The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 11

THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN. EMBAY, JUfcY 1925. ABSINTHE IN FRANCE. MEDICAL M.P.S A HUNDRED YEARS ON WHEELS. EIFFEL TOWER NIGHT HEAVY DEMANDS HOUR-LONG EILE PAST OF RAILWAY fflSTORY HINDU-MOSLEM BIOTS.

ONE KILLED. 36 INJURED. FESTIVAL SACRIFICE OF COWS. A Renter telegram says a riot occurred on the outskirts of Calcutta yesterday in connection with the Mohammedan festival of Bakr Id, in which 30 coolies, mostly Mohammedans, were injured. An Exchange telegram states that one person was killed, and adds that Mr.

Gandhi's intervention was successful in preventing further bloodshed. EFFECTIVE PRECAUTIONS IN DELHI Siuli, Thuesday. Beports from Delhi. Lahore, Amritsar, LONG-CHIMNEYED VETERAN OF 1822 TO THE GARRETT MONSTER OF 1925. HUGE CROWDS WATCH THE GREAT PAGEANT FROM STOCKTON TO DARLINGTON.

(PROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) tended for HRfl nn thft Trillin linn httronn AND SPAHLINGER. FURTHER INQUIRY JUSTIJTED. THE FIVE DOCTORS' REPORT. FULL TRIAL IMPERATIVE INTERESTS OF HUMANITY." Tim Medical Committee of the Houbo of Commons met yesterday to receive the report of five of their number on thfiir visit to Geneva and investigation of the Spahlinger treatment of tubercu losis, and after considering it adopted the following resolution That the Parliamentary Medical Committee have received with much interest the account of the visit to the Spahlinger establishment which five members of the Committee have drawn up, not aB a delegation from the Committee but as private individuals. That the Medical Committee are of opinion that a prima facie case has been made out for further investigation, but the Committee, resolve that they cannot as a corporate body take any action in the matter.

THE REPORT. Tho Report on the Spahlinger Treatment of Tuberculosis by the five members of the Medical Committee of the House of Commons who visited Geneva last month waB issued last night. The doctors report: Wo are bound to state that on the evidence presented to us a prima facie case has- oeen made out for the Spahlinger treatment. We consider it imperative in the interests of humanity that an exhaustive trial of the remedy should be made." The report is signed by Dr. Thomas Watts (M.P.

for the Withington Division of Manchester), Dr. J. H. Williams (M.P. for the Llanelly Division of Carmarthenshire), Dr.

A. V. DavieB (M.P. for the Boyton. Division of Lancashire), Dr.

A. Salter (M.P.. for West Bermondsey), and Dr. T. Drum-mond Shiels (M.P.

for Edinburgh, Referring to Mr. Spahlinger himself the report says: Ho is a trained scientist who, in our opinion, possesses a remarkable originality amounting to genius. Ho is qualified barrister and has had three and a half years' training as a medical student. In addition to being a highly skilled bacteriologist, he also possesses a great knowledge of electrioal and physico-chemical apparatus, and he exhibits a wonderful fertility of mind in inventing and adapting mechanical appliances for bacteriological and pathological experiments. Wc arc satisfied that he is not actuated by any personal or selfish motives.

He is truly desirous of serving mankind, and has already; expended a considerable fortune in his investigations. He has exhibited an astounding generosity to poor patients, and he has steadfastly refused to allow ills discoveries to be commercialised. A Fortune Refused. Wc wero informed that one large firm of wholesale druggists of world-wide reputation has offered him a quarter of a million sterling, together with a half share of the profits, for a monopoly of the sale of his sera and vaccines, but ho has rejected the proposal, as well as others of a.liko nature. He is an enthusiast in his work, he obviously experiences a strong urge to Conduct bacteriological and pathological research, ho lias the real scientist's regard for truth, and ho has a passionate longing to do his bit for humanity by discovering a method for the extermination of tuberculosis.

We are convinced of his entire good faith and disinterestedness. The original family mansion of the Spahlinger family a large house pvith farm and outbuildings attached, standing in extensive grounds has been converted into an up-to-date laboratory. The equipment of the various departments of the laboratory is as good as or better thsn thstof any establishment which we have seen attached to universities and scientific in different parts of Eurons. Some of the apparatus is of an extraordinarily ingenious kind, and many of the mechanical and electrical devices connected with the Incubators are the product Of Spahlinger's own inventive brain. The farm buildings are utilised as stables for horses, cows, and calves, and for housing the guinea pigs, monkeys, and other animals which ait employed for experimental purposes.

The Methods and Treatment. Spahlinger has produced' two types of remedies for tuberculosls-(l) Antt-toaie serum to give passive immunity and to act as a directly curative agent; and (2) vaccines or anti-toxins made from cultures of exalted strains Of tubercle bacilli and fractionated by a method devised by himself. Spahlinger's theory is that, given a true anti-toxin, a patient can be cured andOr relieved of all immediate symptoms and that the tissues can be rendered for the time being passively immune to the tuberclo bacillus. To maintain the cure and make it permanent it is necessary that coarse of vaccines should follow so- that the psUant becomes actively immune' for the res) of his life, or at any rate for a prolonged period. The report goes oa describe Or.

Spahlinger's method of producing the various toxins. Dealing with hl method of treatment it. asysi-f The treatment consisfi. of mieatini anU. bodies sulxmtaneDnsly" two week, somettoes etsry'dSvor ersh sevfaal times a day in very acute sriit jftrtj cases.

The length the. nga according to' thTgrarlty oi yi ucuuu. im pi lerum usea 'depends BnnyjTOYwere.TatW;;,! Pteaaefof ahu'fotoimv tuberculosis hufflami- bovinecflS "Wins ftom ths ciEW. wis PROPOSED RELAXATION OF PROHIBITION. SALE OF EXISTING STOCKS yAITH HEAVY DUTY.

(From our own Corespondent.) Paris, Thursday. The prohibition of absinthe, the one temperance measure ever achieved in France, is to be relaxed, if a bill deposited before the Chamber by M. Girod, deputy for the Doubs, is passed. Doubs is the department in which before the war most of absinthe used to be made. When prohibition was enacted in 1915, early in the war, large stocks were left in the factories, and still exist there.

M. Girod proposes to legalise the sale of these stocks during a period of ten months. The sale would be per mitted everywhere in France, the colonies, and protectorates save (a significant exception) where French troops, as now in Morocco, are engaged in active operations. It would not be on sale in cafes, bars, hotels, nor in any other form than in bottles, two or three only at a time, purchased by individuals for their private consump tion. A specially heavy duty of some four or five shillings would be placed on each bottle, a really heavy duty when it is remembered that five shillings will buy in France, say, a bottle of brandy that costs in England from a pound to twenty-five shillings.

The yield of this special duty would go towards paying off the still unpaid indemnities to those whose interests were hurt by the Absinthe Prohibition Law of 1915. Incidentally it may be remarked that the evasion of this law of late years has been growing and that to-day in almost any cafe an absinthe substitute may be bought that is almost absinthe except in name. RAILWAY UNIONS AND THE STOCKHOLDERS. A REQUEST FOR DETAILS. (From our Labour Correspondent.) London, Thursday.

An interesting point about the railway unions' attitude towards the companies' proposal for a 5 per cent cut in wages and salaries is disclosed in the report of the proceedings at last week's conference which haB now been circulated. The unions believe that railway stockholders also Should make some sacrifice. At the conference Mr. J. H.

Thomas, M.P., put forward on behalf of the unions a formal request for a clear and definite statement setting out what are the prior charges of the railways, including debentures, guaranteed and preference stocks, and what has been paid on them since 1918." A request was also made for similar "information regarding railway ordinary shares. companies' representatives promised that the information asked for would be given at the resumed conference. A WORD OUT OF SEASON. PAINTERS OF TEXTS ON ROAD SURFACE SUMMONED. At Romford yesterday George Smith, Cecil Bennett, and Ernest Lutz, all of Forest Gate, were summoned under the Highway Act "for placing material ou tho highway to the danger of travellers thereon." The defendants, one of whom is a teacher of languages and another an artist, motored to Romford early in the morning and painted Borne scriptural texts on the new arterial road for the benefit, thev exnlained.

of motorists and others going to Southend. iiie tens sireicnea across the road at intervals, and the material used was a kind of whitewash. A horso is stated to have shied at them and caused a collision with a cyclist. The police said they wished to stop the practice, as more serious accidents might arise. The defendants said the practice, was going on all over the country without interference, and they did not know it was illegal.

They promised not to offend again, and the case was dismissed on Davment of costs. BOY SHOOTS HIS SISTERS. REVOLVER ACCIDENT IN LIVERPOOL. (Prom our Correspondent.) Liverpool, Thursday. Two yoiing children had a remarkable escape from death in a revolver accident at their home in Everton Road, Liverpool, this evening.

Freddie Hanson, aged eleven, was playing about with the weapon, not knowing it was loaded, when he, accidentally fired it, injuring his two sisters, May, aged nine, and Mabel, aged three. Hay was taken to hospital in a serious condition, the bullet having penetrated her neck and left through her shoulder blade. The baby girl Mabel received slight injury through the bullet grazing the left cheek near the eye. There was only one cartridge in the revolver at the tune. The parents of the children, whose father is a ship's steward, were absent from the house at the time.

After the accident the boy ran off terrified to his aunt's home at Bootle. Mr. Hanson had kept the revolver in a looked drawer in his bedroom, but as strange noises were heard in tne oackyard last nignt ne put it unaer ms pillow, tor-getting to replace it this tnornlng. MISHAP TO LONDON EXPRESS. REAR COACH DERAILED.

Shortly after the Glasgow-London express left tho Central Station, Glasgow, at ten o'clock on Wednesday evening the mi oscn left the rails, and the train proceeded tor a quarter of a mile before it was brought to a standstill. There was considerable excitement among the passengers, hot fortunately the carriage contained onlr Ituniits. Coach and permanent way were damaged and the vain waa aeiayea iar an oour. FOREIQN TELEQRAM8 ON PAQE Ui SIGN. A FLAMING MOTOR CAR ADVERTISEMENT TO DOMINATE THE CITY.

(Prom our own Correspondent.) Pabis, Thubsday. Paris has hitherto escaped from night aky-sign disfigurementa is one monstrous disfigurement by day. Now the Eiffel Tower is to he turned, thanks to the enterprise of Citroen, the French Ford, into a flaming disfigurement by night, dominating the whole city and its suburbs for many miles out. Oitroen haB hired this 900-foot steel column to advertise the virtues of his famous five-horse-power "flivver." From the second landing to the wireless station on the summit the seven magic letters Citroen' will burst out at nightfall on each face of the tower. To add to their appeal these letters of fire will flicker in and out with inexorable regularity until dawn brings relief to the city.

The rest of the tower, its girders and platforms, will be tricked out in innumerable smaller lights to the number of over high-power lamps. A coloured flame will flicker and sway from the summit as from a gigantic cresset. For this extraordinary piece of publicity, unparalleled, we are told (and hope), in the world, the great automobile manufacturer will pay astronomical figures in francs for example, 350,000 francs a year for the hire of the surface of the tower, and, in a special publioity tax to the municipality of Paris 300,000 francs. The Citroen Eiffel Tower will be switched on for the first time on Satur day evening. Sl SMSSOSW GARDEN HIS DELIGHT.

MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN'S CONFESSION. Mr. Austen Chamberlain, presiding over tlie annual festival dinner of the Hardeners' Royal Benevolent Institution at the Grocers' Hall, London, last night, said that after a strenuous week at tho Council of the League of Nations he reserved a day to carry out the desire of his heart to visit a certain famous garden. The owner of I ho garden said to a friend they must forgive the vanity which prompted the telling of this story" Foreign Ministers, thoy exist everywhere, but there is only one Foreign Minister who recognises tiiiipo cluseana by its foliago when it is not hi flower." For my part," Mr.

Chamberlain went on, "while politics are my profession and my work, gardening is my delight. I know nothing that would make Monday tolerable except the hope that when you have got nd of Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and tho other days, you will arrive at last at Saturday evening, to be spent again in the garden among the flowers. I remember well how my father used suddenly to lay down his book and say, I know that slug is there. Come along, Austen, we will get him. (Laugntcr.) Anntiipr stnrv concerning tho sneaker father, Mr.

Joseph Chamberlain, was that he was once asked by Sir William Harcourt tO pair Willi U1IJI iur U1JI1IL-1. mi. viiui Vtnrl flirt Tpfn.P.I at first, hut eventually ii-rrnnii to do so on condition that in the next estimates there should be a provision for the completion of the Temperate House at Kew. Do that," Mr. Chamberlain said, "and I will nair witn you lor as iont? us you like." Eight, done," said Sir William Harcourt, and so they got tho Temperate House, HAIL AND LIGHTNING.

WORKMEN ON A BRISTOL TOWER STRUCK. MISHAP WITH WINE BARRELS a hafivv thiinfWsform broke over Bristol afternoon, followed by others in the early evening. This is tho first time rain has fallen in the city since June I. Vivid flashes of lightning were accompanied by heavy thunder and huge hailstones. Two workmen employed on the new University tower wero struck by lightning, had to bo taken to the local infir mary for treatment.

Several chimney stacks were wrecked, and fire broke out In a garrge, destroying a lorry and other pro-nptv A horse attached to a van laden with large barrels of port wine was frightened by the lightning and bolted along one ol the niain thoroughfares. Three of the barrels of wino crashed into the roadway 'and burst, causing the liquid to UU. lino t. A large crowd immediately gathered, ana people fetched cups snd other utensils in which to collect the liquid. Thunderstorms were reported yesterday at i V.

1 TC 1.. ftortnampion, aiier a orougus ui at Swansea, which had had a spell of 32 rainless days; and at Newport where Tin rain hnrl fallen RinHA TllflA 1. Newport was deluged, the storm lasting two hours. A tramway overhead cable in the centre of the town was struck by iigntmng aa ourst iuw uoiueo. future it must not be a charge on the owneis' pockets, but on the earnings of the better-paid grades of workmen, notably the coal-hewers.

For this reason the nropoeals will ne fiercely opposed by the hewers, who will see not only the disappearance of their 14.2 per centsge in lieu of reduced hours, but a call on their earnings to provide for their fellow-workers in the mine and on the surface. Much as the agreements of' 1921 and 192 have been criticised, the miners have the protection; their wages minima havo afforded, and they will make a determined effort to secure that the prln- cipie jib nuuuwueu. A. further point commented upon by tb minerV leaders to-night is that the lower the selling pnres of coal the lower the wags Khars' tend to be, and" that the advantages! on reduced production' costs and cheaper coal will not necessarily be reflected In enlianced proceeds. At ihc nnneSt'of the Xabour Orrooiilkm the Ministry taoour Vote is being taken qn idnesday next week for.

toe t'Mcussion of xa in the eoslfWds. Mr. Harts lion the debate; and Mr. and Mr. Walsh win speak later.

VOLUNTARY REDUCTION Of FEES AND SALARIES. ASTLE COLLIERY'S action. In (jrder to hip to meet it tmp'reoadenUd mmI JT of the North BririMMth Coal tynipWiewclebav? agretoavoldft Ury reduction of feet and salaries as from July 1. -i ON THE MINERS. NEW DIVISION OF COAL PROCEEDS.

LARGER PROFITS SHARE. MINIMUM WAGE NO LONGER FIRST CHARGE. (From our Labour Correspondent.) London, Thubsday. The coalowners' proposals to be laid before the delegate conference of the Miners' Federation to-morrow are even more drastic than had been expected. They open up the gravest possibilities.

The miners are certain to reject them on account of the large reductions in wages they involve. If the owners insiBt it is' hard to see that a stoppage can be avoided. The eight-hour day is not mentioned, but the miners' leaders believe that it is held in reserve as an alternative proposal to be brought forward when the men realise what bad terms they will be given on tho present hours basis. But whether negotiations take place on the seven-hour terms or on eight-hour terms the Government will probably soon be compelled to inter vene. Tn-mnrrow's conference will prob ably refer the proposals to the dis-frir-tq.

whn will rnnsider them and instruct their delegates to the Federation's annual conference at Scarborough the Week after next, when the formal rejection will be decided on. The proposals differ widely from the method of wage regulation embodied in. the agreements of 1921 and 1924. The ascertainment of the proceeds of the industry by areas under joint uoaids is to continue, but the pioceeds are to be divided according to a very sjjnplo method. After costB of production other than wages" are found, the proceeds are divided between wages and profits in the proportion of 87 to 13.

The National Coal Board and the District Wages Boards are to continue, and tho District Boards will settle any district minima and subsistence wages that may be decided on. But these minima, instead of being a first charge on the industry, as at present, will come entirely out of tho wages fund of 87 per cent of tne proceeds, and the I igber-paid workers must suffer reductions if the low-paid workers are to.be assured a minimum. The method of expressing wages will be the same as at present the amount necessary to make up the district minima will be subtracted from the wages fund and the balance will be expressed as a percentage on the district basis Tho owners have intimated, one gathers, that they will be prepared to meet the Federation at any time to go into tho matter. Wages Decided by District's Ability In these proposals the owners have certainly achieved their object: that wages are to bo determined by each district's ability to pay. The effect of the national minimum of the present agreement has been to prevent w.iges in the districts most hit by tho slump from dropping to their economic 1-vel.

In tho first place, there is a guaranteed district minimum percentage of 33 1-3 above staudard wages (standard wages being, roughly, the district ratC3 ruling in July, 1914, plus an addition for piece-workers to make up for the reduction in working hours). Where this percentage 13 insufficient to provide a decent wage there is a subsistence wage for low-paid day-wage workers which varies from 6s. 2J. per shift in South Staffordshire to 8s. OJd.

in South Wales. There is a further guaraateo that no adult workman shall receive less than 40 per cent abovo tho standard ago (or pre-war rate) of the lowest-paid class in the district. During the slump these provisions have so operated to keep up wages by drawing on the allotted to the owners under the agreement as profits. The agreement allowed the owners about 13 per ccat of tho net proceeds, but in tho twelve months ending last month they actually received less than 2 per cent. In South Wales the standard profits nominally provided for were some 4 millions; actually there was a loss of 1 million.

The owners now make suro of receiving a constant thare of the availablo proceeds. The 13 per cent pro posed is said to be roughly the same pro portion as that received in tho t.venty years before the war. Their profits will le real and not illusory. Effect on Wages Illustrated. The effect on wages can' be roughly gauged from tho reference of the period Hay-December, 1924, when over tho countiy as a whole (ortBide two small disputes) the percentage of divisible proceeds 'a'-en by wages was 98.12, profits receiving 1.88.

wages inus received IBs. 7jd. out if every 80s. available for distribution. Had iew proposals been in operation wages would have received about 17s.

4d. in the pound, or more loan 11 per cent less, To the poorer districts the dron would have been mucn greater. In' Lancashire, where divisible proceeds were 10,748,601, wsges took 11,120,881, the owners suffering the loss of their standard profits and of 372,250 besides. Under the new proposals wages would have taken a million and three- quarters less, and profits would have been assured a sum of more than a million and a quarter. The May toDecember period ws the first eight months of the operation- of the 1324 agreement, and conditions in most coalfields have worsened considerably since.

The position is actually worse than the following figures for the 1924 period indicate. A comparison of the percentage of divisible proceeds actually paid in wage with the percentage wtach would have been paid under the sew proposals shows the following reduction in the wages share Vatca sjuw-per cent bat Omh la Utilise, 1934. 29.S6 2147 17.44 16.46 Xafta Walt BMth W1m lane. u4 SMU4 IMA Kuttra Of these district! onto Ih tWA Tut chawed proflU during tin period, but Bndtr th new proiKMu au wouia nave oeen anuiea rauxii. j.j To take another -example, ori Ihe balls of the aaeertainment tot Krttlroiiberiarid in the three months ending AprjFfatt the re duction in ue amount going to wages Would have about 20 per cent Heavy Sacrifices for Even these rahdomlchosen lusiratfpas will indicate the heaviness of tti sacrifices the miners 'ata asked to msetvilna owners' line- tf argument that the lowest-paid men should be given living wage, but that in Multan, Allahabad, Cawnpore, and the other principal stations of Northern India show that the festival of Bakr Id passed off quietly.

Trouble was feared in Delhi as a result of the Mussulmans insisting upon leading cows for sacrifice through a certain Hindu quaner where there were riots lsst year, but there was no trouble to-day, evidently in con sequence of the elaborate precautions taken by the authorities. The Mussulmans offered prayers and sacrificed a larger number of cows than last year, but the Hindus remained indoors and Hindu shopkeepers observed a hartal. A detachment of the Delhi garrison picketed the disputed locality. To-morrow the Mussulmans intend to lead cows through this danger rone, but tho authorities are keeping a close watch on the situation. Reuter.

SUBMARINE IN A COLLISION. CARGO-BOAT DAMAGED. (From our Correspondent.) Belfast, Thursday. The steamer Qrecnisland, which is owned by a Belfast firm of coal merchants, arrived in Belfast to-day after a thrilling experience in the Irish Channel. During the night the vessel, which was on a voyage from Dublin to Ayr, ran into a bank of fog.

About midnight she collided with a vessel which proved to be one of the submarines now taking part in the naval movements round the coast. The impact was a serious one, and the plates of the Greenisland were stove in, for tunately above the water line. Both crews behaved with splendid courage, there not being the slightest confusion. The Green- island was able to make her way unaided to Belfast, which was reached this morning. Before the two captains parted company the officer in charge of the submarine said that his vessel wsb all right, so it was assumed that she was not damaged in the impact.

12,000 B.C. EARLIEST-KNOWN CIVILISATION IN EGYPT. The annual exhibition of the discoveries by the British School of Archaeology in Egypt will bo held (it is announced) at University College, Gower Street, London (admission free without ticket) from July 6 to 25th (hours 10 to 5, and on 15th and 25th 8 30 to 830). This season the remains of the earliest known civilisation are shown. This is dated, by the levels of the Nile, to about 12,000 B.C.

At this remote time, contemporary with the cave man of Europe, there was made some of the finest pottery that is known. Ivory carving, glazing, snd other arts were pursued. It seems likely that this culture was imported by immigrants from an Asiatio centre. AIRWAY LIGHTHOUSE. BEAM SEEN FROM CHANNEL TO L0MBARDY.

(From our own Correspondent.) Pabi8, Thuesdat. The great airway lighthouse on Mont Afrique is now flinging its rays regularly every night across Western Europe. The ceremony of switching on the light for regular service took place on Tuesday evening in the presence of a number of civil and military authorities. Electric power is furnished by a high tension 8,000 volt line from Dijon; in ordinary clear weatber the beam is visible from the Channel to the plain of Lombardy. TO-DAY'S AIR RACE.

The first circuit of the Air Eace round Britain for the King's Cup takes place, to-day, the first machine starting from Croydon at six o'clock this morning. Full particulars, with a map of the course, appear on tho last page. THE COMING COH0N CROP. BUREAU REPORT SURPRISE. 5sw Yobk, Thcesday.

The cotton crop report of the United States Department of Agriculture, issued, to-day, greatly surprised traders, and caused excited general selling', prices breaking from 96 to 103 points. In thetextile markets the' report resulted in the withdrawal of orders, and some believe that it will promote a renewal of hand-to-mouth business. However, the drought in Tens has not broken, and will he closely wstehedr The market closed steady, from 07 to 100 points HenlerV' SEVEN kOUNTAlNEEBS LOSE THE1E LIVES. OVERCOME BY SNOWSTORM. 'VrsWi, ttoaauit.

Sevan Austrian mountaineer fell victims to a ivefei tire jSelghWieg summiU of tie Brmsthal Alt in fllnU. while five others who espi witt'-ftefc litest itl'iiifrerea more cfese case dttbwu dn to cow or ewwm. Atw.vMhn. inrirfa ilthouBh hrhad only one lleg and; used snbstHnta- eonstrncted, by Dabungton, Thubsday, A hundred years of railway history puffed slowly along the line between otockton and Darlington this moraine The locomotives and coaches proceeded through -an almost continuous line of spectators. It was a glorious day for a pageant, and from Stockton, on the one nana, and Darlington, on the other.

the population streamed out on foot, on bioycles, in motor-cars, 'buses, and charabancs, most of them' aiming at the half-way where a jolly grand stand draped in light Bhades of colour had been put up to accommodate the Duke and Duchess of Xork and favoured guests. So desirable was it to reach this little spot fluttering with colour and blithe with music in the midst of the summer meadows that highwaymen masquerading as taxi-drivers thought nothing of oaaiiiK miy sninings to taKe you there. You could, of course, see the procession equally well at any point along the miles of route, but many people seemed as keen to see the Duchess of York as to see the nrocesHinn. Shn nnmo in filmy chicory blue, and is indeed a princess who has the way to the people's hearts. The procession took us back beyond mo uBginaings or locomotive traction.

It took us back to the beginnings of the wheel itself. Mounted on a long truck came the story of the wheel. FirBt we saw a group of astrologers, presumably engaged in abstruse meditation on the matter of wheels. Then we 'saw very realistic primitive men using logs the first wheels to roll motherlog into a river as the fiiBt boat. Then came slaves unmercifully-lashed with knouts of cotton-wool us they drow a Pharaoh on a wheeled platform.

The story then mado a big jump and landed down again at a point where wheels were a little out of fashion and the Sedan chair was enjoying a brief popularity. Stephenson explaining the working of the Rocket to a group of colliery smiths came next, and the sketchy story was completed by a group of modern mechanics handling modern tools. The Veteran of 1822. tableaux were riot the chief interest of the procession. The hour-long defiling of actual locomotives and trucks and coacheB was the impressive thing.

For the sake of contrast the procession began and ended with antiques, and in botween came almost every type of thing that moves along a railway. The gentleman with the megaphone patrolling the rails announced, Your Royal Highness, my lords, ladies, and gentlemen, the head of the procession is now approaching!" And the head of the procession duly approached. It was a thing cf unbelievable un-gainlinesa a locomotive built bv George Stephenson and Nicholas Wood at the Hetton Colliery workshops in 1823 three years before tho date of "Locomotion Number 1." The tall, serrated chimney, the thrashing of machinery up and down above the headii of the driver and fireman, the quaint attire of these tall hats, blue coats And trousers seemed a thrust back to a period divided from us far more than a hundred years. But there was the first embodiment of the idea, and the next few items were tc show how swiftly, once the idea had been given a body, decent habiliments for the body could be found. We stepped forward twenty-three years and saw the Derwent, a mineral engine which would cauao no one to look twice if it were seen on the lines to-day.

The next step was to 1867, about half-way through the century whose beginning was being celebrated, and the goods engine which represented that year was quite a modern thing to any eye save an engineer's. A few more engines went by and we were right up to date with a three-cylinder express goods engine built this year, a thing with no dome or chimney to speak of, an enormous boiler, and a powerful sense of latent forces as it crawled slowly by. The Six-Cylirider Monster from Gorton. The procession was not chronological. It dodged to and fro about the century, illustrating now this phase bt development, now that.

Hero and there famous, nomas would crop up like the North Star, but the North Star, which went out of commission in 1870, was only a full-siied model arawn on a crocodile. Then there was tho Cornwall, built in 187, with the largest locomo tivo driving wheels in the world. They arc eight feet six inches high. The Vejy litest things were there, and none caused more comment than tho Garrett locomoUvo constructed by Beyer, Peacock, and at Gorton for the London and' North-Esstem Company. It is the most powerful and the heaviest locomotive of the Garrett type yet constructed for any part of the witfld.

It is the first engine constructed with sii cylinders, and to supply the steam necctsary to them the boiler has to be sevn fert in diameter. This is much larger than any other boiler in service or even possible on the ordinary type of engine. As this vast Garrett rolled tlong with a tender forward and aft, one containing coal and the other water, one wondered rhother the germ Stephenson, planted was capable of expanding any farther. It is strange how a century does seem roughly to be the period of expansion in a given direction. And now there were glimpses of the new age.

One did not have them so much in the couple of petrol vehicles 'constructed to run on an ordinary railroad, as in the two electrio vehicles which had to along on waggons. One an slectrie passenger engine built at the Darlington works of the North-Eastern Bailway Company and in Newcastle and York, but the dectriflcation 01 tne line nas not yet been carried out. The other waa an electrin frniohf. tuln. which is in use on an electrified section near Darlington.

They did not cut n-uch of a dash, but there they were, with everything that Stephenson conceived cut out of them except the necessity to run on rails. Locomotion No. 1." But this was rather a commemoration than a forelooking, and here, bringing up the tail of the procession, is that which gathered to commemorate. A white horse is trotting up the line and on him sits a man, in a tan ocaver nat ana (iladstonian collar, waving a red flag which he brings down to the salute as he dsssps tho rnvnl otnnri Behind him comes gallant Locomotion No. 1 dug out of her retirement at Darlington to try and show, us what things looked like on that memorable day a hundred years ago.

She is not going under her own steam, though there is a smoky pretence that she is doing so. She must bow to the iimp.n!rit For this occasion she carries a motor hidden in her entrails. Behind her comes an accurate renrnrlnn. tion of the train she drew. There are five of the old coal waggons, then a nasBencer vehicle rather like a cattle truck with benches, then four more coal waggons, a brazier swinging from a hook on the lait one.

The waggons and nassenppT ennnh packed with folk in early Victorian dress ana tne men have a joyful medley of musical instruments. Beforo the stand Locomotion No. 1 stons suddenly. She has no buffers, and tho blunt-ended waggons lav angrilv together and everybody is thrown about in amused disorder. Then without warning the bandsmen begin For Auld Lang Svne." and with one instinct everybody present stands and takes oH his hat.

Salute to a gallant adventure! Cheer after cheer poured down from the stand UDon the famous nlrf encinA and in the midst of the cheering, just as the band has begun "D'yo ken John. Peel," she jolts forward again, tearing the tune to pieces and throwing her naasenger hellor. skelter. Off they went into the warm country side with a waving of hats and shoutine of greetings, looking verv different frnm hA grim, purposeful Garratta and their con temporaries. In a holiday-mood the'y plungo a little blindly on their journey, which is destined to alter the habits of tho rape before it reaches its end.

THE CENTENARY BANQUET. ROAD TRANSPORT AS FEEDER OF THE RAILWAYS. Viscount Grey of Fallodon, presiding at the Railway Centenary Banquet at Faver-dale Waggon Works last night, said it was right that that centenary should bo celebrated in that district because it was undoubtedly the case that, in the modern sense of tho word, in the sense in which railways had revolutionised human life, the Stookton and Darlington Railway was tho first and the pioneer. More than that, the men who made the Stockton and Darlington Railway were the first men who had really in their minds the vision' of what railways might become. Railways were the arteries and veins through which the life blood of commerce had flown.

Those who, with him, had been associated in the old North-Easlern Railway Company and the present London and North-Eastern Railway Company, had justifiable pride to think how much tho North-Eastern Railway had done by its courage in the investment of capital and by its energy in developing different parts of the country. to help in the growth of commerce and the expansion of population in the North-east of England. But their feeling to-day was not so much one of congratulation about the past as it wa of anxiety about the future. Railways' were truly passing through a difficult time, which crippled them for many developments they would like to undertake, but they formed one of the most important interests in this country. They were, vital both to the commerce and the financial stability of the nation.

For solving the problems before them they had but one thing to depend upon, a thing which had never failed this country yet when it had really been brought face to face with a serious problem and great emergency, and that was the good sense of the British people without distinction and class. (Cheers.) Sir A. F. Pease said it was not sufficiently appreciated how difficult the industrial position in the North-east was, not only with regard to railways but with regard to trade generally. Firms were closing up day after day because they could not afford to go on.

The question could not be settled in a small spirit; there must be large sacrifices by the whole of tho community, whether capitalists, managers, or workmen, if they were to bring back their world trade, and win the peace as they hsd won the war. The Minister of Transport (Colonel Wilfrid Ashley) paid a' tribute to British railways as being superior to any in the world. During the last. few years the undisputed reign of railways had been challenged, and in our highways there was a liveliness which at times degenerated into danger. There need sot he any compatibility of interests between, road mechanical transport and the railway.

He believed for all time in this country the iron horse and the iron toad would be -supreme for transportation purposes The road mechanical transport would aid the railways as feeders. Railways might lose a little here or there, but, broadly speaking, he believed that the advent of mechanical road transport would in the end assist railways by bringing another stimulus to trade. to th Oratr at Vba Bxtttsh. tapir eonlexnd bjr the Xpu cosxacUob with the otaWmaiji ax girts on the ant German Opponents of tho Pact, Italian Awontine Shnshsi InqinryB Allies' War Debts..