TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11512, 19 February 1903, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Betnrns supplied by the The Traffio "Light Bailway and Tramof way Journal ,, afford come London, idea of the stupendous traffic

* of London, the regulation of -which has now been referred to a Royal Commission. Last year, as nearly as could be ascertained, 618,339,900 passengers were carried on tie suburban railways within the metropolitan area, while the number'of those travelling; on the main line, counting their progress one way only, wee 41,128,200. Omnibuses carried 530 millions, existing tramways over 390 millions, underground and tube railw&ye about 270 miUioce, cabs about 30 miUione, and private vehicles and the Thames steam boats, each 10 millions. Toe amazing total of passengers carried amounts to 1,893,462,259 persons. It is no wonder, under these circumstances, that the amount of room required by the bumble omnibus is bitterly grudged. What tihe congestion will be like in another fifty yearej unless some steps are taken to relieve the traffic, the imagination fails to conceive. At the present time, despite the relief which has been afforded by "tubes," the number of omnibuses increases by 150 a year, and that of tramcans by about fifty. The total number of 'licensed vehicles in London is about 16,500. No one can calculate the number of vans and carts Which speed trough the metropolis. Sixty yeans ago there were no post-office vans, no parcels delivery vans, no vehicles of a dozen kind* soch as now ply in and about London in immense nnmbers. "Even supposing,' an English writer remarks, "such vehicles as market carte, drayit, and waggons have only increased proportionately to the population, that means an increase of 100 per cent, during the last half century." But this is by no means a fair limit. A omsus taken in 1823, for example, ehowa tbat London Bridge was crossed in a day by 89,640 foot passengers, and 6182 vehicles. In ,1881 the correspondSng figures were 157,886 and 21,466 respectively, snowing tbat the number of vehicles had, in fifty* eight years, become three and a half times v great. A writer in the "Daily Centenaries Hail" is reminded, by tne in 1903. reported crumbling of the Kent Martello towers, that it » jiwt a century ago this your since

Napoleon gaUstred hie gr«at Boulogne for the invasion of £juftiirali That was the time when ap&avfjl frightened naughty children into Ottietei'S with-stories of the Coraican ogre; the King mode amsgemeste for eaul&£Ug| the Royal Family to Worcester, country rushed to arms m one ttafctfif stimulated by the dread of an attack. He Kent towers were built reinforce' our wooden trails, in case Boniuoli parte's immense flotilla of guoboata, carrfiilj ing an army of 150,000 men, should *&M cced in crossing the Strait*. The tanaf!! are circular, with bomb-proof .roof*, aajji walls 5i fee thick, and they were w*ull g&rrieoned and provided with 4 heavy gun and several howitaers. Tbl ? |l invasion never took place, but the pramralj destructive undermining of the tower* brlh the sea. recalls the fearful suspense of time. In many othet) respects the jwe-lg 1803 was one of tension and tnosJttofcire Tho war which was then commenced France was not productive at once of specially great action, but it dragged eitt wearily until he glorious twelve years afterwa,rds. at Fiom May, 1803, to August, 1605, Lbicl Nelson left hie ship three times only, on no occasion was he absent more ttaiff 1 an hour. September 23rd saw Wellia*./? ton, only the " Sepoy General" ac yet, wi**. vi his first great battle at Assaye, wbwj/;* with 4500 troops, he defeated 50,000" h Mahratt-as, commanded by French officer*,' and captured ninety-eight pieces of o«." 'j non. Perhaps the most pathetic figtei; , ' of the year was that of Robert Emmet,,\ the young Irish barrister, who led n 1* ■ bellion in the streets of Dublin, on Joh -■' 23rd, and was capturedj convicted, eaj'-~ executed. The centenary of. tlit * x birth of Alexandra Dumas has &$} lvady been celebrated a few months A famous Englieh contemporary, Lort 1 -*" Lytton, was born in the same year «s the,£. great, Frenchman, and March 24th, 1905,;,? will be memorable as the tercentenary Queen Elizabeth's death. With regard literature, and art the year 1803 \n» |fe period of transition. "No great died, no new Romney or tlainsborouga inSti') born. Sarah Siddona and -John - Phi^^iS

Kemble were playing their last scenes,,'blMjj Edmund Kcan and William Charles Jwpsfl ready were waiting in the wings up the thunderous applause." "younger poets " of the time were Thoeil'-: Campbell, Robert Southey, William Woi&Tti" worth, Sir Walter Scott, and SaTage Landor. Jane Austen and Lamb were other literary celebrities were then just waiting to lay fame. The event whose centenary wiJLbt :£ most widely and practically . Jt $;: one which probably excited little ewmgh ; ;| interest at the time. A special fond of J. £200,000 is even now being raised, the centenary of the birth of the School Union. '«

From a physical point «i|| Our Poor view we moderns Mβ . i;k (Digestions, poor lot Such ia the diet of so leas a medical thority than Sir James Criobton-Browt«£|% though expressed in different l«aguag«.-h;. In his presidential address to the Inepector'e Association he described ft%f-§ present generation as a race whoa* '*»<;<£ feebled digeetdone make them the ready^β?. Tims of many diseases. Our teeth m*% largely the cause of ■ the. ; ; meet a man of middle age'to-day who htdj/S not been in the dentist's hands,!' t*id :ss*|f? James, "would be a pleaaaat Oat here he might cay the came youths and girls. Yet in some eJevtttjpJS oentury skeletons lately dug up in Be>t||f land all the teeth were perfect, from wimp it is argued that the diet of that dayrwacVt better calculated to stave off dent*L depaj' J than is modern diet. That is rather argument against vegetarianism, for" food of the eleventh oentury was meat. Both for its effect upon the and the digestion modem food is too and pulpy, and a man therefore ought not to complain if his chops are tough and va.%% derdooe. If he will but dently ther will do him good, even if they'll make him tired. The increase of appeDdt*;| citis, declared Sir James, wee largely dve v _| to indigestion end imperfeot ma*tioatio(j, Jl and to the hurry and drive of modern The latter .cannot perhaps be stayed hyr# any one individual, but'all can remembevtf Mr Gladstone's thirty-two bites, at'- ev»ryA| mouthful of meat, and act aooordiflgiy < 'ti It might have a tendency ' to' kttgthett.o meale, but that in itself would be no ifcmg; the ten minute' lunch 'twenty minute dinner are much personal discomfort end domertfe-lnV?! felicity, pVossibly of a good deal o( Sir James, of course, had. a fling at $f|§' pork pie, and as the oystei 1 m wfy favour just now at Home, he tiaevr aajshiM& etono. at it, and said it might be a thre torpedo in the oonsnmer'e .might be a lot of things - but we associate the placid oyster, even the »>wsjMH||| tainted variety, with a torpedo, effects may be as disastrous. Sir had no remedy to offer for the he mourned; he simp'y advocated care of our enfeebled digestions, by ■<*%tj| that all food etuffs should be proteete|M from t3» bacteria of which our lusty TBJ*!! fathers knew little cad cared leas. <"Au£l| eepticism must enter in some dtgiee our daily lives and regulate oar Bbopjtejf j and cookery." „ ~-s.r^