AN IRISH CHANNEL TUNNEL. [TO THE EDITOZ OP VIZ "srucraToal
Sin,—I am very glad to observe that you have opened your columns for the discussion of this very important question. I do not desire to add anything to what your correspondents have said with regard to the advantages which are likely to result from the construction of a tunnel between Ireland and Scotland; they are apparent and overwhelming. But I should like to say a word with regard to the likelihood of the work being actually carried oat. It is clear to those of us who have given close attention to the matter, that unless Government aid in some shape or another be forth- coming, the tunnel will not be made, at any rate not for many years to come. At the same time, very little is really required of the Government. Two things are at present uncertain,—(1) whether the geological formation between the two coasts will permit of the tunnel being made at all ; (2) whether the traffic during the first few years will prove sufficiently large to pay interest on the capital at a rate remunerative to private investors. It is in respect of these two difficulties that Government assistance is required. The Committee of which I am a member suggested to Mr. Ritchie that the Government should undertake the cost of sinking a shaft and driving a heading along the course of the projected tunnel. The cost of this operation would be moderate. If the result of the examination proved satis- factory, the heading would be of use in draining the tunnel, and the money would not be wasted. If the preliminary work revealed the existence of insurmountable difficulties, a certain amount of money would, it is true, be lost, but a definite answer would have been obtained to a very important ques- tion. It is not reasonable to expect private investors to risk their money for the mere purposes of the experiment. It is fair to ask the Government to devote a portion of the public funds to an enterprise of enormous public importance. In , this way the Government can effectively help. It can also help in another way. It can give a guarantee of 3 per cent., or even 2i per cent., interest on the capital invested, and the amount, even upon the highest estimates that I have ever seen, would be a trifle in comparison with the enormous public advantage to be gained. As to the important question of whether the tunnel can or cannot be made, I am content to trust the engineers, who in these days do not make mistakes when dealing with problems of this magnitude. The engineers tell me that if certain pre- liminary conditions are fulfilled, the thing can be done, and I believe them. If it can be done it ought to be done, and I wake bold to say that in any other country in the world the Government would do all in its power to encourage such an enterprise, and would abandon the attitude of uninformed indifference which the British Government has hitherto thought fit to adopt.—I am, Sir, &c.,
H. 0. ARNOLD-FORSTER.
9 Evelyn Gardens, S. W., November 1st.
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