THE PANAMA CANAL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12551, 3 January 1903, Page 8

THE PANAMA CANAL.

A BRITISH ENGINEER'S CURIOUS ■...,, THEORY. (Frost Our Own CoimmoKDE&T.) LONDON, December 21. While the .United States andj Colombia ai'ro disputing over the. rights and restrictions and. regulations of the future Panama when complete, must.be the marine highway between New Zealand and Hngln.nd—some ' curious ■• speculations are being broached aiid discussed in the scientific world'. It might not wenytit' the first blush, - that the recent and present . outbreak, of 'tremendous volcanic energy in the West Indies could be. very relevant to the Panama Canal question;. but we shall : Recently I was chatting with.an eminent British engineer,. We drifted into the Panama- Canal—or at least into a'talk about, it, its difficulties'of construction, aiid its>future possibilities. "Ha." it ever occurred to you," by friend said,,' "that -the'' whole problem' may be casually, but completely, solved by,the operations, of Nature, and that the present volcanic disturbances in the West Indies may be the first-step-in'-that direction?',' I was stnggered' by the suggestion, Certainly, I recollected the ingenious theory broached by my lament°d friend, the late ; G. M. Keed, in one of those tlmo most diverting articles' in-the Auckland Weekly News—articles which he subsequently styled "a trilogy of humbug," and in one of which lie suggested that the whole of the Panama. Isthmus might prove to be. composed of highly'..friable.-fino sand, so that directly the smallest channel was'cut across the' top surface, ■ the ocean current would; rapidly scour but a deep and wide channel—a channel perhaps: as wida as Cook Strain-through, which the.-Gulf Stream wight be diverted with; results' enormously beneficial to'the -arid portions of the Australian .Continent, but disastrous to the British 'Isles, whose coasts 'and'.-harbours.' lacking'the .mild''influences of the Gulf Stream, would be frozen up ,evory .winter. : This was only one of the. genial writer's little jokes, but observe how it jits-in. with this new scientific idea.J 'Did you notice," asked my engineering visitor, ",the estimate givrai by that eminent scientist-^l'forget his name—of the c'noiv mbus'. quantity of material that roust have been ejected by Mont Peleo and La'.Souffriere/ calculating from, the fall of the socalled 'ashes,' really rocks, etc.', in a condition of; powder, the depth' that "fell, 'and the distance to which the'fall extended? Well, when' yon compute the actual' aggregate: mass of the ejects, and add also'the vast volume;of gases, aqueous vapour, etc., which is; known, to have,beon expelled by tho two'yoloajioes, do yo'uriot see than an enormous cavity must Ime been formed somewhere wider-' the'.earth's' surface? Now, if this constant ejection igoes: on,' and.the, Subterranean;.cavity continiies'( to,' enlarge, there be -a huge subsidence of land, somewhere in the vicimity ,tb fill Up the vacancy. '.'This .would; disturb the balance for a long distance, and' although the Isthmus of Panama is : 1400 or 1500 miles away from Martinique aiid St. Vincent, one cannot tell-how far the ch'flin of teiiuric disturbance 'might extend. One subsidence might cause"'another, or set up fresh sub-, terranean action,'and in the end it iV quite eonceivable:{liat|t.he' Isthmus of-Panama'and h large part of America might entirely entirely engulfed in the depth'be.low.. ...' . '

' • You.seaw surprised." lie went on to remark—l.daresay. I did!' "But remember there is.-every- appearance amonntimr to almost a- certainty,-that both the Gulf of Mexico-and .the. Carribeam Sea; which are immediately adjacent to the Isthmus,/were formed in this way, that, is to sar. by the swallowing" up. of territory ,by the ocean.' It,may seem a;far-fetched speculation. Perhaps | it is.'..But;if such a:thing did nccur New, Zealand, would have her ocean highway all ready-formed, without locks-'or any ', other'. boTtlier. Of you may say this, is not within the region of practical politics, •but it is at least ah .'interesting possibility." But 'how •about poor old England?" I .gasped?,," If. England is-.frozen up and her : maritime, trade'.'.ruined, what' will he the 'gobd'-of..a':natural. liassage'"through the ;IstbrnUS?-V ...;:-.:;. " V v..':. ■..- "Oh, -that'svnnothcr- slo;'i-. a=. IVd.vs'r.'l ,Kipliiig.'sayk"'returnesl-m-,--f'.ipiid ''"'. ; ; '' I'siot/my -business. .1 only -v/iy'tit] . '-■"•'

Indian outbreak • suggested to me; You needn't say anything about it unless you like!" ' . •

', But I, too, thought it;at,least interesting as a speculation, if not probable.