THE CHANNEL TUNNEL.

Waikato Times, Volume 87, Issue 13353, 2 December 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE CHANNEL TUNNEL.

Despite the fact that strategists riu world over have long recognised th. advantages of rail eommainieation i.i time of war, and notwithstanding the object lesson Germany was giving to those that cared to see, in lier carefully worked out network ct steel highways at home, England persisted in tier blindness. Those in authority would net look further than to the immediate

boundaries of the British Isles, and this in the face of a persistently growing conviction that sooner or later Bri;i,.: troops would have to light on the Continent for the very purpose cf holding Germany at arm's length. But whe i war came there was oniy water transport available for the British expeditionary army, and since then time has been waster;, labor multiplied, and much money spent without eommeiisu, rate return, simply because ships cannot be speeded line trains." vessels nius, yield to stress of weather, and the conditions cf water transport are distmc. from_tho.se of rail carriage. Ships can go only from port to port. and at either terdmal must receive 0.discharge cargoes afresh, duplicating in this fashion transhipment from train to dock and from ■wharf to craft, and vice versa. Imagine what it would

have meant in the heartbreaking period of the months past if relieving soldiers and supplies and munitions could have been rushed without halt right from the point of loading to the centres of distribution back to the battle lines! More than once the British failed to hold gains dearly bought because a steady stream of munitions could not be maintained across the gap of the Cham nc-1. Again, injured men have either been sacrificed or subjected to untold, distress because they could not be rapidly moved to the' rear and directly to home hospitals capable of giving them the fulness of care and attention needed.

It has been said that substantially

the equivalent of an army corps—--40,000 men—are employed by' the Brit, isli in France in the unloading and ear. riage of stores from water terminals to military bases. Again, at heme ah shipments are packed, in order to crosb tho Channel, with as much care and

labor as if they were destined for a voyage of thousands of miles. And after delivery at the dock they must be handled and stowed toilsomely in holds of vessels. It is not unlikely 'that 40,000, or thereahoait, are thus engaged in the British Isles. A Channel tunnel would have done away with the employment of at least half of this combined force of 80,000 men and would 1 have made it possible, for the Goveniimen.t to save no end; of precious hours and to Have had just that many more troops at the front without paying a dollar mote for the service. Indeed, ain army corps at the front costs annually somewhere between £8,000,000 and £10,000.000, and during the two years that have gone since the outbreak of the war, in this direction alone, the lack of a Channel tunnel has meant i-..

wasteful expenditure of something like £20,000,000! All this is being brought home to the Britishers now, and, with their national keenness far the shilling, they realise that they have, paid out ia this needless fashion probably more than tho entire cost of a Channel tunnel. In fact the estimated total cost has "been put in £16,000,000, and with modern engineering facilities this- is probably an outside figure. Looking forward, it is manifest that France and England wculd be greatly benefited commercially by the building of a Channel tunnel. The line would shorten by many hours travel to the Continent across the Atlantic and

would provide a, direct rail route from either Fishguard, on the coast of Wales,

r fi 3-ui Falmouth, on the southwestern

print north, south or east through France, and Belgium. In this fashion the hazards of navigating the English Channel in foogy weather would be avoided and the sea run much reduced. To the ocean voyager that cannot boast of being a good sailor this difference makes an immediate and profound appeal, especially if bound for France or th: Continent, via England and otherwi:e obliged to use any of the normal Channel or North Sea passenger lines.

It has been conservatively estimated tint at least 1,000,000 people would tiio th; tunnel route to and from the Continent at the very start annually, iuitcad of making the trip by water, k.s they now must. Tlirce years ago, by the eight water route? then in ser\';cp, mere than 1,200,000 passengers arrived and departed in the traffic bs>twecn i'.ngland, Holland .and Belgium. Until interrupted by the war there wa a .steady increase in this movement, ami to-day if the world were at peace, the volume of traffic would probably be close to 2,000,000 persons. 11. .Albert Sartiaus. who has so persistently and eloquently advocated the building of the Channel tunnel, has ■figured that such a rail route woidd draw to it 90 per cent, of the passeug-. ers now crossing via Calais and Boulogne; .10 per cent, of the passengers ordinarily going by way of Havre and Ostend; '7O per cent of those accustomed to use the Dieppe route; 50 per cent, of the voyagers via the Hook of Holland, and probably 20 per cent of the passengers that would otherwise. use the Flushing boats. 11l this direction alone, the venture would attract a profitable traffic, but this would only be a relatively minor source of rev. en no.

Experts are satisfied that at a freight charge not in excess of three farthings per ton-mile, it would be possible to obt tin iu this way alone a sufficient volume of traffic to net an annual divi-

dcr.d of 5 per cent. Therefore, the> Channel Tunnel venture, from a financial ami economic view-point, is spectacular only, paradoxical as it may teem because its twenty-four miles run will

be out of sight and nearly 400 feet be-ne-.ch the treacherous waters of that crowded highway of shipping. There is

no submarine tunnel that in any wise approaches ju length the Channel l-re-ject, although there is a mountain tunnel a trifle over half as long—the Simplou Tunnel through the Alps. It is a matter of common knowledge that exploratory shafts were driven from the English and the French shores

respectively back in 1882 and 1883, before the English Government called a halt to the project. It was then that the English military advisers suffered a ;i3vere attack of "cold feet" and put a stop to the work that nadbeen sanctioned only after long and windy exchanges of diplomatic ecrrcspondenee. The thvfi extending frcm the west side of Shakobptars Cliff readied a distance of 2300 yard's, and wa., bored through 'a wide

stratum of gray chalk. At Sangate. o:i the French side, a similar gallery was driven which attained a length of 2U09 yards when operations were halted on March 18, 1883. Before borings were begun. French geologists took 7000 samples from the bottom of the channel, and by noting their composition and the places from which they were obtained these scientists were able to establish the fact that the chalk cliffs at Dover and at Sangate were outcroppings of the geological formations underlying the waterway. First they found a stratum of white chalk subject to fissures and therefore pervious to water. Below this however, lay a much broader stratum of grey chalk which is impervious to water, free from flints, and easy to cpt. In fact, during the (hiving of the tunnel through this mass, the leakage on the British side throughout the entire length of the heading did not exceed one and a-half gallons per

through solid rock. It is proposed to use the shield system for boring through the grey chalk, aud it is conservatively estimated that a speed ol at least two and a-quarter leel an hour can be counted upon for six days of continuous working. It is probable, however, that uifn the latest tunnelling apparatus an advaneo of live feet an hour may lie attained. At this rate the work could be finished well within four years.

1 1 is proposed that the main tunnels shall consist of two single-track tubes each having a nett internal diaiiictei of eighteen feet and large enough tc accomodate the existing rolling slock ol French and British main lines. The experts realise that they will have something of a problem to maintain efficient ventilation during tin work, but plans have already been prepared, in light of the best modern practice, that meet this requirement in the amplest degree. Again, ventilation must lie abundant after the tubes are completed and the tunnel is in operation. To this end there will be placed cross passages or connecting tubes at regular intervals, thus linking the twe main parallel tunnels. Inasmuch as the trains are to he hauled bv electric locomotives, and the problem of smoke will not exist, the engineers have designed that the movement of the trains themselves shall act somewhat like pistons to draw the air in after them ar.d thus stimulate the ventilation primarily induced by powerful rotary tuns or blowers sending the air along behind the advancing trains.