The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-08-06 00:00:00

LABOUR IN THE WEST INDIES.—It is understood that
her Majesty's Government have finally resolved to con-
vey a considerable number of Coolie labourers from the
ports of Calcutta and Madras, to the colonies of Guiana,
Trinidad, and Jamaica. The agents to conduct this emi-
gration have already been appointed, and it is to com-
mence after the Ist of October next. The ships are to be
chartered in India by public tender, in conformity with
the provisions of the Passengers' Act, and they will arrive
in the colonies at a favourable period for obtaining cargoes
for this country, while they have besides the whole sea-
board of America open to them.
GusNo.—Accounts from Icbaboe mention that the
Amy and Hanover left that island for England on the
26th and 28th May last. The Marquis of Wellesley,
Mathesis, and William and Ann had completed their
loading on the Ist of June, and that the Charles and,
William Grant were nearly filled. Thirty vessels had ar-
rived there during the month of May from various parts,
of which number six were from England, three from
Liverpool, one from Bristol, one from Cork, one from
Glasgow, one from Guernsey, two from Fernando Po,
two from Rio, nine from T. Bay, two from St. Helena,
and one from Boston.
JUNCTION OF THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS.
—The advantages that would be afforded to commerce by
'connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by a canal that
might be navigated by the largest ships are obvious to all ;
and it is the supposition that all schemes for such con-
nexion are impracticable that causes them to be less gene-
rally regarded than the benefits they promise would seem
to demand. A passage through Central America would
throw open an easy and comparatively short communica-
tion with the north western coast of the southern conti-
nent, would facilitate the approach to the Australian co-
lonies, and allow of a new route to China. However,
such appears to be the magnitude of the undertaking, that
there is a general disposition to look upon all projects for
connecting the oceans with distrust. Setting aside, how-
ever, the general doubt, and admitting the scheme of
communication to be practicable in some shape or other,
opinions seem to be divided among three plans—the Pa-
nama passage, that by the Lake of Nicaragua, and that by
the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in the Mexican territory.
To this last plan attention has lately been called by Don
Jose de Garay, who has published a pamphlet containing
the results of a survey, undertaken under the auspices of
the Mexican government, and setting forth his project in
very full detail. The foundation of Don Garay's project
is the cessation of the cordillera of mountains near the
source of the Chicapa, and a number of neighbouring ri-
vers. This leaves a table-land about Tarifa, composed of
a soil which is easily excavated, and densely inhabited by
an active population, whose labour can be obtained at a
trifling outlay. Don Garay would cut two trenches—one
from the Ostula to the Chicapa, another, which, beginning
a little above the " Ultimo Rancho," would direct the
waters to the immediate vicinity of Tarifa. To explain
the workings of the scheme fully is impossible without re-
ference to accurate maps of the spot, such as those which
accompany the pamphlet, but the general object is to
connect the great river of Coatzacoalcos, which flows into
the Gulf of Mexico, with the Chicapa, which flows into
the lagunes adjoining the Pacific, and affording the advan-
tage of an excellent harbour. The total cost of the work
Don Garay estimates at 85,000,000 f., or upwards of
£3,000,000 sterling.