THE PANAMA CANAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 182, 27 April 1908, Page 8

THE PANAMA CANAL.

REMARKABLE PROGRESS. \ Ranter's, representative has had an interview with Sir John Rodger Governor of the Gold Coast, who' recently returned to Eng T land after a three months' tour in the United States, Panama, and Cuba; undertaken primarily.for the purpose of studying the Questions ,of tropical sanitation and the '•industrial education of the negro, particularly with a view to the requirements of his own Colony. ■During his tour- Sir John* inspected the works in progress in connection with the Panama Canal; Ho was greatly impressed with the excellence of the engineering and sanitation works. All the official quarters and hospitals have been enclosed in brass wire netting for the purpose of keeping out' mosquitos, t and the arrangements made have been of, such a character that the deathrate of Panama .-has been reduced to something below, the normal tropical rate. No case of yellow fever has occurred during the last two, years. .The progress of the- Canal works was remarkable. In . February, no less than three million cubic yards had been excavated, and it was estimated' that the Canal itself would bo completed beforo 1914. All .the- works are under the direct supervision of officers of the United States Army,. The most important features of the Canal are the great Culebra cutting and the locks and dam at Gatun. This remarkable dam is two and a half, miles in length, half a mile thick at the base, and eighty feet thick, at tho top. It is 135 feet in hei.qht. Its purpose, is to confine the waters of the Chagres River, thus -forming an .artificial lake" of 170 squaro miles in extent. The waters of tho Canal are eighty-live feet above sea ilevel, that height being reached by three locks on the Pacific side and a similar number on the Atlantic side. •. The dam already referred to is fifty feet higher than tho Canal level. According to the latest particulars given to Sir John, the, total length of. the Canal from a forty feet depth of water on the Atlantic to a similar denth on the Pacific side'.will be fifty miles, the width of the Canal being 1 10. feet. Double canals are being constructed, so that ships can pas's one another. On'the/question of sanitation, Sir-John found _ that tho ■ information .acquired' which wa3 likely to be ( of importance in West Africa had reference to the design and construction of the mosquito, houses which he, saw at Panama, and which in his opinion are admirably designed for the rccmirements of tho tropics. He has had plans and snecifications which ho thinks will be of much value in connection with the construction of buildings in tho Gold Coast. '• ,