THE PANAMA CANAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1085, 12 April 1913, Page 4

THE PANAMA CANAL.

A valuable paper dealing with the probable effects of the opening of the Panama Canal in 1915 on the trade of the world was read by Professor Hutchinson (University of California) before the Royal Statistical Society recently. He remarked that while the effects of opening the canal would be profound, their importance could be easily exaggerated. To many of the most important parts of the globe the new canal would merely open an alternative route; to several others it would offer no advantages whatever, and their trade would cling to the present routes. The specific countries whose trade was being sought were Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chili, China, Japan, the Philippine Islands, New Zealaud and Australia. While these countries were, on the whole, becoming better able to supply their own clothing materials and foodstuffs, they were rapidly increasing their demand for industrial goods, and the competition for the supply or these goods was becoming more concentrated in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Germany, each of which possessed certain disadvantages in the trade. On the whole, during the last 15 years the German and American attack on the market had met with some success. England, although still holding nearly 50 per cent, of the trade, had declined, while the United States and Germany had both increased t|ieir share. The fact that the United States, in spite of serious handicaps, had more than held its own in the competition, pointed to an important advance once the Panama Canal was in full operation ; for tbatcountry would unquestionably reap greater benefits in increased accessibility of the markets in question than England, Germany, or any other European country. In Australasia, China and Japan the markets which not only were the most valuable to-day, but which also possessed the most promising possibilities of development, the canal would offer facilities to America far greater than to Europe. To European traders with these countries it was a matter of relative indifference, as far as distance was concerned, whether the new route was opened or not, for it would not greatly affect the accessibility to them of these markets., Vessels from English or German ports would actually Jose time by choosing the Panama route except to New Zealand.