27 NOVEMBER 1909, Page 2

The impossibility of accurately estimating the cost of excavating the

Panama Canal is once more shown by the annual Report of the Canal Commission. The original estimate, including policing and sanitation, was £28,800,000. In 1906 the cost of construction alone was estimated at £27,800,000. The present Report estimates that the total cost of construction will reach £59,400,000, and that with purchase price, sanitation, and civil government, the total bill will amount to £75,000,000. In this context it is worth recalling that under the Lesseps scheme some £60,000,000 had been expended by 1888.