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| Sir A. Cooper Key, | Letter to Lord Northbrook, 31st January, 1882, p. 190 | |
| Lord Wolseley, | Memorandum, 10th December, 1881, pp. 210-218. Evidence before Mr. Farrer's Committee, 25th January, 1882, p. 220. | |
| H.R.H. The Duke of Cambridge, | Observations, &c., 23rd June, 1882, pp. 299-305. |
Sir Edward Watkin, M.P.
(1).—Evidence before Mr. Farer's Committee.
"As far as I am concerned, this question of a Tunnel arose out of the desire of everybody, I may say, to improve the means of communication between England and the Continent, and there were several proposals which had been discussed for a very great many years. One was, and is still, that of deep water harbours on the two sides of the Channel, so as to permit of the employment of boats of the Holyhead class, or large boats of that description. Another was a proposal to construct harbours, and boats which would take a whole train across, that is to say, receive the train on one side, take it across, and deliver it on the other. Then there was another project for a bridge over the Channel itself, which, I think I need not say very much about. And then there was a proposal for a tube to be laid at the bottom of the Channel through which trains might pass" (p. 194).
"There is no doubt that there is an opinion prevalent in quarters, and in influential quarters, that any Tunnel would be a dangerous thing to the supremacy of this country; but what I want to point out, first of all, is this, that if that is so in 1881, it was so in 1876, and if that is so, and the Government think so, it is odd that a junior member of the Government should be Chairman of a rival Channel Tunnel Company. It is odd also that countries far more exposed than we are … have not been jealous of the connection and of the obliteration of
