The Washington times., 1901-09-18
FOREIGN TOPICS.


pey the monuments of Shakespeare. Cold
shnh' Burns, Campbell, Southey, Handel
ana other worthless are overshadowed by
scaHoidlng, and hour after hour the tap
tap, tap OF hamme rsl resounis through the
building These incongruous sights and
sounds are due to workmen removing the
stained glass from the south end of the
trahsept to make way for the memorial
TO the late Duke of Westminster The old
WORK, known as the marigold window.
dates from 1S47. It Is remarkable for the
oriiiiancy of its coloring and in a less
oesree from the fact that the outside is
projected by plain glass. popularity
which has lately led some writer's to the
conclusion that such glass was being in
serted as an Intermediary between the
old and the new.
The dukes memorial will be one of the
biggest things of the kind in England, as
1t Will fill all the windows in the south
| wall of the transept Some people have
already seen the design, for 1t was recent
exhibited in the academy. With re
| Earu TO tie great wheel window, the hub,
II one may use the term. Is to be filled
by figure of ChriAt. while the spokes
viii be occupied by the angels of various
| orders, and the Virtues-Prudence, For
tltude, Justice, Temperance, Faith, Hope.
and Charity, the extremes of the spokes
being allotted to Old Testament and pre-
Christian characters. the latter being Ar.
istotle, Aeschylus, Sibyl, Zoroaster, one of
| the Magi, Virgil. and Seneca, tout sur
prise de Sc trouver en- pareille societe.
The -four. spandrills. which plain folk
John the Baptist. the Angel Gabriel, and
| the Virgin. So much for the upper part
of the work. The base vulgar would prob
ably say that below there are twelve
| small windows In two lines, but they
| would be mistaken architecturally. though
not literally: In the upper row are three
sWn ssMno-hght windows. surmounted by cinq-
| Ioiis, and In the lower six lancets. The
| former are to display a trio of Greek and
an equal number of Latin doctors-name-
~, Clement of Alexandria, Athanasius (of
| tine or Hippo, and Gregory. the cinqfoiis
beins intended for the arms of St Peter
ITO whom the Abbey is dedicateD st.
Paul and the royal family.
| Extension of the railway system in
Japan goes on uninterruptedly. The most
recent returns give the length of the rail-
way lines as 3.635 miles-SS3 miles of Gov
| ernment and 2.S02 miles of private railway
| on March 81, 1900 This makes an increase
of 65 miles of Government and $50 miles
of private railway since April /, 1899,
length of 2l5 miles in all. The principal
private lines are the Nippon Railway.
| mileage. S57 miles; Kyushuh Railway,
| mileage, go miles. Sanyo Railway, mile
| age, $50 miles; Hokkaido Tanko Railway,
mileage. POI miles.
private railway law and railway busi-
| ness law were promulgated on March Is,
| 1900. for the better exercise of control over
the construction of railways and matters
connected with railway work in general.
| etc, and regulations for the carrying out
Of the private railway law, setting forth
IN detail the method of obtaining official
sanction to railway undertakings. and the
mode of operations, etc, were issued on
August TO- 1900. The above laws and regu-
iations came into force on October ], 1900.
Sleeping cars were brought into use on
the Tokaido line from the same date
During 1900, thirty locomotives were or
dered from British factories, an order
for twenty-four Of them, valued at f66, 600,
being placed in November Two of the
four sleeping cars which are In use on
the Government railway came from Eng
land, and two from the United States.
The recent attempts of gang of Ameri-
can swindlers to victimize the London
banks have drawn attention to the re-
markable precautions which English
banking houses take against fraud. Ev-
cry employe, from the Office boy to the
manager, has to take an oath on entering
the bank that they will not divulge the
business OF the establishment, except un-
der compulsion of law. And they are not
allowed to forget this OATH for every year
the entire STAFF is assembled in the board
room to hear the oath read over. The
effect of this precaution has been admir-
able.
There is also very great care exercised
to prevent fraud by means of worthless
securities and promissory notes. In al
most every bank there Is a department
devoted to scrutinizing all notes which
may be deposited for this purpose. These
records which have been compiled after
of
almost every firm in London. Many a
business house would be dismayed If they
knew that practically all their most cher
ished secrets were known to the bank
References to these records will indicate
at once whether the firm concerned has
at any time dishonored a bill, and so the
bank is able to gauge the value OF the
securities offered, say, for a loan for
three months.
These are merely few of the precau-
tions adopted. but they will serve to give
some idea of the constant and unremlt-
ting care taken to prevent fraud
The Russian submarine boat which is
being constructed on the plans of En-
gineer Kuteinikoff and Lieutenant Kolba-
sieff differs from all existing types.
1t consists of nine sections, which are
Joined by bolts, and are capable of being
taken to pieces, The length is so feet, the
breadth feet, and the boat will have a
The three middle sections will contain
the machinery There will be six screws
actuated by electricity, and accumulators
on the Bari system will be placed in the
three sections fore and aft. These same
sections will be capable of being filed
with water for the purpose of sinking the
boat.
The first and ninth sections will have
fixed wing-like appendages to give direc-
tion TO the boat
pedoes placed fore and aft for the length
Of three sections The torpedoes will also
be ntrollable from the boat.
All the sections are now finished Three
have been launched, and under high pres
sure tests have given excellent results.
The boat will be completed and the trials
made by the end Of the autumn.
The boat, when inclined TO the extent of
80 degrees. Immediately rights itself.
With "a view TO diminishing vibration
the Central London Railway has for some
time past had 4 new locomotive under
trial
The standard locomotive weighs forty
two tons. and the greater part of the ma
chinery is not buffered by springs, the
weight being thrown directly upon the
axles The new engines are fitted with
powerful springs and with lighter arma-
lures which work at thrice the rate of
the old ones. and are geared down to the
ordinary speed.
one tons. or eleven tons less than the old |
one The combination of lightness with |
extra springs has given every satisfaction |
to the experts OF the Board of Trade the |
vibration being reduced almost to van
ishing point.
hastily 1t is now giving the multiple |
unit system a thorough trial II has |
fitted a train consisting of two ordinary |