ITS LESSONS AND ITS WARNINGS 53 



built by the State, and purchasers will receive 

 advances in order to enable them to buy im- 

 plements, etc. It is estimated that at least 

 40,000 persons, including labourers, will be re- 

 quired to cultivate the reclaimed land. To these 

 must be added some 50,000 tradesmen, handi- 

 craftsmen, etc., who will be wanted. Altogether, 

 including the families of the above, it is estimated 

 no less than 250,000 persons will find ample means 

 of subsistence in the new Zuiderzee Province. 



One object of the State in carrying out this 

 work is to divert the tide of foreign emigration 

 into the new Province. The success of previous 

 schemes of reclamation, such as drainage of the 

 Haarlem Lake, encourages the Dutch in the 

 hope that this undertaking will be equally 

 successful. In addition to the advantages 

 named above, there will be the enormous amount 

 payable by the cultivators of the new Province 

 in the form of rates and taxes. 1 



1 The information given above is taken mainly from a 

 book on the Zuiderzee project published by E. J. Brill, 

 publisher at Leiden. The book itself is written in Dutch, 

 but a summary of its contents is rendered in English. For 

 a good part of the information, however, the writer is in- 

 debted to Dr. J. J. L. Van Ryn, the Netherlands Agricul- 

 tural Commissioner for Great Britain and Ireland. 



