THE CHANNEL TUNNEL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21103, 13 August 1930, Page 11

THE CHANNEL TUNNEL.

PROPOSAL REJECTED. ' f WEAKNESS OP ECONOMIC CASE. • (Fbou Ode Own Correspondent.) LONDON, June 14. Mr MacDonald announced in the House of Commons last week that the ■ Govern* ment had decided against the ycpnstruction of a Channel tunnel. The reasons we ' now published in a White Paper, rln order that the decision 1 should '■ be a national one, and not likely • to be upset by changes. of Government, it, is recorded, the Prime ■ Minister invited the two foriqer 'Prime Ministers to be present at a meeting of the Committee for Imperial Defence on .May 29 to consider'the subject and they attended. They were supplied with' all the material on the matter at the disposal of the Government, The report of the committee which re•commended that the constniction of a Channel tunnel “ would’ be of' economic advantage to this country " was examined m its economic aspects both by the Eco-homic-Advisory Council, and by the Goveminent departments concerned.' " There is general agreement,” states the White Paper, “that the evidence in the report regarding the advantages of a Channel tunnel to the country as a whole is not sufficient to justify his Majesty’s Government either in itself constructing the. tunnel or giving financial assistance to enable it to be constructed. ELEMENT OF DOUBT. “ Having regard to the element of doubt as to the feasibility of construction, the weakness of the economic case, the great cost, the long period before which the capital expended could fructify, and the small amount of employment jprovided, the Government have come to the conoluaion that there is no justification for a reversal of the policy pursued by successive Governments for nearly 50 yeara in regard to the Channel tunnel, “The Committee of Imperial Defence were unable to discover a single advantage from a military point of view which would follow from the construction of a Channel tunnel. On the contrary, it would result only in an increased military commitment, involving in certain, happily remote, contingencies an element ot danger, to provide against which a heavy'capital and annual expenditure would have to' be incurred. . "One thing to which the Government's advisers strongly object is the acceptance of a new and expensive military commitment at a time when our Imperial Defence forces have been reduced to a level which loaves no margin beyond our existing commtnncnts. So long as there are great military establishments .in Europe the tunnel, if nut; adequately defended, be*'’ comes a potential danger; if it is properly defended a military commitment is incurred, in which considerable forces would be locked up and immobilised. " The views of the Government's milttary aavjjeri may be summed' up is & phrase attributed to the late Lord Balfour: * •' * •? the ocean remains our friend, do not let ns deliberately destroy its power to help us.’ ” • ' ‘ PRESS COMMENT. The Times and the Daily Telegraph, in leading articles, consider that the rejec- ' «9? ot , j ■cheme occasions no surprise. It would be a risky and costly expenment says The Times, “to which the instincts of the country are to-day, as they always have_ been, opposed, and there is no question that the Government have de—cided against it in accordance with the wishes and the interests of the great majority of the population." 8 The case for the tunnel, says the Tele-, graph, has been so weakened during decadea of rapid development in the means of transput, and especially so since the vast .possibilities of air traffic came to be realised, that nothing but the making out of a quite unanswerable case for the tunne! on practical grounds could retain benefit” claßs ac * lemes national TWO CLASSES OF CRITIC. / . The Daily News and Chronicle, however, expresses disappointment. “The 255 T* ll^ 6 . hea . rd with great disappointment in England as well as in Prance.” this newspaper. "The disadvantages have been apparent ®° “two classes of critic—the interesta wh6 obviously stand to lose financially from-the provision of a new route * e n9? B J^. e Channel, and the older typo of militarist, like the late Lord Wolselcy, who have persuaded themselves tw in tome mysterious way the existence of a submarine tunnel to France will make it rwLJi?* ID m? de this country from the continent. The common mtereat rules tne brst line of argument out of court! common sense the second."