THE PANAMA CANAL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 154, 20 June 1908, Page 3

THE PANAMA CANAL

KNOIIMOUS STKAM. SIIOVKLS AT WOHIv. A IIAUE MLYTUiiE 0K KATKLNALITiES. Tlu i Saturday livening Post of Philadelphia I'milanis i)k' following report 011 llir progiv-,-. of lli<' Panama Canal: " i iic Canal /(me, or Swath, is HI miles wide, 10 mik's long, and the, chief aim lias been lu make the conditions so sanitary as to preserve tho health of the residents. The total population of the Canal in January, 1'.)07, was 4.),<100, and the death rale was 27 per thousand. Tlt<» greatest foe Ihe doctors have is malaria. The death rate in January. 1!)0S, was ID per thousand, and the population (iI.UHO. Only one American died in January tnis year, the principal death's being among the negroes, There are "fiT steam shovels at work on the Canal; the largest of these shovels weighs tons, ami will acoop up iivo I'Uliie yards at a time. When they are working well they can. scoop it, load, aud get away e\Mirv 10 seconds. No doubt steamer men will say they should he pushed Jaster than that, hut they think every Hi seconds is good work. The writer adds that he watched one, ol the smaller shovels take up at a scoop 2 1 /;. cubic yards of dirt. Kvery IS seconds that big claw grabbed about two horse wagon loads ol dirt, and dropped on to a Hat car. The total excavation for December last was cubic yards, in Januarv 2.712,.)i>8 eunie yards, and it was expected tintt the February excavation would eijtuil that of January, although there were fewer working days, while March was expected to reach 3,000.000 cubic yards. Up to February 1 the Americans had excavated 20.4G0,0;)4 cubic yards. The total excavation by the French at all points was 81,548,000 cubic yards. At -the beginning of tins year Ihe Cnited StaU's had spent, exclusive or the ten millions sterling paid the original French company and the public of Panama for the Canal Zone, eleven and a half millions sterling. There i* 110 adequate estimate of the ultimate but the engineers art? now estimating it at sifclv ntfiJlJions sterling. Uf the entire population there were only 70 arrests in January for intoxication, and theiy are only 0000 Americans out ol the sixty odd thousand various nationalities in the Canal /one. r lhe Americans living along the line are well paid and ted, and sent back to the Cnited States Uioo,ooo in l!K>7. There are 34 saloon bars iu tile Canal Zone. *\o bar-room is allowed to haw a table or chair in it, and 110 one is allowed to loaf in it. The American (Jovernment have erected two hotels, well managed, but expensive. "The PanamaiiUis resent the introduction of sanitary conditions. They protest- wildly against the Coverninent establishing stores across the Canal Zone, and claim that the people digging the Canal should buy from them instead of the (Jovernment. They consider the innovation an outrage which consisted of the (lovernmnet selling to the (ana! people stores of all kinds at cost, instead of allowing the local trader to sell them at, tive prices, la fact, the local traders sent a delegation to Washington to protest, but the authorities at Washington, who helped them become a republic and gave them two millions sterling for the /one, think they have done enough. The construction of the canal is attracting natives of every country iu Europe: Italians. Spaniards, Greeks, etc. In fact, looking over tlm list, every nationality is represented there except Australia and New Zealand. The Jamaican negroes are tin? most interesting features of the Canal, as there are several thousands there. He is not *0 good a labourer as the Greek or Italian. It takes about six Jamaicans to carry a sleeper that two Italians or Sikhs would pick up and earrv with ease.

"Tlw« negro labourers are improvident. They are paid ii'/jd an hour and board. or ltd and board themsolves. It thev board themselves tliry gone-rally, teed on bananas, ami cannot do a good day's work. Tin- Jamaican women form the servant das*. '• They a>*e a source of ainiNcnn'iil al*o. A foreman at Culebra Mold till"' Iwo Jamaicans t» watch goods trains and prevont any person jumping on, and instructed them to arrest any * I rain jumper.' Later on. two Jamaicans came in in triumph, dragging a man between them who jumped on a -car. lie was bleeding and bruised, and clothes torn. On explanation being given. it was discovered that he was the guard ol' the train, and had a right to jump on and

"The negroes keep together pretty well, setting great store on the protection of the Uritisn flag, and pestering the life out of the British Minister. H a foreman is rude to him. he draws himself up and say*. ' Remember, sir, 1 am a British subject.'"