HOLLAND’S THREAT.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9477, 21 June 1909, Page 3

HOLLAND’S THREAT.

“We should flood fcbe country, as we did when the French invaded us in 1673, We have fought the sea. We have beaten old Father Neptune further and further back for 500 years. But if our liberties were threatened we should call him in to help us as our friend.” These words, uttered with passionate emphasis, were spoken by a public man of note in Holland to a visiting English journalist the other day when the latter suggested that Holland could do little to oppose an invading German army. Still incredulous, the journalist (who records his experience in the Daily|Mail) went to the Waterstaat Department to enquire how the country could be flooded. The chief engineer received him politely. ‘‘ls it true that we could flood the country? Certainly it is true. But I must not tell yon how. This is a matter most intimately connected with the defences of our country.” Half of Holland, the writer points out, lies below the level of the rivers and the sea. The stranger is amaaed to see a river flowing along what looks like an aqueduct, with a canal below that. One can stand at the foot of a huge seadyke and hear the waves beating against.it eighteen feet above one’s head. The idea that a universal inundation could be caused by turning a key at the capital is, of course, quite erroneous. Asa matter of fact it would be very difficult to admit the sea in most places, and the writer thinks the rivers would provide most of the flood if the Dutch were ever driven to this desperate measure. The embankments enclosing the rivers are so constructed as to make the operation of flooding the country easy. It would also be a simple matter to stop all pumping operations throughout the country, which would result in a rapid accumulation of water.