PANAMA CANAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14530, 18 November 1910, Page 5

PANAMA CANAL.

READY IN THREE YEARS. ' T PRESIDENT TAFT'S VISIT. By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright. New York, November 16. President Taft is now visiting - Panama in order to see the progress - of the excavation and to settle ,vari--1 ous disputes which have arisen in ; connection with the engineering f works of the great enterprise. The President has been informed t that, owing to the rapid progress of > the works, the canal will be ready [ for opening in December, 1913. (Received November 18, 1 a.m.) ! New York, November 17. i President Taft, speaking at a ; banquet, declared that the American - people would feel utterly dishon- > oured by the annexation of Panama unless the conduct of the Panamans left no other course open, but such a contingency was most improbable. a huge undertaking. Work at the Panama Canal goes forward so steadily and the whole area of the operations has been brought so completely under tho control of the United States military engineers and sanitarian experts that there is no reason to doubt the statement that the canal will be open for traffic in a little over three years' time. As the cutting of the Suez Canal has brought, upon the Egyptians the occupation of their country by Great » Britain, whose interests in the security of the ; canal route are immeasurably greater, than those of any other Power, and who is compelled to exercise direct supervision over the most delicate link in the chain of her sea communications with her Eastern Empire, so also the cutting of the Panama Canal has already brought upon the Republic of 1 anama tho weighty overlordship of the United States, an instalment of United States control that seems destined to end inevitably in the absorption of Panama into the American Union. The reason for this is plain. When Panama seceded a few years ago from the Columbian Confederation she handed over to the United States, in return for the recognition of tho independence of tho new Republic of Panama, a perpetual lease of the strip of land licoessary for the waterway and sovereignty over ten miles of land on each side of the canal. Recently it has been announced that the United States intends to fortify the canal, a step which was only to bo expected, as in the absence of fortification it would be useless for one of tho principal objects for which it was constructed, namely, to supply a channel through which the whole strength of the United States navy might be swung from tho Atlantic into tho Pacific, or vie© versa, in a few hours, instead of having to go all tho way round by Capo Horn. President Taft has remarked that the completion, of the Panama Canal will double the strength of the United States navy. The strategical importance of the waterway will probably lie sufficient to make it impossible for the United States to allow the Republic of Panama to remain under an independent flag. Tho risk would be too great. It seems highly probable that the United States will, for some time to come, be the Power that will chiefly benefit by the Panama Canal in a direct sense, though the whole world will no doubt derive tho benefits that naturally flow from the opening of a new shortcut between West and East/ in addition, to the. shortcut supplied by the Suez Canal. The United States will, in tho first place,, obtain the .inestimable advantage of rapid sea communication between the Atlantic and Pacific littorals of the Union. It is estimated that' when ' completed tho canal will have cost not less than £100,000,000, and that -the annual' cost of maintenance will run to something like £1,000,000.