CHANNEL TUNNEL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4744, 29 August 1924, Page 1

CHANNEL TUNNEL.

WHY IT IS DEAR TO THE FRENCH. A MEASURE OF PROTECTION. At the anniversary of the French National Fete Day, when the members of the French colony in London met in lai §9 numbers at the. French Embassy, Le Comte de Saint-Aulaire, the French Ambassador, referred to the; Channel tunnel as follows: If this project is dear to us, ! t is not because; its realisation would spare us the in--convenience and sometimes the anguish of the crossing. It is because we see in it, over and,.above all, the symbol and means of a more active co-operation between the two countries. Meanwhile, let us neglect nothing in view of constructing or rather keeping open the ideal bridge that unites our two countries. Let this bridge be freely open for the interchange of ideas, with an absolute bar against prejudice, misunderstand- , ing, and polemics. In this way it would be the best advertisement for the tunnel.

Officially it would be an indiscretion on my part to comment on a decision that concerns British sovereignty. I will merely ask those of my English friends who, even after the transformations effected by modern science, see in the slightest attack on the insularity of Great Britain a peril for her security, not to be astonished at the precautions adopted by France for the defence of a fron-

tier which is not completely maritime. If France is the pountry far and away the most threatened by a redoubtable enemy, she is not the only country to try and protect herself. Have we not recently seen the United States take measures against Japanese immigration that France would hesitate to take permanently even against German immigration ? The French, though very ignorant in geography, do remain of the opinion that the Pacific Ocean is wider than the Rhine, which incidenatlly only covers our territory to a email extent. Though forgetfulness is dramatically swift, which exposes us to the possibility of fresh tragedies, the French still remember a German visit which took place in a form that foreign immigration does not assume in other countries. It would be to fail to observe the rules, of the game if, in Anglo-Saxon countries that are less , exposed to. invasions, France was charged with imperialism and held up to the indignaiton of the world because, following their example rather I than their advice, she does not seek to safeguard her independence and even her existence exclusively by relying on the progress of the spirit of internationality.