Petrović, Nikola: Hajózás és gazdálkodás a Közép-Duna-Medencében a merkantilizmus korában (Vajdasági Tudományos és Művészeti Akadémia, Novi Sad - Történelmi Intézet, Beograd, 1982)
Summary
emperor a month later (27 March, 1796). The company immediately began work on the canalization of the upper Kupa. The Danube—Tisa canal and even more so the project for a great transport system from the Pannonian Plain to the Adriatic, were the heralds of a new epoch in the economic, water—management and traffic development of the central Danube Basin. They were a reflection of new and ripe conditions within the society. By the 1830's large-scale river training works had been started on the Tisa, and then on the Danube. The Iron Gate cataracts and their training for navigation were of continuing concern. Along with the triumphal conquest of the railway and steamers, i.e. the transport revolution, in the Pannonian Plain, training works on the Pannonian rivers were continuing steadily. The transport revolution preceded the industrial revolution in this region (whereas in England it was the reverse). The Kiss brothers' projects also had much influence on the concepts of Joseph Schemerl, who was a hydraulics engineer of repute in the Carnian province and in fact throughout Austria. He, too, abandoned half—measures and went in for more comprehensive, complex schemes and new forms of using accummulated private capital. Accepting the company project, the emperor expressed at the same time, his liking for the Schemerl schemes. However, the decision in favour of these latter he put off for a later occasion, when detailed plans and cost estimates would be presented. The concluding paragraphs of this chapter review the conservations between J. and G. Kiss and Francis II during the audience of January 17, 1795. They were recorded by J. Kiss himself, and the original is now in the manuscript collection of the Szecsenyi library in Budapest. The emperor at once steered the conversation to the matter of the Karlovac-Brod canal project. He asked whether the works would start soon and got the answer that it depended only on his will, i.e. on his agreement for the establishment of a privileged grain export company, whithout which the canal would not be profitable. He said that he himself had great sympathy for their proposal, but that the problem was too complicated because of strong resistance in influential circles. He could not promise anything more substantial. CHAPTER IX - UNEXPECTED DIFFICULTIES ON THE DANUBE—TISA CONSTRUCTION SITE At the moment when it was widely believed that the work on the Danube—Tisa canal was going well, an anonymous letter arrived at the 499
