, 1893-04-05
THE CORINTH CANAL.

The progress OF the COfluln Gdudi lo ucs-
crihea by the British Consul in Pit@us in a
report lately issued by the Foreign Office.
Ia 1881 General Turr. who was associated
with NJ. de Lesseps in the Suez Canal enter.
prise. obtained a concession by Royal decree
to cut a canal through the Istlmus Of Corintt,
and succeeded in floating a company called
the Societ6 Internationale du Cans! Maritime
de Corinthe to undertake the work. The
capital consisted Of 10000, 000f. in 60.ntl
shares Of 500f. each, and, encouraged 10y the
extraordinary success of the Suez Canal Com
pany, the whole of the capital was subscribed.
The works began in March, 1882, and went
on, accomp inied by lavish aud apparently un-
controlled expenditure, till the capital WAS
absorbed. leaving the canal unfinished but
b. the aid Of the Compton dEscompte,
1000. 000f. more we're raised, and the works
went slowly on. In March, 1889, the Comp
toir d'Escompte. however, get into dlttlcultles,
and the works at the lsthmus came to o Stand-
still in July of the same year. The original
calculation Of the excavation to be accomplish
ed put the amount at about ll,50O,0OO cubic
metres. and in the seven years the original
company existed about9. 100000 cube metres
we're really excavated, leaving abont
3.250,000 cubic metres still untouched. As
over two thirds Of the work was done, nego-
%tiatious were at once set on foot to form q
new company to take over the old concession.
The Soci6te HeIlenique du Canal de Corlnths
was hprefore formed with a capital OF
5.0O0.0uOf. and 23. 333, go in obligations Of
5OOf. each. and took over the works in their
unfinished state. The company made a con-
tract with a gentleman who had gained ex-
perience in sub-contracts, in the Suez Canal
named Matsas. which he handed over to the
Soo;64H C6rnrol 6'EDtrpOriSaa a firm Of which
he was the leading partner. This firm under
took to construct the canal, and signed the
contract in June. 1890, and commenced work
in September 1890, with an undertaking to
have ii finished in March, 1898. or pay a fire
Of 100000 per month for any delay after
that date. In January, lS92, however, q
waterspout is supposed to have burst near
Isthmia, ana such torrents of rain flooded the
canal works as to suspend all operations Tor
some weeks, and on account OF this the CON
tractors have obtained two months grace
from the company, $50 that the actual date by
which the works are now TO be finished IS
Nav. 1893. On November l, last 2,12O, 600
cubic metres had been removed in 26 months,
or a little mere than 100 90 cubic metres per
month, and only 300, 600 cubic metres re-
NAMED to be done, so Tint, il the same rate
Of progress could be, maintained, only 81
months moIe would nave been req lted. But
the contractors themselves state that The
whole # the works will not be finished before
the middle of April but the Consul says
that the present aspect Of the works does not
encourage him to hope that their prophecies
will be realised. The canal does not Gloss she
iathmus in the narrowe tepot. or even II tbs
lowest. but the ques ION Of surface drainage
has been chiefly conside ed III choosing the
line of the cutting. and the spst where th'rs
is the east chance OF suifaoe w'''el fuGl1g rs
way into the canal has been chosen. From
$500 to $500 men have bven at work on tho
canal now for years, Of many n2tionalities AMI
languages. kept together by CANCERS, or head
Il en-, over each group. Each nation is kept
to it's neutrality-suspicious. to shovel Work
and loading tip wagons, Montenegrins to the
pick. Italians to tun1elling. to work in vet
nlaces. and to masonry and store-drrsslng-
The canal will be about six kilometres N
length. it will have q minimum breadth at the
bofton of q and at water-level OF 24.6 metres
and a minimum depth of eight metres. When
it ia fnished il will have cost n arly e., 10000
aud whether it will earn enough to pay work
mo axnenses and interest is q problem which