TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13374, 16 March 1909, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

AVhile wireless tele-Long-distance graphy has been Telegraphy. monopolising most of

the limelight of late years, the older method of telegraphic signalling has been making steady progress. Direct overland communication was recently established between London and India. This, perhaps, seems rather tame, but it is really one of the most astonishing feats in the history of telegraphy. Until quite recently there was no land communication between Teheran and India. Overland messages were sent from Teheran to Bushire, and thence by cable to Karachi. Prior to 1903 messages sent from London to Teheran had to be re-transmitted twice on the way. Then direct communication was made possible, and a few years later'a land line was erected between Teheran and Karachi. A few weeks ago a small party of guests witnessed, .at tho London offices of the Indo-Enro-pean Telegraph Company, the sending of a message direct to Calcutta, and the receipt of a reply, "in less time than it would take to walk through Fleet street." It must have been uncanny to watch the operator call up Calcutta, 7000 miles away, and receive an answer before a gentleman present had finished blowing his nose. Other cities wore called tip for news. Madras said it was cold and dry there, Bombay that it was hot,- and Constantinople reminded London that the Turkish Parliament was sitting. Parts of this great system, it must be remembered, are kept open only with great difficulty and at great risk. In some districts of Persia employees of the company go in constant danger of their lives, and it is greatly to their credit that in a place like Tabriz, where there has been fighting for some oighteen months, the service has nevor seriously broken down.

Tho compromise over tiro The' capital of United South Two Africa may be raid to Capitals. a<ld another terror to geography in schools. The schoolboy will have- to cjxrry Capetown and Pretoria iv his hoad as tho joint capitals of the Union, and we fancy Capetown will l>o. remembered best. The special correspondent of '"Tho Times." has written a very interesting article on the claims of tho two centres to be chosen as

tlx? capital. Capetown is proeminent among South African towns for brauty of setting and historical traditions. Seeu from Table Buy it is in no way inferior to cense of tho fairest ooast cities of Europe. "With the ocean at its doors, iine anchorage for a navy in Table Bay. and in closer touch than any of its rivals with the heart of the Empire, it seems tho destined capital of a unit of an Empire built on maritime supremacy. And in Capetowr. alone is a k'isurcd c!a>». "with goira of the culture associated with permanently fixed communities, and with th«it greater breadth of view which culture gives over politics as well c.s over every other sidt> of life.'' In only two points cocs it suffer by comparison wit>h Pretoria. It lies in a corner of Africa., two days.' journey from the busiest centre of indtistrial activity, ami it conveys "'none of that great feeling of vast and luminous space so characteristic of tlve South African veldt.'" Pretoria hne many claims to being nwu'.e tho capital. Tt is approaehri' througli a grren vaiky, which comes as » blessed relief to tho weary traveller, and it lies in a "'hollow bower of trees surrounded with a girdle

of kopjes, which in the clc-nr South African evening light remind on»» more of 'Perugino's wrH-lovr;l hills than any place out of ItaJy.' " It i> woll supplied wit'i water, has fine pulilir buildings. an-J above ol! is a typical South AlriOH!i town, •'.villi ivido squares an.. 1 streets, "with the mysterious fascimi tion of tlw v«-l->lfc in its outskirts, ami in full view of live •b;; l --< and changing lights of th«.» r»cuith Africa's mret range of mountains." -Capetown's claini-s appeared tr> t l \e correspondent, to U-e the weightier, but th-e objections to th: 1 city's p-'>.sition om;_\l not bo ovorcouio. ht'iico the compromise.

London has bren stirre-a — Killing even "The Times" has by taken cognisance of tno Prayer, matter in its correspondence columns—by the ol a circular to yivisectionists. signed "M.C.," relating that the writer, while seated one day in the coffee-room of a London hotel, overheard a man say that he knew a person who was in the. habit of praying from time to time- lor the death of one of the leading vivisectors, and that always the man indicated hpd died. "M.C. ,, went on to relate that she (tho writer of the circular is alleged to be- a lady of pious and most respectable character) resolved to try the experiment for herself. Accordingly, she prayed earnestly that thi* Almighty, if her prayer were in accord with Hi* will, would promptly remove the man most likely to cause future suffering to innocent subjects of his experiments. Tho result was, according to her circular, impressive. "About a fortnight later one of our most distinguished medical scientists dropped (presumably dead), and the newspapers were lamenting tho loss to science of this vivisector and the discoveries he was just -about to make." Tho success of his experiment seemed so remarkable that tho author of the circular considered it a boundeu duty to call it lion all opponents of vivisection to join in a general death-prayer for the annihilation ot all operators iipon living animals. Is'othing but a wholesale destruction would satisfy "M.C." Naturally a sensation was causod by publication of tho circular, and the Anti-Vivisection Society promptly repudiated any connection with the letter, Mr Stephen Coleridge (leader of the organisation) deprecating the.use of the "death prayer." As he shrewdly observed, it might lead to retaliation, and malign iniluences might be tided by vivisectors themselves ior the purpose of removing him! Tho London 'Daily Chronicle" somewhat irreverently suggests that the AY omen's ciocial and Political Union are abandoning furtive raids upon Downing street and have called an extraordinary meeting at which Mr Asqiiith, Mr Herbert Gladstone and Mr Lloyd-George are to bo "prayed lor" in the way suggested by the author of the circular. The "Chronicle" adds:—"The ethics of the death-prayer have not yet been analysed by our religious leaders, but it seoins dangej-ous doctrine if adopted without -extreme caution. If everyone prays (with even moderate success) tor the removal of his antagonists, who among us will be safe?"