NICARAGUA CANAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10968, 24 January 1899, Page 5

NICARAGUA CANAL.

TO BE FINISHED IN SIX YEARS.

COST 115,000,000 DOLLARS.

NEUTRALITY TO BE GUARANTEED. By Telegraph.-Press Association.-CoprrifM, Washington, January 23. The work of constructing the Nicarasjua Canal will occupy six years, and will cost 115,000,000 dollars, which will be supplied by the Treasury. All nations will pay tho same canal tolls, and neutrality mil be guaranteed. President McKinley has been requested to secure the abrogation ol the Bulwer-Clayton concessions, and has been authorised to acquire, another route if the Government of Nicaragua declines to grant suitable terms.

Tho 'Washington correspondent of tin Lndon Daily Mail, in an article on the Nicaragua Canal, says: —

The one topic of publio interest on this side of the Atlantic at the present moment fa undoubtedly the Nicaragua Canal, and the matter can scarcely be of less importance to tho people of tho United Kingdom.

The whole canal scheme will shortly be brought before the Congress in the shape of a Bill presented by Senator Morgan, of Alabama.

Tho probable cost of the canal it. placed at 118,000,000 dollars, and it is estimated that the tolls and other profits would pay for it in about 10 years. Senator Morgan says:— "If we figure the tonnage or the tolls of the Nicaragua Canal at one-half the amount that the Suez Canal receives, and the cost at the same sura, viz., 115,000,000 dollars, we have a nine per cent, dividond-paying stock, which would yield annually 6,300,000 dollanv on the 70,000,000 of stock given to the United' States in this Bill, in payment for its endorse mont of tho bonds of the Canal Company, which is really for the benofit of tho United States. This sum in 10 years would pay tr the stock of the United States 63,000,000 dollars, and at the rates of toll charged by the Suez Canal it would pay for the canal in that time. All data, howevor, are to th« effect that our commence would be doubl* that of the Suez Canal."

It is <ileaHy recognised that prompt action must be taken by the Congress if the canal is to bo built under tho auspices of the Unit*" States. Several powerful syndicates, including a combination of English capitalists, been eagerly seeking to oust the Maritime Canal Company, prevent an extension of it« concession next year, and acquire all the rights it has hitherto possessed. Tho Governments of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, through whose territory the canal will run, have recently shown some objection to the United States becoming a leading partner in the canal business. Impressed with the fact that there will be immense profits in it, they have seemingly come to the conclusion that the major part of these profit* ought to go into their own treasuries, and not to tho United States,'which, despite the Monroe doctrne, is not regarded with an over- : friendly feeling in most South American countries. If the United States should back the Nicaragua Canal scheme, the Panama Company, it is said, intends to push operations on its canal until it is finished. Tho Panama Canal ran be completed within eight years for 100,000,000 dollars, and, it is asserted, will be much more valuable than the Nicaragua Canal, because its length is only 46 miles from ocean to ocean, whereas its Nicaraguan rival will bo 174 miles long. Shipping would consequently prefer the shorter route, the tolls could be made much lower, and this, it is claimed, would tend to make the Nicaragua Canal a financial failure. Carefully-drawn arguments and a great array of data in favour of both canals will be laid before tho Congress, but to is not difficult to predict what tho outcome will be. There is a popular prejudice against the Panama project, because it is controlled by a European company, and the scandal which hongs round the name of De Lesseps. While the Panama route is many miles shorter than the Nicaraguan, tho climate of Panama is notoriously unhealthy, while the difficulties involved in the construction of the canal are generally thought to be insurmountable. Under these circumstances, it is practically safe to predict that the Congress will vote in favour of Senator Morgan's Bill, and before many months have passed work on the Nicaragua Canal will be in full operation under the direction of the United States.