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and other products. He invited gentlemen present who were able to speak on the subject of the port and bar to give the meeting the benefit of their observations.
After a few observations from Mrs. Ayrton on the subject of the tariff for the Coolie Stage, and a few remarks from Dr. Geerts about the Province of Yechigo,
Mr. Brunton said that as Niigata was a Treaty port, and the only means by which it could be made really a port was by the Shinanogawa perhaps a few particulars concerning this river would be of interest.
The Shinanogawa is the outlet for the drainage waters of a large tract of country in the provinces of Shinano, Musashi and Yechigo, as had been described in the paper. Its general course is in a northwesterly direction, and its total length is about 250 miles. On the 21st June 1871, from actual gauging near the mouth, Mr. Brunton had found the discharge to be 1,500,000 cubic feet per minute, while on the 23rd June, after one day’s heavy rain, the river’s surface had risen one foot, its velocity had increased in some places three times, and its discharge was 3,900,000 cubic feet per minute. The Thames discharged only 600,000 cubic feet per minute in floods, and 45,000 cubic feet per minute in ordinary summer weather; and the Rhine 10 millions in floods, and 900,000 cubic feet per minute in ordinary summer weather, which latter, consequently, had about the same volume as the Shinanogawa. Up to 40 miles from the sea, the river maintained an irregular width varying from 4,000 feet to 1,200 feet, and over the whole of that distance down to the mouth various shallows and sands banks had been thrown up, which not only impeded the flow of the water, but almost entirely destroyed the use of the river for navigation purposes. Its depth over that distance varied from 20 feet to 3 feet. For vessels drawing over this latter depth it could not be considered navigable more than a few miles above Niigata. From all Mr. Brunton could ascertain no attempts whatever had been made at any place either to regulate the course of the stream, or to protect its banks. The banks of the Shinanogawa were so low, and so easily washed away that great damage was done to them, and to the neighbouring country in floods. Thus he was informed that 12,000 acres of valuable rice land were flooded five or six times every year. Instead, however, of raising the banks, and otherwise regulating the flow of the river, the scheme to remedy this state of matters which had been adopted by the Japanese authorities was the formation of a new channel of large dimensions to carry off the surplus flood waters of the Shinanogawa. At the entrance of the Shinanogawa to the sea the bar which had formed stretches across its mouth having a channel through it, which at the time of Mr. Brunton’s visit ran in a northwesterly direction and had a minimum depth of water in it of from seven to eight feet, which had, according to the paper just read, now been reduced to five feet. It was said that this channel changed more or less every day, each flood and each gale of wind moved it considerably, but its movements did not