An interesting after-dinner discussion on the Channel Tunnel schemes took
place at a meeting of the Imperial Industries Club on Wednesday night, and is recorded in the Daily Chronicle of Thursday. Mr. Stanley Machin, Vice- President of the London Chamber of Commerce, in supporting the construction of the tunnel, declared that the protection it would give to our food supply in time of war was a matter of vital importance. He pointed out that when Lord Lansdowne's Committee rejected the scheme the food supply question was not considered. The German navy did not then exist. The tunnel, he thought, would be worth another fleet of Dreadnoughts. Admiral Sir Edmund Fremantle spoke against the proposal, but declared that if the Imperial Defence Committee backed it he was quite prepared to accept that body's decision. Sir Charles Owens insisted that agri- culture would not be injured by the existence of the tunnel, and he held that it was of supreme importance to guard against panic and famine food prices in time of war. He suggested several precautions in detail which would eliminate all military risk.
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