Miscellaneous. 



342 



[October, Ml. 



year. But if the Panama Canal takes 

 away any material share of the Suez 

 business, Colonel Goethals has assured 

 President Taft that the Suez Canal can 

 come down to the proposed Panama 

 rates and still declare dividends of 

 reasonable size. 



The idea of competition between 

 canals on opposite sides of the Atlantic 

 ocean may seem rather far-fetched, but 

 the canal authorities of the United 

 States Government explain it in a 

 rational way. They say the North 

 Atlantic is the harbour of the world's 

 wholesale and manufacturing trade. 

 The principal business of the world 

 centres around the shores of that sea. 

 The principal trade of the world runs 

 into and out of the North Atlantic. 

 That is where all the rest of the world 

 comes for its goods, and it is the clear- 

 ing-house through which it does its 

 business and finances its operations. 



Heretofore there has been but one 

 chief gateway out of this centre of 

 trade — that to the eastward through the 

 the Suez Canal. But now there is to be 

 a gateway to the westwerd as well 

 through the Panama Canal. Hence the 

 competition between the two gates 

 must follow on all trade between North 

 Atlantic pcrts and the other side of 

 the world. The question of which will 

 get the greater share of it is one solely 

 of dollars and cents. 



Colonel Goethals, the builder of the 

 Panama Canal, who expects to throw it 

 open to commerce in less than two years, 

 has explained all this to President Taft 

 during his present visit to Washington. 

 It will not be a matter of sentiment, but 

 purely one of which canal and which 

 route will enable the ships to deliver 

 their cargoes at the lesser expense. 



The Suez Canal at present charges a 

 toll of about $1-70 per net registered ton 

 American money and American measure. 

 From the attitude of both the Presi- 

 dent and of Colonel Goethals, it is in- 

 ferred that they will advocate a charge 

 at Panama of not more than $1 per net 

 registered ton, and possibly less than 

 that. What they would like to have 

 Congress do is to give the President 

 authority to fix the rate at anything 

 between 50 cents and $1-50 a ton, so that 

 he may be able to decide upon a figure 

 finally that will permit the Panama 

 Canal fully to meet its operating 

 expenses, there being no evidence of in- 

 tention to try to make money out of it. 

 Of course, these rates refer to world 

 traffic, and not to American ships, as 

 the right is always retained to let Amer- 

 ican Vessels use the canal toll free if 

 that shall be deemed best. 



AN ACCOUNT OF THE WORKING 

 OF THE LAND SETTLEMENT 

 SCHEME IN ST. VINCENT. 



By W. N. Sands, 

 Agricultural Superintendent, 

 St. Vincent. 



(From the West India Bulletin, 

 Vol. XI., No. 3, 1911.) 



The Land Settlement Scheme of St. 

 Vincent is probably the largest and 

 most comprehensive of its kind yet 

 attempted in any of the British West 

 Indian Colonies, so that an account of 

 the working of it during the past ten 

 years, more particularly from an agri- 

 cultural standpoint, may be of interest. 



The scheme owes its existence to the 

 West Indian Royal Commission of 1897. 

 The Royal Commission, after going very 

 fully into the condition of the peasantry 

 of St. Vincent, reported as follows, in 

 paragraphs 374-8 of their report :— 



374. We have already made a general 

 recommendation that the settlement of 

 the Creole population of the West Indies 

 as cultivating proprietors should be 

 recognized as the settled policy of the 

 Government of the different Colonies, 

 and we see no reason to depart from 

 that policy in the case of St. Vincent. 

 On the contrary, it seems to us that, 

 whether the sugar industry is maintain- 

 ed or disappears, it is absolutely essen- 

 tial in the interest of the native popu- 

 lation that their settlement of the land 

 should be facilitated ; in no other way 

 does it seem to us to be possible to 

 maintain even the most moderate degree 

 of prosperity in St. Vincent. 



375. At the same time the question is 

 surrounded with special difficulties in 

 the case of this island, There is, no 

 doubt, a large extent of Crown land, but 

 this land is situated in the centre of the 

 island, at a considerable elevation, re- 

 mote from the markets, and is unpro- 

 vided with roads. A great deal of the 

 land consists of steep slopes difficult to 

 cultivate, and liable to suffer from heavy 

 rains and floods. 



376. The attempts that have been 

 made in recent years to settle cultivators 

 on the Crown lands have not so far met 

 with much success. A considerable 

 number of plots were taken up, to be 

 paid for in instalments, but. the owners 

 complained of the want of roads. They 

 have suffered from the low prices of 

 produce, and owing to the general de- 

 pression they have found themselves 

 unable to get work so as to earn the 

 wages on which they relied in some 



