Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8423, 23 January 1899, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING.

QISBORNE, MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 1899. NICARAGUA CANAL. Tiik chief topic of public miere&t in America at the pieseut, time is tlie Nicaragua Canal, a Bill authorising the construction of whicii lias just been adopted by the Senate. The matter is of especial interest to New Zealanders for the reason that the opening of the canal would aUbcd us another and a quick sea-route to the old country. Formulated about fifty years ago, the scheme has recently been galvanised into activity and is now regarded most favorably by the American Government. President MeKinley in his message to Congress last month brought the subject to the front and urged <,|j,u the United States shoald without delay carry out the project of completing this great waterway across Central America to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Not only is the canal of vital importance for naval mid strategic reasons, but it will afford a short cut to the Far East and to the Australasian colonies. The recent war and the acquirement of the Philippines have added to the necessity of quick communication between the two American seaboards, and the advantage of this waler\va\ will be seen by the statement that it knocks 10,7,30 miles eff the 15,600 which now separate New York and San Francisco by sea. What is proposed is that the United States shall build and control the canal, giving Great Britain, however, a vo ; ce in the control and full rights of access to the waterway. This is "practica 1 >y in conformity to the Clayton-Bulwcr treaty, made half a century ago, by which it was agreed that neither Power would obtain or maintain exclusive control over the canal, that neither would fortify positions aloiig its route, and that neither would obtain rights or advantages for its subjects and their ships which were not to be shared by the other. Jt the event of England and the United .States going to war, it was stipulated that merchi'iit ships belonging to either Powers should be free from capture or detention in the canal. The Bill introduced by .Senator Morgan provides that the United States Government shall become a majority stockholder in the Maritime Canal Company, which was organised in 1889 by a i: umber of capitalists, who obtained concessions from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the United States. The Maritime Company has already spent millions in surveys, soundings, engineering plans, telegraph lines, buildings, and wharves, completed a railway, and opened over a mile of the canal. It. has, however, been found impossible to carry on the work with private capital, and the promoters have, for years past, tried to induce the United States Government to take a hand in the enterprise. These efforts met with success last year, when the Congress appointed a commission, headed by Admiral Walker, to visit Nicaragua, investigate the route of the canal, and estimate its probable cost. The commission, which had the advantage of picked engineers, a large force of workmen, and all possible data, has recently presented a report, which is strongly in favor of the undertaking. It is, therefore, almost a certainty that the Congress will pass Senator Morgan's Bill, which has already been favorably reported on by the Senate Select Committee. The probable cost of the canal is placed at lIS.OOO.OUOdoIs,, and it is estimated that the tolls and other profits would pay for it in about ten years.

The total length of the canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific will be 174 miles. From the Pacific to Like Nicaragua, which lies 11U feet above the sea, there will be six locks on the 12 miles of canal. The lake will be utilised for 56 miles ; the river fian Juan, which will be dammed and thus rendered navigable, for 65 miles ; and in the canal from the San Jnan to the Atlantic, 16 miles long, thero will be two locks. The work of excavation thus far has proved that, unlike Panama, Nicaragua is a comparatively healthy country, and the whole canal scheme is perfectly practicable. The canal is to be built under the supervision of United States Government engineers, and completed within six year 3of the passing of the Bill. The commercial necessity for the cunal has long appealed to American statesmen, but now, with possessions in the Pacific that must, in time of war, be speedily reached from the Atlantic seaboaul, there is a general agreement that the Government must without delay become the chief guarantor that the canal shall be finished and opened to the world in 1905.