Centenary of the German Railways.

When the “Iron Way” was in its infancy, a proposal to construct a railway connecting Berlin, the stately capital of Germany, with Potsdam, was greeted by the then Prussian Minister of Communications with the caustic comment. “A stupid business, indeed! Here I am sending several highway coaches to Potsdam every twenty-four hours which nobody ever uses, yet you want to build a railway in addition.” To-day, the German Railway Company with its 35,000 miles of track, 12,000 passenger and goods stations, and 700,000 employees, ranks as one of the largest transportation undertakings in the world.

In 1935, Germany is to celebrate in appropriate fashion the centenary of her railways. By way of marking this historic event, the very first German train, the Nurnberg-Futher Ludwigsbahn, is to run once again on its original route. An exact model of the pioneer train is being built, and this will be hauled through the streets of Nurnberg by the 10 h.p. locomotive Der Adler (The Eagle) in its original size. As is usual in the case of railway centenaries everywhere, the name of George Stephenson comes to the fore in connection with the German anniversary. The locomotive “Der Adler” was purchased by the German authorities in the first place from George Stephenson, so that in the 1935 centenary pageant at Nurnberg, the memory of the “Father of Railways” will again be honoured far from his native Tyneside.

Railway bridges are among the most important of engineering structures, and Europe can show many especially fine examples of the engineer's art in this direction. In the heart of Africa, however, there is at present being built a much more imposing structure than any European railway can present—the Lower Zambesi bridge, of the Central Africa and Trans-Zambesi Railways. This will be the world's longest railway bridge, spanning the Zambesi River, which is actually 11,000 feet wide when in high flood.

The Zambesi bridge will consist of 2,589 feet of viaduct, 33 main spans and six approach spans, the total overall length being 11,651 feet.

London's latest!—a cigar shop in Piccadilly run by a woman for women! Do women smoke cigars? It's becoming fashionable in u'tra smart society circles at Home. An illustration in a popular London daily shows the interior of the Piccadilly smoke shop with the smiling proprietress giving a light to a society belle who has a small cigar between her dainty lips. But ladies don't smoke in the street—so far—although even that may come! Who knows? Man, poor man!—all his little ways are being copied by the adorable and all-conquering sex! But while ladies (some of them) are taking to cigars men are smoking fewer of them, the masculine preference being more for pipe or cigarette. As for New Zealand “toasted,” i.e., Cut Plug No. 10 (Bullshead), Navy Cut No. 3 (Bulldog), Cavendish, Riverhead Gold and Desert Gold, they are in ever-increasing demand. Smokers know how to appreciate a good thing! And toasting (the manufacturers' own exclusive process), renders this tobacco harmless, and while it eliminates nicotine, it vastly improves flavour and aroma.*