ROBBING THE SEA

Hokitika Guardian, 8 December 1928, Page 6

ROBBING THE SEA

AIAKTNG NEW EARAIS

AAISTERDAAI. October 16

H you were a fisherman living on an island like your forefathers and dependent on llie sea for a living (supplemented bv the libations ol artists and tourists), would you welcome the prospect of having the sea obliterated, your island moved many miles inland and deserted by artists and tourists, and yourself forced to become a tanner or carpenter?

The question sounds foolish, even a little mad. Yet the inhabitants ol the island of Alarken are asking it in all seriousness of the summer vistors that descened on them daily Imm Amster dam. Just such a prospect coni routs the fisherman of Alarken. whose gam led cottages look out over the Zuyder Zee. In a few years crops will be growing where their nets have been east for generations, and villages will arise from the bottom of the sea.

This modern exhibition of magic will be brought about by the completion ol the -Dutch Government's vast scheme for draining the Zuvdor Zee. The operation will cost more than forty million pounds. It will add something like 550,000 acres of cultivable

I: ml to the dry part of Holland, and (vis(. the congestion ol her crowded are a* by providing homes lor at least I (in,()on people.

The operation is the most gigantic any Government lias undertaken lor centuries. It involves economic, social, and agricultural problems of the first magnitude, as well as an engineering feat that lias evoked I lie admiration of engineers the world over. Instead of the inland sea (as it appears from the low-lying coast), which at its greatest part is -10 miles long by 3' miles wide, there will lie farms and villages as far as the eye can see. Of the Zuyder Zee nothing will remain but an artificial lake or reservoir covering ”80.000 acres. Alarken will become an ordinary Dutch village with no waterway larger than a canal within -lb miles. Urk, a smaller island now in the middle of the Zuyder Zee. whose inhabitants fish entirely in the North Sea, will bo hopelessly lost amid houses and growing crops.

The backbone of this reclamation scheme is a massive dyke now being built- across the entrance to the Zuyder Zee. a distance of nearly '2l miles. The first (‘fleet of this operation lias been to add the isla-nd of Winring,m to the mainland on the western side, between AYieringei. and the opposite coast of Frisia. ID miles away, the main body of the dyke will have two ots of locks, adir-i’n;- vessels up to 2,000 tons register. ’.OO. ; ’,O sluices lor controlling the water (lov. in- towards the North Sea from the A ssel, one ol the branches of the Rhine. This dyke will be the largest of i(s kind in the world, ami will afford ample protection against the heaviest storms. It will bo arm feet wide at the base and 2b feet above the water line. A railway lino mi the top will give direct communication between I* i isi.i and South Holland..

Tlie need for new land is so urgent that the Government lias decided to proceed immediately with the prep.uation of the North-West Polder rts Hm Dutch call n reclaimed area) admimiithe present coast of Frisia. In about six rears’ time it will be dry. Hum there will be an interval of seven or pio-bt rears before the salt is mnirelv out of the soil and cultivation rendered possible. The total reclaimed laudwill be worth about £M5,000.000 and will be the property of the G event men ! One problem is whether the Government will merely lease the land, as the Socialists demand, or sell outright m small holdings. , F.von more serious is the question o Hie present, population ih«ii hns liA ( bv fishing. The now generation are bob',,,. taught fanning, carpentry, brick lavin' l ' and other useinl Hades <\in cigaremaking. A few may persist in following their lather's calling on Hie North Sea, blit the minority are oy ported to settle down as landsmen Meanwhile the people of M.arkcn and Yolendam, and the other ptrturpsoue ports of - the Zuyder Zee. arc filled with gloom. They cannot be blamed for not taking what a bemdioient Government calls “the long view of their difficult plight. They only know that their beloved towns are doomed to become inland nonentities and they arc sad.