46 Discussion on the Proposed Channel Tunnel. 



I was a lad I paid some little attention to it, and on my first 

 arrival in Belfast I came before the public with an old friend, 

 and we suggested a tunnel between Tor Head and the Mull of 

 Cantyre. Meanwhile, attention was directed to the proposed 

 tunnel between Donaghadee and Portpatrick. The places have 

 been examined by a staff under Sir Edward Watkin. The 

 tunnel would come in at the narrowest part of the channel, and 

 would be connected with Belfast by rail, and, again, on the 

 other side of the channel it would be similarly connected with 

 Stranraer. The length of the tunnel would be'about twenty-two 

 miles, but the depth of the water towards the Scottish side 

 is excessive. There is a sort of hollow or trough which lies 

 along the Scottish side about three-quarters of the way across, 

 which runs pretty well north and south, the depth of which 

 is about 100 feet ; and to get safely under a depth like that 

 would require the tunnel to be at a very low level, and would 

 entail very steep and lengthened approaches on either side. 

 Now, I find that the twenty-two miles of sea channel would 

 require about eighteen miles of approaches on each side, making 

 altogether about forty miles, and the cost would come to about 

 nineteen millions sterling. These are the two points against it : 

 first, that it would cost too large an amount, and secondly, that 

 it would be very difficult to work. There is, however, one fact 

 strongly in favour of the Donaghadee and Portpatrick tunnel, 

 and that is that the rocks on either side are peculiarly favour- 

 able for tunneling, and if we assume that those rocks are con- 

 tinuous through the bed of the channel it would be a mere 

 matter of money and time to make the tunnel. But, then, we 

 have the great depth to which we have to go, and the great ex- 

 pense of the undertaking, staring us in the face. I suppose, 

 therefore, that Sir Edward Watkin has abandoned that route, 

 because he has since directed his attention to a more northerly 

 one — the route between Cushendall and the Mull of Cantyre, 

 which I call No. 2. The length of the sea tunnel there would 

 be about fourteen and a half miles, and with approaches the 

 total length would be about twenty-four miles. In this route 



