TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 8072, 15 January 1892, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

In place of the proposed Channel tunnel a tubular railway ia now suggested. The .promoter of the project, in a letter to th« Times, urges tbat it would be the military objections which have been urged against the tunnel. It is admitted that it would be easy enough to swamp the tunnel, but,- it ia asked, who is to swamp it ? When is he to do it ? And under what responsibility ia he to act? | These are questions which introduce uacertainty, aud with uncertainty, it i a pointed out, comes danger. To swamp the tuuuel before an actual ) e%. "break of war might cause a. war| to swamp it afterwards might be found impracticable. "Thia," continue! the correspondent of The Times, " is why I have proposed the tubular system upon what, iv common with other engineers I find to bo a perfectly practicable plan, the chief engineering merit of which lies p et , haps in its simplicity of construction aad of deposit upon the sea bed. So situated it would bo acsessible at any and every point to her Majesty's ships, aud U any enemy were ever so militarily mad as to attempt to use it in war or for a warlike purpose, all that would be necessary would be for tbe Admiralty to order taer Ooia-mander-in-Chief at the Nore or at Porft}. mouth to send a vessel to let the tm into it by a shot from a qua or by a torpedo end drown the enemy out." As to ts« practical oifficultiaj of construction §s« serious objection has been ratstd % the leading engineers, Whet th|| criticise chiefly is the probable sipense. To this the promoter rejohp tbatif it has been worth while to spend about ,£3,000,000 sterling upon iv bridge across the Forth to accommodate a fractional part of the traffic between Saglatfa and Scotland, it cannot be very extraraganfc to expend four or Aye times ifcat amount for the accommodation of t& mam tram© between England and. the Continent of Europe. The idea 4! bridging over the Channel in some "waj.'js an attractive one on grounds ol cmsmerce and convenience, and we raujj expect that it is a matter which will continually be agitated. Oft the other hand, the "silver is so important as a lino of defence military men are certain to offer a very strenuous opposition to anything jrkjs|& may deprive England of the benefit of stteh a safeguard when it is moat needed, |4 remains to bo seeu whether commercial enterprise or military prudence wiU provf victorious in the long run.

It appears that it is not only in America that burglary has been systematise*!, w that it has become quite a eoience, wits " syndicates " and " promoters " to i_rest their money in the business aad ensure its being carried out an a compre* hsnsiy© scale. The JUmdon Daily tyk* graph ot November'2sth speaks of several burglars then awaiting their trial, who used to drive to Che suburbs la a neat dogcart, and after cracking their, criV" drove respectably home again. A burglar who broke into Bamslade, near Aecot, aad stole Mrs Henry White's jewels, is sap* posed to have gone down to the place in a tilbury, with his assistant drossud up as & liveried servant. One of the gentry ca* deavoured to despoil Mr Joseph Thomp* son, j the well-known Australian, betting man, but on this occasion fon&d Dressed in a very, gorgeous livery aa a footman, he pc«s«&&s4 himself 'at the Victoria Clul»,i m& handed to Mr Joseph Thompson, :tas?f accpnntaat, a letter purporting to .'was .tom liprd Shaf tasbory, at the, JBacheJon' Club, asking him to change a oheqaa tit £$&Q, which was enclosed, and to fire tee money .to the bearer. Mr.Taosapsoi* presently said he would go himself to tha Bachelors' Club and giVe the money to his Lordships .At the same time taken to pee that the soi-disant "footman" did ; _o¥ " silently steal away," whereupoa the supposititious Jeamesconfesaedtuatfe cheque was a forgery and begged formerey. Two men, he said, gave him tho suit ol livery, the cheque, and the letter, sad sent him on his mission, telling' him tliftfi he must do eoinothiug for his living. »t latest dates the police were endeavouring to find ouc the liveried one's employers, tha prisoned tfeiag remanded, ia the moastime« Much .ae'-ire-delight ltt the progress nature of. the arts, it is disquieting to fifid that burglary and fraud are sharing la the general advanoe. , The combination d fe)pny high art, is decidedly b the community, ' '" *

Thb Lancet has hit upon a possible ca~* of indigestion, which is probably a«* suspected by tho general public. Th» practlea of baking oar meat Ifls&w of roasting It, which has followed .tfcA.Wy stitution of the close rangeo or kitcacner for the open grate," is, our contempt/ admits, economical, but it doubts whife« it is wholesome. In baking the meat* as it were, «ooked in its own vapours are confined ia the close own."** ad<Lno doubt to the flavour aad riofcw* <J tha food. Unfortunately, honour, & g~~ deal offattfly waiter is tetoisod at w same time, and oiirbonteaperas/i***? vinced that with persons of digestion this is highly iajurioas, aaa ~£ the continued use of baked nxsa* »oS mj, aggravates but induces i-digss-** > the same way toasted bacon, is rasch &*>' digestible than that which has bsoaflw* The point is one which that »-««**' elaas of persons who sailer from aW*M symptoms should take a note of.