Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/1204

 PANAMA

The Isthmus Oj. i .,. , . . c<ran tries by severa 1 ° ?™ ™ I8 ln communication with European and American commerce) for CoMn 1 ™J ° f steamers. All the maritime traffic (IuterSnal Cristobal and Balboa ; a " d Plin ™ a now runs through the Canal Z! " new port of Handing*! #JJ del Toro remains ferine provTncial t 2 Tl e September 26, 1916. bout 80 miles from the city of Colon, was opened on

A railway, 47 miles ^.„ Colon and Panama. It beft rst built in 1850-55), connects the ports of States Government). A bra\? sto tfl e Panama Railroad Company (United Cascades, crossing the Canal onl n l ine extends from Pedro Miguel to Las the Province of Bocas del Toro tht sw i n ging pontoon bridge at Paraiso Jn about 140 miles of track with branc7. ni ted Fruit Company (American) owns and passengers to the port of Almirante which is used to transport bananas the line extends into Costa Rica for a distauthe Chiriqui lagoon. At present is being extended towards Port Litnon (Costa 1, of about 30 miles. This line distant from that port 30 miles. The Chiriqui \ca) and its terminal is now being extended for 16 miles more. A concession ie is 65 miles lone and is construction of a railway on the Atlantic Coast of hs granted in 1917 for the mouth of the river Chagres and running south-west'iama, starting from the 31 miles. o Almirante for at least

There are telegraph cables from Panama to North. American ports, and from Colon to the United States ai«ricaii and South are being constructed throughout the country. There aiEurope. R oa d s and 37 telegraph offices. 96 post-offices

Money and Credit. — The monetary unit is the gold Ba 1"672 gramme '900 fine, to which the United States gold doll;a weighing equivalent. Silver coins are the peso (of 25 grammes "900 fine), a. j s ] e „ a ]] v fifth, tenth and twentieth peso pieces and nickel coins of 2^ cents. ^ e fla J no paper money. Two silver pesos of Panama currency are taken ; There ;l lent tc one U.S. gold dollar. Altogether four millions of silver O-equiva- the new currency have been coined and placed in circulation. In N<] ars ^ 1916, the sum of 1,000,000 pesos was withdrawn from circulation^^ Canal Zone Government, and in August and September of 1917, ' 1y ^ t ' e banks withdrew 952,000 pesos ; total amount withdrawn l,952,0(p ] oca ] equal to 976,000 dollars U.S. currency. p egog

Part of the 10,000,000 dollars (canal money) paid by the Unit< has been applied to the establishment of a real estate loan ban} st a t eg public improvements in the several provinces, and 6,000,000 dollars p art to invested in the United States. re Deen

The Panama Canal and the Canal Zone.

On November 18, 1903, a treaty between the United States a]

this zone the exclusive control for police, judicial, sanitary and ot II( j w jtJn n For subsidiary canals other territory was ceded and, for the d^pu]-p 0ses . Canal, the coastline of the zone and the islands in Panama Bay w nce f ^j The cities of Panama and Colon remain under the authorit a ] so ce j e( j i but complete jurisdiction was granted to the United States in } f Panama and in their harbours in all that relates to sanitation and q n the cities return for these grants the United States paid 10,000, an j.j ne# j n the ratification of the treaty, and is paying 250,000 dollars on

liars yearly,