THE CHANNEL TUNNEL.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVI, Issue 23, 9 June 1906, Page 15

THE CHANNEL TUNNEL.

The relations between Frenchmen ami Englishmen arc now of such a cordial nature that it seems an opportune moment to revive the ancient scheme for

connecting the two countries by a tunnel under the Strait of Dover. Despite the

new turbine steamers and the reduction of the sea passage to less than an hour (in favourable circumstances), the fear -of mal denier still exerts a powerful 'deterrent influence on would-be travel levs. It would be a very different thing if it were possible to take train straight from Charing Crows to'the Gare du Nord without so much as a change of carriages. The old objection, to the project .that it makes our island more vulnerable to Continental enemies in. time of war is really'of little account in these days ofsubmarine mines, for the tunnel could Ise blown to atoms at an hour’s notice should the exigencies of warfare demand it. The scheme has been modified lately in the light of modern conditions, find it is now proposed to construct a twintub- like the “Twopenny Tube” in London. the trains being run by electricity. The route has been altered so as to make use of a stratum' of grey chalk which runs all the way under the Channel, and offers good facilities for boring ami tunnel construction. It is proposed that the tunnel should rise from'the sea at both end, and enter the cliffs at a considerable height above the beach. This alone would appear to settle the military (dejection at once, for a couple of welt directed shqts from a battlefthip ’Would destroy the connection between the tunnel and the land, and cut off the submarine betwecif the two countries. .It is td be hoped thdl the scheme will now l»e allowed to gu through.