THE PANAMA CANAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 121, 14 February 1908, Page 11

THE PANAMA CANAL.

, report ! has' recently been lssiiediby the chief eugineer of the Panama j Canal .Commission' on' the -progress mado and the expediture incurred up to July 1 last. - He states that the total : sUm-of, 1 nine and a half million pounds sterling has thus far been expended on this undertaking, of which.sopie .six .and a; quarter, million pounds ha; e gpiio in- providing lmildir.gs, machinery, and general : preparatory -work, providing .m^ical;,^nijment,-..and;plccihg.' : in a: sanitary condition--the, various towns , lining the route of the .canal; /Most-of. the actual, digging has boon done on the Culebra division of tlio -canal.The:first stagc of the, work, that of preparation, lyas finished over a year ago,'and .4,047,071-cubic yards of earth were removed, from, .the' 'Culebra' cut* during -the first six ..moiiths of 1907. The-commission finds that ; the great problem.'in-tho construction of that portion, : '6f the canal included ; in the Culebra division.is the..disposition of the material that has been excavated.' 'J'hero were about 30,000 men'isit'work on-tho canal at tho end of June last,'v : During tho' previous twelvo months 20,000 wore imported from the United States, Europe,; and the West Indies, and about 10,000 'men folt tho Isthmus either on account,of sickness.or. because they were tired of the work in that climato. Tho daily avfirage;number of cases of sickness in tho hospitals and in ' quarters; during the year was 916, and;thcro was.a marked falling off. Un "tho'death-jato. - Five new' hospitals were built during.-the year, besides a hospital for thernsaif6;and a retreat for lepers. A sum of. £350,000 has been .spent ;in tho citics of Panama''and:. Colon on. paving, water, and sewor sblibm.es, and under the contract which the T?nibed,Stat'os Government has with these" citi«s''tho amount which was expended in ..pormwiV-jit municipal improvements has to be rc]>;>!(l. These improvements wero absolutely : liiascssarjrto ensure;the health of tho largo itmobor of employees engaged on tho work.