LORD STRATHEDEN AND CAMPBELLrose to ask Her Majesty's Government, To what extent and with what 1086 reservation their sanction has been given to the project of a tunnel in the English Channel? The noble Lord said, that some of their Lordships might have acquiesced in the views of the promoters, and others might have been influenced by the opinions of Sir Garnet Wolseley. His views, no doubt, deserved consideration on a question so important, and the more so that he was a man usually inclined to favour new ideas. Apart from military considerations, there might be conflicting views as to the utility of the proposal. The passage by steamer would soon be reduced to about an hour, and by the tunnel it could not be much shorter. If it had been a question of connecting Newhaven and Dieppe, or Southampton and Havre, the utility would have been much more obvious than in the case of Dover and Calais, which were but 20 miles distant. The railway in the tunnel could not be free from the vicissitudes to which other railways were exposed; and, in case the tunnel were obstructed by accident when they had come to depend largely upon it, the non-existence of the steamboat service which the tunnel would have superseded, and the difficulty of extemporizing one, would place them in a worse position than ever with regard to the communication between England and the Continent. The noble Lord concluded by asking the Question of which he had given Notice.
THE EARL OF DONOUGHMOREsaid, there had been a Departmental Committee appointed to consider the subject, a Committee of which Mr. Farrer, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Phillimore were members. Would the Report of those gentlemen be laid on the Table of the House before the Government sanctioned the scheme?
§ EARL GRANVILLEI shall be glad if the noble Earl will give Notice of his Question. In reply to the noble Lord, I have to state that communications between the English and the French Governments, and between the English Government and certain persons in this country, have gone on since 1868 on the subject of the Channel Tunnel. Assent to the general principle has been given, but with reservations, by successive Governments. In December, 1874, Her Majesty's Government signified to the French Government their assent in principle. A Joint Commission was appointed 1087 to consider and report on the conditions on which the two Governments could agree to the construction of the tunnel. This Report was laid before Parliament; but the time specified in it for the commencement of the works has elapsed. There are two Private Bills on the subject before Parliament this Session. Important objections having been raised, Her Majesty's Government have instituted an inquiry, and are carefully considering the subject, and will announce the result to which they come before the Private Bills are dealt with.
§ House adjourned at a quarter past Six o'clock, till To-morrow, half past Ten o'clock.