A PLETHORA OF MONEY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2462, 8 February 1881, Page 4

A PLETHORA OF MONEY.

The “ European Mail ” says : —The success of the Panama Canal scheme has taken everybody in England completely by surprise. A million and a quarter shares have already been applied for; and fresh requests for permission to join are continually pouring in. Spain is not popularly supposed to have a large pecuniary surplus. Yet the Spanish people find funds for an undertaking which reminds it of its old South American empire. A demand from the Peninsula for GO,OOO shares means more than a French demand for hundreds of thousands. Surprise after this would scarcely be capable of increase were requests for allotments to arrive from Turkey or Honduras. At first the best friends of the project hardly dared to hope for more than that the subscriptions would be sufficient to encourage preparations for the works. At present it is confidently anticipated that subscribers will be fortunate if the} 7 receive one share for every three they ask. M. De Lesseps has been happy in the time at which he has launched his scheme on the world’s money markets. They are full of the accumulated savings of industry, and there is a dearth of opportunities for their employment. Men were never more eager for an opening for investment, yet they continue suspicious and mistrustful of plans not recommended bj r the character of their promoters. Without the existing plethora of money the Panama Canal could not have been started. Still more certainly the superabundance of money would have been useless for the purpose except for the guarantee of sagacity and honesty offered by the name of M. Ferdinand de Lesseps. M. de Lesseps has never been accused of mercenary self-seeking. When his magnificent work was labouring under a mountain of apparent impossibilities blind enthusiasm was the worst charge alleged against him. That imputation he is accounted to have refuted by results ; and men believe him on his own word capable of accompanying his pledges in the future as in the past. The manner in which by his personal ascendancy, he has overcome at least half the reluctance of the American public, is a confirmation ol his genius. His skill in securing an actual Minister of the United States for the ostensible head of his Company is an additional testimony that he has lost none of the diplomatic talent which, when he was still unknown, triumphed over doubt and fear and dislike.