Rangitikei Advocate. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9461, 2 June 1909, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2,1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

NO one can look at a map of Central America without remarking what a splendid place is provided fdr a canal by the Isthmus of Panama. Engineers, however, who investigate the question, find that there are many difficulties which can only be met at great expense, the chief of these being the River Ohagrea which flows in v to the Atlantic near Colon. This river owing to the enormous rainfall becomes at times a roaring torrent which would quickly destroy any canal made in the Ohagrea Val- S ley, and various methods have been suggested for dealing with the problem. De Lesseps boldly proposed that its course should be diverted Into the Pacific, and a sea level canal be constructed, but later he shrunk from the enormous expense involved by this scheme which required a cutting *355 feet deep to take the canal through the hill country between the valleys,of the Ohagres and the Rio Grande which flows into the Pacific. He therefore substituted a lock canal with a great dam to hold back the' Ohagres ;in its upper reaches. 3 The difficulty of constructing a dam strong enough at the point selected by De Lesseps led the American engineers to look for a more favourable site where the river should have lost some of its force. The Ohagres af the mountains flows through marsh for twenty miles, and it was decided to place a dam at the lower end of the marsh about seven miles from the coast. This is the great Gatun dam, and the result of its construction wili’be to make the marsh into a lake covering 200 square miles, which will provide a wide course 23 miles long for ships without the trouble of excavation. The overflow from the Gatun dam will be carried off by the old bed of the Ohagres river, the canal taking another course to Colon. The course of the canal will be asfollows: —A canal at sea level, 41ft. deep and at least 500 ft. wide, from Colon to Gatun locks (seven miles); then an ascent by three locks, each with lift of 28ft.£4in., after that a course of 23 miles across the new lake; then a continuation of the canal for nine more miles through the Onlehra out with a channel narrowing’ to 800 and* 200 feet; then a look descending 30ffe. to the level of Lake Miraflores, two miles across the lake, two more looks to pass through, and fityslly a sea-level, s sooft. broad channel for another eight miles from Miraflores looks to the open Pacific. '

THE opponents of the present scheme maintain that the existence of locks will prevent* the canal ever being a satisfactory method of transit. In reply to this objection it is pointed out that looks cannot be entirely done away with since at Colon the tide rises and falls 26 inches, whereas at Panama the tidal difference is 16 feet. It is calculated the, appliances provided it will be' possible lor 56 steamers—2B each way—to pass through the canal in 24 hours, and assuming that the number is only 20 this will provide for 14,600 per annum, a number that "compares very, favourably with the number—about 4500—which pass through the Suez Canal. Thus there seems to be no doubt that the canal can take all the' traffic required. Another objection to a. sea-level scheme is that it would take eleven years from 1909 ' to construct, and would cost £25,000,000 more than the look canal. As the present works are not likely to cost- less than £35,000,000 it flvould appear that further expenditure would not be justifiable. The date for the opening of the canal is fixed for January Ist, 1915; but it is generally expected that the work will be completed at an earlier date. WE trust Parliament will not entertain the suggestion that Mr Massey shall accompany Sir "Joseph Ward to the Defence Conference. It is difficult to understand why the suggestion was made, unless it was inspired by a desire to get Mr Massey out of the way while the Premier is absent. It would be absurd to send the Leader of the Opposition with the Premier, even though Mr Massey may be in favoui of Ministerial proposals for defence. The holder of the office of Leader of , the Opposition is expected to criticise and restrain, and it would certainly be a novelty to send to a Conference one man to support proposals, and another one to oppose or modify them. Besides this, there can be little donbt that Mr Massey’s services will be urgently required in Parliament. It is not unlikely that there will be a tendency to deal too gently with the members of the Ministry who will be temporarily without their leader. Then, again, it is probable that there will be trouble among Sir Joseph Ward’s followers, some of whom consider that they possess much better claims to Ministerial office than the members who have been appointed to it bv Sir Joseph. These indeed may

endeavour to give Mr Millar permanent position as Premier, and an ambitions and able man who finds himself in power is naturally desirous of retaining it, if this can be dobe without sacrifice of self-respect or [loyalty. And loyalty to party may be regarded by some as) of more consequence than loyalty to an individual. ~