One hundred years ago
Sir E. Watkin has at last been com- pelled to suspend the works on the Channel Tunnel. The Board of Trade on Wednesday applied to the High Court (Chancery Division) for an injunction, and the advisers of the South-Eastern Railway found the claim so clear that they submitted without a contest. Under the terms of the order, the Company stops all works except those necessary to preserve those already existing, and sub- mits to an inspection by engineers authorised by the Board of Trade. The objection of the Government, as stated by the Attorney-General, is, first, to maintain its territorial rights in the soil under the three-miles limit from the shore; and secondly, to insist that no such work shall be carried on without parliamentary approval. The project will, of course, be revived under the next Government, but there is little danger of the constituencies altering their decision. The Irish Channel Tunnel, said to be promoted by M. de Lesseps, stands on a different footing; but even as regards that, it may be as well to wait until the Nationalists have finally abandoned their project. Money, however, in this case will be a great obstacle, as the sea- floor is supported on granite, not chalk, and the distance is eleven miles.
Spectator, 8 July 1882
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