Sir E. Watkin was the first witness examined before the
Channel Tunnel Commission, and certainly showed that he bad the courage, not to say the audacity, of his opinions. He de- clared that 250 trains each way would be run daily through the tunnel, being one each way every six minutes, although the trains are to travel at 45 miles an hour, and they would carry 14,000,000 passengers and a corresponding amount of goods every year. "We had £700,000,000 of import and export trade, and if we had no way out of England except by sea, our position was a most dangerous one." If England were blockaded, what -would be the effect? The fort for the defence of the tunnel should be built of half a million tons of concrete, and could be built for a quarter of a million sterling, which the Railway Company would pay ! He did not think the two Governments would quarrel over the management of the tunnel ; but if there were any friction, the dispute could be settled in the way adopted for the Alabama' claims. It is difficult to believe that Sir E. Watkin expected his evidence to be treated seriously, and a gentle reminder from the Committee that it was composed of persons of ordinary intelligence would not have been out of place. Sir Edward finished off by asking the Committee to inspect the works on the French side. He has evidently missed his vocation. What a horse chaunter he would have made, how he would have praised any spavined beast, talked away all evidence of faults, and have wound up with an invitation to finish the deal over a social glass!
