NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10391, 16 March 1897, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Sip. Ciuiiles Diuce is (says the Hob News) our Imperial pessimist. In 'be ?!U||| issue of the Saturday Review bo 0 ,• |j : ; Lord Roberts' reminiscences the peg "j\ some lugubrious remarks on the politic" |g commercial; and defence prospects w ic Great Britain has to face. Bo is.appM' || eutly, quite of Lord Roberts' view W|| defence of Afghanistan is a question # i . g| has not been ad winced recently, and LjWjg consequently, demands anxious i- 0 on the part of our rulers. Any a f by Russia would possibly lead to virtual partition of Afghanistan, anjl _ contiguity with a Russian army wou ' says, impose upon India an t a f Kingdom a military strain rjjflfkfflaß which the Empire has never Y0 pharlea'S'i Another danger , rests, in Sir ■ ; ; r Dilke's opinion, in Lord Salisbury a n about-face with . regard to. Ru . oP S ■ probable consequences of the w® 4 • _

''Turkey are enough, Sir Charles suggests, •'to make the peaceful Englishman lie awake at nights." He anticipates that the advance of Russia will result in the destruction of our trade in China, and concludes that it is doubtful whether a Power which concedes so much would bo able to either hold India or retain the loyalty of the colonies. As though the agony had not been piled up sufficiently, Sir Charles discovers dangers lurking in the system of Imperial service troops in India, and thinks a mistake was made by the British India Government when ib refused to accept offers of money from the native princes for purposes of defence. He would prefer to multiply States like Mysore rather than: States like Hyderabad. Having so thoroughly [convinced himself of our Imperial weakness, it is, perhaps, only natural for tie author of " Greater Britain" to conclude that Russia, on the completion of the Siberian railway, will be invulnerable

Sir Charles Metcalfe, who has accompanied Mr.. Rhodes on his return to Eng. land, and has been taking an active part in the scheme for the railway to Buluwayo, is descended on his mother's side from the Thackerays, whose lives in India have lately been so forcibly described by Sir William Hunter. His career has shown much of the spirit and energy which made them remarkable. As a boy he was left very m uch to his own devices, his father, Sir Iheophilus, a retired Indian civilian, living chiefly abroad ; and after sending himself to Harrow and Oxford, he chose the profession of an engineer. He found ib uphill work for some time, and knew what) it was to live on a mechanic's wages, Later, when circumstances altered and he had every inducement to be satisfied with the pleasant life of a man about town, he would not give up his work, and went out to the Cape, bent on finding a larger field for his energies. His admiration for Mr. Rhodes, with whom he was at Oxford, has considerably influenced bis career, and he is now largely instrumental in carrying oub Mr. Rhodes' favourite railway schemes.

Mr. E. W. Rudd, the Australian managing director of the Cycle and Motor Company, has arrived in Melbourne to introduce into Australasia the motor cars, which have lately been attracting so much attention in England and Europe. One of the moat improved of the motors is the Kane Pennington. The agency and Australasian patents for this machine are held from the Pennington Company by the Australian Cycle and Motor Company, of which Mr. E. W. Rudd has come to Australia as the managing director. The company will open branches in all the Australian colonies and open up at once a trade in the horseless carriages. Mr. Rudd thinks that the class of motor which will find most favour will be the one called the New Pennington autocar, which is a tricycle constructed to carry four persons, and is fitted with Pennington non-puncturablepneumatictyres. It weighs, complete, less than 2Jcwt, and i 3 speeded up to 30 miles an hour. Owing to the construction of the Pennington motor there is no vibration, no fire, no smoke, and no odour, as the oil in the engine is heated and ignited by electricity. The electricity, ignition, and the lever to start the engine are controlled by two small thumbscrews in the handle-barß, held by the driver of the vehicle, and are worked without the slightest exertion. The price of this vehicle is ISO guineas.

There are many other descriptions. There is the motor bicycle and motor tandem bicycyle. This latter machine will seat two riders. Its power is the same Pennington oil engine that drives the bigger vehicles, but of a lower horse-power, and its speed is from six to 35 miles per hour, as desired. The oil which is used as fuel will carry the machine a long distance without replenishing, a gallon sufficing for a run of from 50 to 60 miles. The tandem is started by pedalling, both seats being provided with pedals, so that the riders can progress by personal exertion should they desire to do so for a change. The pedals are fitted with a ratchet, and do not move* except when operated by the feet, and it is claimed that as the wheels are fitted with 4in. pneumatic tyres in place of the ljin or l|in, now in common use on bicycles, there is much more elasticity and consequent comfort in riding than the ordinary pneumatic tyre possesses over the old style solid rubber. The spaed is rogu-' lated by the supply of oil, which is under the perfect control of the steorer, and the turning of a button on the handlebar shuts off the electric current, and at once the cylinders become air-brakes. There is no trouble, it is stated, about the practicability or mnnagementof the machine. And there are victorias aud laudaus and all sorts of other vehicles fitted with the motors. In fact, the company fit the motors to all descriptions of cars, the field of operations being very- extensive. Anything that a man or a horse or a number of horses can do will be done by the Penningtons, The tour - seated tricycle can be fitted up as a tradesman's cart by taking out three of the seats and putting in a box to hold merchandise. The motor cycle is a bicycle with a Pennington engine attached, which weighs only 651b complete, and which will travol at a speed from six to 50 miles per hour, as desired, and which can be run by a gallon of gasolene or kerosene from 50 to 100 miles. This machine is managed and driven in exactly the same way as a motor tandem, there being no difference, except that the bicycle is capable of a much greater rate of speed."

The news from Crete to-day states that fighting has taken place in the neighbourhood of Canea. Fresh outrages on Armenians are reported to have taken place in Anatolia. The British Ambassador in Constantinople is moving in the matter. A diabolical outrage has been perpetrated near Salonica. A railway bridge was blown up as a train conveying 8000 Turkish troops was in the act of crossing it, the intention evidently being to destroy the whole force. Details are not yet to hand, but it is said that many of the unfortunate soldiers lost their lives. A ferry-boat, overloaded, sank while crossing the Haitang Straits, near Foochow, and out of 108 passengers, only : our were^saved.