ZUYDER ZEE, DRAINAGE. After several years' consideration of the project, a bill for the drainage of the Zuyder Zee was passed in June, 1918. The time required for the completion of the work was estimated at thirty-three years, and the cost at 189,000,000 florins, exclusive of interest. The plan contemplated the dyking in of four distinct areas as follows: (1) The is land of Wieringen; (2) a tract lying to the south of the town of Hoorn; (3) one extending along the coast of Gelderland near the river Eem; (4) one on the south coast of Friesland. The total acreage of these four areas was placed at 521,170. Nine years according to the estimates would be required for the construction of a great embankment or dam which would extend to the village of Plaam on the west coast of Friesland from a point near the northeastern angle of the province of North Holland; total length 29,300 metres at a height above Amsterdam water level of 5.40 metres. Upon the reclamation of these

four areas a fresh-water lake which will be formed near the centre will serve as a water supply for the surrounding region and at the same time facilitate drainage. A great improvment in production was predicted from the cultivation of hundreds of thousands of acres of redeemed land. In 1920 a commission was investigating the economic problems involved in the execution of the plan, especially the compensation of the Zuyder Zee fishermen and those engaged in industries depending upon the fisheries, for their occupation would be destroyed. Those directly engaged in fishing numbered only 3017 but the total number of persons affected was placed at 500,000. The value of the annual catch in the Zuyder Zee has been placed at over 2,000,000 florins. A scheme for pensioning those who were thus deprived of their means of earning a living was proposed but the details had not been worked out at the close of the year.

1921