504 The Channel Tunnel. [October, 
four years’ time and four millions of money would complete 
the work, including the junctions with the English and 
French railways on either shore. Sir John Hawkshaw and 
the engineers associated with him, however, think it 
prudent to double this estimate both of time and of cost, at 
least until the preliminary work shall have given them the 
necessary data for a more exact estimate of the duration 
and cost of the work. 
Preliminary steps to test the practicability of the project 
are about to be put in hand without further delay, for which 
purpose an English and a French Company have been pro- 
moted to carry out experimental works on either side of the 
Channel. An Act has been passed by the British Parlia- 
ment during the past Session to enable the English Com- 
pany to acquire the necessary lands at St. Margaret’s Bay, 
and it is understood that a projet du lot has also been passed 
in the French Senate to confer the necessary powers on the 
French Company. The works to be undertaken by these 
companies consist of sinking two shafts—one on either 
coast—about 150 yards deep, from which an ordinary mining 
drifting about half a mile long will be driven under the sea. 
This work would be a true beginning of the proposed per- 
manent tunnel. Its cost is estimated at £160,000, of which 
sum it is understood the two companies will find £20,000 
each; the Rothschilds of London and Paris have each 
undertaken to find similar amounts; the Chemin de Fer du 
Nord will contribute £40,000, and the London, Chatham, 
and Dover and South-Eastern Railways will respectively 
subscribe £20,000. 
It may now be confidently anticipated that the com- 
mencement of this great work will not be delayed. In 
the foregoing account we have purposely refrained from 
entering into detail regarding means of ventilation and 
other minutiz of construCtion. The progress of the work 
will, however, be closely watched, and we shall hope from 
time to time to give further particulars of its advancement 
in the chronicles of engineering in this journal. 
