The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER, 2, 1912. HOLLAND’S RAILWAYS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 33, 2 October 1912, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER, 2, 1912. HOLLAND’S RAILWAYS.

It is told to-day how Holland, that wonderful little European country, has now been able to celebrate, the opening ol railways in the district that once was the bed of the Haarlem Sea. Sixtyfive years ago the sea flowed over the land that lies in the triangle formed by the cities, Amsterdam, Haarlem and Leiden. Then the Dutch people undertook the construction of a great circular dyke, crowned by a canal, and when the work had been completed they pumped the water from the enclosed area. The pumping occupied three years and at the end of that time about six hundred square miles of land was exposed. The reclaimed district is now one of the most fertile parts of Holland and produces enormous quantities of cereals, sugar beet and vegetables, as well as a large amount of butter and cheese. Whereas canals were Holland’s only transport way, modern farming methods have so increased the quantity of produce to be carried that railway communication has become necessary, and after a long delay the lines have been completed. The engineers found that the ground was still shaky, owing to the fact that it is several feet below sea level, and special methods of laying the rail beds had to be adopted. Even now the trains are said to shake uncomfortably when they travel fast. The great dyke that surrounds this district is guarded jealously, of course, but the Dutch military authorities have plans of admitting the sea in case of the invasion of Holland by a hostile enemy, just as they had in those stirring old days of Henri of Navarre.