THE ELEVATOR. A Ticklish Test at the Eiffel Tower.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 389, 31 July 1889, Page 6

THE ELEVATOR. A Ticklish Test at the Eiffel Tower.

,Tiik mosb fasbidious cribic might bo nob only content, 'but astonished, with the marvellous efficiency of the Obis litb at tho Eiffel Tower in the Paris Exhibition,, an apparatus which has just 'been successfully subjected to what may be considered an extraordinary ,test of strength and security. One morning recently Ml Conhamin, Inspecting Engineer ot the Exposition, in the presence of Mi Salles, another engineer ; of Mr Brown, of the, American firm of Obis ; and of M. Eifiel himself, made a final and heroic experimenb with the great lift, in the interior of the Tower beforo handing it over for public use The machine, which consists' of two compartments one above the other, weighs eleven thousand kilogrammes'/ and it was 1 handi>capped with three thousand additional kilogrammes weight of lead.' This enor-, mous aggregate of ponderosity, being raised to a-considei'ablo height from the ground; was slung to ordinary ropes and detached from the cables of steel wire with which it is. to be worked. The question to bo solved was whether, when bho ropos wore cut and the lift allowed Lo fall, the brakes would work properly, and arrest the descent of the lift. Two carpenters armed with heavy axes ascended to the lift and stood in readiness to cut tho cables at a signal to be given by Mr. Brown. Naturally anxious, M. Eiffel asked the American engineer >if he felt any alarm, to which, with characteristic coolness, the representative of the Otis firm replied that only one of two things could happen. Fortunately, it was the right issue that came about. At the signal of * One, two, three,' tho ropes were cut atasingle v blow, and tho immense apparatus- foe'gan .toj" descend. Soon it fell with less' jrapidifcy ; ib swayed for a moitjlnti from '-left to right, stuck on tV brake, and j stopped. The intense curiMby of fine spectators was succeeded by a burst of cheering. Not so much as a paiie of glass in the sides of the lift had been broken or even cracked. It was as though some irresistibly powerful hand had gripped the lift in its descent and held ib fast, so that ib halted .almost without a shock at a height of 'about twenty' yards from the. ground. The countless thousands of persons who may be expected to avail themselves of tho Eiilel Lift during the Exhibition will thus, be entitled to cherish the comfortable conviction that, cvon in the event of the wire cable giving way, the brakes will be sufficient to arrest the downward progress of the vast machine. Strangely enough, the lift, modern as ib is in connection with dwelling-houses, has already furnished the theme foi a very ghastly ghost story. The tale recites that there is a certain ancestral castle in Scotland, which, as most students of the uncanny are aware, has for many generations been supposed to be haunted. Not very long ago an English gentleman was a gue&b ab this castle of gruesome renown. He was asked on the morning of his arrhal how he had passed the night. H replied chat he had slept very badly, and that he continually heard a noise as of wheels crunching the gravel on the carriage-drive without. He looked from" the window, bub taw nothing. The noise of wheels, he subsequently explained, was equally audible on the second night of his stay • bub on the third night, a bright moonlight one, on looking from the casement, he saw — or imagined thathe saw — a long funeral procession sweeping round the carriage - di-iv© over and over again. There was^a hearee-and-six, the driver of whicli wore a very broad-brimmed hat slouched over his eyes. At the third round of the cortege, as tho hearse passed beneath, feho wimiuw, the driver raised his hatj and, looking upwards, revealed the countenance of a man, with a snllow complexion, bushy black eyebrows, clean shaven, bub very blue about the jasvs, and with a great' purple scar transversely marking his left check. The next day the guest made haste to get away from the ancestral castle, which was held to be haunted. He went for a tour .in Italy, . and alighted : one day at a very old- hotel in a very ancient Italian town;' tlie landlord of which ' albergo,' determined to move with the times, had fitted ud for the convenience of his British and American patrons a brandnew hydraulic lift. Shortly after his arrival the guest had occasion to ring the bell. The summons was answered by an Italian waiter, a man with a" sallow, complexion, bushy black eyebrows, clean shaven, ' but. very blue abou'b the maxillary region, and with a great livid scar stretching across his left cheek. No sooner did this individual set eyes on the guest than, .uttering a hideous yell, he fled'from the room. A few, moments afterwards an appalling crash was heard outside. Tho ropes of the hydraulic lift were found to have given way, the lift descended with dreadful rapidity to the bottom of the shaft, and there the sallowfaced waiter with the scar was found dead, and with every bone in his body dislocated by the concussion. !Nob the slightest explanation has ever been vouchsafed for this extraordinary yarn. Why the waiter, if ; he were a waiter, should have gone to Scotland to drive a hearse on a moonlight night; where he got. that scar on his cheek ;• why he should have yelled so hideously when he saw the traveller at the Italian hotel ; and i why the ropes should have snapped with- | out the slightest notice of their intention so to do — all these are mysteries that have never been unravelled. Besides, the laws of poetic justice are violently outraged in the story. It is the guest who should have been killed in the lift and not the ghost— if ib were a gho&b.

It may fairly be admitted that ' temperance agitation, seconded by better education, has exercised an important influence upon social custom, which haa so much to do with the formation of habit ; but the mildness of the climate andan abundant food supply are two powerful factors in mitigating the causes tihat produce drunkenness. There is very little roaso'n' to fear that these colonies will become notorious for intemperance with regard to liquor. Their proclivities towards immoral indulgence are more apt to take the form of gambling and sexual vice, the evils , which beset countries similar in climate and the condition of their people. Close observers of colonial communities will, we believe, agree that the tendencies in, these directions are already predominant, more especially in the older colonies of the Australian Continent. The extreme to which gambling has become prevalent— not merely on the racecourse, but as an attachment to &ports whioh are in themselves in the^ highest degree commendable as a means of developing the physique of our raee — will ere long demand legislative interference. Although we prefer the morality which springs from precept to that which results irom the terrors of the law, we believe that unless gambling in connection with athletic Sports is discountenanced by the clubs and the owners of , grounds under whose auspices fcuch sports , are held, some measures ' will have to be adopted by the Government to protect youths from the demoralising influences of this sordid passion, and to preserve the wholesome, purity of our national games. " Auckland Star." i