TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14524, 28 November 1912, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

One of tho chief drawDifficulties backs as well as ono of of tho most formidable Canal- dangers in the cvt A of Making. tho Panama Canal is the

landslide or "break." Thero aro in tho Culebra Cut alone no less than 25 slides, involving a total area of some thing like 200 acres. As large an amount of material as 900,000 cubic yards was carried away in a recent "break," caused by the giving way of a projecting section of the bank. The largest slide is tho Cucaracha, which covers an area of 47 acres, and has broken 1820 ft. back from the centre of tho Canal. This slide is said to have started as early as 1884, during ono of tho two French attempts at tho canal, and has given Americans much trouble since tho commencement of their operations. Several million cubic yards of it have been removed, and tho slide ia still running. The Cucaracha slido is on the east side of the waterway just south of Gold Hill. To tho north of Gold Hill there is another largo slido of seventeen acres, and on tha west side of tho Cut there is a formidable combination of two slides, covering in all about 25 acres. According to the Panama correspondent of a London newspaper, thero aro two general classes of slides to be found in tho Cut. One is the true slide, of which the Cacaracha is a type, in which a mass of earth slides off a hard surfaco that pitches towirds tho Cut. Tho second variety is caused by tho banks on either side of the Cut pressing down and squeezing out the soft underlying stratum, which bulges up at tho bottom of the Cut, and loosening the banks causes them to subside. The amount of extra material which has already had to bo removed, owing to slides, amounts to as much as seventeen million cubic yards, whilo three or four million cubic yards of slides are still in motion and will have to bo reckoned with. In spite of all those tremendous set-backs, however, the engineers in charge of the great work do not anticipate that the date of opening the canal will have to bo postponed. The waterway is to bo opened for experimental purposes in 1913, and tho official opliing is to take place on January Ist, 1915. j

Telegraphy interferes Tho with the independence Ambassador's of many people, from Importance, sea captains up to

commanders of armies. The captain of a liner, hitherto absolute master of his ship from 6hore to shore, now finds himself instructed in mid-ocean by wireless, and the general is tied by wire to the Capital of his country and the political considerations that havo so much weight there. The power of Ambassadors has been reduced so much by telegraphy and other developments that a London papor goes so far as to foreshadow their extinction. According to the writer, the Ambassador to-day is little more than a.glorified messenger boy, 1 possessing but little real influence on • the course* of national affairs. He has' been killed as a force of genuine importance by tho invention of the tele- ! graph and the building of fast steamers and express trains, which have led to tho closo linking together of the capitals of the civilised world, thus facilitating communications between tho various Foreign Secretaries. Meanwhile tho Ambassadors remain, their necessary possessions being "tact, good temper, retieenco and well-selected wine-cellars." ! There remains, of course, tho personal element, which is hound to exercise an influence on all human concerns. The late Baron Marschall was a man who was responsible for a great increase in Gorman influence in Turkey, largely owing to his personal qualities. King Edward would have mado a- perfect Ambassador, owing to his invariable tact and his recognition of the fact that a. general gossip over a dinner-table may influence th© destinies of nations. But many Ambassadors do not possess theso desirable qualities. Some of them have boon boors, and some have had a genius for giving offence to the nations .vith which it was their business to come to a good understanding. With a few exceptions, however, tho part played by the Ambassador at the present time in the regulation of tho affairs of nations is said to bo but snfall. Most people, adds the writer, look regularly to their Consul in times of difficulty, and tho Consular service, if developed, is likely to prove far less costly and much more useful than Ambassadors and plenipotentiaries.