6 JANUARY 1872, Page 10

The French Commission appointed to inquire into the best means

of improving the communication across the Channel has reported by eight to two in favour of steam ferries large enough to carry the whole train. The Times remonstrates, alleging that the project is too large, and we confess we agree with the Times. We shall not get the ferry-boats and the necessary harbours and machinery for five years, and we want improved means of com- munication now. With a floating pier at Calais and boats as good as those on the Irish Channel, we could wait very comfortably for the tunnel or a bridge, and we could have this modest modicum of reform for a million sterling, and by autumn, 1873. Let the two Governments give theca liberal terms for the Mails, and the two Railways could commence the work at once.