English cyclists ire just nuw interesting themselves"in a fight with the Railway Companies on the question of their charges for the conveyance of cycles. when: acco: Being brought by. the National Cye'ists'
nied by their owners, A test case ix
Union against the Great Northern Railway Company, to try to establish the fact tha cycles are passengers' luggage, and as such, entitled to be carried'free, in the same way that a limited "mount of ordinary luggage "is allowed. Opiuions differ very widely. ax to the of success, and: sine critic attitude of the N. likely to make the railway: companies hostile to cyclists, and cause them: to frame hampering rest' tions in the event-of their losing the day. Farther, not a few eminent legal mon, Sir Richard' Webster among the number, who have given their opinion that the N.C hag not a ghost of a chance of success. 'Thei® plan is to. take proceedings at first on their own account, and then' to Osborn upper! to: eyclists.at large for subscriptions to ow y o1 the ease, if necessary, before the various Courts of Appeal.
A'gentleman was fined the other day for lifting his machine atid carrying it along a footpath. The. law directs that a man shall not ride or drive a cycle on the footpath, and. it is generally considered that The London to Bat's and back record has been well beaten by H. C. Horswill, who has riden the 212 miles on the double journey betiveen the to places in. 12 wurs 6 minut s 30 seconds. the previous record being to the er-dit of W. J. Neason, who in 1895 did the journey in 12 hours 1 ves 4 second. Horswili, by. ride, for the first time scores over a dai route, through he hat already achieved a considerable reputation, chiefly as an an-or of local recor-Is in the county of sssex from which hel A military cycling tournament replaced the customary cycle race meeting at Wood Green w Saturday Inst. It was the first fixture of the kind, and in addition to the Lemon Cutting, Tent Pegging, and kindred military pastimes, there were cycle races entitle! Army Championships, and a mock battle around a fort manned by Dervishes, and attacked by Maxims mounted on tri cycles, nutt a crowd of cyclist. skirmish-rs. As well es the merely military el-ment, there was a race of two miles for profes: signals, in which F, W. Chinn' beat
on the five miles' record, hed by J. Platt-fe, and an attempt: by A. A. Chase Betts, which, though a failure by the narrow of 2°4.5ths secs. wax a very fine exhibition of speed riding, as there wax a strong breeze blowing at th" tine, and under the circumstances to cover five miles in mins. 7 3-5ths secs., was no mean Tolerance towards the cycle hia now Becom: so general that i€ is with some surprise thst the violent diatribe of an anti-cycling Irish priest has been receive! in Ireland, where, as a rule, cyclists are looked on with exceptional favour. AB a rebuff toa doctor who had written toa Leal paper in strong praise of cycling for women, this church dignitary: wrote up say the pastinin was utterly audit for then", and declared that there is no woman in Ireland that does net feel in hee conscience that the use of the cycle is unbecoming, indelicate, and dangerous, and to prove his *-dignity" he added ' that "'should any vile things in the shape of girls dare to exhibit themselves" (it was-proposed t" hold a Indies' competition) "Jet the roughs and. corner boys chase them off the held, and give them a dip in the pond below the bridge." Most people will agree that the reverend author of this advice is a far fitter subject for a ducking in the horse pond than bbe aly cyclists of Wexford.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.