TROUBLE IN NEWFOUNDLAND.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6886, 23 June 1890, Page 4

TROUBLE IN NEWFOUNDLAND.

Reports from Sfc George s Bay, received at St John's, Newfoundland, on May 25, detail freßh outrages perpetrated on English fishermen by the French, and say that the coaat from Cape Ray North to Cape Sfc George io^ahnost in a state of war. A French man-of-war is cruising in the Bay of Sb George running down Englishmen who are setting nets, and confiscating the same if they refuse to take them up. Meetings have been held on shore, and resolutions of protests cabled to England. Orders were received on May 24 by Captain Sir Baldwin Walker, of the Emerald, to proceed to St John's, Sfc George's Bay, at once, and look after the interests of the English fishermen there. When the man-of-war left the harbour thousands of people along tho shore wished her success and cheered tuiaultuously. The French were offered many insults, and a proposition hns been made to go to Sb George's Bay and drive the Frenchmen out. The English fishermen there have resolved to begin fishing operations, and if interfered •with to arm themselves and fight the French. The address of Newfoundlanders to the Queen, protesting against British grants to the French of island fisheries, was received in London on May 26. In its language the document is the strongest ever sent to a British Sovereign since that of the original American Colonies. It declares that tho modus vivendi means rnin and starvation to 200,000 British subjects, and claims that the Home Government has no legal right to make such grants. It calls on tbo Queen to revoke the acts of her unpatriotic advisers, and says this Colony will be satisfied with nothing short of the final removal of every French lobster factory from the shores of I Newfoundland, and "all means in our power will be used to that end. In our opinion the time has arrived when submission to such glaring injustice is no longer possible. This Colony must use all the means in its power to frustrate the designs lof its despoiler3. We believe we have I right and -justice on our side, and such j steps as we may have to take have been forced on us by foreign aggression, and by the supine acquiesceuce therein of your Majesty's Imperial Ministers." THE PANAMA CANAL. The report of the Special Commission appointed by the French Government to enquire into the question of completing the Panama Canal has been given to the public. The Commission says the canal can be completed on the lock system for 900,000,000 francß. It is estimated that the receipts for the first four years after completion will be, say, 38,000,000 francs per year; from the fourth to the twelfth year 50,000,000 francs, and thereafter at tne rate of 60,000,000 francs per annum ; the cost being 10,000,000 francs per annum. The Commissioners report that half the material of the old Company is in good condition, and can be used for the continuance of the work. They recommend, as the best solution of the financial question, that the maritime States guarantee interest on the capital — 900,000,000 francs— required for the completion of this great enterprise. It was announced on the Isthmus, on May 10, that the Commisoion of Engineers sent out by the liquidators of the Panama Canal Company had decided upon adopting the lock system for completing the work, and that Lieutenant Wise would make the necessary arrangements with the Colonial Government. Excavations will re-com-mence on the canal as soon as the preliminaries are satisfactorily settled. The report of the French Panama Committee on the geological character of the route of tho canal says the whole distance will have to be cub through impermeable soil, and the water in the reservoirs is not subject to diminution. The surveyors proved that precautions oould be taken to counteract the effect of earthquakes. In consequence of this report canal shares dropped 14 francs in Paris on May 25, and are now quoted at 28. This has shattered the last hopes of the Company.