THE DRAINING OF THE ZUIDER SEA. 553 



all the harbors, placing the canals under better control and converting 

 the remnants of the sea into a body of fresh water, so that in case of 

 overflows the land will not be damaged as it is now. 



By doing the work in this piecemeal fashion, covering thirty-three 

 years, only 24,000 acres will be added annually. This can be brought 

 under cultivation without causing any disturbance to agricultural 

 conditions in the country or affecting the markets of foodstuffs. Then 

 too, by the gradual draining of the sea the fishery interests will not be 

 suddenly imperilled, and persons now engaged in fishing will have time 

 to adjust themselves to the new conditions. 



Heretofore the littoral rights have been the most difficult to adjust. 

 The people realized that many of the cities of Holland have been 'built 

 on herring bones,' that the fishing fleets were the schools in which so 

 many Dutchmen had learned the sailors' trade, and that it was on the 

 sea that Holland won her greatest victories of peace as well as of war. 

 The Commission, therefore, made a close study of this question. They 

 ascertained how much money is invested in the Zuider Sea fisheries, 

 how many men are employed, and what the annual catch amounts to. 

 They learned that the investment was less than had been surmised, 

 that many of the fishermen spent only a small part of the time fishing 

 and that acre for acre the egg sales in the Haarlem polder exceeded the 

 fish caught from the Zuider Sea. However, it is understood that some 

 must suffer in being obliged to change their mode of earning a liveli- 

 hood, and provision is made for lending assistance. All persons having 

 vessels large enough to engage in the North Sea fisheries are to be 

 exempt from harbor dues when returning with a catch; all men over 

 fifty-five years of age who are now devoting the greater part of their 

 time to fishing will receive a pension, and the smaller craft will be pur- 

 chased by the State. 



When this new province becomes a part of the Union, it will be 

 divided into districts of the most approved size, with ground reserved 

 for schools, churches, cemeteries and town halls. 



But it is not intended to sell the land thus acquired. The interest 

 on first cost and the maintenance is all that is asked of the occupants 

 who become perpetual lessees of the ground. This amounts to an 

 annual tax of about $7 per acre. The rentors are to erect their own 

 buildings and be subject to the usual rate of asssessment on all personal 

 property. Inasmuch as land in the Y polder rents for twenty dollars 

 per acre and some for even more, it is thought that the price here 

 expected can be easily obtained. 



Dividing up the sea by polders and building a sea dyke across its 

 mouth will lessen the dangers from storms and overflows and diminish 

 the cost of maintenance of the long dyke that now fringes the entire 

 sea. By leaving open water between the polders where the deepest 



