TO THE POLAR REGIONS BY CANAL.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 17 June 1901, Page 4

TO THE POLAR REGIONS BY CANAL.

The Russian Government have had under consideration a waterway from the Gulf of Finland to the lute Sea in the Far North. This project, prepared by M. Timonsolf, is approved of the authorities, and work will be commenced this summer. The new canal, which is to serve strategic as well as commercial purposes, will start from the River Swir, from Lake Ladoga to Lake Onega, between which and the White Sea there are numerous small lakes and natural waterways which, like the Neva and the Swir, only require dredging to ho avaible for tire largest ships. The northern terminus will be Sarozkaya, on the west coast of the White Sea, and the distance from St Petersburg to Alexaudrovsk, on the Murman coast, will be shortened, bymeans of this new wa 1 erway r , from 4,570 kilometres to 1,750 kilometres. For the grain export from the Volga basin to the White Sea the new line of communication will be of the greatest importance, effecting a saving of ten days in the transport to the sea. The width and depth of the canal will be the same as for the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, thus allowing even the largest warships to traverse its entire length.