Paris as a Seaport.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 218, 3 September 1887, Page 8

Paris as a Seaport.

For many years it has been the desire of France to deepen the Seine so as to allow vessels of considerable draught) of "water to go clear to Paris, thus making that city virtually a seaport. Paris is 111 miles from the ocean, and there are many difficulties to overcome. It was calculated some time ago that such an undertaking would cost £20,000,000, and there were engineers who claimed that it could not bo done even for that sum. The enterprise is really a more difficult one than digging a canal for the same distance, for the reason that the constant flow of the water interferes with active operations, whereas in digging a canal the watei is shut out until the trench or canal is completed. Many similar attempts have been made to deepen and widen rivers, some of which have been successful and others have proved failures. However, it seems that a trial is to be made, as the Government has recently decided to expend C 5,000,000 on the public works at Havre on the Seine near its mouth, and it is probable that this is to be considered as the rirst instalment on account of the great plan of making Paris a seaport. This amount appears to be taken directly from the national treasury, and if it is a sample of what the llouvier Ministry intends to do it is to be feared that the deficit willbelarger than before, and that thebudgeb will turn out to be as purely illusory as. many others have.