THE PANAMA CANAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 364, 17 March 1881, Page 3

THE PANAMA CANAL.

The European Mail says :—“ The success of the Panama Canal scheme has taken everyone by surprise. A million and .a quarter shares have already been applied ; .f or; and fresh requests for permission to join are continually pouring in. Spain is not popularly supposed to have a large pecuniary surplus. ' Yet the Spanish people find funds for an undertaking which remind it of its old South American Empire. A demand from the Peninsula for 60,000 shares means more than a French demand for hundreds of thousands.;' Surprise after this would scarcely be capable of increase were requests for an allotiueut to arrive from, Turkey or Honduras.- At first the best friends of the project hardly dared to hope for more than that the subscriptions would be sufficient to encourage preparations for the works.: At present it is confidently anticipated that subscribers will he fortunate if they receive one share for every three they ask. M de Leaseps lias been happy in the time at which he has launched his scheme on the world's money market. They are full of the accumulated sayings of industry, and there is a dearth of opportunities for. their employjh&ht. Men were neyer more eager for Tin opening for inyestment, yet they continue suspicious and mistrustful of plants not recommended- by the character of, their promoters. Without the existing plethora of money, the Panama Canal could not have been started.. Still- more certainly tile superabundance of money would have been useless for~the~purpoße

<!e Ltsseps.. M. de Lesseps has luiVL'T boon HCiMisGcl of mercenary selfpeeking. When his magnificent work was laboring under a mountain of apparent impossibilities, blind enthusiasm was the worst charge alleged against him. That imputation he is accounted to have refuted by results ; and men believe him on his own word capable of accomplishing hie pledges in the future as in the past. The manner in which, by his personal ascendancy, he overcame at least half the reluctance of the American public, is a confirmation of the power of his star and his genius. His skill in securing an actual Minister of the United States for the ostensible head of his Company is an additional fact that he has lost none of the diplomatic talent which, when he was still unknown, triumphed over doubt and fear alike.