THE CHANNEL TUNNEL
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,--Commander Windham advocates spending money on roads and preferably on air transport rather than on a Channel Tunnel " so that we can fully utilize the great highway of the world, which is the air." Well, is it ? What pays a " highway " is not " the great bulk of travelling public " he mentions, but the great bulk-, and weight,- Of goods ; and the measure of the " greatness " of a " highway " is the weight of goods it carries compared with other highways, and that weight depends on the relative cheapness of its carriage.
Current sea, rail, and road freights and forecast air freights show that : id. carries 1 ton twenty-one miles by sea (fre- quently more) ; half a mile by rail, or forty-two times the cost by sea ; one-quarter of a mile by airship, of eighty-fthir times the cost by sea ; one eighteenth of a mile by lorry, or 378 times - the cost by sea ; one thirty-shith of a mile (48 yards) by aeroplane, or 756 times the cost by sea. Only few of the richest " public " and -only the lightest and richest goods, such -as diamonds and .bullion, can stand even the shortest air journey at such immense freights. All other goods will flow to the cheapest weight-carrier they can find and will therefore " utilize the great highway of the
world, which " was, is, and will be, the am; Sir, &c.,
PARALL.4.X:-
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