The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-07-02
he Atbara Contract Has
| Stirred Up No End of
Hard Feeling.


nFhe project of a. submarine tunnel
between Great Britain and Ireland isl
brought once more into the arena of
public discussion in London, and this
time the scheme seems to have more
ssrioNs SUPPORT than was accorded to
pxecsding enterprises. of a similar ma
tEe. "A meeting to consider the scheme
was held recently in one of the grand
committee rooms of the house of COM
mons. Lord Londonderry presideds
and there were also present many
prominent members of both houses, of
permanent. In opening the proceed 4
ings, the chairman stated that the time
naa come for a serious considerations
Or the Feasibility of connecting Great
britaln and Ireland by an under-seaa
tunnel. The idea had been much dis
cussed in the past, but the various at u
!empts to arouse public or government
interest in the matter had always failedl
either through vagueness of propnsaE
or uncertainty as to cost and practica- y
nlilty At the present time, however,
WE project sees new revival and its1
promoters begin to see strong and con \
vmclng signs of ultimate success.
skilled engineers who have studied the
problem carefully have given as their
opinion that tunnel can be construct
ed between Island Magee, off the. coast
OF Antrim, Ireland, and Portobello
Migtownshire, Scotland. The length
OF the tunnel would be 25 miles and the
extreme depth of water, IS fathoms, The
cost IS estimated at GI0, 000.0dQ. .With
sSAeO0,000 additional for Interest," d,trAr
ing construction. When the tunnel &c
competed and started as a. running
+, conGern the dividend on the subscribed
capital from that date should be guar
anfeed at the rate of $per cent Tba
chairman read a letter from Lord Vols
leys in which he said: THE
sooner tunnel could be constructed
between Great Britain and Ireland. the
better 'iie
Sir Douglas Fox (the engineer of the
tunnel under the river Mersey) ia
Voreo the project from an engineering
standpoint.
hQrQ Mayo and Lord Charles Beros-
ford also spoke in 4ts favor.
the Earl of Spencer said that durir q
ms long connection with Ireland las
lord lieutenant or viceroy) he had diff
Tered from many gentlemen present en-
pontlcal matters but he had always
had at heart the peace and the moral
and commercial prosperity of Irelfa,d
II this plan for submarine tunnel
could be carried out, all these interests
would be greatly promoted The move
English people visited Ireland the m ore
interest would there be in that coun-
try and its inhabitants. He attached
immense importance to the. freest de-
velopment of intercourse, social and
commercial, between the two coun-
tEiea Moreover the proposed tunnel
would be of great advantage to trade
between the united kingdom, Canada
and the United States. In CLOSING.
Earl Spencer expressed the hope that
in addition to more tourists going from
england to ireland, more Irish would
visit England.
Lord Rosse and Professor Hull SPOKE
on the project from a geological point
of view.
Lord Rosebery sent letter advocat
ing the building Of the tunnel from
view.
commenting on the meeting, the Liv;-
erpool Mercury speaks of the proposed
tunnel as bond that would do more
to unite the people of ireland and Eng
land than any number of acts Of union.
Lord 7Beaconsfield once facetious1y at !
tributedi the troubles of Ireland to its |
being surrounded by the melancholy
ocean, He spoke more wisely than he |
imagined. The melancholy ocean |
does undoubtedly deter English visi- |
tors from=Irelapd and 1T, has some eff
feet also in keeping Irishinen in their
own country.
On the other hand, the Freemans |
Journal lthe leading Dublin daily does
not like he tunnel scheme In1ah edi- |
torial it says: 1--WE are told that this
tunnel would be of immense benefit to |
the trade Of Ireland This win he be-I
cause the tunnel will directly connect
manufacturing districts of the s4uth |
and west of Scotland with the north |
east of Ulster. But its effect upon tEei
trade of Great Britain with the United
States will be still greater and more
far-reaching. The new route will save
thousand miles of sea between Lon |
don and New York, by connecting the
latter city with Galway or sMovile |
Under such circumstances We cam i'm |
agine that the plan of Lord London |
derry, Earl Spencer and their friends
will be received with enthusiasm att
Neville. But Dublin or Cork ought to
have little interest in the matter un-
der such circumstances. 1T need be no
more than platonic interest because
we have no hope for the tunnel. Privase
spectators win not be in q hurry to-
invest In an experiment of Doubtful
utility and very doubtful practlcability, |
and1we have not heard that a miracle
has been worked on the first lord of
Ga2009000, or even half of it, we would
hays no difficulty in utilizing 1t to bet |
ter advantage than in giving enterprise
ing engineers an opportunity OF making
costly experiments at the bottom Of the
North Channel"
The awarding of the contract for the
bridge across the Atbara river in
Northeastern Africa to an American
firm (the Pencoyd Company of Penn
sylvania) has caused no end of hard
feeling among the iron and steel men
Of Great Britain. The Atbara bridge
is to be great connecting link of the
"Cape to Cairo" railroad, which forms
no small part of the dreams Of Cecil
Rhodes and Of the military glory Of
L6rd Kitchener The trade journal En-
gineering speaks candidly Of the cha
grin of British bridge builders at the
loss of the contract, and gives some
sensible reasons why the contract could
not, properly, have been placed other
wise. Engineering says:
''Itswas to the United States that the
- IN. kn--N-k