SAVING THE THAMES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXIII, Issue 9038, 30 December 1907, Page 3

SAVING THE THAMES.

A remarkable engineering p r °]ect is being mooted at Home. The Thames appears to be too small for London, or London too big lor the Thames, and London’s standing as -the chief port of the Empire is threatened. The greatest liners could not get into the port of London, because there is not enough water for them, the depth at low water between the Albert Docks and .Gravesend being from 22 to 34 feet. Borings are now being made to ascertain whether the river can be •deepened, but grave doubts are ex--pressed whether this can he done without endangering the tunnels under the river, and the walls which extend nearly all the way along the ’ riverside. To meet the difficulty some adventurous spirits have proposed the avoidance of the Thames .and the substitution of a new waterway from the English Channel to the Metropolis. A steamer coming up channel, say from New Zealand, is less than 50 miles from London as the crow flies when it is off Shoreham, in Sussex, six miles from Brighton, yet there still remains a sea journey of something like 300 miles before the boat reaches London. The heavy traffic of the Channel, the Goodwin Sands, and liability of the waterway to fog, make this part of the-voyage very difficult. The country between Shoreham and London is fairly flat, and the promoters contend that the only engineering difficulty—the hills near Dorking—can be surmounted if the money is available. The canal would be 300 feet wide and 40 :feet deep, with a large harbour at the channel end. It is contended that such a canal would solve all the problems of the Thames and bring industrial prosperity to two or three southern counties. It is argued that during the past 10 or 15 years the size of all long-voyage craft has been increasing, and that in a few years’ time nearly all such vessels will be drawing from 36 to 40 feet of water, while to give the Thames a navigable channel of this depth up to the Victoria Docks would destroy all the present river walls, tunnels and wharves. Therefore nothing short of a great ship canal can save to the Metropolis its place as the Empire’s chief port.