REPORT OF BOARD OF CONSULTING ENGINEERS, PANAMA CANAL.


 Mr. Tincauzer offered a motion, as follows:
 Resolved, That the period of time of ten or eleven years be fixed by the Board for the completion of a lock canal adopted in the previous meeting.
 Mr. Welcker offered an amendment to this motion, which was accepted, making the resolution read as follows:
 Resolved, That the Board declare in its report that the time of finishing a lock canal at summit level 60 feet depends on many contingencies that can not be definitely estimated in time; that under efficient management and not seriously affected by extraordinary and unforeseen difficulties, political obstructions, or bad sanitation it may be feasible to complete the work in about ten or eleven years; that adverse conditions may lengthen that period, while favorable circumstances and continuous first-class direction may shorten that period by perhaps one or two years.
 Several members expressed a desire that their votes should be modified by statements, as follows:
 Mr. NOBLE. I shall vote for that resolution, but in doing so I wish it to be distinctly understood that I am not bound by any inference as to the comparative time for building the sea-level canal and the lock canal which the passage of the two resolutions might indicate. I believe that the time required for building the two canals, according to the projects before the Board, will depend almost absolutely upon the relative amounts of excavation in the Culebra cut, and I do believe that the time required for building a lock canal at a summit level of 60 feet will be substantially as indicated in the resolution.
 Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Chairman, I had in mind to make the same statement.
 General ABBOT. I would like to make the same statement.
 Mr. RIPLEY. I also.
 Mr. QUELLENNEC. I also.
 Mr. RANDOLPH. I also.
 Mr. HUNTER. On the other hand, Mr. Chairman, I should like to say that whereas it was asked that an expression of our opinion should be added to the preliminary resolution passed in respect to the sea-level canal-I think that addendum was not made when the resolution was passed yesterday-personally I am of the opinion that there is no reason whatever why the sealevel canal should not be constructed and easily constructed within the time suggested by this resolution, and that even if the time in this resolution be shortened, still'by good management and good fortune the time would be equally shortened So far as the sea-level canal is concerned; but I am of opinion, having regard to all these works of art and the difficulty of obtaining skilled labor in the Isthmus, that of the two projects the sea-level canal could be executed first.
 Mr. WELCKER. I think the chances for unfavorable and unforeseen accidents are greater with a lock canal than with a sea-level canal. I think the chances of shortening the time of construction, as expressed by our figures, are not so great in the case of the former as of the latter.
 Mr. TINCAUZER. I agree with Mr. Welcker entirely.
 Mr. BURR. I desire to state that while I shall vote for this motion I believe that the great quantities of work and material required in the construction of locks for a lock canal introduce a complication which more than compensates for the additional quantity of material to be taken out of the Culebra cut, and while this motion indicates a period for the construction of the lock canal less than that stated in the expression of the Board for the time required for the construction of the sea-level canal, it is my judgment that the simpler character of work would enable the latter to be constructed ina time no greater than that required for the former, and, in my judgment, even less.
 The question was put to the Board, and the resolution was adopted unanimously.
 Mr. Burr offered the following resolution:
 Whereas, in the judgment of this Board, a sea-level canal is feasible, following a line with dimensions and such arrangements that the transit between the two oceans shall be secured in a permanent manner for all time under the best conditions for navigation and safety, for vessels of the largest tonnage and greatest draft now in use, or such as may be reasonably anticipated: Therefore
 Resolved, That the Board adopt and recommend to the President of the United States the plan of a sea-level


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