Dover To Calais

The bok! dea of n tunnel onder the British Charme] will, if carried out, eclipse all former undertakings of this kind. ThepreseiO "ChannH Company" as formed in J.S72: 8jr John Hawkshaw, F. K. 8., Mr. érunlees and M. Gamoiid being appointed engineers. The route linally dedded upoli places the tunnel on a line éxteudihg frora a spot betWeen Folkestone and Dover. fchrough the "Old Gray Chalks," to a point betweén Bangatte' and Calais, on öie opposite coast. The total length wil! be thirty-one miles, of which twenty-two will be under the straat. Shafts are to be sunk on each ahore to the ctepth of about tour hundred and lü'ty Leet below high water mark; mul driftways fröm the bottoai of thBee,for the draining of tunnel, which is to begin two hundred feet abóve the driftway. These driftways wili be driveii fröm both i'inls on ;i down gradiënt of mie in eighty (o the junction of the drainage driftway; and then on an upgrade of onc in two thousand six hundred iiiul forty to ilic middle of the sti-ait. The crowi) of the tunnel in all parts bc nol lcss than two hundred feet le)ov the bed of the Dover Straits. It is hoped that the exeavation will be mostly tiirough chalk, in which caes comparatively rapid progresa will be made. It has been eatintóted that tlie probable cost oí (bis titanio tax wil] be about foux ïnillions sterling; but Sir John ilawkshaw ronsiders it l)est to (lmil)le this estímate, in antieipation of greater obstactes wMch inayarise. 'J'lie iniliiiiiiiary works are nw being prosecuted with great activity. A sbaft has been sunk at Sangatte to the depth of over one hundxed metres, and tlie experimental gállery lias been commenced, and is to be contliraed for a kilomêtre that ís, three thousand two liuridi'cd and ttfty l'ect ■ ■■■iiiuler tlie sea. The raJsiüg of tlie capital for the tunnel itself, is, howevcr, stil] a knotty probleni; ]nt if this can be aecomplished, so mucli thebetterforaüparties. As the passenger traffic between Êhglanil and the continent amounts to iicarly four hundred thousand amiually, and is yearly on the incroa.se, the opening of the marine subway wil] lx