TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14909, 6 March 1914, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

England v. Wales. Mr Arthur Mason, an observant Sydney man who is sending readable articles on many English subjects, from eating-houses to the drama, to the Sydney "Daily Telegraph." gives a very interesting account of the Rugby match between England and Wales at Twickenham. He begins by correcting an idea, said to be widespread in League circles in Sydney, and no doubt entertained in New Zealand, that Rugby, long dying, has been killed by the League game. On the contrary, he says, the Rugby game is more vigorous in England than it has ever been. Not only are the crowds large and enthusiastic*, but the players are moro numerous L.ian ever. Rugby has its own public, and an increasing one. At this particular match 30,000 people were present, and 12,000 resrved seats had been sold out weeks beforo at prices unheard of in Australia. And this although the ground is not nearly so easy to get at as the Sydney or New Zealand grounds. National feeling runs high at these international matches, especially when Wales is playing. People on getting out of the train at Twickenham had their way barred by barrowmen selling roses and leeks, the latter emblem being seen in hundreds of buttonholes, and fastened to hundreds of sticks in hope of a Welsh victory. Then there was tho Welsh singing. "I would have respect for any football team that is inspired to great deeds by tho singing of national songs. That is the way of these Welshmen. Other people may do what they will to urge their players onward—may shout them words of this and that encouragement, or merely howl them incoherently. The AVelshman shouts not nor hoots. He sings. Ho sings, too, a song which has inspired p him on real battlefields, a national song. With his men critically set, the score against them, and their defence hard pressed, the Welsh 'barracker' lifts up his voice, indeed, 'but it is in 'Land of My Fathers.' Thus when 1 went into the ground on Saturday I heard that hymn of defiant confidence swelling fullthroated from a dozen foregatherings of Welshmen. I heard it often during the afternoon." It was a great game. England, represented by a fine team*, was expected to win easily, but the Welsh forwards, led magnificently by the Rev. A. Davies, upset calculations, their fierce attacks making the great English three-quarter line harmless for most of the game. With the score 9 to 5 against them, and their territory invaded, England's chances were slipping away, when the bounce of a punted bail beat the Welsh full-back, and a try was scored and converted. By only a paint England won a victory which apparently tho team hardly deserved. Buildings Which Move.

A writer in an American technical journal has discovered a real justification for the term ' sky-scraper." Logically, there has always seemed something faulty about the word. Scraping implies movoment on tho part of the thing which scrapes; how, then, can a building, which presumably is stationary, scrape the sky or anything else? The writer reforred to, however, tells us that many 6_y-scrapers actually do move. "Buildings which are not erected on bed-rock are particularly given to swaying. In Chicago, the Department of Buildings owns up to (scores of buildings like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, though 30 inches is about the most that any of them are out of plumb. Chicago, being built on a substratum of clay, has many buildings which have "settled" or are' engaged in "settling." *But thi. is not all. Many high structure, possess a regular diurnal movement of their own. The Eiffel Tower swings perceptibly 1 in the wind, and even stone shafts like those of the Bunker Hill and Washington monument" move several inches at tho top. In the latter instances this is caused not by the wind, but by the expanding power of the sun's heat. The side facing the sun expands during the day more than the side which is in shadow. This phenomenon has been demonstrated by an interesting device in use at the Capitol at Washington. A wire was hung from the middle of the dome inside the building, and to it was attached a 2..1b plumb, in the lower part of which was inserted a pencil. A largo sheet of paper was spread out beneath it. and as tho dome moved under the influence of the sun's rays, thfc pencil was dragged over the paper, describing a figure in the form of an ellipse. The lesson to be learnt from these facts is that in high buildings all pipes, electric wire conduits, etc.. should so be installed that they can "give" with the movements of the building without disarrangement.