Schwegel to To the envoy extraordinary and, December 27, 1879

The Vienna Foreign Office to Mr. Kasson.

In pursuance of the very respectful note of December 23, the imperial and royal ministry of foreign affairs has the honor to place at the disposition of the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America, Mr. John A. Kasson, the following information relative to river improvements in Hungary, which has been communicated by the royal Hungarian ministry of public works and communications.

A systematic regulation of the river-bed of the Danube has only been undertaken near Bada-Pesth, from Newpesth to Promontor, a distance of 20 kilometers. The cost of this regulation amounts at present to 8,700,000 florins. The work was commenced in 1871, and still continues. At other parts of the Danube the only works done are those for riparian protection to hinder the enlargement of the river-bed and thus to promote navigation. These works stretch along a distance of 60 kilometers, and cost about 4,400,000 florins.

During the year 1879 six lateral arms of the Danube have been closed between Dévény and Gönyö. These closures, costing about 100,000 florins, form part of a projected systematic regulation of that part of the river, which will in time be completed. On the Lower Danube, from Ordas to Tajsz, the systematic regulation has also been begun and 100,000 florins expended on it. As regards the regulation of the tributaries of the Danube—

• One hundred and twenty-two channels were cut in the Theiss and the river Bodro, which have till now occasioned an outlay of 8,700,000 florins, the Theiss alone requiring 111 cuttings in a distance of 133 kilometers, at a cost of 8,300,000 florins.
• Twenty-nine cuttings in a distance of 37 kilometers have been made on the river Maros. These works were executed by the authorities with the aid of that working force which the inhabitants have to furnish in kind, according to a fixed reckoning, for the building and repairing of roads. The cost can, therefore, not be accurately ascertained. The other works undertaken for the riparian protection of the Maros cost 80,000 florins during the last ten years.
• The river Körös, formed by the unites White, Black, and Golden Körös, shows 49 cuttings from Békés downwards, a distance of 43 kilometers, the cost of which amounts, to 500,000 florins.
• For the maintenance of the navigability of the Béga Canal half a million of florins have been expended during the last ten years.
• From Botos downwards 28 cuttings have been made in the river Temes, the works along a river line of 16 kilometers in length costing, up to the present time, 150,000 florins.

As general systematic river-regulation works for improving navigation have not yet been commenced in the countries of the Hungarian crown, and the improvements undertaken, although they are included in the project of general regulation, yet are only designed for riparian protection or to prevent the river-bed from becoming wholly wild, they have had only, so far, an influence upon traffic that they have facilitated it in a slight measure, without, however, exercising an influence in diminishing the rates of transportation.

The Theiss is the only river in Hungary that has been subjected to a systematic regulation in its entire length. This was mainly done for averting the danger of inundations, and was of very little advantage for navigation, as the regular traffic on the Upper and Middle Theiss is so small in consequence of the railway not existing there that it scarcely deserves being taken into consideration. On the Lower Theiss, where the traffic is indeed much more animated, the regulation works could not duly assist navigation, because the cuttings can mostly only be used by vessels during high-water, so that here, also, a diminution in the rates of transportation could not be realized.

If the present tariff of transportation by water is much lower than it was fifteen or twenty years ago, this progress is not to be attributed to the river regulations, but to the lively competition maintained by the railways completed since that date, with the transportation by water.

The regulation of the Danube at Buda-Pesth has not yet been completed. As the works to be accomplished are just now the subject of deliberation, the necessary cost cannot be stated.

The projects for regulating the course between Dévény and Gönyö on the Upper Danube, a distance of 100 kilometers, are now ready, 30,000,000 florins being proposed for the improvement of the river-bed, and 6,000,000 for the erection of the necessary embankments. The works which have been begun between Ordas and Tajsz (32 kilometers) will require about 2,000,000 florins.

Besides, there is a project for the regulation of the Lower Danube from Old Moldava up to the Iron Gate; the distance is 106 kilometers; the expenses estimated at 6,000,000 florins.

The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to renew to the envoy the expression of his high consideration.