NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 134, 2 March 1929, Page 8

NOTES OF THE DAY

Deprived of really good natural harbours and with but a comparatively short seaboard; it is not surprising that Germany should concentrate on aviation. Indeed she is almost ideally situated in Europe for such a purpose. Instead of being, like Britain, on the rim of Europe she is, geographically, practically the hub itself. East and West, South and even North, she can throw out a network of invisible air routes to tap a dozen other countries, and these link up with yet other routes. As the aeroplane improves and high mountain ranges and fog offer less obstacle to time-table air travel it will not be fantastic to assume that Germany s air routes will be to her what the ocean routes were once to Britain. More and more her very life-blood will flow along these routes, made possible by this new.-method of transport, whqje import is at present only vaguely comprehended. # * * *

> Complaint was made of the Coates Government that its members did not talk enough. They were content to go ahead with their tasks, taking it for granted that the public would judge them fairly by the results of their labours. It was a mistake, for the politician who fails to keep the public posted as to the merit of his activities is liable to be misjudged and his work overlooked. Sir Joseph Ward’s associates are not likely to fail for any lack of publicity of this nature. It is true that up to the present they are compelled to confine their talk chiefly to rosy pictures of what they propose to do, but this opens up a very wide field. So much so in fact that Sir Joseph Ward himself appears to be getting a little anxious and to hold the view that some of his colleagues may talk too much. Being new to office, some no doubt have been a little indiscreet in anticipating Cabinet approval for their personal views. Mr. Ransom has come within this category in expressing his opinion on the lane, question. The Prime Minister has been at some pains to make it clear that Mr. Ransom was speaking for himself and not for the Government. It is regrettable that this is the case, for the views of the Minister of Public Works were very sound and practical.

It may soon become vital to take proper stock of the whaling problems in the Ross Sea and other dependencies. For some years now whalers, mainly of foreign countries, have been gathering rich harvests; in fact, only a day or two ago one of these vessels steamed into a port with a cargo of whale oil valued at a quarter of a million sterling, representing the slaughter of no fewer than 543 whales. Whales are long-lived creatures that come to maturity very slowly, and the history of whaling in the Northern Hemisphere shows that species have been reduced to a point of extinction by old-fashioned methods, far less deadly than those at present employed. Under the circumstances, there is a perfectly justifiable fear that intensive whaling in the Antarctic must lead before long to the collapse of the industry with considerable loss to this Dominion. Experience indicates that when once a stock of whales have been seriously depleted recovery, if it was ever effected, is. a matter of many years. If some method cannot be devised to restrict the annual slaughter within the limits set by normal increases by breeding, an important source of wealth may be destroyed. It must be realised, however, that actual extermination is improbable undei present conditions. Long before this point is reached the whaling industry would become unprofitable. * * * ♦

Until comparatively recent times it was difficult to find legitimate excuse for Antarctic exploration except the rather natural curiosity to see what lay beyond the ice barrier. Even mineral wealth, however valuable, was locked by terrific frosts with a key no man could readily turn. Gradually, however, expert meteorologists are becoming more and more inclined to think that amongst those never ceaseless frosts and snows, amongst the desolate mountain peaks, of a huge uninhabited Antarctic continent, the future weather of the Southern Hemisphere lies cradled. Under the circumstances, Sir Hubert Wilkins’s intention to establish a ten-year programme of weather forecasting from the South Polar regions may have a hitherto unrecognised importance, both to this Dominion and to the vast continent of Australia. It may indeed become possible to give a reasonably accurate weather expectation for coming seasons. Some already say that the early formation of ice in the Bay of Whales portends for this country early winter conditions with a severity above normal. If it ever becomes possible to give Australia a tolerable correct inkling of the weather ahead for coming seasons most of the sting will be taken out of the droughts and the storms that are so disturbing a factor at present. By planning to meet the conditions forecasted, literally millions of pounds .would be saved