The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. SATURDAY, MAR. 15, 1890.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2757, 15 March 1890, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

SATURDAY, MAR. 15, 1890.

Equal and exact justice to all men, OF whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political.

This future of New Zealand will be largely linked with the canals that are being cut through the American continent to connect the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. The .Suez Canal will chiefly serve the purposes of Australia, but to us tbc Panama and the Nicaragua routes will be all important. That through the Panama Isthmus is in suspense, though there seems every probability of its being yet completed. The canal through Nicaragua is much more certain, thero is little doubt that it will be a great waterway before the end of the present century. The first sod was turned on the 22iul October last, at fr-in Juan del Norte. The Governor of the province represented tlifi Nicaraguan government for the occasion. All the Foreign Consuls were present, and it was resolved to found a new city at the Atlantic port of the canal, to be called America, Though the formal sod turning only took place on October 22., a good deal of the preliminary work had been already done by the powerful company which has secured the con-1 cession from Nicaragua. Light |

railroads, ijood waggon roads, and a line of steamboats on the San Juan river, and Lake Nicaragua, establish communication during the. whole of the projected route. Supplies, material, and workmen can thus be readily transported to any desired spot without heavy outlay. The climate is not unhealthy and the drainage of the entire canal cutting in both directions, from Lake Nicaragua to -the ocean is ? complete. Swamps are thus absent. The steady tn-cle winds do the rest. Pure drinking-water is to be obtained in abundance, and some of the greatest. difficulties besetting the Panama enterprise will not be felt in that of Nicaragua. The total length of the canal is to be 170 miles, which is only about 20 longer than that of Panama. Of this length 28 tniles will require complete excavation, 21 more will be formed by dams along certain hollows and valleys on the line, and for the remaining 121 the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua will be made available by dredging, for the largest ships. Two locks in the eastern division, and three in the Western, will divide the canal into six sections or levels, two of these will take tide water. The curves average 5000 feet in radius, and at certain points large basins will be formed by the construction of massive embankments. Water will also be stored in three basins to supply that lost by evaporation, leakage, or other causcs. The total of earth to be dredged is estimated at 23| million cubic yards, and of excavation at 16i millions. These, are enormous figures, but the means of the company are fully adequate to the work, which will be carried on under conditions as favourable as could be expected or reasonably desired. The solid rock to be blasted and removed, is estimated at ISi- million cubic yards, of which .15 millions are above water, and the remainder is under water, and this* with about 15,000 yards of excavation, and the necessary dredging, will be all that is necessary te form the requisite good terminal harbours. The actual cost of tliis great work is estimated at eleven million pounds sterling, all subscribed and available, The Company is American, and the neutrality of the Canal, under the protection of the United States, will be necessarily respected in a manner which the Suez Canal, in Turkish territory, could not command. The Nicaraguan Company is free of all Government interference and control; has engineers of the highest eminence connected with it, and ample resources to carry the work through to a successful ending. The operations will be carried on at different parts of the route simultaneously, and the progress be in proportion. When the canal is opened, ships from New Zealand will no doubt all use it in preference to any other route, and the transit charges ought not to be high considering the comparative emallness of its cost. A journey of 170 miles will be an agreeable break in the voyage, and no ordinary passengers will care to face the fatigue and cost of the route either from San Francisco or Vancouver's Island. Additional traffic facilities will givo a new impulse to commerce and colonisation, and the recent annexation of the Lagoon Island of Suwarrow will give an excellent coaling station on the way. The success of this great undertaking is assured, and we shall watch its progress with great interest as of the deepest importance to New Zealand.