27 SEPTEMBER 1913, Page 3

The inaugural meeting of the Franco-British Travel Con- gress was

held on Tuesday at Marble Arch House, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu _presiding. In the evening the case for the Channel Tunnel was presented by Baron Emile

d'Eilanger, Chairman of the Channel Tunnel Company. The proposal is to carry the tunnel from Dover to Saugatte, distance of twenty-four miles, the French and English com- panies equally sharing the construction and cost, estimated at 210,000,000. He then dwelt on the strategical advan- tages which made the tunnel a necessity—viz., that it would assure our food supply, and leave our fleet untram- melled to fulfil its primary duty of finding and destroying the enemy. In the case of a Continental war, again, in which we were allied with France, we could send troops to the Continent unknown and unseen by the enemy, instead of employing transports, which would be open to attack by air- ships and aeroplanes. He also discussed the trade benefits of the scheme, estimating the annual net profit at £1,135,000 on a capital of £16,000,000.