3 NOVEMBER 1894, Page 17

In transmitting the great news to London, the Daily News

beat the Foreign Office, the Russian Embassy, and all the morning papers. That is satisfactory; because the trans- mission of news is the first function of the English Press, and it has recently been shamefully baffled. The semi- civilised nations now at war have succeeded in making that "resource of civilisation" look a little ridiculous. Not one newspaper telegram from the Far East is worth sixpence till it is confirmed ; and half the official confirmation is generally false.