[ESTABLISHED 187S] Manawatu Daily Times The Oldest Manawatu Journal. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 18 1913 THE CHANNEL TUNNEL.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXV, Issue 2028, 18 September 1913, Page 4

[ESTABLISHED 187S] Manawatu Daily Times The Oldest Manawatu Journal. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 18 1913 THE CHANNEL TUNNEL.

The proposal to construct a tunnel under the British channel to connect England and France, is once more exercising men's minds at Home. It is to be a subject for debate at the next Congress of the world's Chambers of Commerce at Antwerp. For the purp jses of commerce the tunnel would be a tremendous convenience, and it would obviate the necessi'y for the inconvenient sea passage between Britain and the Continent, which considering the number who daily make the passage and the miserable accommodation on the Channel boats is a very considerable item. Those who consider the com mercial utility of ihe proposal are in its favour; those who look merely at the mi itary possibilities are in decided opposition. Unfortunately party politics are to a considerable extent entering into the subject. The who it so happens, are advocates of universal service, say they will oppose the scheme unless Bri ain places herself in a better state of military prtparedntss. Tbat is to say that unless the country adopts a plank of their pobtical policy—universal training—they will not consent to the scheme. Indeed, they will strenuously oppose it. "All our military authorities," writes Harold Spencer in the Daily News. " make it clear to us that they will only allow us a Channe' Tunnel on the condition of our accepting conscription. We can see in a vista the portentous series of delirious panics to which this Channel Tunnel would lead So even the friends of peace sadly acquiesce, pcc-ferring the occasional malaise of a Channel passage to the perpetual land sickness of newspaper scares." No doubts are entertained as to the financial success of the scheme. London underground railways in the aggregate are of considerably greater length than the Channel tunnel would be. The very readiness with which the money is offered, the very craving of all the most enterprising traders indicate what an immense step this Channel tunnel would be towards the shrinking of the world. Imagine being able to get in at Charing Cross, fall to sleep in your berth, and wake up in Paris as comfortably as if one had journeyed to Edinburgh ! Imagine being able to send goods direct to France without the laborious transshipment which is new required ! Or throw the vision wider, and imagine being able to take a corner seat in London for any capital of Europe —Berli'j, Rome, Vienna, or St. Petersburg—by a through Continental train! What would be the results ? Certainly a far more frequent flow of communication, both human and commercial, between England andEur.pe. Also probably a quicker communication ot ideas between Britain and the Continent. Finally, (says the same writer) in the long run, probably a profound influence both on manners and language, which would tend to bridge Europe nearer to that community of race and thought which links together the United States of America. It is considered tba*; though the proposal may yet be delayed for some time, in the end it will cerfcaiuly be carried into effect