WITHOUT PREJUDICE

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 219, 16 June 1925, Page 8

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

NOTES AT RANDOM

(By

T.D.H.)

It seems quite possible they may execute some three thousand suspects in Bulgaria in order to save the country from bloc .-lied.

Mexico has started talking back at the United States.—Europe is watching to see if it can be done with safety.

Major Fitzurse has been investigating the causes of the unprecedented weather the country has been enjoying of late. There are, of course, many causes that control climate, and the Major has been going over them systematically. One theory is that sunspots are a chief factor, but unfortunately Major Fitzurse is not at the moment in a position to make a journey to some other part of the earth with a view to ascertaining whether there are spots on the sun at present. Our own opinion is that if we could see the sun at all wc would put up with the spots.

“It is a mistake,” says the Major, “to describe the present weather as ‘unprecedented.’ The term is too sweeping. There is geological evidence that in a former prolonged southerly spell at soing time prior to the first arrival of those hardy pioneers to whom we owe so much, the whole of the South or Middle Island was glaciated, if it was not in fact covered with a solid sheet of ice several feet thick. It is said that history repeats itself, but it is my opinion that the present southerly spell will have to continue for some weeks yet before we have a return to these conditions. There is no great occasion for alarm in the North Island, however severe the winter, for beyond creating a few doubtful part glaciers in the Tararua Range, the great southerlies of pre-settlement days seem to have expended their fury in. the south before reaching this island.

“It is well known,” continued the Major, “that in many other parts of the earth there have been prolonged spells of tropical weather in Arctic countries, and vice-versa. Various theories have been advanced to account for this, and it is obvious that after a southerly has lasted more than three weeks it is necessary to drop trifling observations with a thermometer and a barometer and look much deeper into the fundamental principles of climatology. Changes may be caused by (a) sunspots, (b) change in the position of the earth’s axis, (c) the precession of the equinoxes, etc. Sunspots (a) will have to be left out of consideration until we have a chance of seeing them again. Alteration in the position of the earth’s axis (b) can be tested by observing on the mornings (if any) when the sun comes up whether,it has come up in the proper place. From inquiries I have made in authoritative quarters, I gather that the proper place is somewhere over the other side of Day’s Bay. My observations under this head, however, will be deferred until all other avenues have been explored, as I feel it would be unwise to endanger my bodily health by rising at so untoward an hour to test a mere a priori hvpothesis.

“I am greatly attracted by the theory that climate is modified by the precession of the equinoxes. This extends over a cycle of 21,000 years, and while, despite my advanced years, I have as yet lived through only a relatively small portion of one precession, I have noticed steady clianges. The winters, for instance, affect my rheumatism to a much more marked extent than was the case even so recently as fifty years back. A few first-hand facts of direct personal observation of this nature are to my mind far more valuable Gian the vague theorising so much in fashion among loose thinkers of the present day. It may be also that the equinoxes have precessed all of a sudden through the sun developing an affinity with the new stellar attraction visible in the heavens, for it was just after this was seen that the climate tollapsed. All these causes must be given due weight. “Should the disturbance be permanent there would stTil be hope of a remedy by a diversion of the Gulf Stream. As is well known, were it not for the Gulf Stream warming their shores the British Isles would be frozen out by Nature, even more completely than they have been by winning the war. The Gulf Stream originates just the other side of the Panama Canal, and with a sea level cut across the isthmus, and a dam across the shallow waters of the Carribean between Florida and the island of Key West, this beneficent roaring torrent of warm water would be turned into the Pacific instead of the Atlantic. I am of opinion that if this were done even Dunedin and Invercargill might become climatically suitable for residence all the year round, and emigration from Britain to the Dominion would be greatly stimulated without further expenditure vy the State.” »* ’ *

Major Fitzurse, in his research, is going extensively into the question of whether the southerly busters originate in Stewart Island or the Ross Dependency. The Major is of opinion that New Zealand owes it to itself and to the Empire t<s remove the ice coating which is blocking the development of the Ross Dependency. “It is a singular thing,” says the Major, “that American tourists will not conic to this country because they cannot obtain iced water, iced coffee, and other similar delicacies in our hotels, and yet this country owns more ice than any other in the'world. A valuable export trade in ice should be worked up from our southern dependency; to the Dominion and Australia, ami as far north over the Pacific as it could be shipped before it melted. If this did not result in the uncovering of the soil of this rich metalliferous area we must turn natural phenomena to account. The Ross Dependency has a day lasting six months, and six months of sunlight if directed through burning glasses will suffice to melt an ice coat at least 37 feet 9 inches deep, leaving out the decimal points. If the Ross Dependency were treated in this manner and the ice removed not only would the southerly busters be deprived of anywhere to come from, but the attractions of Antarctic journeys with a good motor road to the South Pole past the various mineral works would provide this country with a steady flow of the creme de la creme of the world's millionaire tourist traffic, enabling every boarding-house in the country to raise its tanfl by at least 150 per cent. Science leads us by many recondite paths to great ends of the highest practical benefit.”

Judge: “Do you plead guilty or not guiltv of stealing this chicken ?” Rastus: “Not guilty, sub.” Judge: “Have you ever been in gaol before ?” Rastus: “No, suit. I never stole anything before.” HILL PHILOSOPHY. “We live alone,” she said, “just him and me; Six children livin’, but all gone away. And all done well—so well they ain’t come back, Although we’re alius hopin’ that they may. "They never liked the farm, and then I guess We ain’t as stylish as they’ve growed ro be. It’s ki’-'bi lonesome, yes, but sake* alive, There’s lots we kin remember, him and me!” —Medora C. Addison in the “Fortum”