PANAMA CANAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 964, 3 November 1910, Page 4

PANAMA CANAL.

WILL IT BENEFIT NEW ZEALAND?: .."fSOME INTERESTING FACTS. , According to a navigator of, high standing, who is.at present on a visit to Auckland, the popular opinion that New Zealand will benefit considerably by the. opening of tho -Panama Canal is quite erroneous. The opening of tho canal, he asserts, will ■■ not reduce the distance between New Zoaland- and London by even: one whole day, aud taking-intcconsidcr-ation the cannl'xlUes that, will be imposed ho thinks it is highly improbable that the caual will be utilised by Now Zealand Home traders at all. Taking Cape Palliser as the centre of New Zealand,, he' gives the distances according to Mercator's projection i}s follow.:— FronrfiYe miles south of Cape Palliscr to I .Nicaragua.' C 331 miles;" through tho canal and lake, 170 miles; from' Greytown to -a- point ill Mona passage, 994 miles; from a point in Mona passage to Eddyslono; liglithonse,- , 3C15 -iniles; total, 11,143 : miles." ""' '" ""'" '•' " "" v Following the great circle track, the distances would Iμ i'roni fiv'o" miles south of Cape Palliser to Nicaragua, G2lO miles; through tho canal 'and Jake, 170 miles; £rom:Greytown...to..a poinMn.Mona passage, 991 miles;.from a.point in Mona passage to Eddystone lighthouse, . 3577 miles; total, 10,'JSl : miles. .. This latter course, although mathematically the shortest possible, could not, however, be strictly adhered to owing to the obstruction of islands, etc., nud ueces6ary diversions to make for coaling ports'. The.former estimate , (ll,l43 mites) therefore is probably nearer the factual distance that would , be covered by a steamer. When this distance is compared, with "that covered by a" recent" arrival by the beaten track round Cape Horn, viz., 11,636 miles, tho actual difference in favour of. tho Panama route is only 493 mile's, aud against this must bo debited 'thovloss of time that would be occasioned by "a : vessel having to go through the canal at,a very much-reduced speed. This loss was estimated, at--24 hours for a steamer running ■ on an average 300 miles per day. Thus tho net gain by going through tho canal would bo appnrontly 193 miles, or less" than two-thirds bra'daj''s steaniiiig,;and"to"'elfcct this the steamer would have to pay heavy, dues, which would mako such a proposition altogether out .of the question. Tho navigator in question admitted that the : distanco from Auckland to Panama is shorter than- from . Cape Palliscr, but ho says .'this docs not affect the position to any, appreciable extent, nnd ho thinks tho ' sooner . New Zcalandcrs realise that the'canal is being constructed by tho United States for the purpose , of. its navy and th« benefit pf its cfist and West trade, and incidentally that of tho west coast of South America,..and not, for,the benefit of the, South Sea Islands,- the better. : "In looking at an ordinary.map of the world," concluded the .navigator, "one is tempted to think that a straight-lino route drawn from New Zealniid to England ncross the American Continent somewhere near Panama would bo the shortest. In reality it is not so. As a matter of fact, wore ono able;to disregard all obstacles to navigation, which improvements to airships may in time accomplish, the shortest route to New Zealand- from Eddystono lighthouso would bo'by steering north, and passing within 160 miles of the North Tplo, nnd then bearing , away south to-. New Zoaland, the distance bcine a little over 10,000 miles."