Evening star., 1916-11-12

ISCUSSION of the English channel
I'D tunnel has been revived and the
prospects are that the great in
ternational submarine tube may be
bored 1t is a century-old project In
1909 a French mining engineer named
Matthew won the favor of Bonaparte
with his scheme for tunneling the
channel 1t was in 1865 that a syste-
matte investigation was begun to de-
termine whether natural conditions
were such as to justify the beginning
of work Then the late Sir John Hawk
shaw employed Hartsinck Day. noted
geologist and surveyor. to make bor-
ings and take soundings. 1t was found
that in the narrowest part of the chan
mel there was chalk of desirable quail
ity all the way That survey extended
from Foreland, near Dover, to San
gate, near Calais, where the width is
20.6 miles.
These Investigations led to the for
nation of a channel tunnel company.
generally called the "Day Tunnel Com
pany," of which the late Lord Richard
Grosvenor was chairman. Two years
later tunnel was projected from St.
Margarets bay, four miles east of
Dover. to Ferme Mouron. two and one
half miles west of Calais, and after
protracted correspondence between the
British and French governments the
English Channel Tunnel Company was
formed. in 1872. Soon after this a
French company was organized and
there were more borings and sound
ings The prospect languished because
opposition to it by English military Of
ficers on military grounds adversely in
fluenced the British government. Ac-
cordiEg to one of the historians of this
project The Chemin de Fer du Nord,
running from Paris to Calais, and the
Southeastern railway, running from
Dover to London. favored the route,
and the project was approved at first
by both governments. but the late Lord
Woisely and many British authorities
opposed the tunnel on strategic
grounds. and a few years later the
British government ordered all prelimi-
nary work stopped
Before the order for the cessation
of all the tunnel operations short
section of tunnel was built on the Eng
lish side and somewhat extensive
works put under way on the French
side. For a long time in the seventies
and early eighties the French company
was very active. 1t spent 100000 in
preliminary work. Soundings to ascer-
tain the nature of the bottom were
made with great thoroughness across
the Straits of Dover, pits and wells
were sunk on the French side to make
sure of the geological formation, an
experimental boring extending 5000
feet under water was made at San
gatte, near Calais, and much money
was expended in other scientific re-
search and in machinery. bed of
chalk. 200 feet wide, extending without
n break across the strait, was found
covered with a certain amount of clay,
which. it was estimated, should mini
miZe the engineering difficulties. NJ
Sartiaux'S plan was to eXcavate sepa-
rate tunnels for each track. The eSti-
mates that were prepared figured on
about five years for digging the tunnel
and about s1.4O0,000 for the cost per
mile.
Engineers in the light of modern ex-
perience say that technically the ctan-
mel tunnel undertaking would not pre-
sent great difficulties. few days ago
it was noted in the news that: "A care
full reconsideration of the question of
the advisability of constructing tua-
mel under the English channel to con-
meet England and France was prom
ised by Premier Asquith in receiving
deputation in favor of the project, and
he said that the matter would be
taken up either by the war committee
or the committee on imperial defense"
The channel tunnel would eclipse all
existing tunnels in length. The Severn
tunnel a Ia miles)s which brings Car
diff and South Wales into close COM
munication with Bristol and the south
of England. is the longest tunnel in
Great Britain. 1t was under construc-