LONDON CHAT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13693, 8 September 1906, Page 13

LONDON CHAT.

(Froh Or?, Own Cohrespoxdent.)

„ . LONDON, July 21. lJHnn« tho current fortaiirht' Kin.? luhvard has opened and " christened" the new high-level bridge over the llivoi' Tyno at Newcastle. Although the greatest bridge 11'" Brit!lin sin ™ 'hat "wonder of Die world," (he 0110 which spans the estuary of t' lo . l'orih, the new bridge over tho Tvne is. in no ro&pcct comparable to the latter, r'in " 5 . ( 'l lall:i ,°f 1700 ft each; nor dee» it fulnl (|iute so important; a function a* an integral portion of the main highway from far south to extreme north. Still, it is a pplendid engineering work, and a eostl.v one too, having involved ail outlay of considerably. over half a million sterling.' Its origin and genesis were as follow:-The "J®!" I'-a-st f oast route from London to Julmburgh, Perth, Dundee, and Aberdeen, on crossing the Tyne by (he old high-lovel nridgo of Stephenson, enters * immediately upon a bewildering: maze of points and crossings—not merely Iho two lines' from the south, but also those from the north and from Carlisle, as well as several suburban roads, all converging into so romp.cx a system that the dailv marvel is tho fewness of mishaps and derailments that occur in so favourablo .1 locality. 'l'he express from. London, hound to Scotland, bits to I urn sharp to the left, thread the puzzle of all these crossings, and enter tho Newcastle Central Station at an acute an<rle with its. proper course, Then a fresh engine must come 011 in ihe rear, drag out tho train backward liv Ihe same way it came, pass over all tlio-c crossings, and again.turn sharp to the left, and regain lire old lino of route. This AVfis a. constant source of annoyance to passengers, whose seats were necessarily reversed, besides being n worry and risk to. the railway authorities. So a new line has been constructed, crossing to tlio left about tv.-o miles south of the Tyne, instead of just, north of it. and enteriiiff the Newcastle Central Station from the other i:sn, llius being- able to continue it« Scot-ward course right ahead without, reversing—in railway parlance, avoiding a " back-shunt," such as 'here used to be in New Zealand at Oamai'M and Sentry llill respectively. Thus, whenever it shall suit the East Coast railway companies lo do so, they will he able—haying waler-lroughs' all along the lino—to run from London to Edinburgh without any intcrmediato-halt. Meanwhile, it is understood that next summer only ono stop will be made when the expresses aro in duplicate, tho first part being run from London to York by a (treat Northern engine without any intermediate' atop >(a distanco of. 138 i miles), and then from York to Edinburgh bv a 'NorthEastern engine (205 miles)—both relatively oasy feats, as water can bo picked np at speed. lii any case, (lie old aimoyancc of reversing will bo cscapcd. Tho King's part in the opening ceremony was very simple. His Majcstv and Queen Alexandra approached tho bridge in 11 special royal train from London, which was brought up by a silken cord streMied across. A halt was made and an address prcsonted, together with a golden key and an. exquisite silver model of the newbridge. With the key the King unlocked an electrical apparatus, which released within tlio silken cord, and then his Majesty declared the " King Edward bridge" to ho open for over. The royal train crossed, passed through tho great Newcastle Central Station without stopping, and on lo Alnwick, where their Majesties were tho guests of tho Duke and Duchess of Northumberland. On their return Londomvard tlio King and Queon paid a Stale visit to Newcastle, and underwent tho customary functions. 111 honour ol the occasion tho Mayor of the Northumbrian capital was created a "Lord Mavor'' and a knight. So everybody was made hapny—or ought to have been,—perhaps n-onld have been had it not rained ' like old boots," as ono soaked burgess pathetically described it. London at the same time was still enjoying tho wondrous spell of blue skies and brilliant sunshine that wo have been favoured with for many weeks past. It has indeed been n memorable season—so dry and bright and fine and pleasant, yet novor really hot. Not once yet has tho thermometer gone up to moro' than 82deg. in the shade, whereas last year by this time it had exceeded that point 011 10 different days, once reaching 87deg., while in iho year before that it was as high as 91deg. in tho shade. And yet one hears no end of grumbling and of blank bosh about the l; .heat wave" and tho "torrid temperature *' The glorious weather must lmve enabled a splendid hay crop to be saved in capital condition. Travelling right across tho island, north and south, ea-st ami west, at Iho past week-end the erops struck me as looking remarkably wall—wheal, oats, and barley alike. It ought to be a "farmers' year" if only the later rains will spare the harvest. But a total change so often comes in August and undoes all tho good of a preceding lino-weather spell. Ono drawback lias attended, and still attends, the abnormal drought of. tho season—the multiplication of insect pests. Flies both of the bouse and blue-bottle kinds are, us usual here, very scarce. During the last three yours they have been quite exceptional visitors — thank Goodness! New Zealand visitors havo exclaimed with surprise at their fewness and relative rarity as compared with their most undesirable abundance in New Zealand and still more iu Australia. But other nuisances have come instead. Various species of blichfc insects have brought despair lo growers of fruit nntl of hops. And now (lie London parks, especially n 1 most " fashionable" of all, have been invaded bv such swarms of caterpillars as to break'all records and to drivo away most of the usual frequenters of those delightful "pleasurahccs. SOlllO of the experiences iu Hyde Park have been exceedingly ludicrous as well as irritating—irritating ■in a double sense, for anvbodv upon whom a caterpillar alights and whose flesh it touches is- forthwith attacked by a most disagreeable and tormenting rash. Beside, men don. t like, to feel several of these pests niside their shirt-collars and crawling down their backs. Nor do ladies relish the discovery that several caterpillars liavo taken unfurnished lodgings in beautifully coifl'c huir or havo niefc •with an untimely and scjunshy end by being crashed on their delicate silken skirls Even the dogs which swann in the lark are appalled by tho arrogant coolness with which those big, fat, hairv worms advance upon them. The petted lapdogs do not attempt to light, but promptly howl and turn tail. The wretched insects breed 011 tho trees, and then lower themselves down by gossamer threads until they discern some objectionsn, 7 in T M ,' hic , h .!° , t,r °l>' When tliev sec a bald head which has been bared for ooolness, down Kiev plop upon it with a soft, squashing thud. It has been turned to very droll political account by the clover cartoonist of the iJaily Mirror, who has a most delightful tTe eK t ' m r yCStel ; (la / S issuo ' do,i «ne<l for the US ligation of ihe anli-Bri.'ish pro-Zulu Labourite JI.P., Mr K,.; r Hurdle, /„ whost , Mndalous.letter, addresotl to 11 Zulu in a,!. ' , m ! le ! 1,0 ilsts " IU, J <»i his ottii country and virtually incites ihe Zulus to fresh rebellion and murders, I reforred A tortmglifc ago. Tho picture shows Mr (voir ltardio mounted on a packing-case in nydc lark addressing an enthusiastic audieuro of variegated caterpillars, some hairv some hairless, who, reared upright, follow nis eloquence with ardent approval and many cries of "Hear, bear." One earnest caterpillar remarks ."You're tho man for us, guv nor 1' to which another caterpillar ' adds, xos, he'll defend us against tho wicked park-keeper." Tho cartoon, which ■f> one of the absurdest and wittiest seen !?'' a ''me. has the following legend: •.Mr Ken; Jlardie has constituted himself I he champion of rebel Zulus. Ksvptiau murderers. and everybody who hits a quarrel with England. Will he now become a procaterpillar, and denounce the inhuman cruelty of frying to rid Hvdo Park of its insect population? Following his logic, Iho caterpillars are aborigines, and therefore have a better right to the park than Londoners. This is a, very hard hit, and wonderfuly apposite. Naturallv the proZulus are infuriated, but the 'pro-Britons chuckle hugely. The inquest on thefrightful disaster to the . London and South-western Ocean special, which occurred at Salisbury 011 the morning of the Ist insi., which caused 10 loss of 29 lives, has just been held, tlio proceedings taking a curious and unusual form. At tho very oufset the llailway Company frankly accepted full responsibility and liability 011 account of lie mishap. The chief officials admitted unreservedly Ihat the accident was due to excessive speed on Ihe Salisbury curve, but tool; the opporlunitv of declaring that a higher speed-viz.. SO to SO miles an hourwas perfectly safe on the straightcr portions of their line. In these circumstances very little evidence was tendered, and the jury found a verdict iu accordance with the testimony. But this leaves the case in a very unpleasant and disquieting condition of donbt. In the lirst place, it was..stated by the chief engineer that the radius of ihe Salisbury curvo was only eight chains; if this l#so, then, not onlv would a speed of 70 or 60 miles an hour at that spot bo highly dangerous, but even a tracb lowst rate. Nor can the authorised

30 miles an hour bo deemed entirely safe. But now enters (lie extraordinary inconsistency of the situation. Two years ago I travelled by that same train at the special request o£ the company on lip occasion wlien it was deliberately mnlved Id make a record run from Plymouth to London, which was duly done, as 1 described in your columns at the time. Now, on lliat occasion we certainly ran round the same curve at Fully 70 miles an lioun When I limed the last quarter-mile post entering Salisbury Station at the other end the speed was exactly 75, and it had not. materially diminished when we emerged • from tho station on Iho fatal curve. Yet we passed over it Willi Iho utmost smoothness and steadiness'; nevertheless, if the radius of the curve worn in reality only eight chains. I have no business to be alive and writing this two years afterwards, I am wholly unable to explain tho strange discrepancy, ami can merely relate the fact. There is one point, however, which has been entirely, if unwittingly, ignored, and io which I have not. hitherto culled' attention. Only ouo difference seems (o have, existed between my record train of ISO 4 and tho wrecked train of 19C6. That l«y in the engine itself. The one which cauie lo grief differed from tho previous one in haying a larger and much highcr-pitched Iwiler. I need net go into technical details and theoretical calculations, but it is very nearly certain that tho disaster occurred not through the ongino leaving I lie rails, as had been supposed, but through its gradually being tilted to ono side by the influence of tho tangential motion commonly callwl centrifugal force, until jt simply overbalanced itself mid actually fell right over on its side, while travelling- at 60 miles an hour or more, (ho train, of course, telescoping and piling itself up n* it came behind. It this theory be correct the greatly higher pitch of the locomotive boiler must- inevitably have been an important (uelor. Hut then there remains the si range eantradietion that numbers of modem express engines both in Britain and America have still higher-pitched boilers and yet "keep their foot," all tight. However, I licrs is a good deal more still in tho hueliground, which it is not my business to linear;!!, but which possibly may l;e discovered and disclosed by the Hoard oi Trade, which i;i now in l vestigating tho alfair. Meanwhile, tho disaster has created a- feeling of widespread uneasiness.

If automobiles and motor entliusiafts generally were inclined to argue, as some of them actually did, that the sail occurrence illustrated the superior safety of motor travelling, they soon mot with a severe revulsion, for a few days ago a London motor 'bus, ono of the itow wellknown Vanguard class, of which so many have long been successfully plying in Ibis city, was chartered to take a special party of excursionists on a pleasure Irip to Brighton. All went well until a. ateep declivity was reached noar a little village callod Hawlcros.3. Hero tho motor 'bus simply boiled, and ran at swiftly-inereas-ing speed down a descent, which in somo parts was as steep as 1 in 17, - becoming wholly uncontrollable by tho driver, and in the end swerving slightly to one side— slightly, but sudiciently to mako it head direct for a huge oak tr-00, into which it dashed full butt at a speed estimated at nearly 40 miles an hour. A hideous sceno of carnago and mutilation onsiicd. Tho omnibus was completely wrecked, and lay in two heaps of debris. A cyclist oil his way to Brighton found bodies of dead and injured pcoplo lying in the roadway, and tho omnibus, a complete wreck, in the •hedge, pinned botweon two trees. Tho cyclist at once went for assistance, and aid soon arrived from the towns near. A gruesome incident of tho disaster is the fact that two of the dead were thrown into tho branches of tho oak tree and remained there for some time, considerable difficulty being experienced in removing them, One body hung head downward suspended by a foot, whieh was so firmly wedged between the branches that the boot had to bo taken off before tho body could be removed. One of the dead was accompanied by his son, a boy, who jumped off the omnibus and escapcd with a few cuts, Tho lad was found crying for Ilia father, and his distress was uncontrollable on finding that ho had been killed. Ho refused lo leave the body until it. was removed to tho hotel. No fower than 10 persons lost their lives in this catastrophe, and not ono of tho 36 passengers cscapcd more or less serious injury. It is by no means clear what was tho caufio of this, like the other, mishap. The brakes, which woro alleged lo havo failed, aro declared by experts to have been in excellent order, and tho driving machinery only seems to havo come to grief a short lime before the collision with tho tree. But here again there is one significant point. Tlio greater number of the passengers naturally preferred to go outside ill that lovely weather and scenery; there woro very few - inside, consequently the motor 'bus was excessively top-heavy, and the resultant swaying is siispectcd to have had a prominent part in tho cassation of tho disaster.

A, last echo has just been heard of the terrible Charing Gross tragedy of last year. It will bo remembered that a 'certain ticrod, upon tho integrity of which the vast arched root of Charing Cross terminus appears to have, depended for 40 years past, •suddenly snapped, whereupon down' came I he roof, killing and injuring a'-number ot people, and, casually in pawing, totally wrecking the Avenue Theatre, which had just been taken by Mr Cyril Maude, who was consequently ruined, failing tho possibility of obtaining adequate compensation. Tho railway company were advised that they were not liable,- but Mr Maude was compelled in self-defence to bring an action which threatened to cost before it should be finally finished in the Ifousc of lords, a sum not far short of that which ho sought to recover. But I nm glad to say tho South-liasterii and Chatham Railway Company has seen its way to take a Wise, as weM as a' generous, view of the case. Kecognjsing that enormously. costly litigation was impending, which might prove in the end as expensive as concession, if not more so, I ho directors, with the cordial approval of the shareholders, have agreed to nay to Mr Cyril Maudo the full amount c,aimed by liini—no less a sum than £20,000 sterling,—although, at the same time reEJf lln .V IcR&l liability in the matter. Tins llr Maude has accepted with many thanks, and so ruinous litigation is averted, and Mr Maude will be able to open the ™ n . uo Theatrc lmdor its new name, "The i laylmuse," early next year. Another final echo of paat tragedy comes t to us from France. Tho terrible Dreyfus mo docs really seem 'now to ho finally settled. The-French Court of Cassation, filter a long and patient investigation, lias come to tho definite conclusion not only that I ho ill-used Capta in Dreyfus was entirely innocent of the offences with which he was charged more than 10 years ago. ftnd for which he iuis been so cruelly awl unjustly punished, but also that thero never i has been tho faintest; shadow of grounds for 1 Hid accusations made against him, all the I alleged evidence being proved io have been a foul tissue of the grossest forgeries and lies, perpetrated or instigated by the j.ufamous scoundrels Eslcrhazy, Henry, and Morcier. My Now Zealuml. readers mav remember that from tho very outset I promptly expressed my total disbelief in tile truth of the charges and in the genuineness of the evidence, a conviction in which 1 ha-yo wavered; that j I went personally to 1' raueo and investigated i be matter " on my own," visiting in Alsace mends of Dreyfus, and being at the Bordeaux Hotel when he arrived there after his final liberation, and obtained an interesting interview with him. Jho result being that the New Zealand papers which I represent in London were, ami still arc, the only journals in the whole world that have yet been able fo publish the full and true explanation, of the ease 1 and the inwardness" of ils details. I need not now repeat what T then fully related and explained. I nin aware that. I he sympathy of New Zealanders went out strongly to the shamefully-treated Dreyfus, and "that Hip news of his final exoneration of all the crimes falsely laid lo his charge and his entire rehabilitation in the good opinion of every reasonable limn in llie whole French nation, will bo hailed as good and welcome news. It is pleasant to learn that Dreyfus lias already been promoted (o the highest military rank be could have attained by

llus lime had lie not been thus falsely charged, and that Colonel Picipiart, who through his efforts on behalf of Dreyfus underwent a. martyrdom only second in severity to that endured by poor Dreyfus himself, has also been restored and promoted, now becoming a general. This is all very agreeable reading, but. both in England and. France a very strong feeling of indignation prevails that Ksterhuv.y and Mereicr cannot; be brought, to adequate account for the innumerable infamies of which they were the perpetrators or instigators. fine can oulv ho|)o that they will yet meet with their desserts.