The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 1929. CHANNEL TUNNEL PROJECT

Hokitika Guardian, 23 April 1929, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 1929. CHANNEL TUNNEL PROJECT

Kkcknt newspaper dispatches printed in tliis country state Unit Premier Baldwin lias sanelioned a “comprehensive and non-party re-examination” ol idle scheme ior tile eon.strnetion ol' a tunnel under the English Channel, de.igned to provide continuous eoinmuni--alion by r;iil UeLween Kngland and trance. This project has become historic.' Before it can lie carried to practical ellect, its proponents have to overcome a settled opinion in Kngland that whatever economic advantages a Channel tunnel might have, they are not commensurate with the disadvantages from the point of view of national defence. Twenty miles of sea water are no longer any protection against airplanes or artillery bombardment, and there are many easier and deadlier forms of attach than that of sending men along a subterranean lulio; a tunnel would, of course, lie equipped with means of culling communications at a moment’s notice, and there would lie ample defence works at its Dover entrance; nevertheless the bogey of fear oi a French invasion of Kngland. through whatever tunnel might he constructed under the Channel, persists in the second quarter of the twentieth century. As recently as 1924, the Council of Imperial Defence rejected the tunnel proposition entirely, and it is therefore something accomplished, something done to have prevailed 111*011 th<» (iovermm'iit to-day to rocronshier ils attitude towards the project and reopen tin 1 quest ion lor study and discussion, presumably with an open mind regarding the possible utility ol the tunnel. The first proposal to const met a tunnel under the English Channel, “to be used bv stage coaches and diligences.’’ was made at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The scheme was favorably regarded by Napoleon. Nothing materialised, however; and il fell to the railway era. and I la* great engineering feats which accompanied it. In lend the color of practicability to the project. In 1870 after negol hit ions between the English and French Coveninienls. a proctneol was signed; a company was formed in England and another in France, and legislation was passed in both countries

authorizing preliminary operations to lie commenced. On each side ol the vJiannci an cxpci imciital tunnel was bored lor a distance oi' something over

a ...lit, nut in Operations were swspemieu on the Hover side by order oi Llit* British Go.eminent, and on the r reneli side wont a iso necessarily ceas-

eo. aniice liiaL Lime, tne project lot a Liimiei mis oecn ir.m Lime to tune

revived. v/..e proposal Was resolving MJiisinerat 1011 11 v Liie Lotiu.ii oi tii.-

peri.il i/CKiiee in ill.-i wntn tin* tiieat

,1 in' oroa.e ..lit. 1 ills event c..lnpcliou cm.* Lee.. l n> it was alterwards revived and nos sin v, red me 1921 ieio ol tile t ooncn oi iii,penal neieiiee, a veto wind. I. ,i;J 0.1.5e0 011 1 011 l I .iSioliS tllllL till’ .icneine ..ueie.i jew miiiLUry advantages, nun eolisour.iine mnuary uis.idvaiitiige.s; Ln.il il i o,it..ii.en i.itiiSpuianiv elements oi anger, ..i.u woiiai add in me anxieties to mo.-e res,,oiixi tile lm .iiitiuiiul deieiiif. I lie aLiiiddfol men ... i...lumen e, ir.uciei. is in .re iavor-

ii..ie Lo me priijeet as ov'n.g one wliicii

II alid linen ruined 011 l nodal he CiOno.uicaily advantageous h.,tii to Great jji'itain add to Eur. pe as a whole. It ■ s po.iueii ont that it the tunnel wore '« oi.nti lilted a stream ol go als eonsigneil Irom beyono the Atlantic to tne continent id Europe would be deflected to iS.dilhumpuui Horn Hain-urg, its growing ri\al; that, owing to the naiurai advantages ol the great British ports, England would heeuine at a „trt).ve the western terminus ol tin* whole European railway system; that a very large warelnusing trade, beueiteial to British railways and seaports, might be expected to spring up; and iliat the possibility of sending British goods without transshipping all over Europe and Asia would react favorably on their cost abroad and benefit British export trade. French opinion is til in lavour of an early start on an undertaking which according to latest estimates would cost some thirty-five Bilious, mid there seems no doubt that me French share ol the capital expenliture could be raised at any time, i ,e site of the tunnel has been minutely surveyed and shown to be mutually advantageous, and competent jjritsb and French engineers are in igreeinent on most of the technical points involved in the construction. But against all the economic advantages which it is reasonably certain would result from the linking up of England with the railway net of Europe, against the possible benefits of a Channel tunnel to international goodwill and understanding, the argument that the scheme is still inexpedient from a military standpoint his hitherto prevailed in Great Britain. A great deal has been done and more is being done, quietly to educate public opinion on the sub'ect in order to bring about a more general eonvieLion that whilst the danger of military invasion is more apparent than real, the prospects of a great extension of British loreign trade tnrougli the tunnel are luth apparent and real.