One of the most remarkable incidents of the week of
Jubilee has been the eagerness with which the people leaped at the suggestion of fires on the hilltops. Hundreds of hills were lighted up, and an observer in a balloon high above Snowdon might have seen the United Kingdom twinkling with points of fire; even Ireland joining in this form of demonstration, which there, as here, is traditional from ages before history, handed down from tribes whose motives we can only dimly guess. The materials used were chiefly, as of old, wood and gorse
and oil, science lending extremely little help. That is, perhaps, best, science being too impersonal ; but when the next Jubilee arrives we may see a change, and behold the coast lighted on every headland by colossal electric flames, maintained by a power developed by the utilisation of the tide. An effort was made to test the value of the lighting of the hill. tops as a means of signalling, all hills in sight of Malvern being requested to wait for its ignition ; but the organisation on this point was not perfect. Could notice be sent, say, of invasion from Hurst Castle to John o' Groat's House, by answering beacons, within one summer's night ?
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