Mortality on the Panama Canal.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 2018, 13 June 1885, Page 6 (Supplement)

Mortality on the Panama Canal.

Them: are 10,000 men employed on the canal, distributed all the way from Colon to Aspinwall or Panama. Tho distance by rail between these two points is not over :J0 miles. The wages for skilled workmen is '233. per day, and for laborers 123. ()&. to 16a. Gi. per day. Tbo latter are chiefly runaway sailors and natives who, induced by the high wages, take the chances of sickness and death. The mortality is frightful. Hundreds die monthly, and the hospitals are constantly filled with the sick. It is said that nine out cf ten of the patients who are sent to these hospitals die there. If the dead man has money or influence, he is put into a pine box and buried ; otherwise his body is dumped into a pit and quicklime thrown over him. There is an old saying that every tie of the Panama railroad represents a tombstone for some poor unfortunate. Now, it is true that every foot of excavated ground symbolises a grave. Tho canal is twelve feet deep and from eighty to ninety feet wide. The rains, which are abundant, not only interfere with the work, but often cause the banks to cave in and fill up tho canal. Board and lodging costs from 2 Is. to L.i per week. Machinists and ongineera are paid from I! 12 to Ll.j per week.