On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Kov. 24, 1860] The Saturday Analyst and ...
-
PENNY TELhKiix^ y . • rT^.IiE victories ...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Barbarous Politics. J. Ghd Chesterfield ...
have had , or are trying to have , the best of us . . Bishop Sei / wttn advocates the claims adverse to the settlers . Governor Browne , who on . the . spot , we understand , goes by the name of , " Governor Wait-a ^ bit , " is undecided what to do . Meanwhile life and property are in danger , business and trade are deranged , the citizen is obliged to turn soldier ; numb rs who go out to augment the prosperity of what they expect is a prosperous colony , find nothing but confusion and slaughter , and leave again in disgust , accompanied by other intending but disappointed settlers who have lost their all , and return disheartened and penniless . The Maoris ,
according to the news reported in another column , creep upon our sentries after dark , and kill them at their posts . Now admitting for argument ' s sake that in the first instance this is due to our ever having set foot among these barbarians , the present colonists aie not now accountable for that ; and we maintain that they are entitled to protection of life and property . Let the Home Government at once take measures for the efficient protection of the lives and properties of British subjects . , The Government itself is understood to have initiated or sanctioned a land scheme by which
emigrants were induced to go out to , obtaiu grants of land , and multitudes of emigrants , have gone out through this schema , 'by which , the faith , of the Government was virtually pledged for their enjoyment of these new possessions in which they had in reality invested their capital and •'¦ their hopes . We contend that this amounts to a covenant on the part of the Government , for quiet enjoyment and assurance in the possession of their lands . And we urge upon , the Government the necessity of taking prompt and . decisive . measures ' for the protection of the .-colonists-.
Kov. 24, 1860] The Saturday Analyst And ...
Kov . 24 , 1860 ] The Saturday Analyst and Leader . 957
Penny Telhkiix^ Y . • Rt^.Iie Victories ...
PENNY TELhKiix ^ y . rT ^ . IiE victories of science are quiet and unobtrusive . W-liiie J- the busy ; world is going round , and the attention oT the multitude is attracted by the noise of dynastic revolutions , tho clash ¦ of wars , ' mid the strife of life , the man of science and discovery is quietly struggling in his study or his Laboratory to bend the laws of nature to his -will , and evolve new discoveries and applications -which , in due time , are destined to mould the world and its ways anew . The . discoveries of
later years have nil come upon us stealthily , modestly introducing themselves as something to our advantage , ' if we ¦ wou ld only look at them . AVhen Stkpii kxsox had solved the problem of railway travelling , tluuv w ; is no idea in the public niiiid that any tiling could over beat the-ftajre-ooach . 'When , it was mentioned in the House of Cmmuons that by the new system it would be possible to travel at the rate of thirty miles an hour , honourable and right honourable Members of the old school laughed the notion to scorn ., nnd declared il ; to be the wild dream of a madman . Yet the thing was done ,
and from that moment thu . wholo condition of trade , of society , and even of war , became completely chuuged . Pho 4 to ° Taphy , the electric tolegrnph , the screw propeller , and rifle cannon , all crept upon us in the sam . o stealthy way , astonishing and puzzling us for one lnpmont , and the next creating a grand revolution in piir whplu life . It is . curious to reflect Avhat complete and total changes have been effected in the short space of twenty years by sciontitic discovery . Railways h alone have ontircl another
and the electric telegrap y put face uppn tins country . Tho England of to-day is quite another country from the England of a score or thirty years ago . Throw us back uppn those times with the experience of . our present conveniences , and wo should be entirely lost . We have it iu out power to try tho experiment by taking up tho railway , and cutting oft' tho telegraph wires bofcween say London . and Manchester . There is scarcely one of U 3 , however humble his occupation , who would not find some , of his
affairs oomo to a dead lock iimnydiately . The spirit of discovery and invention is still quietly at work among xi & ; burrowing underground in the dark one day , to emerge on the surface in tho shnpo of something new and startling , and strangely useful . Wo go to bed at night , and wake \ ip next morning to find that while we slept our chirnuoy stuck has boon converted into n telegraph post . Wo go out of town for a low weeks , and when wo roturn ¦ we find , all tho old limits of railway comrrfunioution broken up and extended . A railway bridgo has been thrown over the Thames , and Northern and Southern linos run into each other , and have no longer olthor beginning or oncl . Some fine day , about twolvo months honoo , unobservant citizens will suddenly discover uomowhore about tho bottom of Holborn-hill the terminus of a railway wlrioh will run trains
to everywhere . Little do they suspect at present while , they cross the New-road to take a walk in Regent's-park , that navvies are swarming'under the ground with pick and spade , boiing a long dark tunnel through , the bowels of the land . But by-and-bye , when these moles of the pick and spade throw up a shaft of stone steps at the end of the Portlandroad , the busy unobservant citizens will descend and take their tickets , and be whirled through the darkness to ev > ry ~ where , and take it all as a matter of course . Wpndeis of this kind crowd upon us so thick and last in these days of enterprize and improvement , that we have no time to pause and be astonished .
One of the latest projects for facilitating intercommunication between distant parts , is a new system of telegraphing . A company is about to do for the public , in respect of telegraphic communication , what Sir Kowland Hiix did for them twenty years ago in establishing a cheap system of postage . The United Kingdom Electric Telegraph Company , Avhich undertakes to confer this great boon on the public , has , we perceive , formally commenced proceedings by erecting at Shepherd ' s-bush-common , three telegraphic posts , which are to constitute the startin g point whence a network of
wire is shortly to be cast over the whole country . . The company has celebrated the erection of its three first posts by a dinner at St . James ' s Hall , in strict accordance with British custom , and if we may judge from the highly influential names which figure in connection with the project , we have something like a guarantee that the concern is bona fide , and rests upon well calculated foundations . The object with which the company has been formed , is the establishment of a system of telegraphic communication throughout the country at uniform r a , upon the . plan of -the penny postage . The company do not canticipate being able to reduce their rate as low as a penny ; but in the first instance their charge will be one shilling ; and
the novelty peculiar to the operation is , that whereas other companies have availed themselves of the embankments of railwavo this company will run their lines along the sides of the various canuls throughout the country . The directors propose two objects to themselves . First , to establish , as already stated , a system of inland telegraphic communication on the principle of the penny postage ; ami , secondly , in connection with other companies .. to establish electricai . comtnumcatiqn with every point of commercial importance throughout the : world . To eflject this , it is proposed to place London in direct circuit correspondence with all the important seats of . com- , merce and trade throughout the country . The principal seats .
of commerce so connected with , afterwards form sub-centres , to be placed in ( direct communication with the various smaller communities in their more immediate localities . To render communication more speedy and less expensive than they are at present , a new system of telegraph will be adopted . The great feature of this is an automatic , apparatus , which maybe worked by unskilled hands . By this improvement alone , the rate of telegraphing will be materially increased , whilst the operation will be reduced to a inechanicul one merely , and so create the economy of machine work as compared with manual or skilled labour . In order to render these facilities
available to the million , it is proposed to have stations H * every town as plentifully scattered over the various districts as the branch popt-offices . Kacb . of these stations will be prpvided with a despatch-box , into which the public wiU drop their telegrams , as they drop their letters into tho post-offico . It is proposed to create despatch-stamps , wiucfc will fmnk tho despatch to its destination , and obviate the necessity of personal payment . Thus a poison will merely havo to ' write his message , sign it , give his address , atfax a stamp , put tho whole in an envelope , and drop U m the box . An official , in a cab or cart will come round every quarter ot an hour and take tho mossugos to tho nearest station , where they will bo immediately sont off . , , _ . _ and if the directors
This is really a grand project , only succeed in oarrying it out and making it pay , as thoy confidently expect , a most inestimable ^ boon will bo conferred upon tho public , a boon , mcleett , scarcely less valuable than tho penny postage . We shall not at present follow the directors into tho free development of their scheme , by which they hope to establish almost instantaneous communication between Shepherd s-busn and South Australia ; but if they will only enable us at tho coat of ono shilling to let our friend Thomson in Manchester know with the lowst possible delay , that we shall be down there in the evening , and expect to find a nice hot supper awaiting ; us and tho spare bed all ready aired or our re « M afterward , i whv , then wo . shall be very muoh obliged to them .
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 24, 1860, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24111860/page/5/
-