Eclipsing Panama.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 91, 21 April 1904, Page 4

Eclipsing Panama.

(.'ANA!, FROM BISCAY TO JIEDITF.KUAXE.W.

One would have imagined that after tliv expensive I'anauiii Canal fiasco the French nation, as a whole, would view with very unfriendly eyes any scheme for constructing new waterways. As a matter of fact, however, a very large number of influential people in France have been for yeairs, anil are still, urging the I Government to undertake a canal en- ! tt-rprise compared to which the task j of cutting a waterway through the neck of land joining North mnl South America appears a small and inexpensive operation. The project these enthusiasts have at heart is the connection of the Hay of Biscay willi the Mediterranean liy means of a waterway, double the width of the Hue/. Canal, which would start at some point on the coast near the mouth of the (Sironde Kiver, and after crossing the Departments of Gironde, Lot-et-(.!aronne, Tarn-et-Ga-roniie, Tarn, and Ilerault, would cone out in the. Gulf of Lyons at Gette. The supporters of the •schemi argue that the construction of such a canai would be of the highest strategic importance to France from a. naval and military standpoi'ht, since it would emvblc the French fleet to pass into flu: Atlantic, and vice versa, without Inning to go round by Gibraltar, it is also contended that the waterway would be of great commercial advantage, as it. would be a short cut I'oi steamers passing between the Xoith Sea. the Atlantic, and the Mediterranean, and that the canal would be a source of prosperity to all the districts tliivmrh which it passed. Engineers' reports have been drawn up, and elaborate calculations made as to the probable number of ships that would pass through the canal, and the possible profits to be derived. A group of financiers have offered to lease the canal and work it under Government control, ■ provided the State would build the canal. In 1894 a Parliamentary Committee drew up a report advocating the construction of a single ship canal, but the condition of the French finances was such that the undertaking of an enterprise so gigantic was then entirely out of the question. The advocates of the inter-sea canal, however, have persistently worried successive Governments to take up the scheme, and finally an independent Government inquiry was made into it. The result was entirely unfavourable to the construction of the canal. In the first place, though the pi ejected canal is by no means theoretically Impossible, there are tremendous technical difficulties to be overcome, involving an estimated expenditure of £120,000,000. The committee appointed by the Government decided that the proposed waterway would render small service, either in connection with commerce or national defence, compared with the immense capital expenditure involved and the charge on the revenue its construction would entail. According to their calculations, the expenses of working the canal would involve a yearly deficit of £3,000 - 000. Undaunted by the adverse decision, the canal enthusiasts arc still pressing upon the Government the necessity for the inter-sea waterway, but as even their most sanguine ca'l- . culation place live cost of its con- , stn.ctionat sixty millions it ig hardly likely the Chamber of Deputies will be persuaded to listen to ■ their scheme.