GERMAN SHIP CANAL.

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 98, 24 April 1886, Page 3

GERMAN SHIP CANAL.

The ship canal which Germany has decidedl upon building' from tbe North Sea to th» Baltic is distinctly a military, measure, though it will no doubt he made profitable by tolls imposed upon the commerce which naturally traverse its waters. The harbour of Kiel, on the Baltic, is one of tho most highly prized possessions won by Prussia in the Danish war which finally closed the Schleswig-Holstein dispute. Aa a naval port it has always been regarded as very valuable, but its position would render >t of very littly practical use in war for operations elsewhere than in the Baltic, By the 'construction of the canal referred to, whose cost, by the by, is estimated to be 156,000,000 marks, or about £10,000,000. The Baltic port will be brought into direct connection with the German Ocean, through the mouth of the Eyder and just opposite the British military possession of Heligoland. In this way the journey from sea to sea will be shortened by several hundred miles and the effective force of the German navy vastly increased. It will necessarily, however, prove a severe blow to the commercial prosperity of Copenhagen, for when constructed the highway to the Baltic and White seas will no longer bo through Danish waters. But Bismarck probably contemplates this result with complacency, and, perhaps, as one step toward the ultimate absorption of Denmark by Germany.