48 Discussion on the Proposed Channel Tunnel. 



kind it is not the usual course to ask the public for money and 

 not tell them the reasons for so doing. My own private opinion 

 is in favour of the route between Cushendall and the Mull of 

 Cantyre. This route is open to the serious objection of these 

 long connecting lines ; but I cannot shut out from my own 

 mind the fact that sea tunneling is a most difficult and onerous 

 undertaking, and allowing in every way for probabilities, it 

 appears to me that the probabilities are largely in favour of the 

 northern route. But then, if we had a tunnel there it might 

 be said by commercial men that they would prefer sending 

 their goods direct by steamer. That, however, is not an en- 

 gineering matter, and it is from an engineering standpoint that 

 I have to deal with the question. It may be asked what experi- 

 ence we have in matters of this kind ; in other words, what are 

 the data on which we base our calculations, and ask the public 

 to agree with us. In reply to this I cannot do better than state 

 what has been done in the way of tunneling. As regards land 

 tunneling of a difficult character, we have Mont Cenis, the St. 

 Gothard, the Arlberg, and others. Mr. Barton, in his prelimi- 

 nary estimate, took the Arlberg as a basis, and took the cost of 

 the route at ;^200,ooo per mile, and then added for expenses of 

 pumping and ventilating, which brought up the figures roughly 

 to _;^3oo,ooo per mile. Then we come to the Severn tunnel, 

 nearer home. The cost in that case was, roughly, ;^5co,ooo 

 per mile. Within the past few months has been finished the 

 St. Clair tunnel, four miles long, and in that case the cost was 

 only about _^ 100,000 per mile. The construction was accom- 

 panied with very little difficulty and, I believe, no accidents. 

 The mode of construction was very different from that employed 

 in the case of the Severn Tunnel. Where there is water 

 coming in it is a very difficult matter to line a tunnel, but 

 the American engineers lined this tunnel entirely with iron 

 plates, and by this means a great deal of difficulty was got rid 

 of, and the tunnel was completed at a very low cost. I men- 

 tion this last case to show that by adopting cast-iron lining 

 plates we may get rid of a great deal of difficulty. If we adopt 



