The Nicaragua Canal.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 7063, 8 February 1893, Page 2

The Nicaragua Canal.

The following are extracts from the report of the recent National Nicaragua Canbl Convention held at St. Louis, which is now being circulated : - In the Nicaragua route only 26$ miles of the entire distance of 169 J miles from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean will have to bo excavated. The other 142$ miles consist of Lake Nicaragua, the San Juan river, and depressions in the surface of the earth. Lake Nicaragua will constitute a harbour sufficient to accommodate the navies and commerce of the world. It is 110 miles long, 60 miles wide, and it is 250 ft at its deepest points. Vessels entering the canal from the Atlantic Ocean will fail on a level with the ocean for 12$ miles, at the end of which they will be raised by three locks to the level of the lake. They will sail along the San Juan river and on the lake level to a point witbiu miles of the Pacific Oo.;an. Here they will be'j lowered by the looks to the level of the Pacific Ocean. It is estimated that the cost, including the payment of interest during the progress of the work, will be less than 100.000. dollars, and the time required for the completion of the work less than five years. All surveys and examination of strata \ requiring removal have been completed. The jetty baa been constructed, and the harbour of Qreytown, on the Atlantia coast, has been dredged, so that vessels o!r 14 feet draught have an easy entrance. Extensive wharves, landing places, and permanent buildings have been constructed, temporary camps erected, a telegraph line made, the canal cleared of timber for 20 miles, and a railroad 12 miles in length constructed and equipped. The biggest dredging plant in America—that formerly used at Panama—has been purchased, and over a mile of the canal has been dredged. The exclusive franchise for the steam navigation of the San Juan river and Lake Nicaragua and an exclusive plant for the Navigation Oompony have been acquired. The Government of Nicaragua enacted in the canal grant that 2.000. should be expended the first year. The amount of money spent to date on the enterprise is stated as over 6,000.000d01. The board of directors, by the charter of the company, are accountable to the Government of the United States. The Secretary of the Interior has the power to make public all the details of the corporate management, thus protecting the investor. The tonnage tributory now to the Nicaragua Oonal, and which would pass through after its opening, is over 6,000,000 tons a year. At 2dol per ton, the charge made by the Suez Cana), this would be 12,000,000d0l in tolls. The cost of operation and maintenance is placed at less than $1,000,000 and 6 000 000 tons would show a net income of 11,000,000 dollars per annum. The committee is confident that within five years the income will be over 20,000,000 dollars. The climate of Nicaragua is healthy,and out of 1600 Hortbern men employed in constructing a railway through a only

two died durine a period of four monthi. Of 290 northern engineers and shilled mechanics who hare worked for the canal company for three years, not one has died from a disease incident to the country.