The Proposed Forth and Clyde Ship Canal.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 447, 19 February 1890, Page 6

The Proposed Forth and Clyde Ship Canal.

Messes D. and T. Stevenson, the engineers of the proposed Forth and Clyde Ship Canal via Loch Lomond, have issued a long letter contrasting the two routes. The letter states that in selecting the route for such a canal, they directed their attention at the outset to the line of the present Forth and Clyde Canal, and that examination of the levels showed that, owing to the existence of a high table land between the two rivers, the formation of a tidal canal without lochs and of a depth of 30 feet at low water would necessitate the excavation of about 280,000,000 cubic yards, costing at least £14,000,000, and the deepening of the Clyde to the extent of about 12 to 15 feet. The route of the present Forth and Clyde Canal by Yoker or Whiteinch would render necessary the construction of four railway swing bridges and a larg6 number of road bridges, and the district being a mining one, the minerals under the canal would have to be purchased at large coat, or a 1 lowed to be worked under the canal.at serious risk. An important sanitary question also cropped up, as when the tide , was rising in the Clyde the canal would be filling with water which contained the sewage of 700,000 people. The other modes of dealing with a canal on this line would be to form blocks at tlie seaward ends, and to raise ; vessels to the leve 1 of high water, or raise them by means of hydraulic lifts. This second proposal would require in order to lift a vessel of war, a tank measuring fiOO feet, by 80 feet by 30 feet, and weighing about 40,000 tons,involving enormouseost. The comparative advantages of the two routes were:— As' regards time from sea to sea there would be no difference. As regards vessels bound from the East to Glasgow, or vice versa , there would be a saving by tho Yoker route of 56 miles; but" 29 miles of the Loch Lomond route could be passed over at full speed. In conclusion, the letter states that they have adopted the Lqch Lomond route as the cheapest consistent- with safety and expedition, the route which will be in the interests of nearly all shipping ports in the kingdom, and the only one to which there is a possibility of the Government giving their assistance.