TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9199, 2 September 1895, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The railway race to Scotland, The over what may now be deRailway scribed as th<*< 440 mile course Race. from London to Aberdeen, commenced as far back as July 15th, though it was only within the past two or three weeks that the record-breaking which ensued was deemed su-Sciently interesting to be cabled to Australia. The racing this season was on a much larger scale than that of 1888, for that was only from London to Edinburgh, 400 miles. It seems that ever since the Forth and new Tay bridges were completed this great trial of power has been impending. Previously the West Coast lines (Loudon and Northwestern, and Caledonian) could easily beat the East Coast (Great Northern, North-Eastern, and North British), but those two marvellous constructions gave the East Coast the shorter road by twelve miles and a somewhat easier one as to gradients So the East Coast started running from London to Aberdeen (528 miles) in llh 20 mm, including all stoppages. The West Coast bided its time and said nothing nntil all was ready, when it suddenly announced in the middle of July, so as to give no time to the other side to be ready with a reply, that the West Coast trains that week and thereafter, would perform the journey (540 miles) in 11 hours exactly. The first train reached Aberdeen on tbe morniog of July 16th, in lOh 46min from uondon. The East Coast lines took np the challenge on the 19th and anonnced that from the following Monday they will do the journey in lOh 45mhx Both sides, we are told, were superbly equipped for the contest. The East Coast and West Coast Companies have lately been building some magnificent new engines expressly designed for speed with haulage power. All can run

at the highest spe-da and draw immonse loads. The leogth of the runs to ba mads without atop was ia some cases remarkable. The North-Weatern, it was stated, would run to Crewe (153 miles) without a halt; then to Carlisle (141 miles); the Caledonian from Carlisle to Stirling (117. miles). Tho Great Northern was to go to Grantham (105. miles), and then to York (S2|). The Northern ran from Y.)rk to Newcastle (81), aud theuce to Edinburgh (124";). The other runs were uot made known when the mail left. " Much curiosity is folt," says our Loudon correspondent, writing ou July 19:h, "as to what will be the next step by the West Coast lines. Will they accelerate further ? As it is the East Coast train has to reach Edinburgh in the fastest time of the 1333 race with a much heavier load. The W es> Coast similarly has to equal its best of that, day even more heavily ha-dicapped. That the East Coa*t can reach Aberdeen in the lOh 45min allowed there is no doubt, and the "West Coast has shown that it can do the trip in at any rate only a minute more. So it is not unlikely that August will see the time still further cut down and some extraordinary speeds recorded." As wa all know, those anticipations were fully realised, and the times originally set forth by the respective Railway Companies were very largely reduced. How this racing agrees with the stringent instructions, whioh we were told some time ago bad been issued to the enginedrivers,limiting the spaifH-t which the trains were, to travel appear, but as long as no fearful takes place all is well, aud the contest is certainly interesting as showing the high pitch of excellence to which English railway- aud engines have been brought.

It canuot ba said that any The indecent hasto has been disTennysou played in the matter of erectBeacon, ing a memorial to the late Lord Tennyson. It i& now considerably more tii-to two years since he died, and so far nothing has been done, we believe, in the way of putting up tbe monument, although the design has been decided upon. It must be admitted, however, recalling Teunysou's intense love of the sea, that when the memorial is in position it will be as appropriate as could well be wished, for it is to be a beacon to mariners. Its form is that of a tall lon a cross of granite, 32ft high, aud it is to stand on HighdowD, Fieshwater, at the western end of the Isle of Wight, overlooking the entrance to the busy watei'3 of the Solent. The site was one of the favourite objects of the poet's daily walks from his house at Farringford until within a year or two of his death, the view from the top, extending across the Solent from Portsmouth -Downs to Weymouth aud inland over the New Forest. The shaft of the cross bears the following inscription :—" To the memory of Alfred Lord Tennyson, this Cross, a Beacon to Sailors, is raisedjby the people oi Freshwater, and others who desired to honour himiu Englandand America." There isacertain fitness, saysarecent writer, even in the choice of the form of the monument, as Tennyson was strongly interest ed in Celtic Christianity, and had thought at one time of writing a poem upon the monks of lona. The Trinity House and Board of Trade have agreed to accept the beacon as national property, and to provide for its proper maintenance. It will be marked as the *' Teunyson Bi:icon " on all fuciai charts, and will serve as a landmark for vessels entering the Solent from the west. It is stated that the funds for its erection are not yet complete some £350 being still required to make up the £1100 which the monument is to cost, but so far no effort has been made to collect subscriptions. The reason given is that there is something distasteful about the idea of having to beg for a memorial to a great English poet—the greatest of his age. That is, no doubt, true, but it should not be necessary to beg for funds for such a purpose iv England, but merely to state the necessity for their being forthcoming. Its any case it would be much less disgraceful to get what money is wanted by asking for it than to allow the erection of the beacon to lapse for wa it of it.