The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-23 00:00:00

(From the Leeds Intelligeneer of Saturday.)

There is a good business doing, and many buyers have
made their appearance during the week. The evident up-
ward tendency of the wool market has had its effect in
stimulating the demand, but buyers only make up very
moderate parcels, and are not to be persuaded into pur-
chasing beyond their cautiously prepared lists. All the re-
ports agree that up to the present the demand on the part of
the. rpnsil4rdile has been lest than was expected, and-is
attributed to the fact that the great balk of last winter's
stock has been left. on the drapers' hands. There is, too, a
general complaint on the part of the latter that their money
comes in very slowly, and they are not in so good a position
to buy as they might be. On the other side, we have in the
agricultural districts the promise of an early and abundant
harvest, and a decided improvement in the labour market
in the manufacturing districts; besides which the amount
of trade done during the last 18 months has been so small
that we may now look forward to a steady improvement.
The wool sales are now drawing towards their close, and
prices are more than firm. A full proportion has been
taken by Yorkshire buyers, and Bradford has taken a much
larger quantity than usual:

THE GREAT DUDLEY CANAL TUNNEL.

The completion of one of the most remarkable pieces of
civil engineering of its class was celebrated on Friday. The
new Dudley Tunnel of the Birmingham Canal was then
formally opened. The effect will be to give a great impe-
tus to the coal trade, in its domestic branch, in East Wor-
cestershire and South Stafforshire. The tunnel is nearly
two miles in length, it will allow two boats to go abreast,
and is furnished with a double towing path. The construc-
tion of the tunnel, with that also of the works which have
been rendered necessary by it, have cost the Birmingham
Canal Company about £300,000, an expenditure, which,
in these days of railways versus canals, would, by some
persons, be thought to be somewhat injudicious. On the
contrary, however, the investment is a good one. An ex-
tra toll of 4d. per ton will be charged upon all commodities
passing through it. This 4d. will be appropriated to the
paying off of the interest upon the £300,000, and the re-
paying of the capital. From this toll, if there should be a
brisk trade in South Staffordshire during that time, the
tunnel will be free in 15 years. There is very little danger
of the traffic bein,,r taking taken away by a competing rail-

way; and, iu consequence of its construction, some thousand
of acres of valuable thick coal west of the tunnel may now
be opened up, to the great profit of the proprietors. of the
land, and the advantage of the consumers in Birmingham
in particular.
The tunnel alone is 11 mile in length, but the open work
in connection with it has made the total length of the new
work 21 miles. The width is 27 feet; 17 feet of that die-
tance is water-way, and the remaining 10 feet is divided
into two 5-feet towing paths. The height of the tunnel is
16 feet above the water, which in the middle of the channel
is 6 feet deep. The engineers are Messrs. Walker, Burgess,
and Cooper, of Westminster; the resident engineer, Mr.
James Walker. The first sod of the tunnel was turned on
the 28th December, 1855, since which time between 500 ,
and 600 men have been regularly employed upon it. In its
construction, 17 working shafts were used, some of which
were 345 feet deep. The geological strata passed through
were the bind, marl, coal, ironstone, and basalt. More than
the average of life has been sacrificed—the total number of
men killed is the tunnel having been ten.
On Friday the directors of the Birmingham Caeal Com-
pany came from Birmingham in their boat upon the canal,
and met a numerous company of gentlemen who had
assembled at Dudley Port. The train of boats num-
bered six. Among the company were Sir George Nicholls,
chairman of the company ; Mr. J. H. H. Foley, M.P.;
Mr. W. H. W. Foley, M.P. ; Mr. W. 0. Foster, M.P. ;
Mr. P. Williams, High Sheriff of Staffordshire; the Mar-
quis of Chandos, chairman of the London and North-
Western Railway; Admiral Moorsom and Mr. Moons, di-
rectors of the London and North-Western Company,
decorated
railway station and the boats were all gaily
The train of boats had scarcely started before a mishap
occurred, which at first looked somewhat serious. Some
merchandise boats were following the train and striving
Yard among each other for the honour of being first through
the tunnel. The first boat was heavily laden with calcined
iron ore and was down within
the rapidity
for two of the water._
The surge occasioned bythe succeeding boats beat over heri Ideos ahnerd iusloiteiofinlleariag
went down with extraordinary rapidity.five our or men
were in her at the time, and narrowly escaped drowning.
For all the succeeding boats, except an empty one, she
stopped the passage. Afterwards, two men in attempt-
ing to get Into this empty boat, fell into the canal. The
train entered the tunnel about a quarter to 12, and made
the passage through in about 25 minutes. To any one who
had ever been through the old tunnel, which this one will
in great part supersede, the improvement must have been
remarkably striking. Instead of an 811. dark tunnel, in
which men have to lie upon their backs and " leg" through
themselves and their boats, with their 20 tons burthen—
an operation taking on an average eight hours—here
was a tunnel with a channel wide enough for two boats,
a towing path on each side railed off from the water by
strong iron railing, and lighted with gas. There is now
no necessity for one boat to wait for the passing through of
the train in Isefore it before a journey can be commenced
from the opposite end. Boats can pass each other and per-
film the whole 3,335 yards in 45 minutes, or one-tenth of
the titre of the passage of the old tunnel. In the words of
the engineer :—" Quite as great a difference as between
the conveyance of goods by the heavy waggon upon
turnpike reads, and of the locomotive engine upon
railways." The great improvement was so manifest
that loud bursts of applause came from the well-
laden train of boats directly it entered the tunnel, and
it was continued throughout the whole tunnel. The
arrivals at 'the several pieces of illumination, or at one
or other of the seven working shafts that had been left
permanently open, being the signals for the repetition of
' the applause. The masonry is excellent, there being no
moisture perceptible from the sides of the shafts. So soon
as the boats were through, they all congregated around that
in which were the committee of directors, and Sir George
Nicholls drank "Success to the Netherton tunnel." The
direetoi e having provided the necessaries, th 4 occupants of