19 JANUARY 1940, Page 6

In an article on the Channel Tunnel in The Spectator

of December 29th it was mentioned that one shareholder of the old Submarine Continental Railway Company, founded in 1881, was still alive. That was Mr. Charles Sheath. The statement, true when it was made, is unfortunately true no longer, for Mr. Sheath died last week at the age of ninety. A Channel Tunnel remained his dominating interest to the last. The original company mentioned above became in 1887 the Channel Tunnel Company, and its three directors were till the middle of last year Baron Emile d'Erlanger, the Earl of Radnor and Mr. Sheath. Baron d'Erlanger died last July, and now Mr. Sheath is gone, too. The company was formed "to construct a tunnel between England and France and to make and work a railway therein. 2,026 yards of the railway have been constructed, but further construction has been suspended owing to a decision of the House of Commons." So the Stock Exchange Official Year- Book. The company has £12,000 in hand, so more may yet be heard of it some day.