THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1907. MEXICO'S TEHUANTEPEC RAILWAY OPENED.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8504, 6 August 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1907. MEXICO'S TEHUANTEPEC RAILWAY OPENED.

The Tehuantepec Railway of Mexico has been opened for traffic recently. President Diaz, in the presence of the representatives of twenty foreign nations, pressed an electric button, which gave motion to a crane that raised fifteen sacks uf sugar from the hold of the steamship Arizoman, lying at the port of Salina Cruz, on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, and placed it on board a freight car bound for Coatzacoalcos, on the Gulf coast. This simple act was the inauguration of a new ro"te for the commerce of the world, many years before the Panama Canal can be opened. The "Mexican Official Route" is its official name, and it will be an important factor in international trade. Sir Weetman Pearson, constructor of the line of railroad, made an address, in which he reviewed the work on the isthmus of Tehuantepec, and expressed his confidence in its future results. He predicted that, within seven years, if not within five, the Tehuantepec. National Railroad would have a double track. With its single track, it is now capable of handling

I a million tons of freight annually, and it has harbour facilities for eight ocean steamers 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 Mississippi Valley. There are now in sight six hundred thousand tons of freight which is about 33 per cent, more than the Panama Railroad ever handled in any one year. President Diaz, in his response to Sir Weetman, said that the prophecy o* Humboldt that the isthmus of Tehuantepee would become the "bridge of the world's commerce, " was now fulfilled.' He then gave the signal for starting the crane which swung the fifteen sacks of sugar to the freight car, and person ally sealed the car. These seals he broke at Puerto, Mexico, formerly Coatzacoalcos, two days later, and superintended the reloading of the sugar aboard the Louis Luckenback bound for Philadelphia. The sugar came from Honolulu, Sandwfch Is- I

lands. The opening of thi3 new route to the Pacific promises to be a great aid to the trade between the Atlantic and Pacific ports, at least until the Panama Canal is finished, and opens for the trade of the world. It is believed in Mexico that even after that event, the Tehuantepec 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.