King George Drives Though at Opening Ceremony London, July 18.
Over 120,000 people were present the ceremony at Liverpool to-day when the King, by pressing a golden Switch, formally opened the Merse Tunnel, the longest underwater roa way in the world and one of the Breatest engineering achievements of modern times.
The tunnel is to be called Queen's Way in honour of Her Majesty. Tt cost £8,000,000 and is the largest enterprise ever undertaken by 3 single municipality.
In_his speech at the ceremony, the King referred to the tunnel as "Une miracle" and, in a striking passage, said: "Who' can reflect without awe that the will and power of the men, which in our time have created ihe noble bridges of the 'Thames, Forth, Hudson ana Sydney' Harbour, can create also Tunnels such as this, where many streams of wheeled traffic may run in light and safety below the de and turbulence of tidal water bea: ug the ships of the world. T praise the imaginations that foresaw, the minds that planned, the skill' that fashioned, the will that drove and the strong arms that endured in the bringing of this work' to. comple-'When the King pressed a switch, green and gold curtains rolled back revealing the entrance to the tunnel. In the place of honour at the cere: many, clote to the royal dais, was a company of workmen of every trade who had been engaged on the tunnel. They were in their working. kit~- dungarees and blue shirts, carpenters' overalls, oilskins and oilskin caps. Six foremen were presented to the King.
Their Majesties afterwards drove through the two-mile -long tunnel, which has diffused lighting, which 44 fect in diameter and holds four lines of tref.
The King and Queen remarked! upon the freshness of its alr, which comes through special ventilation Shafts able to deliver 5,000,000 cubic feot of alr a minute, The King, during the day, which was marked by the exceptional enthusiasm of the great crowds, also opened the (000 East Lancashire road 14 the 130-acre Walton Hall Parh Wireless through Reuter.
'The new tunnel, which connects Liverpool with her sister city, Rirkenhead, has taken nine years 10! build and kas cost about £6,000,000 'The new tunnel isa' single! gigantic tube over 40 feet in diameter with two smaller branches at each end. It is just under a milo Tong between shatts as compared with a molle and three-fifths for the Holland tubes, but its total length, including {ts two branches, is almost three miles—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.