Illustrated Notes from all over the World

Lake County Press, Issue 2348, 27 October 1910, Page 7

Illustrated Notes from all over the World

OUR NEGLECTED WATERWAYS. The gradual disuse into which England’s canal system has lapsed since the advent of the railway will soon be rectified if the authorities carry out the recommendations of .the Royal Commission on the Canals and Inland Navigation of the United Kingdom, which has just, issued its fourth report. It is suggested that four mam

routes should he unified and improvedmd that , a Central Waterway Board, should be formed to administer them. The routes in. question. are Bi'rming-* ham' and Leicester to London; Leicester, Burton and Nottingham to the Humber; Wolverhampton, and Birmingham to the Mersey, and Wolverhampton and Birmingham to the Severn, including Gloucester and

Berkelcy Canal. The cost of the scheme, not including the expenses of acquisition, is estimated at over £17,000.000. Our first illustration shows the old style; a barge being towed on the Worcester and Birmingham canal. Our second sketch shows an up-to-date waterway; the Hydraulic lift on the North Stafford and Weaver canal.

EGYPTIAN MONSTERS. As movers of huge masses of stone, the ancient Egyptian may claim first place. The huge scale of their monuments and temples is largely responsible for having kept them safely from the flood of destruction that again apd again has swept through the valley of the Nile. Some of the most notable objects to be seen in Egypt arc the mighty statues

erected in honour of her kings. Two twin colossi of Amenhotep 111. (see sketch No. 1) which have sat for many centuries outsides Thebes, overlooking the desert, were hewn out of single masses' of granite brought hundreds of miles down the Nile from Assuan. Each colossus is about 53 feet high, and weighs several hundred tons. Even more striking is the fallen statue of Rameses 11.,

lying discovered by Mr. Flinders Petrie at Tanis. The mere chips that he found weigh several tons each; apd from them he had reckoned the avoidupois of the complete statue at 1200 tons; its height, with pedestal at 125 feet (see sketch No 2). How the monolith from which it was carved was transported to Thebes is a mystery.

“MAN-KILLING MISSILES.” Our sketches illustrate two ways of carrying the Martep, Hale rifle-gren-ades, which have been described by Sir James Willcocks as “essentially the - man-killing ■ missile.” In the case of the carrier and equipment designed by Sir James, the grenades, which are fired from an ordinary rifle, are slung over the shoulders by

a strap. Three of them are fixed on the waist-pad, which carries also four service cartridges for firing:

them, one rope-tail for hand-throw-ing-, and a separate bullet-proof pouch in which the detonators are carried until the time for going into

action arrives. In the case of a. carrier designed by Captain Stuyck, of the Spanish Artillery, four grenades are carried on the waist-belt..

MOTORING IN WESTERN AUSI TRALIA.

The old coach road to Albany (says the “Sketch”) which has been silent for years, is now attracting the motoring public, and Mr. and Mrs. R. T. Robinson, in their Daimler car, recently went by it from Perth to Al-

oany. At the Crossman. River (the bridge being broken) the car had to traverse a span of 13ft. across 9in. by 3in. jarrah planks 15ft. long. The weight of the car was two tons, so the planks were subjected to a very heavy strain. .r .