Office of the Historian

File No. 1571/1.

Minister Rockhill to the Secretary of State.

American Legation,
Peking, September 6, 1906.
No. 390.]

Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith for the information of the department a clipping from the North China Daily News of August 27, with reference to the Huangpu conservancy.

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The article is a valuable one, in that it contains a summary of events up to the present conservancy scheme and shows the manner and condition of the work which is now being undertaken.

I have, etc.

W. W. Rockhill.

[Inclosure.]

[North China Daily News, Aug. 27, 1906.]

the huangpu conservancy.

the first step.

The conservancy of the Huangpu has been recognized as a crying need for many years past, and those who saw the river deteriorating year by year might well have been excused if, after the many delays and obstacles that have arisen, they gave up all hope of any improvement being effected. In the early days of history of the settlement the small draft of the vessels engaged in Far Eastern trade enabled them to navigate the river without much difficulty, but the enormous increase in the water-borne trade of Shanghai, concurrently with an increase in the size of the vessels engaged, has led all interested in the prosperity of the model settlement to the conclusion that unless drastic improvements are made in the present state of Huangpu, trade and shipping are both to suffer. It has even been prophesied by those whose opinion should carry weight that if the river is left alone much longer at no distant date the obstructions to navigation will become so great that only the very smallest vessels will be able to come up to Shanghai. Several attempts to obtain the much-needed improvements were made from time to time without any success. At last in 1897 the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce on its own initiative engaged Mr. J. de Rijke, who was then undertaking conservancy work for the Japanese Government, to investigate and report on the condition of the Huangpu. Mr. de Rijke, a Dutch conservancy engineer of repute, was perhaps, the best man who could have been chosen for the task. Apart from his experience in other parts of the world he was already to some extent familiar with the Huangpu, having in company with Mr. G. A. Escher, another well-known Dutch expert, reported on the condition of the Woosung Bar as long ago as 1876. In the short time at his disposal—May 25 to June 10, 1897—Mr. de Rijke made an exhaustive examination of the river, both above and below Shanghai. He was assisted in every possible way by Capt. Bisbee, the coast inspector at the time, who placed all available information at his disposal, together with plans, one of which, of the river from the mouth to the point, was prepared that year. Mr. de Rijke embodied the result of his investigations with two alternative schemes for the improvement of the river in a report to the chamber of commerce, dated January 10, 1898. The report will be dealt with later, but it should be mentioned here that Mr. de Rijke recommended that some of the most urgent work should be undertaken immediately, every year’s delay adding to the labor, cost, and difficulty of improving the river.

the peace protocol.

In September, 1901, regulations for improvement of the Huangpu were drawn up in annex 17 of the peace protocol, by the ministers and the Chinese authorities at Peking.

The conservancy board was to consist of the tao-t’ai, commissioner of customs at Shanghai, two members elected by the consular body, two members each to represent the chamber of commerce arid shipping interests, a member of the municipal council of the International Settlement, and a member of the French municipal council, and, in addition, a representative of each country the total of whose entrances and clearances at Shanghai, Woosung, or any other port of the Huangpu exceeded 200,000 tons a year, to be designated by their respective Governments. The board was to appoint officials and employees, have general control of the river and of the conservancy work, and disburse all the funds collected for the work, which were to be derived from—

(a)
An annual tax of one-tenth per cent on the assessed value of all lands and buildings in the French Concessions and the International Settlement.
(b)
A tax of equal amount on all property with water frontage on the Huangpu from the lower limit of the Kianguan Arsenal to the place where the Huangpu falls into the Yangtze.
(c)
A tax of 5 candareens per ton on all vessels of non-Chinese type and of a tonnage exceeding 150 tons entering or leaving the port of Shanghai, Woo-sung, or any port on the Huangpu.
(d)
A tax of one-tenth per cent on all merchandise passing the customs at Shanghai, Woosung, or any other port on the Huangpu.
(e)
An annual contribution from the Chinese Government equal in amount to the contribution furnished by the different foreign interests.

Hopes raised by these regulations were doomed to be dispelled, for nearly four years passed without any signs of work being commenced. China failed to appoint her representative on the board, the fulfillment of the terms of the protocol was persistently ignored or delayed, and the scheme existed on paper only until more strenuous efforts on the part of the diplomatic body at Peking led to the drawing up of a new convention about a year ago. This, however, is somewhat anticipating events.

the “international project.”

In February, 1902, Messrs. Franzius and Bates published an “international project” for the improvement of the Huangpu, “in consultation,” so the report says, “with representative engineers in Europe.” As Mr. de Rijke’s second scheme is the one that has been adopted, it will suffice here to mention but a few details of this project. Messrs. Franzius and Bates criticised Mr. de Rijke’s scheme in detail, and proposed to improve the channel at present in use. The normalized stream of the Huangpu was to be confined between “permanent structures,” and the depth at low tide was to be at least 26 feet. The dredging required to carry out this project would have been enormous, and the maintenance of the work, when completed, would also have involved a serious outlay.

the huangpu conservancy convention.

Nothing having been done up to last year, negotiations were again entered upon at Peking, and the Huangpu Conservancy Convention, replacing the protocol of 1901 and annex 17, was signed on September 27. By this convention the Chinese Government itself undertakes the work and agrees to defray the whole cost thereof. The customs tao-t’ai and the commissioner of customs at Shanghai are intrusted with the general management of the work, and China undertook, within three months of the signing of the convention, to select an engineer experienced in matters of river conservancy and, subject to the approval of the representatives of the signatory powers, to engage him to undertake the work. Every three months during the progress of the work a detailed report of work done and expenses incurred is to be submitted for examination to the consular body in Shanghai. Arrangements are made for the expropriation of moorings and the acquisition of property. The Chinese Government takes upon itself the whole of the expense of river improvement, without levying any tax or contribution, either on riparian property or upon trade or navigation, the whole of the duty on opium of Szechuan and of Soochow in Kiangsu being given as a guarantee for the devotion for 20 years of taels 460,000 (Haikuan) a year to these works. If the works are not prosecuted with care and diligence, the consular body of Shanghai may notify the tao-t’ai and the commissioner of customs, and in the event of their failing to act on this notification the matter may be laid before the representatives of the powers interested. Should China fail to carry out her part of the convention, the protocol of 1901, with annex 17, will immediately come into force again. Mr. de Rijke was appointed, in accordance with the terms of this convention, and arrived here in February last to take up the work.

rapid deterioration of the river.

Mr. J. de Rijke’s investigations, in 1897, showed how rapid the deterioration of the Huangpu is. In 1846, according to the late Capt. J. P. Roberts, Gough Island was a sand bank, invisible even at low tide. The stream in the ship channel was then far more powerful than at present; the currents were “so strong that it was quite a difficult task to row across it.” The receding of the foreshore at the river mouth has been extraordinary. In his report Mr. de Rijke [Page 75] gives the following figures showing what erosion took place between 1869 and 1893:

Feet.
Outside, at Crooked Tree 820
At dyke curve 440
Opposite lighthouse 420

Rapid as this erosion was, it will be shown later that it is proceeding at a still greater rate at the present time, and though the consequences have been bad enough, with weaker shores the river would by this time have been inacessible to big sea vessels, even at spring tides. There has been no kind of protection to the lower right bank at all, and though the current has weakened, the wash of passing vessels has continued the work of erosion. The ship channel is decreasing in width yearly, Gough Island extending to northward and westward as the right bank recedes. Nor would the result be so harmful if the river’s channel retained its depths; it silts up more and more as the banks are in many places eaten away. The frequent accidents in the vicinity of Pheasant Point testify to the fact that the narrowness and crookedness of the channel are a serious danger to vessels meeting at this point. The outer and inner bars are both extending and the splitting forming at the mouth of the river is tending to silt up the channel inside the lighthouse.

mr. de rijke’s first scheme.

It is impossible in the limits of this article to go fully into Mr. de Rijke’s proposals, but an outline of the two schemes he submitted may be of interest. His first plan was to train the river, by means of mattresses or zinkstuks of fascines, on both sides, so as to improve the present channel as far as the upper end of Gough Island. Opposite Gough Island a new mouth would be excavated across the Pootung Peninsula. By this scheme the outer and inner bars would have been avoided and the passage to the sea would have been shortened by 5,570 yards, or about 2¾ sea miles. There were, however, insuperable objections to this scheme. Not only would it mean a larger outlay than the other scheme, but the old mouth at Woosung would commence to silt up rapidly from the day the new mouth was opened. Woosung is a treaty port, a railway terminus, and has extensive fortifications, and the Chinese authorities, who are naturally not so anxious for the improvement of the river as the foreign community, would probably show a decided objection to a plan that would affect Woosung’s position at the mouth of the river.

the present scheme.

Mr. de Rijke therefore furnished an alternative scheme for training the river, and it is that which is now being put into execution. Mr. de Rijke, in 1897, noticed that a new bar was forming at the upper end of the ship channel, and that it was diverting the stream, during the ebb tide, into the Junk Channel. Most of the flood tide flowed up the Junk Channel and very little up the ship channel. Mr. de Rijke proposes to divert the main channel into the Junk Channel. To accomplish this the right bank will have to be strengthened and the tide through the ship channel gradually restrained by mattresses, or zinkstuks of fascines, sunk by stones and rubble. The zinkstuks will be laid on the bottom somewhat in the shape of a Greek “pi,” and the transfer of power from one channel to the other will be effected gradually. Mr. de Rijke estimated, in 1898, that about 888,000 square yards of sink work would be required, but owing to the delay in commencing work it is probable that this amount will be exceeded. Dredging will be required at Pheasant Point, at the mouth, and a great deal in the Junk Channel, and considerable portions of Pootung and Pheasant Points will be removed. The new passage through the Junk Channel is at first to have a width of 600 feet, when it can be opened for the traffic now passing through the other channel. The most important of the training works will be those at and near the upper end of Gough Island. The total amount of mud to be removed by dredging he estimated in 1898 at 3,712,000 cubic yards, while incomparably greater quantities will be removed by the scour of the stream, which will be aided and directed by stirring up the bottom. The concave shore on the Woosung side of the mouth will be strengthened, regulated, and extended to over the outer bar by sink and pile works. On the opposite side of the outer bar other sink works may be required to divert the current from the Pootung Channel. The course of outgoing vessels from the point to the spit will then resemble a symmetrical but attenuated “S.”

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erosion since 1897.

As soon as it became definitely known that Mr. de Rijke was coming to take charge of the conservancy, the customs authorities here detached a surveyor for the purpose of preparing up-to-date soundings of the river. The new chart is now almost complete, and comparisons between it and Capt. Bisbee’s chart of 1897 show with what amazing rapidity the bank of the ship channel is being eaten away. At places the bank has receded 740 feet, while Gough Island has extended 3,600 feet toward the mouth of the river since 1897. As the bank is undermined and worn away, the ship channel becomes narrower. It is estimated that since 1897, 90,000,000 cubic yards of the bank have been displaced over a frontage of about a mile. The most urgent work, therefore, is the strengthening of the right bank of the ship channel, and it is this which is now occupying Mr. de Rijke’s attention. At present progress is, of necessity, slow, as large quantities of brushwood for the zinkstuks are required, and these can not be obtained until winter. In the meantime, bags of clay are being utilized for the preservation of the bank, and through them piles are driven.

the restraining works.

The ship channel is, of course, far deeper than the bars, and the restraining works for the purpose of turning the stream gradually into Junk Channel will not in any way impede navigation. Restraint will be effected by dams of sink work in layers about 3 feet high, over which any ships that can cross the bars will be able to pass safely, but which will help to kill the tide in that part of the river. These dams will be put down in eight or more places, and by degrees the current will be deflected toward the Junk Channel. The most difficult work is that at the upper end of Gough Island, and though it is urgent, speedy progress is impossible until coolies employed have been properly trained. The zinkstuks are to be held in mattresses 100 feet long by 60 feet wide, and loaded with stone or rubble until they sink. The process has to be repeated until the dam or protective works have reached the required height. At present about 65 coolies are at work on the right bank, and as soon as sufficient quantities of brushwood can be obtained the work will proceed more rapidly.

the left bank.

The Junk Channel bar will be dredged and removed, and the concavity of the last bend, at present ending a little below the lighthouse, will be extended. The new route will altogether avoid the inner bar. The minimum of depth when the work is completed will be 18 feet at low tide. It is expected that the work will occupy at least five years. The difficulties experienced here are not unlike those encountered on the River Maas, the conservancy of which has resulted in a very permanent improvement.

the staff.

The present staff consists of Mr. J. de Rijke, engineer in chief; Mr. Van de Veen, assistant engineer; a secretary; a foreign superintendent of works at Woosung, with an experienced Chinese assistant; a surveyor, and assistant surveyors, lent by the customs and engaged in a fresh survey of the river; and Chinese draftsmen, foreman, etc. The staff will be added to as the work progresses and circumstances require it.

conclusion.

The success that has attended the conservancy work on the Haiho augurs well for the Huangpu. Mr. de Rijke’s experience and ability alike qualify him for the important task he has undertaken, and if no impediments are placed in his way, in five years’ time his plans for the permanent improvement of the Huangpu should be carried into effect. Mr. de Rijke’s scheme has the advantage of requiring but a small outlay for maintenance when the work is once completed.