SIAMESE CANAL

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 June 1936, Page 11

SIAMESE CANAL

A PERSISTENT STORY

Intel national Press-cutting agencies have recently been sending to Singapore a number of articles about the projected building of a canal across the isthmus of Kra, the narrow strip cf land that joins the Malay Penin,,ula with Siam and the mainland of .Asia, writes ft Singapore correspondent in the “Manchester Guardian.” German. Czechoslovakian and Central European newspapers have published reports from travelling; correspondents in the Far East purporting to describe the plans which, they say. have been already prepared by « urveyors who have inspected the intended route of the canal, and a Ficnch magazine (“Le Miroir du Monde”) which was extensively quoted in the Indo-China Press, dedal ed that two routes for the Kra canal have been chosen, one being slightly longer than the other but making it possible for a waterway to be built without crossing British territory at the southern tip of Burma.

The most impressive story appeared in the “Daily Worker” (London) and in other organs of Left opinion in Euiope. It stated that work has already Uegun on the canal and that several thousand coolies have started “digging a ditch that will change naval strategy in the East”! in Bangkok and Singapore also rumours about the Kra canal have been current in the bazaars, and in one European dub not many miles from Singapore a passenger from an Arnei ican round-the-world liner was heard bragging that lie was the civil engineer who had been engaged to advise tne Siamese Government on the project.

NOT SERIOUSLY CONSIDERED. Most of the rumours scarcely bear examination. It can definitely be stated that, work has not yet begun on the canal and even that the Siamese Government has not yet given the canal question any serious attention. In the first place it is doubtful if it is a practical engineering possibility to dig a canal through the isthmus of Kra even where the land is comraiatively flat, and the most desirable spot for a canal, where the isthmus is at its narrowest, sometimes little more than ten miles, separating the ttfo coasts, is formidable territory sloping steeply upwards almost from the edge of the sea to the top of the range of mountains that passes down the whole length of the southern Siamese peninsula. At some points the land rises to 1000 and 2000 feet above sea-level. Supposing, however, that the canal could be built with the aid of modern < pgineering devices, the cost would be considerable and probably prohibitive. No really accurate figure as to the cost of building a Kra canal is available, because the project has never been taken seriously, but civil engineers who are familiar with the country have mentioned £0,000,000 as the approximate cost. Who would provide this money has never been made clear. Certainly the Siamese Government is too poor to embark on such heavy expenditure, and the usual version one hears is that. Japanese industrialists and shippers might persuade their Government to put up the money. This again is extremely unlikely, and when one looks round to discover what return might be expected on such a big capital investment it is only to conclude that a Kra canal company would be fortunate if in an average year it managed to pay its way. Shareholders would wait in vain for interest on their capital. THE OTHER SIDE. While ships using the canal would save, a day or more in a voyage between Europe and the Far East, the gain would be completely offset by the loss of cargo that at present naturally gravitates to Singapore and which, it seems, would con'inue to be dealt with at that port, which is the natural entrepot for the islands of the East Indies and for countries further away. Some cargo steamers still sail round the Cape rather than pay the Suez Canal dues, and it is certain that very few ships would want to use a Kra canal. As a new factor in the strategy of the China Sea, a canal across the isthmus of Kra would certainly be important to Singapore. It is argued that Japanese interest in the proposal Is pr'ompted by the additional power which control of the canal company would give, and there is no doubt that her naval advisers, who still insist on regarding Singapore as an offensive base, would be pleased to see a waterway that on the map would seem so effectively to shortcircuit the present sea route -round the south of the Malay peninsula. Those who take the canal project seriously point out, however, that aerial bombing could soon 'destroy its usefulness, particularly as British aerodromes are situated within easy range.

Nevertheless, to most people in the East the Kra canal is a bogy that reappears from time to time and which resolutely refuses to be laid Iqw. The most authoritative statement that has been made recently on the subject came from his Excellency M. Pierre Pages, Governor of French Cochin-China, who said in an interview in Singapore, while on his way to Europe, that he believed the canal would never be built. He was sure that neither the French nor British Government regarded the latest crop of Kra canal rumours with any serious concern.

The origin of many of the rumours is doubtless to be found in the recent trade rapprochement between Slam and Japan. Bangkok politicians, still experimenting with a young democracy, are looking East and adapting many of their traditional institutions to the Japanese model, and during the past two years there has been a much increased flow of trade between the two countries. At present, however, Siamese-Japanese friendship is* based solely on trading relationships, and there is no danger, as yet at any rate, of a political alliance such as would be necessary if Japan were to Ito granted a. concession to build a canal across the isthmus of Kra.