TOPICS OF THE TIME.

Hastings Standard, Issue 29, 30 May 1896, Page 2

TOPICS OF THE TIME.

Charles Flint, of Brooklyn, N.Y., thinks he has solved the problem of ocean rapid transit. He has designed a bicycle boat, which, operated by three men, he believes can be made to cross the Atlantic from Sandy Hook to the Lizard in 70 hours, am average speed of 45 knots per hour. He calls his boat Dolphin, and it has somewhat the shape of that speedy fish. His design, however, is not an effort to construct a hull on the lines of the dolphin, but an outgrowth of long observation of the sea and study of forms to which it offers least resistance. Besides the bicycle machinery, which is the most conspicious feature of the boat and of Flint's own invention, there is another novelty in the form of the propeller. This consists- of continuous flanges resembling in shape the figure 8 placed horizontally.

The machinery embraces a treadle action, three sets of fly-wheels operated by cogs, and a shaft balance-wheel. The forward fly-wheels are 3|ft. in diameter, the middle 7ft. in diameter, and those aft sft. The balance-wheel, which sets well aft on the shaft, is 4ft. in diameter. One man operates the machinery with his feet, and at the same time steers the boat with his hands. About a year ago Flint built a

20ft. boat according to his designs and tried it at Bavonne. He says lie succeeded in making ol knots per hour with it. That boat was accidentally burned, but the model was saved, and can now be seen at the office of Charles F. Harms, 140 Broad-street, New York. Flint is now preparing to build a boat 40ft. long, sft. beam, and lift, deep, to draw sft. of water. It will be a turtle deck craft without any upper works, except a knob-like protuberance midship for a pilot-house. The machinery will weigh 7001b., and 7001b. of lead will be put in the keel to give the boat stability. Being a practical ship carpenter, Flint expects to build the boat himself, and he figures that he can do it for about lOOOdol. The boat will carry a crew of three. It will take two men to start the machinery, but once started, one man can run it at full speed for hours. Flint will navigate the boat himself. The machinery can be operated by steam or electricity, but Flint proposes to make his first voyage by foot-power.

Ml 1 -John Miehell, British Consul at St. Petersburg, in the course of his annual report to Lord Salisbury upon the condition of the country, says " Ten years of strenuous support of a financial character on the part of the government of the landlord class has failed to yield the desired results. The Nobility Land Bank has proved unequal to the task of arresting the sure but gradual decay of the class in question. Mortgaged estates were repeatedly by hundreds and even thousands destined to bo dealt with by the auctioneer's hammer, but at the critical moment the Government has always intervened with new acts of grace which postponed the evil day. At the present time more than 100,000 estates, or -11 per cent of the whole area of the land owned by nobles, are mortgaged to various Governments and private land credit institutions, and the amount of money advanced oil these estates has reached 1,269,000,000r. equal t0,£'120,500,000, of which sum 1,174,000,000r., equal to ,£117,200,000, still remains owing by the mortgagee. In the course of the last five years (1889-94) the indebtedness of landed estates to private land banks increased by 84,000,000r. (.4*8,200,000), and these banks last year reaped a profit of more than 7,500,000r. (£700,000) on these operations. Of the enormous capital of the Nobility Land Bank, exceeding £50,000,000, created by the Government for the express purpose of making money advances to landlords, but little has been paid back, and but little improvement has been made in the cultivation of estates. It is asserted by those well acquainted with provincial life that the millions advanced to the noble landlord class have not been expended in the improvement of their estates, but were spent on amusement, luxury, travels, payment of old debts, and unprofitable enterprises. One of the chief causes that threatens the almost complete extinction of the noble land-owning class is to be found in absenteeism. The cultivation of land, unfortunately, does not afford the nobility those attractions that aro presented by life in towns and by careers in various branches of tho Government service, the latter being, moreover, accompanied by the acquisition of rank and social distinction."