diameter of which offers greater leverage, as seen before, to the lessened steam pressure, so that shaft No. 2 is turned with the same energy as shaft No. 1. And so it is with the third and largest turbine, which receives the steam last, when it has expanded to its lowest pressure. The shaft of this turbine No. 3 is driven with the same energy as the other two, because the steam acts upon a collar of much larger diameter, with blades extended so that what is lost in pressure is made up in increased leverage. And it results from this nice proportioning of lessening steam pressure and increasing blade leverage that the three shafts of the "Turbinia are driven with the same energy, although the steam which drives them works at a constantly decreasing pressure.

WATER

We

ducing the weight of machinery and the space occupied by it, the ratio in these respects between turbine engines and reciprocating engines being about one to four. shall save them money for machinery and expense of maintenance, since our motors cost far less than ordinary ones of the same efficiency. We shall also give them absence of vibration. You saw yourself how steadily our little boat ran yesterday. It would be the same for an ocean liner; it is the same in various plants where turbo-motors have been substituted for the old-style ones."

Then, as we walked about the shops, Mr. Parsons pointed out various applications of the turbine engine that have been already made. Thus they manufacture portable dynamos for ships going through the Suez Canal at night, to produce the electric light at the bows, without which no vessel may pass. Ships having no electric plant of their own merely hoist over the side a turbo-generator rented for the occasion, connect a steam pipe with it from their boilers, and the thing is done.

"Can you substitute the turbine engine,' I asked, "for the ordinary stationary engine in factories?"

"That simply depends on one thing which

And there also results from this triple turbine system an economy of energy such as has never been possible in any other engine, the steam being used continuously from the moment it enters the first turbine, at a boiler pressure of 225 pounds, until it leaves the third turbine, to enter the condenser, at an absolute pressure of one pound or less. As against this is the case of the most efficient marine and stationary engines, which condense their steam at an absolute pressure not under seven pounds, and thereby waste the energy of the steam from the seven-pound point down to the onepound point. This loss for them and saving for the turbines is a matter of enormous consequence in the practical daily running of motors and machines. It means, for instance, increased speed when applied to marine propulsion, and greater economy in coal wherever applied.

"A" Screw 'B' Rudder

B

66

So much I learned after talking with Mr. Parsons for an hour or so. And there was much more to learn.

"We shall give vessels," he continued, many things besides greater speed. We shall give them greater stability and greater safety in time of war, by putting the vital parts far below the water line. We shall give them greater carrying capacity, by re

is now being determined, the possibility of gearing down the high speed shaft of the turbine to such lower speeds as would be required. For six months we have had a turbo-generator in our electric lighting works at Newcastle geared down from 9,600 to 4,800 revolutions a minute, and it has given excellent satisfaction. That is encouraging, and if we continue to get good results in gearing, we shall be able to compete with the reciprocating engine in all its industrial applications with the same advan

tages on our side that I have pointed out. Think of being able to put a stationary engine upon any ordinary floor without attachments or foundations and to have it work away there quite steadily with reduced expense, reduced weight, reduced space, and practically no limit to speed."

"And the locomotive? Would you enter that field too?"

Mr. Parsons hesitated. "I think the locomotive is doubtful, the complications would be endless. I prefer to leave the locomotive out of present consideration. I am talking about possibilities of the immediate future." "Well, then, how about possibilities on the ocean for larger vessels like the Turbinia'?"

"You mean on the Atlantic Ocean." "On any ocean."

66

I will say that on the Mediterranean the problem is a perfectly easy one. We can build now a fleet of passenger steamers to ply between Marseilles, the Italian ports, Athens, Constantinople, Smyrna, stopping to coal every day or two, that will have a speed of forty knots, that is forty-six miles an hour. These steamers would be about 500 or 600 feet long, would have a displacement of 12,000 tons, and would burn about 2,000 tons of coal a day. We could even run their speed up to fifty knots, that is about fiftyeight miles an hour, if passengers enough could be found to pay for the 3,000 tons of coal that would be burned a day, and if the practical difficulties of handling that amount of coal could be disposed of. The Atlantic, however, is quite another matter; there are no coaling stations on the way across, and to build a liner large enough to carry the coal she would need running 3,000 miles, at, say, fifty knots an hour, would mean to build a steamer about five times as long as the Great Eastern."

that is, if you double your speed, you quadruple your coal burned, and so on. Also, the horse-power increases as the cube of the speed, so that if—”

Mr. Parsons went on with this sort of thing for some time longer, and seemed to regard it as perfectly simple. I waited for the conclusion, which was:

"I believe that a liner of 15,000 tons can be built with engines like the 'Turbinia's,' capable of running between Sandy Hook and Roches Point in three days. She will burn nearly three times as much coal per day as the present models, say 1,500 tons; she will save weight and space in boiler and engine room which will enable her to carry about the same number of passengers and the same cargo as a 15,000-ton steamer carries to-day."

"And she would have no vibrations from the machinery?"

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None whatever, no more than the Turbinia' has. Indeed I may say this confidently, that the turbine principle in marine propulsion is seen to greater and greater advantage as the vessels increase in size."

It occurred to me here to ask Mr. Parsons about a matter of much concern to New Yorkers.

"What could you do in running passenger boats between New York and Staten Island?"

"How far is it?"

"About ten miles; our fastest boats now take half an hour to go across.'

"We could put on a fleet of passenger boats, that is, a company could, of small tonnage, say 200 or 300 tons, that would run at a forty-knot or fifty-knot pace and cover the distance in twelve or fifteen minutes. They would be built with closed-in decks like railroad cars, to protect passengers from the wind, and there would be enough of them so

or six trips. If you despatched such boats every six or seven minutes, you could carry a good many thousand people every day."

What such a change as this would mean to residents of New York and land owners on Staten Island will be understood at once when it is remembered that here are two islands, parts of the same metropolis, the one long and narrow and crowded almost beyond human endurance, the other big and round and almost uninhabited save for a fringe of people on one side. Hitherto half an hour of water travel has separated the latter from the business heart of the former. Suppose this was reduced to twelve minutes!

FIELD MARSHAL VISCOUNT LORD WOLSELEY, COM

MANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE BRITISH ARMY.

LORD ROBERTS ("ROBERTS OF KANDAHAR "), COM

WH

HEN I left the United States early in May, 1897, I had no anticipation of witnessing the Jubilee in honor of the sixtieth anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne of Great Britain. While at Constantinople, however, I received orders from Washington to represent our country at that great ceremony. As soon as I had ended my observations of the Turkish and Greek armies, I started for London, arriving there on June 15th. As the military representatives of our country, I and my aide-decamp, Captain Marion P. Maus, were guests of the British government; and quarters were assigned us in the Buckingham Palace Hotel, across the street from Buckingham Palace, a place which had been taken for the time by the government for the purpose of entertaining foreign guests.

The vast concourse of people who were to take part in the celebration had already commenced to assemble. All the principal

governments of the world had been invited to send representatives, who were to be for ten days the guests of the British government. The different colonies of Great Britain in every quarter of the globe had also been invited to send bodies of troops or citizens. The result was that the streets of London were thronged by the most picturesque and cosmopolitan assemblage that ever was gathered in any city of the earth. Not even the triumphal march of a Roman emperor could equal it. Among the Jubilee guests were representatives from four countries of Asia not under English rule Corea, Japan, China, and Siam; from two countries of AfricaLiberia and Egypt; and seven of South America Argentine Republic, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. The countries of Europe sent their crown princes, grand dukes, distinguished generals and admirals, hereditary princes, and pashas. All of these personages were attended by

suites, so that the number of Jubilee guests, representing all corners of the earth, was very great. Of course, they wore the costumes peculiar to their countries a fact which contributed no little to the brilliancy of London. The contrasts one saw frequently in the throngs about Buckingham Palace, in Hyde Park, and along Piccadilly were most striking.

The ceremonies of the Diamond Jubilee began on June 20th, the real accession day, that is the sixtieth anniversary of the Queen's coronation. As it fell on Sunday, it was made a day of national thanksgiving, special services being held all over the kingdom. For ten days following June 20th the celebration continued. The most brilliant of the functions during this period were the reception by the Queen to representatives of foreign governments, held at Buckingham Palace on June 21st, the Jubilee procession on June 22d, the review of the colonial troops on June 23d, the gala night at the opera,, the Lord Mayor's lunch on June 25th, the great naval review on June 26th, and on July 1st the review of British troops at Aldershot.

The representatives of the United States, the Hon. Whitelaw Reid; Admiral Miller, U. S. Navy, with his aide, Commander Emory; and myself, with my aide, Captain Maus, were presented to her Majesty at the reception held at Buckingham Palace on the evening of June 21st. On being presented to the Queen, I was graciously received, and the Prince of Wales, who stood near her Majesty, came forward and greeted me cordially, referring to his visit to our country many years ago. I had not seen the prince since I saw him, then a young man, reviewing the troops on Boston Common, Massachusetts, in 1859. He seemed to recall his visit to our country, and the cordial manner in which he was received and entertained by our people, with great pleasure.

THE PRINCE OF WALES.

The most interesting feature of the recep

tion was the presentation of the colonial premiers and the Indian princes. Eleven of the premiers had accepted the invitation of her Majesty's government to join in the

Jubilee celebration. They were a body of as fine and sturdy looking men as one often sees. Several of them were natives of the colonies at the head of which they stood, though the greater number were born in England and had removed in youth to the colonies. They had risen to their positions by a variety of roads. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, of Canada; Sir William Whiteway, of Newfoundland; the Rt. Hon. George Houston Reid, of New South Wales; and the Rt. Hon. Charles Cameron Kingston, of South Australia, entered politics by way of the bar. The premier of Queensland, Sir Hugh Muir Nelson, was for thirty years a farmer on a large scale before he turned his attention to politics. Sir Edward Braddon, premier of Tasmania, did not go to that country until 1878, and that after thirty years of exciting life in India, where he was engaged in the construction of the East India Railway, serving against the rebel sepoys, winning a Mutiny medal, and later holding other high positions in the Indian service. Sir John Forrest, of Western Australia, has led a particularly active life. Born in that colony when it was still only a convict station, he became, while yet a boy, interested in exploration. When only twenty-three years old he headed an expedition to search for the remains of an explorer lost in the wilds of Australia. He proved himself so skillful in this undertaking that he was asked to conduct other expeditions into unknown portions of the country. He became Surveyor-General of the colony, and later Commissioner of Crown Lands. His services were of the greatest value in opening the island, and he was liberally rewarded for them by the government. When, in 1890, Western Australia was given a constitution, Forrest was by general consent called to be premier, a position he has held ever since.

The loyalty and devotion of the colonies to the British Government was amply proved by the presence at the Jubilee of these men. Indeed, in one case, the desire that the colony be represented at the Jubilee was so strong that political action was temporarily suspended in order that the premier might feel free to go. This was in Victoria. Sir George Turner, of Victoria, felt, when he received his invitation to the Jubilee, that he could not leave because parliament meets there in June. The opposition, however, promised to suspend hostilities during his absence if he would accept.

The presentation to the Queen of the Indian princes was an especially interesting incident. They were usually tall, slender, erect

men, as active and supple as panthers, and quite military in appearance. They wore the most gorgeous uniforms, glistening with rare and brilliant jewels. As they bowed their heads almost to the floor and presented their swords in token of loyalty to their acknowledged sovereign, Victoria graciously greeted them with a few words of recognition, spoken in their own language, and, placing her hand upon the hilts of their swords as they were presented one after the other, indicated her acceptance of their assurances of devotion and loyalty in a most gracious manner.

Several of the princes spoke excellent English, and one of them, Sir Bhagvat Sinh Jee, was a graduate of Edinburgh University and had received honors from other English institutions of learning. The most popular man among them seemed to be the Maharaja Pertab Sing of Jodhpur. He is prime minister and regent of a state as large as Scotland, with a population of 2,000,000. He is considered one of the most loyal and able of the native princes, and is a great favorite with the English authorities in India. He is said to be a superb horseman, and is fond of all kinds of sports. Lord Roberts, in his "Forty-one Years in India," tells a very good story of the bravery of the maharaja. In 1893, before leaving India, Lord Roberts visited Jodhpur, and was given opportunity there to indulge himself in what he considers the chief of sports pig-sticking.

"I had wounded a fine boar," writes Lord Roberts, and on his making for some rocky ground where I could hardly have followed him on horseback, I shouted to Sir Pertab to get between him and the rocks and turn him in my direction. The maharaja promptly responded, but just as he came face to face with the boar, his horse put his foot into a hole and fell; the infuriated animal rushed on the fallen rider, and, before the latter could extricate himself, gave him a severe wound in the leg with his formidable tushes. On going to his assistance, I found Sir Pertab bleeding profusely, but standing erect, facing the boar, and holding the creature (who was upright on his hind legs) at arm's length by its mouth. The spear, without the impetus given by the horse at full speed, is not a very effective weapon against the tough hide of a boar's back, and on realizing that mine did not make much impression, Pertab Sing, letting go his hold of the boar's mouth, quickly seized his hind legs, and turned him over on his back, crying: Maro, sahib, maro! (Strike, sir, strike!') which I instantly did, and killed him. Anyone who is able to