TUNNEL FROM CALAIS TO DOVER.

Dunstan Times, Issue 521, 12 April 1872, Page 1 (Supplement)

TUNNEL FROM CALAIS TO DOVER.

Since tlic successful completion of tbc Mont Conis Tunnel the interest felt in the project of a submarine way from Calais to Dover has naturally begun to revive. If the scheme should appear a wild one it must Ic borne in mind that engineers of great importance and high reputation have expressed themselves confident of its practicability. The two nearest points between tlio English and French coasts are not much farther apart than twice the distance bored by the Italian engineers through the Alps, and experience has shown the perfect feasibility of ventilating the workings during the progress of the labor. Nor is any doubt now felt that ventilation could be easily maintained in such .a tunnel when completed. In the case of the Alpine Tunnel the boring was entirely through limestone rock, or, worse still, through quartz and granite. The Channel tunnel, on the other hand, would, it is believed, be all the way through the grey chalk which lies under the bed of the sea, and which, though impermeable by watc.i, can be cut out and removed with comparatively little labor and expense. With regard to boring under the sea, it is pointed out that this is already done by the miners of Northumberland, who have actually excavated many miles of submarine workings. In fact, being under the sea is only striking to the imagination, it being just as easy to practice to work through solid chalk, whether there be water over it or not. The scheme certainly does not appear more visionary than that of laying a telegraphic cable between Europe and America appeared some years ago. Travellers may, therefore, be congratulated upon the prospect of heiug'ablc ere long to crops the Channel in half an hour, serene and undisturbed while the strongest of gales is blowing, and the heaviest of seas is rolling.