Untitled

Taranaki Daily News, 23 November 1916, Page 4

The long-standing scheme for the connection of Britain and Franco, by the Channel tunnel is carried forward a little by the approval of the French Chambers of Commerce mentioned in our cablegrams The. president of the chambers have carried a resolution urging the immediate construction of the tunnel in view of post-war economic problems. This attitude is supported by practically the whole of (he French people; the French Government has always approved of the connection, and the French Tunnel Company has full power to commence, work at any hour, but is waiting until the British Government gives its sanction. It was stated recently that there was a large majority in the House of Commons in favor of the scheme, and apparently all that is needed is the Cabinet's consent, which might hinge largely on the opinion of War Office. Particulars of the tunnel scheme given lately in London journals -bowed that the under-C'bannel tunnel as schemed out by British and French engineers will consist of two tubes, each capable of carrying standard British rolling stock. These tubes will be constructed in the bed of grey chalk, which has an average thickness of about 200 feet, .and constitutes an ideal material in which to carry through such an excavation. The maximum depth of water ove;-the tunnel will be 100 fed. and the thickness of the roof or "cover" above the tubes will be about 150 feet of solid chalk—an ample protection against any attack by submarines or explosive, The portal or mouth of the tunnel on the British side would be at Ma.vton, about one mile inland from the coast, and would be under direct fire of guns already mounted both at Dover Castle and also at the Western Heights forts. A certain length of the tunnel near the English coast will be so constructed as to enable, in ease of .necessity, a section of a mile in length to he filled up to the roof with water, This water would be admitted through sluice under tbe control of and within the precincts of the two forts, and it could not bo pumped out from the Continental side. But no permanent injury would accrue to the tnniie! itself from 'such flooding. Th.' railway would thus be rendered useless to any invader if occasion required. Other precautions similar to those whic'i exist to-day in the case of the St Gothard, Simpton and Mont Ccnit, tunnels, for temporarily destroying the portals, would be provided. The tubes for tbe up-and-down lines, it is explained, will be large enough to take the great through trains, with restaurant and sleeping ears. The Paris service, which will probably be half-hourly, will Ik pel formed by specially constructed trains, and besides these will be the trains to Brustels, Madrid, Rome and Switzerland, the P and O. express to Marseilles, the Orient express to Constantinople, and many others, making London more than ever the centre of the world. Between these trains, and especially during the night, will be the goods trains pouring the lighter and more perishable merchandise each way to and from th? Midlands, the North, and even Scotland. People who look ahead, said a commentator in the Daily Chronicle recently, think that the passenger and goods traffic will in crease out of all knowledge, ,i« happened when the Suez Canal was opened. There will probably in time be a tunnel for motor traffic, which will be fully occupied by passenger cars and lorries. The present question is to induce th. British Government to consent to the two rai'way companies in England and France connecting their systems by means of a. tunnel between Dover and Calais. The time required for construction was originally given as from six to seven years, hut methods are under consideration by which this period may he considerably reduced ft is extremely likely that Britain and France will not wait until tin wai ends before commencing the boring of the tunnel; the mutual aihantages, commercial and strategic, are so obvious that any serious opposition is very improbable.

THE CHANNEL TUNNEL.