The San Francisco call., 1896-01-03
Colonel Macfarlane Came From
Queenstown in Nine and
a Half Days.
POLITICS NOT THE CAUSE.
He Met Princess Kaiulani and British
Statesmen, but the Latter Will
Not Aid Hawaii.

Among the overland passengers regis
tered last night at the California Hotel
was Colonel G. w. Macfarlane, wife and
infant, from England. their little party
having completed the long Journey from
Queenstown, Great Britain, in the un-
precedented time of ten and O half DAYS.
while the actual travelling time was only
nine and half days, hfteen hours having
been lost in New York waiting for the fast
Pennsylvania limited train to Chicago, and
nine hours in Chicago waiting for the
westbound train, the Northwestern linn
tied.
This loss of time would have been saved
if the steamer Lucania, in which Colonel
Macfarlane crossed the Atlantic, had
docked in New York two hours earlier,
which would have enabled him to catch
the New York Central limited for Chicago
the night of his arrival there.
In reply to a question Colonel Macfar-
lane stated that he first conceived the idea
of making a record trip across the Allan
tic to San Francisco when he boarded
the crack fast steamer at Queenstown, and
learned that the Cunard Company had in
structed the captain to make record trip,
as the steamer Lad been delayed eighteen
hours at Liverpool, with the United States
mails aboard, by dense fog prevailing on
he day scheduled for the steamer to
leave.
Good weather was experienced on the
trip, which was accomplished in five days
twelve hours and eight minutes. The
average speed of this wonderfully fast boat
was twenty-one and half miles an hour
for the entire trip.
Colonel Macfarlane carries with him a
printed log of the Lucania' voyage, which
was furnished by the captain to each pas
senger. The daily runs were 514, 511, 519,
521 and 531 miles respectively. OF the rail-
way runs the Pennsylvania Limited to
Chicago was made in % hours, and the
Chicago and Northwestern line, via Union
and Central Pacific, from Chicago to San
Francisco, was accomplished in 3 days
making in all 9H days actual running
time.
Colonel Macfarlane is much pleased
with this achievement, and his little
II months old baby girl stands alone in
the world probably as the only child who
has ever covered such a distance by steam
and rail in the time named. The trip has
been very hard on the little one, who has
lost fully five pounds of flesh. Mrs. Mac
farlane however, is quite well.
Colonel Macfarlane says his fast trip
should give the Postmaster food for re-
flection and should enable him to very
much reduce the time in which the San
Francisco and the Australian mails should
reach England, as Colonel Macfarlane's
experience in London was that San Fran
cisco letters took fifteen DAYS TO get across,
and the Australian mails after arriving in
San Francisco invariably took eighteen
days.
Colonel Macfarlane disowned having
gone to England, where he has been for
the past six months, for the purpose of
getting British aid in seating Princess Kai-
ulani on Hawaii's throne. He said, how
ever, that he had met the Princess and Mr..
Cleghorn, her father, as well as leading
statesmen, and had dined with several Of
them.
II am convinced, however" he added,
''that neither England nor Salisbury will
have anything do with the affairs of
Hawaii"