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REPORT ON EUROPEAN ^TUNNELS.

“ In passing through the tunnel and near the centre, travellers willnot fail to observe a wide opening or shaft. This was formed throughan unfortunate accident which occurred here during the formation ofthe tunnel. At this spot one of the six working shafts was sunk of abouteight or nine feet diameter, and it had been nearly finished when thewhole mass of soil surrounding it gave way, completely burying tenmen who were at work below. They were engaged in fixing one ofthe iron rings which are built into the top of the tunnel, to support thebrick-work of the shaft, and from all that could be learned from obser-vation—for not one was spared to tell the tale—it appeared that oneof the men had cut away some of the chalk to obtain more room tofix the iron-work, and in so doing had penetrated so near the gravelthat it broke through in an instant and entirely filled up the space,leaving them not a moment’s time to save themselves. So instanta-neous was the accident, that one poor fellow was found three weeksafterwards, standing perfectly upright with his trowel in his hand. Itwas nearly a month before the soil that had given way around theshaft could be cleared out, when the opening wa3 found to be soextensive that the idea of making a large ventilating shaft at onceoccurred, and it was immediately executed.”

LINDAL TUNNEL.

This tunnel upon the Furness Kailway is one which presents somefeatures of great interest, from the fact that having been originally builtof small section, it was afterwards enlarged sufficiently to receive a doubletrack, without interrupting, except for a very few days, the traffic ofthe railway which passes through it. A description of this tunnel isprinted in the minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engi­ neers, ' Vol. xix. Mr. Stileman, the engineer who executed theenlargement, and with whom I had the pleasure of an interview inLondon , kindly gave me the drawing which is annexed to tliis Report.It is a copy of that prepared by him for the paper above referred to,which he presented to the Institution.

The tunnel was originally intended to be of sufficient size for a-double track, but financial difficulties led to the reduction of itssection to 12 feet in width and 14 feet 6 inches in height. Its lengthwas 563 yards—of which 176 yards were in solid rock and 387yards in loose material lined with masonry. The grade throughthe tunnel is 1 in 100 or 52.80 feet per mile. When the rail-