A TERRIBLE ALTERNATIVE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 95, 15 January 1908, Page 4

A TERRIBLE ALTERNATIVE.

r. ——— , : FATHER HAS TO LET: .HIS BABY drown. ', Oii New.Years Day a'picnic party at Nar- ' rabri, N.S.WV,' consisting' of Mr. and Mrs.. D. Ida, aged 7; ,18 moritiis; P. J, . Levey, and W. ,M. Malone, had been'fishing all day at Broadwater, 10 miles from' Nsrrabri.' On'.the journey home Mr. Levey and Mr. Malolio started first. They had not.,jJriven far when . they hoard'screams,, and looking back saw Mrs. Cody on tho 1 bank, wiving her hands frantic caljy. They baclt, and. reached tho bank just in eldest girl, Ida, s out,of her father's armsJand to drag,her father out of the river.',S..it appears that when' tho, family wero the sulky; tho' horse,- usually a quiet animal, ; backed tho sulky and- its occupants towards the bank of tho river. Mrs. Cody,, realising the danger, managed .to jump out,, but the others could not get awayj -and'' over a bank loft. "Bisli'info'thcrriverj which is over ,20£t.jdeep,Vand runs very strongly. Tho father clung to ( the two chiloxdn for. a time, but being fully clothed found that unless he released one of them all would bp drowned, so he had to let the baby go. The father then „ijjjnaged4,o/stji)ggle,, tojil)ho,.bank with Ida; . ' and Vas quito exfiauktM. when Mr. Malone came v to his help.' The horso was drowned. .ViiElie, .p.qpr frantic, and could: hardly be prevented froui rushing into tho river after her baby. She became prostrated jvith.'grief, and shocks and a doct-or : had to be sent out from Narrabri to attend to her. Tho littlo girl Ida and her father had a harrow -cscape;'•'■espocifllly-'-the-littlo girl, : who had swallowed a'great' quantity of water. STAND-BY ... ..... :.. ... ... ... .1. The 1 '.Lorimer, system of- automatic tele-, phony promises to revolutionise tho. ordinary method of telephony.7 At Peterborough, On r first exchatigeof'this system, which has been installed and successfully operating fori about two'years,, gives one the, oerio sensation of being in'an enchanted realm, fori the spectaclp.of t a w mere machine!, a thing dc-void-bf'• seuse -cr "understanding, performing, what'was described at the telephouo investigation -at: a', nerve-raclang oporation, is nothing short of, marvellous.; ' ; ,Tho operation, is, as follows :— 1 "Yon wish to call'No.'3ol.' '.'l'hero are'in front of you on' .;tho ..telephone box, fpiuvuslides, oach rcpre- : . sentiilg units, tens, hundreds, or thousands. The .slides or doivn, and tho; 'desired number 'is' obtained ,on about tho same principle t as:,ori6 adjusts an ovcrlasting; lor N0.'361 yott tako np thojiundreds, stopping at 3. Thcii tho next slido 'is! •stopped at,6 and tho next at 1. Having ar-' ranged the mimbers ; you swiftly turn a crank : and place: thef.Tecei,y?pi.to, your ear, and if" you do not get the busy buzz you press tho button/.-,. That, is all you; havo to do, exccpt: to talk when your oall"is"'answered. "If a person should call'up your .number' while -you, are using your telephone, all; hoi, will hear will be tho 'busy buzz,' which tells; •him that,your telephone is in use.- When you aro talking oyero lino you aro satisfied that $here tb'o lino • .• • Ni> matter 'whether "tfio person., you aro , sp.eaking to thinks you havo finished, and accordingly hangs up his receivdr, you can call 'hira/back.^by tho button. •When you liavo fiiiishetl, tho simple operation of hanging-up-your fecciver disconnects the number and you are ready to mako'anothor 'Call,, -•.;;//" ... If a telephone gots out of order,' if a wire is.'broken. -or. cut'or anything elso goes wrong''to'."interfere with tho service, it is not. necessary .for tho .subscriber) to complain, for the ■.fac'tiwiU' bo immediately recorded in tho oxchangqfroom. Eveii should x> subscriber tunV 'inja-call and go away and leave it, thus tying up his telephone aiijcl the -'one called, the will receiro a wariiing jn the,'shape pf/hn alarm.which will cpntinuo sounding until'ftbc'man' in charge takes, action by restoring-the-telephones to their-, normal condition, aii" operation that is .performed in a second of itinio.' ? ' All manual labour by t;bo girl operators is oliminated, and therefore'-ithe saving in that alone is an important iteiii'. Tho elimination iof tho girl operator-,also sojves all tho serious questions considered, and reported upon by ,tho. royal commission appointed to investigatei,tho;.rather startling conditions which camb to light during tho strike of tho operators in Toronto last winter. Then tho principlo—the percentage principle—which forms tho basis of tho Lorimer system, is peculiar to itself and is important from tho economical and engineering point of view. The contral i'officalfenuj'pment,? of a number: of, 'lidts:; oj}:'sections,"oach«omplcto in itself, and each serving 10(1, sußscribors. Thoro is not an individual piece of apparatus for, every subscriber, but a sufficient number of connecting divisions (made common to tho ,-100: subseribors), aro ..prpyided in oach section j'of'iOO to"hahdlc the'greatcst number of calls that aro made at any ono time. This reduces cost',' induces simplicity, and' removes many of tho oxponsivo 'and puzzling engineering difficulties'presented in Ptlior systems in tho largo multiple oxclianges. 1 '