The Collapse of the Panama Canal Project.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 169, 23 January 1888, Page 3

The Collapse of the Panama Canal Project.

Late despatches indicate the serious embarrassment of Panama Canal enterprise on account of lack of money, so much as fo justify Senor Tanco Climero, an agent of tho Columbian Government, sent to'examine the work, in reporting the scheme as “practically dead.” Senor Climero find- that about onc?fo;u'th of the Wqrfc ; Jms} been done, at a coat of £3^,t2P ( ox. twice tfie original estimated cost''of the 'whole work ; that the of' most £42,000,000 was expended for salaries, in the purchase of the Panama ftjjlW, apcl ip hospitals for the thousands who have sickened and died in the insalubrious, malarial, fever-breeding climate ; that it will cost £101,059,816 more money to finish the work of excavation alone, and then £58,840,000 to make it passable. In his report upon tho Chagres ltiver obstacle, ho says:— The works on the Chagres Itiver, jn order mm i v, wiiioii b»vo suai'oely been oommencctj/Svrll 1 Pc "tho most : ’’costly and difficult of’uH. Ihe dam here will be 1200 metres in length, 430’ in width and 45 in height', 1 Behind it there will he 3,000,000 cubic meters of water baolcod up. The hills on which the flanks of this gigantic dam will rest will be tunnelled, and through these tunnels will flow to another watershed the water which would otherwise follow the couise of tho canal, and they will find their way to the sea at points many miles distant from their former outlets. A ll engineer has informed ine that the cost of thus controlling the waters of the Chagres will amount to 94,340 dols, or 471,700,000 francs. The ordinary price that has been paid for every cubic motre which has been excavated is poOdol, but to tliissum must j)0 added the expenses of management, J Tyhich bring fiie figure up to 2dol at least per cubic metre. And this has been paid for the 'easy part of tho work, while that Vhich is lackfng, 127,074,770 cubic metres jporo or less, will cosf double this figure, consequently there must yet be expended tho onormons sum of 608,290,000d015. TIXE NICARAGUA. CANJ L. As the fortune of the Panama scheme declines, that of tho Nicaragua grows. American interests cluster about the latter. It represents American enterprise, and is free from foreign control. A-steamer has left Now York With a' corps of engineers, Workmen, and machinery, &c., to begin work. The surveys of this route indicate a total length of 170 miles, hut only forty miles of actual canal excavation, the rest gf the way being through Lake Nicaragua, iind tfiat it will cost only about $13,000,008. This is the roptc favored by General Grant. The concessions made by the Nicaraguan Government aro very liberal, and the company promises to finish the work in seven years.