THE DUTCH WATER WAR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11669, 8 April 1916, Page 1

THE DUTCH WATER WAR.

A PERPETUAL STRUGGLE.

Nature has bsen taking a casual hand in the carnival of destruction organised- by man—-"creeping up, _ as Whistler eaid of her in a. less sinister connection. The ticlal wave that broke upon the coast of Holland is an episode in an .incessant conflict—a- '■ revolt against the steady progressive conquest which the Dutch people have thrust upon their turbulent neighbour. It is more than a" quarter of a century since •our' .friends across tlic oca bores an inundation of such dimensions, which has evicted'many thousands ior the time being from their homes ana must undoubtedly bring much loss and waste of property in its_ train. Ihe water control of 'Holland is one of the most elaborate and-best organised • ot scientific public • services,- and its resources' are seldom put to any critical strain. • Its' wonderful apparatus ot pumps and water-wheels will probably dispose in ■& remarkably ; short time of the invader who lias so violently sought to recover what was once his own. It is seldom realised how niuch of the soil of Holland has been r as I Mr Kiplmg would say. " handled arid 'made.- : For' iat least nine centuries ; the Dutch have been extending piecemeal the measure-ments'-'ofthir- originally exiguous i&rriitbry by "land-grabbing'! from, the i bottom^of the ocean. If the dykes; were removed which curb the-sea and ens--'ciplin'e the river estuaries, ' nearly 4U per cent of the countiy woulcjhbe sabmerged by an ordinary high ticlo. The work of reclainatiori never # been more actively pursued than within' the j past century", for in that period Holland J has added something like 15 per cent j to her dimensions. The upkeep of tho. dykes and machinery is a costly respon- i J3lf?ility, and the expulsion of the' sea | 'from fresh areas can -Vmly be pursued | gradually. The country has been making money so fast, however, out of i}ie present w,ar, that it may shortly !be able to realise the ambition cherished :by "so many of its more > energetic, spirits, of annexing the greater por-t-ion of the Zuyder• Sea; It has been estima,tscl. that an expenditure of, 1 £20,000,Q00 would accomplish - tliis work, by. which some. 75,000., acres would'be "aided to; the nation's cul- J tivable soil. The agricultural outlook throughput the world would give it all .the aspects of a profitable investment —" Pali Mair Gazette.' 1 ; f