The Standard on Thursday contained an article describing a scheme
for placing Paris in direct communication with the sea,—an idea which was first taken up seriously as long ago as in 1822. From the sea to Rouen the Seine is sufficiently deep, but from there to Paris it is suggested that a canal should be cut. According to the highest estimate, the total cost would not exceed £10,000,000. The article points out that a steamer with a draught of twenty-two feet can carry four thousand five hundred tons,—as much as four hundred and fifty railway trucks. It is probable, then, that in a single day enough provisions could be conveyed into Paris to feed the entire population for nearly three weeks. Incidentally, therefore, the scheme would relieve Parisians of the threat of starvation which has been hanging over them since the railway strike. An addition to the original project is pro- posed by means of which the city will be saved from a repetition of the disastrous floods of last year.
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