The Washington times., 1901-08-08
FOREIGN TOPICS.

FOREIGN TOPICS.
In the little Dutcs city of Lciden the
municipality itself manages the public
advertising. aud so frees the picturesque
cahai-cut streets from unkempt board
HlSs. The city erects at the principal
corners and by the canal bridges boards
of neat and attractive design for public
notices. projecting top prevents the
rain from tearing or washing away the
biIlS. the boards are surmounted by orna-
mental woodwork, and the advertising is
thus not only kept in bounds but is made
almost artistic. OF like purpose, and bet
ter known, are the familiar kiusks of
| farlS and the city-owned pillars of thea -
| trical bills. In Paris vigorous agitation
mas lately arisen against the DETACHMENT
OF building fronts by hugely Iettercd
SlsnS. and there are ordinances which
| proAibIt the attachment of notices to any
! tree on the public way. or to the NUM-
cipal lighting apparatus
In Rome the municipal and Government
acts are posted on marble tablets owned
by the Government and reserved for this
! use. friVate announcements are on bill
| boards, of regulated size and form. which
| can be erected only on permission from
| the property owner and from the city.
| Writing from johannesburg Gordon
| Highlander volunteer says that lately. on
account of riotirg on the part OF Scandi-
| navians and others, the family of Gener-
! al De wet, who live in johannesburg
have had to look for police protection.
| The volunteer one evening formed part
of the guard sent to protect the DE VETS,
and in the morning." he writes, Miss
| DE Wet came out and gave me a cup of
| cocoa. had a long chat with her She
| Is a girl of eighteen or thereabouts. / said
| 10 her II was about time the war was
I nd oh.
an urged their father to surrender; but it
was no use, she said. He told them he
would never give in
Earl Spencer recently asked the Secre-
tary for Foreign Affairs in Parliament
whether he would explain the present po-
sition of affairs in Crete, particularly in
respect to the position of Prince George
of Greece. the High Commissioner ap-
pointed by the protecting Powers
The Marquis of Lansdowne replied that
he did not think there was any change in
the situation in Crete that he could report
to their lordships except in one respect
and that was that his Royal Highness
Prince George had been pleased, in COM
pliance with the unanimous request OF
the four Powers, to accept an extension
OF his mandate as High Commissioner. He
thought that was a fact which they might
regard as eminently satisfactory and a
happy augury for the future of the ISL
and. When the prince undertook the du-
ties of High Commissioner. at the end of
lSyS the position was not in all respects
an attractive one. The history of the
island had been one long chapter of dis
order and unrest, and In the years i'm
n,ediately preceding his royal highness.
assumption of office a fresh wave CT trou-
Bile had passed over the island
Though Prince George took office in the
last days of 1888, it was not until July.
lsss, that the government of the provinces
was handed over to him by the Foreign
Offices. The manner In which he had dis
charged his duties was such as to en-
title him to high degree OF credit.
The Cretan Assembly met May l. and on
that day passed q. resolution in favor OF
the annexation of the island to Greece
which they said was the goal at which
the people of the island had always hoped
70 arrive. There was, of course, protest
from the Mussulman portion OF the as
sembly The consuls OF the four Powers,
acting under the instructions of their
Governments, declined to receive the res
oiution, but in due time it was made
known and was referred to the four rep
resentatives at Rome, who drew up
reply expressing their firm resolve to
maintain Crete in the status quo estab-
lished under the auspices of the Powers
and hope that Prince George would con-
tinue to exercise the mandate the Powers
had given him.
l.
Martin 's-le-Grand is the busiest spot in
London. Day and night, Sunday and
week day, throughout the year. the place
is the scene of great activity, for the
building Is never closed
AT this one telegraph office between
125,o00 and $4,000 kilograms are handled |
daily. The record number of messages |
received and despatched in one day is
ls5, Ill, which was the number reached on |
the day before the late Queens Diamond I
Jubilee, in 1897. There are no fewer than |
1,226 telegraph instruments, and a staff /
OF nearly 4,6O0 persons is employed There /
are 2.ilO men telegraphists, about 200 |
iady telegraphtsts, $50 messengers, and so |
special servants.
1t is wonderful what the little clicking
are capable OF accomplishing 1
and the variety to be found in this i'm 1
mense building. There are hundreds of |
duplex machines, which signal two mes
saSes at the same time over one wire in /
opposite directions. More wonderful still I
Is the multipleX machine, by which clerk
can despatch six messages at the same
time in different directions For very |
rapid working the WheatStone apparatus
S called Into play. whereby a speed of /
30 words Il minute can be obtained; in
deed, the instrument has a record of 600
words g minute.
When anything important occurs the
Central Telegraph office is exceedingly |
'uSA ScllGiilS ItbOFlS across It's numerous
wires. Often as many as 10000 words
were despatched In the early hours of the
OF famous parliamentary |
speech. When Mr.. Gladstone introduced
mis- home rule bill. in 1856, over / coo 900 |
words Were despatched over the wires |
rom the head office This is regarded at |
he Central Telegraph office as ''night's''
'ecord.
Messages can be sent from this office to
III parts of the world. In addition to the |
tieSraph wires there are numerous tele-
lhone5. one of the most interesting being
hat from London to Paris As many as |
90 persons have used il in a single day |
md a charge Of S shillings is made for |
very talk of three minutes duration or
ess.
The Deputy Fermorocco has interpenat-
ID the Minister Of Public Instruction at
Rome as to the wherea bouts of some
'aluable gobelins sent away from Italy
before the war. These costly tapestries.
which had formerly decorated the ducaI
'alace at MaEtua. had been copied by
Cardinal Ercoie Gonzaga from those of |
Raphael at Brussels After long adorning
he Mantua palace walls they came into |
possession of the Crown In 1866. but |
hort time afterward in the same year
we're sent to an art museum at Vienna. |
The directors of this museum sold them |
o the priests of the church of ST. Angus
inc in the Austrian capital. This is a |
inc Gothic editice. containing admirable |
works. of CanoVa and Zauner, and IN an |