The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-02-06 00:00:00

THE CHANNEL TUNNEL.
On this great- engineering
6301thhaelt.phraosjetehte
ofoflioawi(";;2galneandee .lr
project, The Tinus of the
ttally sanctioned by the Governments
difficulty arose
T-unnel
Er has
nowof Great been
itain and France. In France some
from the Law of 1841, which required that h
t, the project
n
ojeact
should be declared "of public utility
official concession in its favour could be definitive,
correspond-
difficulty diffilt efinritrie‘s'ep,oandnd-
not merely contingent; but,
ent stated yesterday, the as
our P
has
completed arid this formality will have been.com
dated
Passing of the Bill which the MinistAer podfePsiinabtobloivehcfel(r)VrcdsooTrt.khee:
n.,aa laid before the Assembly. daimary 26, intimated the consent ofthengsliiishh. Government to the proposed arrangements,others, ject to certain conditions-among
being
imthmatintehnet right to suspend traffic on war 1 shall be an express article of the agreement,
the exercise of this right shall not be madee
aa
groundand th a t
for claiming indemnity. The FrenchGmovoefrnexnateenn_
Government
12as assented, but thinks it just that ara term
should be
Bion equal to such suspension
of given to the 99 years' concessionsatn traffic
the 30 years'
Monopoly. Seventy-three Chambers of Commerce
have been consulted, and all approve, twenty-seven of
these demanding, however, that there should be no in-
monopoly but that the State shonuuld
rates
P3wer °f Purchase, and that a tariff of i naxoin t
should be fixed.
Whatever may be the practical result of this great
enterprise-and we wish it all success-it willsea.elnw,a,LB
remain an honourable example of perseveringrt.e
common
effort and of international co-operationf 9 h Many visitors to the Paris Exhibition ofhlaBd6a7
will remember a certain model which generallywith an expres-
little knot of.observers about it-
Rion on their faces of that pityingsoinmcre9dulity which is
ofetiltersto,wards the scheme of an ingenious visionary ;in whoin the memory of a rough Channel
to believe
sage was perhaps fresher, looking as if they would
regarding
pliask.t
e:
in it if they could; but allr
irOieo
rather as a curious toy than anything else.
structor con-
°f that model-M. Thom de Gamhe g
nd lis
/tallied in the. Bill now before the Versailles As
justsem forty
Itn y
tbe first to eugge nn
st a Channel Tunnel. It is
',s since.he began to study the subject.other
hpelhaand
bear s
'''readY decided on a Tunnel as against
With which the public has since become familiar-a
submerged- tube' a submarine shield, a l
a ferry plying between pie. asslc and Observations
e ofthethe
us under
chalk strata from N
tlea;ill of Piertnes left in doubt the continuity
aof
otnd
he
the Channel tie , and in 1839 M. 1 Gm
tittwas inclining, not to a Tunnel, but to a continuous
rlinius o.f stonework from coast to coast, in which
•
ee navigable channels should be left. To
Zassterobjected this it
that it would alter the time of high
-sin some parts of the German Ocean, that
would
tulit
Would block the marine traffic, and that i
cost 34 mini
T ons, and in 1851 he returned to o
unnel sche nat sub-
location me. -In 1855 it was ascertained taarine dislocation of strata was to be apprehended
thbe-
111°re serions• than the small faults commonly et In the
More horizontal layers owing to the abrupt hollows
cliffer
fa the bottom of the sea made by friction on
_.
hardnesses. Not long afterwards surfaces M
de
Palmerston
,_ n s scheme received the appr
oo
rv
dal of Brunel,
sn,„cc4e, and Robert Stephenson. L
s-- seePtieal ; and on one occasion, when aprfornotteerr_
'Tars°, the Tmlnel was dilating on the advant!!gesou°
, e with; th.e Continent, observed, .art 3tute -differently if you. . ir
.would
ini- ud• But Mr. Cobden did no t t sanguine
too
true
"hadtthmkbeein born in this
4.; eliiBsoBf to...describe the future Tunnel as "the, _
exao in ainanee "between the two caoudntrtihese.'
Paris
.ei..cial Treaty with France
ache itinn of 1867 were incidents propitious to the
the °le,
-(ea which, as so far matured, was represente_ars.
d_ by
nwla
as uaodel exhibited in the Champ
ori-
-il E •
de M
ginai nghsh engineers had been making ;
of tt ", nicwspensable contributions to the solution
had
lution
revised
a " Problem. Mr. Low, of Wrexham,aka since been
a Method for ventilating the Tunnel
which
adopted in other tunnels, which
salc
for-
reenus Part of the present scheme-not,
.._,etrly been proposed, by towers or shafts Faus_ n k in the
'dere but by pits on either shore, from which shall be
yen tWo small parallel d or galleries,
riftways -- -
eemiected by transverse driftways- On this plan the
ill
be
tellrenlation
of air in the Submarine Tunnel w
So
bill to that in an ordinary coal-mine, the yentila-
end.wo
perfect at the face of the workings..
nawkshaw had, b a series of borings on bdotsho
;_asts, obtained those danzYwhich have since
fhra
IntelPortant an influence in deciding the line
.0 the
. ps
-e ascerta'n d that on the English side the
we alit fOes to a total' edepth of 470 feet below I_l6loo,
..IP,aettlr, the upper or white chalk extending
the French
elOWer, or
greY chalk 295 feet-, while on t F
n_ the total depth is 750 feet, that of the white chalk
'r'iug 270, and that of the grey 480. In June, 1868, ,a,
sigert was PreseUted to the Emperor of the
eFs_
runn.
le d with the names of John Hawkshaw, Jam B
B:tet:'lliarn,Low, paulin Talabot,
and Th Michael Chevalier,
°lnd de Gamond. It was to the effe.ct_thoaftstehae.
hut th ("in.
water t would be liable, indeed, to the risk
setei''
g the workings by some unforeseen fissure,
ea 4_ -g tliis risk apart, it could probablaytbae
Nefr,„_e-a, akt not more than nine or ten years,
Financial
ne•"'olj-tul.rt cost of ten millions sterling.
aaigde I,ations intervened, till the scheme was faipanuesahceed,
it we °Y theavar of 1870. With the return P
T a reSttraid . and in January, Inn, "TheoC.hanneeel
Witill,th4cal tecZan' ViZttc;l which began existence !,elence and
unexceptionabledw.th
ir,e of driving Solvency,atria raiPt_wwayi the
immediate al i k e
o forh.
yc, Water.
s.ste Inark, was inscribed inhatlihea bmooikles boefyotnhde
ahirck Companies' Registration Office.
that'4he scheme which has solong been
s
tato w,_3' to the general public is at last about to p.:-
,„ tee re,,,i . .
azd a on or actual experiment,
to fcasee ask ourselves how far we are in atponssitaiorne
WhetheE"
itB
Pr°BPects.
Ile
two
main
questions
mwhether
ft
wincan be done, and, if it can be done,
~oa_
bilit,, Pr°,-ve tb have been worth doing. The prae"
II
71,411 u safety of submarine horizontal dri f t viinae)s.
Tis..-,el !=t BohoWD, it. is argued,
ore
'1;;Ileir
eels f some Cornish mines are 700 y?r
by submarksieorrirm
1•114 thBrea ; at Whitehaven, some submarine workcoingns.
teeth, t'' rhiles in a straight line, and,. withf
ieries g oran-cbes, form more than 100 miles o gal.water-yf
lar e belfry', lo.w-water mark. As to the danger o
th
f a
reached .e
,s__ge,
eld horn the strata to be worked,
Zia.alrnr;e3ieon
by Jr. Phillips in 1818 has
of
s been
_
by a
tove cl by l ater results-that the Straits
lath: were formed by the gradual erosion. of an
is
Bare
rightl not
convulsion ; and if this the wae scope of the danger is presumably 1 vietwed to
d Lter Yield from lmgray chalk. Here we are re-eaxs:
nerirt LI the result of Mr. Prestwich's well-known
orbs
freei„ezts, which have proved that chalk absorbs
berattxut Yields slowly. As regards the time and the
r
g4deexPerience derived from similar worki!sitsoobe
Manna], hip Even assuming that the labour
driver, f °lir and taking as precedents thelgalleryr_
Wolin; :.°1:11 tee Caatle well at Dover or the Wanate a
Ziarser"" U.raYs, in Essex, we -nrUntona,
Years for the Channel Tunnel; but
and
th„ii is tunnelling machine, working day and night
seaengr graY chalk, would complete a driftraY
o°l.
rit
-oafaeter in one year. For an estimate '
Larne ° smear yard is the best unit, and it may be
about One tufnd that £25 per linear yard would be
The ss ll3:nliou sterling for the whole
u have
beet, aree
Most costly tunnels in England _
T tmel.
The Itise of Rilsby, Saltwood, and Bk,tcsaly-
£s,646 41133" rate of e he k 145 per yard would give lle
rat '
, for t Channel Tunnel; the Saltwoo d
ra,f- °' tllB would give £4,568,960 ; the BletchleY
tco7,
eoof £72 would giv.e £2,787,840. In France Ins,
de 7,er stly,tunnel-that of Batignolles, on the Cheesna-
tlaat of ,cireeL9l,l,Vat.,---cost £95 per yard; the ch_el.wtay
oTlatzt:lk34anoi:4tfoi:fooeirra,fteoonniohu7elPn;rviet,rs aunsnd7olLr
oyotohsntes
2ltclansl per
O the Whole, ten millions sterling
t°l-,argin tr. as wt' can judge at present, to leave a safe!
.e.xpe .• -swat suppose the Tunnel made-will it pay?
rhireence shows that any breach of continuity
sonenrad ttaullaettrw,4of t-affic, and it is principallyonthi
railway gauge has been found
4 breach u '4,* The Channel passage is at present
continuity in the journey from London
With that drawback, it is reckoned that;
Prefient percentage of increase, the number
1880,
a-aals, Boulogne,
kka Cnger. bet,i!een Dover Folkestone, Newhaven,
4 tis Mount to £5O 000
and Dieppe, will, for the year
it • q°llght, au-, , : A direct railway would, it
, thu, , a aurnple this but suppose that it doubled
lauetatniei
for
telegras trpahffii?
Tlncludhla; Aorndean rate of 78. 6d., would pay £375'01)11
co • luated, b acefssall kinds and the use of
_ ithe
asiaerin e about £lso' 000 other h
. On the ot . .
the gross revenuehwouladn,
dt,
chat g the large r 1"
ote t" of the Tunnel from
inter,,..."B ef Weathe Pa c
ana temperature, the a,bsenoe of
•alies, thB 'nations and of unremunerative bra
is
branch
cent 1181 d, 1135w°1--king expenses would be covered,.. it .of Per cent., inst,ead of the ordinary 4a per
kirtllhiC,euseferg'spsivsiaenrevde.nue, leaving upwards of half a
tit.43.ote are tbe arguments and calculations of hopeful
fore ra ; and we 1
for our red ay thin for what they are worth
tra%c e era, who, if the Tunnel is ever opened
B_,verit. d will (see them justified or corrected by the
tuablit3,---hethanteaTanrgsiedeerration'ought not to be left
loluptroof.
am of passenger traffic
13sY the saffeet",-. for 'a long time, if not permanently,
i
wuceder thee''sl34 risks, real or fancied, of a
accident
nld •
.., ea, and that a Single submarine _
the cae,,lu'pfinlv ns•
t° 841. - °' the al- -°!'ease these apprehensions.
In
transit
ont Cenis Tunnel or the Suez Canal,
enges
1,41111e1, R 7as
-Ceeed ; in the case of a Channel
.akase -e
tO MI
at , riot _ ciene chall
to the popular faith in her.
witeaeet
,;,nerely achieve, but to protect; and
of 41)vovs enell-,wishers can but hope that her resources
rivet Penturluat. to both deinaixls. It is just a quarter
acre le the 5' tunes Robert Ste henson put -the last
tes the qtest tube of ir n P-11' h he had thrown
stb,',l 4..-einectelital Strait. It °ma; be that the year 1875
which etiae
ateuered hereafter as that which. saw th.,e.
till' :44 for srthetuvva,rds an effort engineering skill
whijwhio,
.t tile t,
~second half of the nineteentb cen-
,i,sbbklup. tisrltannia Bridge vvas for the first, and
Were but
couriiit'art4'4 •iie shorex of a broa,ler Strait than that
ohtl wO ne.t. - fe2, leseY from Carnarvon 4•, not two
.opi
oincd
c'lrers• iotia by a work,
inwhich they
----,R AT SEA.
IttaoniNshewsehaamveenn,
tHbeer.cbcrocu];
Ased in the Atlantic
abandoned the ship both
Was pre
was sinking- Just. s
rigging, and
yaatt,hbeoftahllitnhge captain aannu,
pea five days before ,
being ex
'Pr -
, brig, the men
the ,- so did not carry a medical..
~...0 D - ~,roilg ena,
' leas remained uns.et
Chaan aillish vessel
the •en and .
Pilot h the cap blowingm'ae
up
on Saturday
latded th cat to bri , -- consequently hai.led,
wh 8 Men ns the
ere the ~ ,-; vvere eonv headway
was at ezin-"'"eal aeBi eYed tithe " Bridge ' tql`atOl,
tended t -,_e secure . at' "
ken ashore. ,On being
q 4a. -nee of Drs. Cann and
Lteere
wreckerlegtv_Ajr. *.33. w.,,a.,rits of the others be-'Dinazlt;ta-
f the Ship-
aise,:`,,,rlners'
.aes,'"°l?e, SecretarY. °. d men
Lint it i " aarde
(~ .ciation. The injure .
- iraniedie4 feared c-uveYed to Brighton Hospital
that from the exposure which
7 e1111)8ed ~,,-• ""°wed, and t
-Luce th e length of time which
8 accidenth, themen will each Lose

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