CANAL DEVELOPMENT IN FRANCE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14185, 30 December 1916, Page 10

CANAL DEVELOPMENT IN FRANCE.

Marseilles, now known . to r«b manyj JJew Zealanders as tlje most .irftportantjS, port m JFranee, is scion 'to be linked by a--} .great canal and_ tunnel ( with the River. 'Jihdne and the" vast systeim. of inland'^ waterways 1 of ; which it is a part. . Canals? Jiave* long connected; the- Rhone with the* Wafers of the Loir.p,- SJeinev Yonne. and* Rhine. In-; order to.' reach Marseilles,; however, the great traffic, of these . water- < -ways, must traverse' the Mediterranean^ for- some distance;, which entails consider-; able extra; expense and some danger for] smajl ". craft. It ia this, situation whichj has led to the- construction of the Mai I-seilles-Rhone Canal. Throughout its en-.i tiro length, 51 miles, the Marseilles-;! Rhone Canal isi at sea level, except where-; ifc ; joins the Rhone. The width of thd! canal is nearly 74 f t, and it?, depth nearly 10ft. >The cost;- i^ cstiniated at nearly; £4,000,000. ' llie chief feature of the) canal.is the Rove tunnel, which, is re--"markable for its span, or diameter, 72fti 2in. In this respect the Rove tunnel! surpasses everything else of the kind in' .the Avorld. The height from the bottom: of the canal to the ceiling of the tunnel; is a little more than Wft, which, gives' a section- of nearly 3250 square feet. This is equal J;o six times that of an {ordinary doublJ-track railway tunnel. The excavation ■ amounts to! 2,877)600 cubic yards, ■■or tvricej asi miiclvas was required i^Oi'tthe .construction' of the twrt; parallel tiotidls of :the Simplon rail|v:aj r , which hitlieTto has held the world's record m that respect. The 72ft span .of the tunnel gives room for two side paths, each! tnearly 7ft wide, allowing a^ .continuous l passage each way of . two ,^/ea lighters .with a carrying; capacity of: about 9CO metric tons each. The lighters actually m use on the, Rhone are only- about .666 tons dead weight, and will pass easily m idouble. line. Thet. canal and- the navigable part of the Rhone and Saone will combine to give a eontirmous v^aterAva'y of 337 miles for lighters of 600 tons <lead weight without breaking bulk. Through the. Burgundy -Canal -.and tho?io tif the Sc-nire region barges can reach the ; iiorth of Franco and even the English Channel.; ; • ' , ; > i