MEXICO'S TEHUAHTEPEC RAILWAY OPENED.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 13 August 1907, Page 4

MEXICO'S TEHUAHTEPEC RAILWAY OPENED.

The Tebuantepec Railway of Mexico was opened for traffic recently. Pres!dent Diaz, in the presence of the representatives of twenty foreign nations, prMsed an electric button, which gave ] motion to a crane that raised fifteen , sack, of sugar from the hold of the ( •ttamshlp Ariionaa, lying at the port : of Salina Cruz, on the Pacific cuast of , Mexico, and placed it on board a freight car bound for Coatucoalcos, on the Gulf cotst. This simple act was the inauguration of a nw rout, for the commerce of the world, many yean before tht P.nima Canal can be opened. Th* "Mexican Official Route" is its official name, and if will be an important faetor in international Trade. Sir Weetman Pearson, constructor of the line of railroad, made an address, in which he reviewed the work on th* isthmus of Tehnanteper, and expressed his confidence in its future results. He predicted that, within seven years, if not within five, the Tehuantepec would have a double track. With its single track, it is now capable of handling a million tons of freight annually, and it has harbor facilities for eight ocean steamera to dock at the same time. Sir Weetman predicted that the new route across the isthmus will control for all time the transcontinental traffic on the Mississipi Valley. There are now in sight six hundred thousand tons of freight, which is about S3 per cent more than the Panama railroad ever handled

in any one year. President Diaz, in his response to

Sit Weetman, said that the prophesy of

Humboldt that the isthmus of Tehuantepec would become "the bridge of the world's finance," was now fulfilled. He then gave the signal for starting the

crane, which swung the fifteen sacks of ■agar to the freight ear, and personally sealed the car. ' The\e seals he broke at Puerto jn Mexico, formerly Coatzacoalcos, two days later, and superintended the re-loading of sugar aboard the Louis Luckenback, bound for Philadelphia. The sugar come from Honolulu, Sandwich Islands.

The opening of this new .route to the Pacific promises to be a great aid to the trade between the Atlantic and Pacific ports, at least until tie Panama Canal Is finished, and opens for the trade of the world. It is believed in Mexico that even after that event, the Tehuantepee road will retain a fair share of the trade, as it will furnish a rail route between the oceans, which will be preferred to the Canal by many shippers. It adds materially to the business facilities of the Mexican Republic, and is an additional testimony to the business tact and energy of her people.