406 liEPORT— 1882. 



To supplement Mr. Day's work, in so far as it related to the Channel, 

 Sir John Hawkshaw employed Mr. H. M. Brunei to take soundings across 

 the Channel, and to ascertain, as far as possible, the nature of the material 

 forming the bottom of the sea. An apparatus was devised for the purpose, 

 by means of which specimens of the sea-bed were obtained. It was found 

 that, instead of the sea-bottom being composed of loose transported 

 material, it was mostly formed of rocks, in situ, similar to those seen on 

 the adjoining coasts. This marine survey, carried out in 1865 and 1866, 

 determined the continuity of the upper cretaceous beds across the Channel. 

 It did not confirm Mr. Day's conjecture as to the position of the beds 

 throughout. Specimens of chalk brought up from the bottom showed 

 that the outcrop of the gault near the English coast lay further to the 

 west than Mr. Day had placed it. 



It was still necessary to ascertain whether the thickness of the lower 

 beds of chalk, which had been measured in the cliffs on both coasts where 

 all the beds are exposed, was maintained after the lower beds disappeared 

 beneath the sea. Accordingly Sir John Hawkshaw detei-mined to bore 

 through the chalk, at two points, on the English and French coasts- 

 respectively. In this costly operation he was assisted by the late Mr. 

 Brassey, Mr. Wythes, and Messrs. Easton. The points selected for the 

 borings were St. Margaret's Bay in England, distant 4 miles east of 

 Dover and about 8 miles east of the outcrop of the lowest chalk beds 

 on the coast, and Ferme Mouron in France, 2^ miles west of Calais and 4 

 miles east of the outcrop of the same beds on the French coast. These 

 borings showed that the thickness of the lower chalk does not diminish 

 to any extent as we follow it eastwards from the outcrop. 



Thus, by the year 1867, the geological information was obtained which 

 was thought to be necessary by Sir John Hawkshaw, Soon afterwards 

 he prepared plans for the Anglo-Fi-ench Committee, in conjunction with 

 Mr. Brunlees and M. Thome de Gamond, showing a tunnel through the 

 chalk from St. Margaret's Bay in England to Ferme Mouron in France. 

 (Line A on Plan, PI. V.) 



In 1868 the Anglo-French Committee applied for a concession from 

 the French Government, and a commission was appointed that year in 

 France to examine the question. After various inquiries, and a long 

 correspondence between the two Governments, a concession was obtained 

 in France. A further series of geological investigations was then begun. 

 These were made by French geologists and engineers. I may here remark 

 that before granting the concession, which imposed very onerous condi- 

 tions on the French Company, their Government obtained a declaration 

 from the Government in this country that the latter did not object to a 

 tunnel in principle. They, moreover, waited until our Parliament had 

 passed a Channel Tunnel Bill authorising the Channel Tunnel Company 

 to carry out certain preliminary investigations. 



The French Company were bound by their concession, obtained in 

 1875, to spend 80,000Z. (2,000,000 francs) in preparatory works of all 

 sorts, such as investigations, pits, galleries, borings, &c. The conduct 

 of these operations was entrusted to a Committee, presided over by M. 

 Lavalley — so well known in connection with the Suez Canal works. The 

 geological work was assigned to MM. Potier and de Lapparent, mining 

 engineers and able geologists, and they were assisted by M. Larrouse, 

 Hydrographer to the French Navy. They began by repeating and ex- 

 tending, on a more elaborate scale, the marine survey made ten years 



