THE PANAMA CANAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 33, 29 June 1914, Page 3

THE PANAMA CANAL.

SENSATIGX&L IlljlUI) OIIARGE& DEFBCTIvI STEEL.

Hithtrto there ha) been no •|ucstwa raised as to the .competency of tfcc woikmanship itf < wmoctifn •with t.ie bomma of the Panama fanal, or as to the quality of the us«a, but a sensational <l:scltM,ur'b has just been made in Pittsburg, the great steei manu-, fuctiuring centre oif Pennsylvania, regal dinjr the'steel fVoisbod for the faumense locks. • Five oMiuls-of the Carbon fctfel Company have Wjp ..indicted by a federal grand on a charge of conspiring to (lcftfUid the Government. Much cxaggorai|Q.u wna contained m the original, pifss accounts of the afl'air, and ic Was stated, amongst other things, that Jmti been discovered the steel in the jocke was. of Mich inferior,quality thaf. they were liable to collapse at- any tine, causing, heavy loss of property and with great risk to life. .Major Boggs, who. is in charge of the oft rial offices in iWasHi'ington, states, how•ctVflr, that the attempts' to deliver defective stecil had beei discovered by the (iovfti'ranent inspectors 'before the materia] was worked i(it<> the locks. These locks, he insists, atf as strong as engineering skill can, make them, and there is not the slightest danger to Vif.; or property in their use. Though the attempt, to over-rpsiefo the 'Government failed, it was devised in dastardly lindilTerence for eon»*|t>enees, if the infonnation presented to t he fitteirarg grand jr.ry iW dependable.. It is alleged that through the machinations of the superintendant and metallurgist of the corporation, the ends of the lurgn beams and ptetas were tempered highly, and that when the Government inspector w -uld chip oil' an end to analyse the steel he would pet a sample that was of the best <|i:ality, but that, nevertheless, the balance oi the beams and.-plates were inferior.