The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-08-24 00:00:00

UNGALLANT BEHAVIOUR.

It has long been known to naturalists, if not to
philosophers, that the virtues of chivalry exist in
other animals besides the human species. To prove
this fact it is only necessary to watch the attitude
and conduct of a pugnacious dog when he meets
another of his kind, and observe bow differently he
behaves according as the stranger is of the male or
female sex. In the one case he bristles up with
instant rage, and prepares either for attack or
defence. In the ofher he neither dreads nor designs
any hostility at all. The same principle of warring
with kindred animals when they are of the same
sex, and keeping the peace when they are not,
prevails almost throughout the animal world; and it
is only overcome with difficulty and by artificial
means if even a favourite bull dog is matched in the
arena against an Amazonian rival of the same breed.
Visitors to the Zoological Gardens at Ghent must
therefore have been surprised as well as horrified at the
tragedy which was enacted before their eyes a few
days ago. It appears from a veracious account pub-
lished in the local papers that a lady, on benevolent
thoughts intent, threw a cake into the bear's den,
which was tenanted by the great bear Martin and his
young consort, whose name has not transpired. There
was a scramble, as usual, for the dainty morsel, and
the lady, as usual, carried off the prize. Martha
was exasperated this time beyond control; and set-
ting off in chase of his more active companion,
caught her up in his gigantic arms and gave her a
hug of a most unmarital order. The first wiestling
bout which ensued was of short duration, and
the she bear bit the dust. Victory, however,
only urged the ungallant monster to fresh rage, and,
in spite of all the efforts of the keepers, he resumed
struggle, tearing and crushing his unlucky victim in a
prolonged, and this time fatal embrace. His ven•
geance was prolonged, like that of Achilles, after
death, and, although pursued by the whole staff of
keepers, he dragged the senseless body again and
again round the walls of the den. Only after an
hour's hard work, after the fire-engine had beenturned
upon him and hot irons had been freely applied, did
he condescend to give up the bleeding and mangled
remains of his late consort. Martin will bear for
many a day, if not for ever, the marks of his punish-
ment; but the character of the ursine race for gal-
lantry has been irretrievably ruined.—Globe.

A statue to the painter Van Eyck was unveiled at
Bruges on Monday, the Bing and Queen of the Belgians
being present at the ceremony. After their departure dis-
turbances occurred between the Liberals and the Clericals
and several arrests were made. •
On Saturday the engineers, joiners, fitters, and
others employed at the North British Railway Engineering
Works, Edinburgh, to the numbar of between 500 and 690,
resolved to strike work in consequence of a notice having
been posted up that morning increasing the working hours
from 51 to 64 per week. The 51 hours system has been in
operation in the works about seven or eight years.
On Saturday the Act passed on the Bth inst. to pro-
vide for the est,blishment of the Duke of Connaught and the
Princess Louise Margaret Alexandra Victoria Agues of
Prussia was issued. The annuity of £lO,OOO on his Royal
'Highness is to commence from the date 01 she marriage and
"to be free from all taxes, assessments and .cilargts." and
to be paid quarterly, in addition to 'the aniiiitY" before
granted. Her Royal Highness is to have an annuity of
£6,000 in the event 01 her surviving the Duke

THE TELEGRAPH AND THE POST

OFFICE SERVICE.

At the British Association (in Section G; Mechanical
Science), Mr. Preece read a paper on improvements
in telegraphy. Its object was to vindicate the tele-
graph dep irtment from the reproaeh sometimes cast
upon it of having originated no improvement since it
became connected with the State. He gave a minute
account of the various apparatus which have been in
use for receiving messages by sight or sound—the
former being indispensable when fast telegraphing is
required, and the latter best adapted for ordinary
use—and enumerated the varisus modifications which
have been made in them in order to render the trans-
mission of messages more rapid and efficient,
and obviate the special difficulties which arise from
the cloudy and humid atmosphere of England. By a
recent improvement the rate of speed between England
and Ireland has been increased 100 per cent. Some of
the inventions tried years ago fell into disuse because
they were premature, but there is now an increased
demand owing to the lowering of the scale. Giutl in
1853 invented a mode of sending two messages in op-
posite directions on the same lino. In 1872 Mr. J. B.
Stearns in America removed a defect in it, and there
were now nearly 200 circuits in England worked on
the duplex system. In 1855 it was discovered that
two messages could be sent in the same direction, and
hence duplex telegraphy was introduced. The two
plans being combined formed quadruplex tele-
graphy. It was first used by the Western Union
Telegraph Company in America, in 1876, and is now
applied there to 60 circuit telephone currents (verbal
telegraphs), which are minute currents following each
other with great rapidity on to superposed or ordinary
working currents without interfering with their action
as ordinary telegraph apparatus. Mr. Cromwell
Varley utilized the principle in 1870 by patenting
what may be called harmonic telegraphy; but it re-
mained for Mr. Elisha Grey, of Chicago, to work it
out practically. Other systems for increasing the
capacity of the wires have been devised on the conti-
nent. The most valuable of all are the Wheatstone
automatic and the quadruple; but each has its dis-
advantages—principally the employment of a more
highly-trained staff. Now, these systems of fast speed
and multiplex telegraphy have grown up in England
under the fostering care of the Post Office since the
transfer of the telegraphs to the State, and England
stands prominent as the home of the inventor, She can
boast of her Wheatstone, Cooke, Bain, Thomson, Clarke,
Varley, Fuller, and others; and Europe can boast of
Giutl, Siemens, Frischen, and Meyer; and America has
her Morse, Hughes, Stearns, Edison, and Grey. The
Americans have freely adopted the English system of
pneumatic telegraphy and methods of testing. They
are introducing on some lines automatic telegraphy,
modified by Messrs. Little and Edison, and are trying
our superior batteries. Hence, while we have not
been slow to avail ourselves of their advance, they
have equally availed themselves of our progress.
Invention has not left the shores of England, but the
telegraph department stands in the front rank. It
remains to say a few words for the Post Office. The
system of news wires is unique of its kind. Forty-
seven news circuits and twenty-two special wires were
made up every day. News is transmitted direct from
London to every town where there is a daily paper.
This is done by the automatic principle (mechanical
transmission). Half a million words are frequently
sent in one night from Lsndon. When Lord
Beaconsfield gave his address in the House •if
Lords on the results of the Berlin Congress 526,250
words were transmitted from the central station.
There is not a branch of the service that has not been
improved. New batteries, new insulators, improved
wires, the most perfect relays and multiplex appara-
tus have all found their way into the Post Office
service. Of the 8,000 miles of additional wire put up
more than half is for private use; so that the daily
average of messages is even greater than has been
s-Ated. No one is heard to complain but some dis-
appointed inventor. Practical inventions rarely
emanate from without, but the great majority of
patents are taken out by persons who do not possess
them at all. The fact remains that telegraphy is
more highly developed in England than in any other
country.
At the conclusion of Mr. Preece's paper, the Chair-
man remarked that Mr. Preece had doubted whether
Mr. Graham Bell desired to be classed among English
or American inventors.

Mr. Bell said he wished to be placed in the category
to which he rightly belonged—the inventors on the
British Isles. He did not wish to question the state-
ment of Mr. Preece that invention had not fled from
the shores of the British Empire' but he wished to call
attention to one or two points. Mr. Preece had said
that Government control had not tended to hinder
invention in this country. His personal experience
of Government control had been this. In the begin-
ning of the year 1874 he invented in America a system
of multiple telegraphy, by which sixteen or twenty
messages might be sent simultaneously on a single
wire, and this was submitted by him to the Telegraph
Department of the British Government. In reply
to his request for an investigation he received a
printed paper, such as probably was sent out to
every inventor who applied to the Postal Department.
It stated that the Post Office Department would take
into consideration the invention submitted at the
expense of the inventor, and that in the event of the
improvement in telegraphy being thought worthy to
be adopted by the Government, the question of
remuneration would be left entirely to the Postmaster.
General. It was that reply which induced him to
being forward his invention in America. He brought
his system of multiple telegraphy before the telegraph
world in America, and the outcome had been the
electric telephone. He should be the last man to say
that Government control was not necessary in this
country for the sending of telegraph messages for
public me. Still, he believed Government control to
be destruction of invention.

After some observations from Mr. Sanger and Mr.
Saunders, Dr. Cameron, M.P., said in his mind Mr.
Preece's paper resolved itself into the question of six-
penny telegrams. Why had we not got sixpenny tele-
grams? (Hear, hear) He was a member of the Select
Committee of the House of Commons on telegraphs
last year, and before the committee evidence was given
which to his mind clearly established that the wires
were very much underworked. They found clerks in
some large towns transmitting 50 or 60 messages a
day who could transmit VI to 30 per hour, so that
the amount of work done did not represent mote than
three or four hours out of the 24, the wires being idle
for the remainder of the time. The Postal Tele-
graph Department was suffering a loss, and the
question before the committee was whether they
should increase the price of telegrams, the effect of
which would be to curtail the work of the clerks or to
cut down their price, and thus bring in a larger mea-
sure of traffic. The House of Commons did not adopt
this policy. If anything was proved by the paper of
Mr. Preece, it was that the Department had got into
thorough working order, that it was capable of doing
everything that it ever would be capable of doing, and
therefore, he again asked, Why had we not got 6d.
telegrams? We were in advance of other countries in
the matter of news suvply, but not in the matter of pri-
vate telegrams. In rance and Belgium a half-franc
rate existed at present, and even before the transfer of
the telegraphs to the British Government a 61. rate
existed in London. It had been suggested that pneu-
matic tubes should be extensively laid down in large
towns. There was nothing to prevent them from radiat-
ing from one commen centre, so that written messages
might be despatched at once by those tubes without
the work which was necessary in the case of trans-
mission by electricity, of copying and re-copying at the
ends of the telegraph wire. Mr. Symington had been
carrying on a precisely similar system in Edinburgh
for some years past with the A BC telegraph instru-
ment enabling persons, if they desired it, to commlmi-
cate directly with each other; but when Mr. Syming-
ton worked at his perfectly novel idea he was threatened
by the Post Office, and he was actually afraid to come
up to London and give evidence before the Parliamen-
tary Committee on that point.
Mr. Preece in replying, said that as to 6d. telegrams,
as Dr. Cameron had failed to induce the House of Com-
mons to force the Post Office to introduce them, he was
not likely to be able to do so without the help of Parlia-
ment. He had no doubt the day of 6d, telegrams
would come, but under present circumstances the pro-
position was impracticable. They had at present only
4,000 miles of wire to deal with, and 500,000 messages
per week, but if 6d. telegrams were introduced, the
number would probably go up to 1,500,000. What
Dr. Cameron referred to as the idle time of the wires
could not be utilised because it was taken up with the
sending of Press news. They had at present a great
burden to bear in being obliged to send addresses in
messages free. On the Continent where half-franc
messages existed, the number of words was much less
than here. If the number of words were reduced
here, it would be quite possible to introduce the 6d.
system. As to the pneumatic tubes they had found
that they would involve a great expenditure in the
maintenance of engines and offices. The Post Office
Department was conducted on purely commercial
principles, and they would not adopt anything unless
they could show that it would pay.