Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-12
ELECTRIFIED
Rapid Increase in Modern
Transit System.
NEW LINES TO SUBURBS
Underground Trains Travel at Four
teen Miles an Hour.
HOLMAN HUNTS PICTURES
W. s. Gilbert Will Personally superin-
tend the Revival Of the Famous
Savoy Operas.
HUNTS PICTURES
special Correspondence Of The star.

| Special Correspondence Of The Star.
LONDON, November 1, 1905.
London, though starting late with street
railways, is trying to make UP for lost time
and has large plans ahead. The new tram
way schemes for the metropolis to be
brought before this session Of parliament
make up thirty-two and one-half miles, OF
which twenty-six and one-half miles repre-
sent new links, all of which have been laid
out with due regard TO the recommends
lions Of the recent commission London
traffic. London has at present about 121
route miles; twenty-five miles are author
| lied. so that were those now proposed au-
thorized the total would reach 17Sk miles.
1t is remarkable, however, and a reproach
to municipal methods, that of the tramway
mileage in existence only twenty-nine and
one-half miles are electrically equipped. At
the end of this year twenty-nine more miles
will be added to the electric system, but
eighty eight miles will still require to be
dealt with. The estimate Of the committee of
the London county council, charged with
tramway management, is that 1t will be two
years yet before the whole system In the
metropolis Is worked electrically.
The longest of the new lines is the seven
and half miles line from the marble arch
at Hyde Park through the busy Edgware
of Kilburn to Crickewood. It Is a favorite
| route of the motor bus. and Is served by
tube railways, so that there Is sure to be
opposition to the possible further street OBJ
struction and noise. 1t now transpires that
the cost Of taking the tramway over West
minister bridge and along the embankment
is. according to accepted tender, f45,S56.
This does not include the BlackfriarSo bridge
| work. This Is for length of double track
of little more than mile. The work is go
ing forward very satisfactorily, and as the
line will be completed before the arrange
mentS have been made for the supply of the
electric current from the county council
system, a contract has bee n made to take It
temporarily from one Of the lighting COM
panies at Id. per unit
Early next spring the greater part OF the
metropolis will be connected by under
ground railways, which will have COM
munication and exchange stations with
Great Northern, Midland. London and
Northwestern, London and Southwestern.
Southeastern and Chatham termini. Trial
trips are already taking place on the Great
Northern and Piccadilly and Brompton
tube, which traverses the northern, CEN
trail and western districts Of London. This
will be opened for traffic early in January.
There are now eighteen stations in leading
thoroughfares, the northern terminus being
at Ffnsbury Park, and the western at
Earfs Court; and stations are built at such
important centers as Kingsway, Piccadilly
Circus. Hyde Park Corner. Knightsbridge
trains will be fourteen miles an hour, and
the whole of the journey can be accom-
plished in forty minutes.
X
Public interest in the important collection
of Mr.. Holman Hunts pictures at the
Leicester gallery shows no cessation. It is
remarkable that the nation should possess
no example Of Mr.. Holman Hunts works,
and it will be surprising If the proposal to
acquire 1.-THE Lady of Shalott" at cost
Of 1000 guineas should fail of realization.
Unless this sum is raised, however, the
picture cannot be bought, for Mr.. Holman
Hunt has refused deliberately to take
guinea less than 1900 Apart from its in
trinsic value-and THE Lady Of Shalott"
has all the beauty with. perhaps. a little
pre-Rapha elite style-the study is rich in
sentimental association.
It represents the artists chief labor for
it when his eyesight began to leave him
rapidly; SO rapidly. indeed that the last
touches were put in by his friend, Mr..
Arthur Hughes, under his detailed direc-
ton.
There has not been time yet to Judge of
the likely response to an appeal which the
committee, including the Earl Of Carlisle,
Mr.. Anthony Hope and Sir William Rich
patron of art has promised ESQ If nine
others will give the same.
Mr.. w. s. Gilbert has accepted Mrs.
D'Oyly Carte's invitation to superintend
the revival of the Savoy operas. For one
reason or another none Of the old Savoy
ards are available. Excepting as a mat
ter Of sentiment, this need not make the re-
vival less interesting, seeing that the COM
panies who have SO successfully kept the
operas alive In the provinces for the past
twenty years comprise many equally able
artists. Whether the whole series will be
revived Is not stated, though the event will
be shorn of much of its interest if only the
more popular operas are put on. Mr.. Gill
bert himself thinks that after 1.-THE Yeo-
men of the Guard the best are "Ruddi-
gore and utopia, Limited and these
happen to be the least known of the whole
series. L. H. MOORE.