and report
 cd favCrnbly upon 1t
 The Chinese government desires tt
 have the two provinces through whicl
 the section of the canal runs. take ! special part in the improvement, anS | MT. Carey has visited the governor
 of these two provinces for the purposl
 of getting their views on the conserv ! ancy work
 Should MT. Carey decide, after
 complete reconnaissance, that the caan al restoration can be carried out pro
 fitably. 1t Is likely the Chinese govern
 ment wil enter into negotiations for al
 American loan to put the schem
 through.