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HAVING completed a periodical
inspection of the Canal Cavour, early in January, 1866, he proceeded to
Vienna at the request of Count Apponyi, the Austrian Ambassador in London,
who had invited him to become a member of the Commission, under the
presidency of General Baron Scholl, to be appointed to consider and report
upon the regulation of the River Danube at that City, and which,
subsequently to his visit, he accepted. The Commission consisted of four
expert engineers, in addition to Baron Scholl, viz:— Messrs. James
Abernethy, of London, G. Hagen, of Berlin, M. Sexauer, of the Grand Duchy of
Baden, and A. Tostain, Director General of the Southern Railway of Vienna.
All information referring to the improvement of the Danube was given to the
Commissioners by the Minister of the Interior, Count Taaffe, in Vienna,
where lengthy d’scussions took place later in the year at various meetings,
but the opinions of the engineers, not being sufficiently harmonious to
admit of signing a joint report, it was dccided that each, independently,
should submit his recommendation as to the best method of effecting the
improvement of the Danube. This was accordingly done, the London engineer
advising the construction of preliminary works in the form of groynes or
jetties at an acute angle with the river bank, so as to direct the main
current towards the centre of the channel, and generally to lessen
curvature. When the bed of the river had become more regular and deeper, as
the effect of having made these groynes, to proceed :n the next place, to
form fixed or continuous banks. It was further recommended to change the
course of the river opposite to the City with a view to facilitating the
discharge of flood waters. Extensive embankments were to be raised to
protect the city and country in the vicinity from inundation, the material
for them being obtained by the excavation from the proposed new channel.
Lastly, to construct regulating works at the head of the Donan Canal, so as
to supply a fixed and adequate flow at all times without risk of inundation
or interference with the navigation between it and the river, a lock for the
passage of vessels from the canal into the river, and an additional short
canal between the two last mentioned, the estimate for the entire work being
given in the report at £2,000,000. In September of the following year, 1868,
the accompanying letter from the President of the Commission announced that
the report had been favourably accepted :—
To James Abernethy, Civil
Engineer,
2, Delahay Street, Westminster, London.
I have the honour to announce
to you that His Majesty the Emperor on the 12th of this month graciously
consented that the Danube, near Vienna, ought to be regulated after the line
proposed by you and M. Sexauer.
With full respect,
SCHOLL,
Vienna, 18th September, 1868. Major-General. |
