INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



401 



The total expenditures average per cent, of 

 total receipts : 



c. ; 1870. 60.34 p. c. ; 1871, 



187l!l53.' 2 p. c.; u 39. 4 p. c. 



For New York COS.-1869, 57.13; 1870, 60.88; 1871, 62.88. 



The surplus of receipts over expenditures 

 amounts to : 



$32 440,804, or 41.67 per cent, of total receipts. 

 .' 36,003,697, or 39.66 " 

 1871 40,742,666, or 39.87 



The rate of premiums per mille (for an in- 

 surance of $1,000) varies very much in the 

 different companies, from a minimum in 1869 

 of 7 67 to 61.31 ; in 1870, from 18.46 to 62.03 ; 

 in 1871, from 12.24 to 65.25, averaging for all 

 transactions represented, for 



1869 

 1870 

 1871 



Per Mllle. 

 35.43 



Policy claims were paid as follows : 



1869.. 



1870.. 

 1871.. 



0.22 

 0.46 

 1.75 



63.53 

 65.61 

 121.56 



Average. 



8.02 

 9.31 

 11.36 



Per mille ain't ins'd. 

 Per mille ain't ine'd. 

 Per mille ain't ina'd. 



The benefits returned to the insured in divi- 

 idends, purchase of policies surrendered, lapsed, 

 Sate., show for 



1870.. 



1871.. 



0.01 

 0.02 



20.51 

 17.10 

 34.06 



Average 



6.43 Per mille am't ins'd. 

 6.92 Per mille am't ins'd. 

 8.46 Per mille am't ins'd. 



69 



70'.!!! 



71... 



Great diversity prevails in the expenses of 

 eneral management : 



69.. 

 70.. 

 71.. 



Shareholders received of interest and divi- 

 ends : 



Average. 



0.35 

 0.35 



Per mille am't ins'd. 

 Per mille am't iiis'd. 

 Per mille am't ins'd. 



Minimum. Maximum. Average. 



0.21 

 0.20 

 0.18 



70.50 

 161.23 



9.41 



9.33 

 9.70 



Per mille am't ins'd. 

 Per mille am't ius'd. 

 Per mille ain't ins'd. 



INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



le improvement in the means of intercourse, 

 d the establishment of better communication 

 etween England and France, has been the 

 bject of earnest discussion during many 

 ears past, and the public has had presented 

 i it a number of reasonable and unreasonable 

 ans for this object. These plans may be 

 assified under four heads : Those for bridging 

 te Channel between Dover and Calais, or 

 >me adjacent point on the French coast ; 

 lose for making a causeway, and thus creat- 

 ig an artificial isthmus ; those for the estab- 

 shment of a ferry ; and, finally, those for 

 riving a tunnel beneath the bed of the sea. 



VOL. XII. 26 A 



Of all these, the first two have never been ad- 

 vocated by any persons worthy of considera- 

 tion, and may be, therefore, quickly dismissed ; 

 the latter two schemes are represented by two 

 eminent engineers, in whose track follow a 

 number of more or less obscure individuals, 

 who clamor loudly for the credit of prece- 

 dence in idea, as vehemently as if they could 

 ever have advanced this question of improved 

 international communication to the stage to 

 which it has been brought. 



The representative of the pteam-ferry is Mr. 

 John Fowler, and that of the tunnel, in Eng- 

 land, is Mr. John Hawkshaw. 



By the ferry plan, as it was first laid before 

 Parliament some years since, it was proposed 

 to construct suitable harbors on each coast, 

 between which steam-ferries, 450 feet long, 

 and 57 feet beam, were to run, propelled by 

 engines of 1,500 horse-power collectively. The 

 transit was to be performed in an hour, and 

 the most complete accommodation was to be 

 afforded for the carriage both of passengers 

 and goods. To this end, railway passenger 

 carriages and wagons were to be taken on 

 board the ferries, so that, either in going to or 

 returning from the Continent, no change of 

 vehicles would be necessary either for passen- 

 gers or freight. The point selected for the 

 English harbor was Dover, and that on the 

 French coast between Cape Grisnez and Bou- 

 logne, at a spot possessing many natural ad- 

 vantages for the purpose. A short line of rail- 

 way would be necessary, to connect the 

 French port with the Northern Railway of 

 France, and complete the communication. The 

 total estimated cost was about $10,000,000, and 

 the time required for the execution of the 

 scheme was three years. 



Turning to the other proposed means of Con- 

 tinental communication that of a tunnel be- 

 neath the bed of the Channel a Frenchman 

 propounded the idea to the first Napoleon. In 

 1866 borings near the South Foreland in Eng- 

 land, and near Calais in France, were com- 

 menced, and continued during two years ; the 

 former reached the green sand after a depth of 

 about 550 feet had been obtained, but at a less 

 depth the French shaft was stopped by acci- 

 dent. Mr. John Hawkshaw investigated, so far 

 as a preliminary investigation would allow, the 

 formation of the Channel bed along the line of 

 the proposed tunnel. These inquiries, tested 

 also by some independent borings, such as the 

 artesian well at Calais, showed that both the 

 lower gray and the upper white chalk, which 

 on the English side have a thickness of 295 

 feet and 175 feet, respectively, increase gradu- 

 ally toward the French coast, where the thick- 

 ness of the gray chalk is 480 feet, and that of 

 the white overlying chalk is 270 feet ; it is 

 almost certain, too, that there exists no serioui 

 rupture in the strata, w,hile the depth chosen 

 for the invert of the tunnel would probably be 

 below the pernicious influence of any fissures 

 that may exist in the white chalk near the 



