GERMAN HARBOUR IN HOLLAND

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue LXXXVIII, 10 September 1914, Page 8

GERMAN HARBOUR IN HOLLAND

A few days before the outbreak of war it was announced in England that the Dutch Government had granted to a German undertaking, tho Vulkan Company, a license for the construction of a private harbour on the New Waterway, near Vlaardingen, a few miles west of Rotterdam. This harbour will be available for ocean-going vessels, and the space ceded to the German company will be large enough to allow for repairing shops and a repairing wharf. The point at which the harbour is to be built 1 is little more than 100 knots distant from the Ea«t Anglian coast. It will diminish by more than one-half the distance between England and the nearest German port. The Vulkan Company is under the control of the German millionaire Herr Thyssen. The concession is recognised as holding possibilities for German shipping development; and it is felt that large questions are in* volved. The announcement of the concession caused deep concern at The Hague, . Commenting upon the matter, The Times stated that the New Waterway was an artificial cut made about fifty years ago, and capable of floating the largest sea-going vessels. " The Vulkan Company builds Dreadnoughts for tho German Navy, as well as the great Atlantic liners which are the pride of the Hamburg -America Company and the North German Lloyd," remarked The Times. "The relations between the company and the German Government are so intimate that it is (difficult to regard them apart. Mr. Thyssen bought the land for his harbour two years ago, and ever since has been urging the Dutch Government to permit him to cut through the foreshore. The public of Rotterdam protested against his scheme ; the Ministry promised legislation placing all harbours under public control; and it was only when the Dutch Government went into recess that the bargain was secretly completed. 'We are not surprised to learn that Rotterdam is furious at the revelation now made, and that the Chief Magistrate (Mr. A. R. Zimmerman) should have taken the unusual course of invoking British interest in the matter. Apparently, Mr. Thyssen proposes to construct a harbour capable of accommodating Dreadnoughts, with a coaling station and the usual accessories, for purely ' private ' objects. However engrossed the people of Great j Britain may be just now in theit domestic affairs, they are not so preoccupied as to ignore this development, or to be unmindful of the significance of the moment chosen to announce it."