RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 274, 15 August 1932, Page 8

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights on Current Events LOCAL AND GENERAL

(By

Kickshaws.)

President Hoover deplores the fact that Americans have such a disrespect for their laws. The question Is, are the Americans at fault or the laws? • • • According to a councillor of the Makara County Council “sheep dogs are the backbone of New Zealand.” Perhaps this accounts for the way in which the tall so often seems to wag the Dominion. Reports from Ottawa state that Australia and New Zealand would conclude negotiations with Britain in half an hour if Britain would allow it But no diplomat would allow so simple and speedy an ending to jeopardise his profession. • » • In connection with “R.H.F.’s” investigations into the earliest records of the installation of wireless on ships sailing to New Zealand ports, mentioned in this column, a Wellington reader writes: “If R.H.F. had looked a little closer he would have seen that the Ulimaroa’s wireless was advertised on March 18, 1911.” • »• • A little while ago tucked away in a corner of “The Dominion” there was a brief item of news which said that under an old law any motorist was entitled to drive his vehicle over the railway system if suitable wheels were fitted.. A reader has kindly sent along the following extract from the “Railway Gazette,” which shows up one or two snags. The extract reads: Railway lawyers have just fourid that a Bill giving this right has never been repealed. An official of the London and North-Eastern Railway said to-day that the Bill stipulates that the vehicle used must ‘be of approved construction ... Under this Bill there is no obligation on the railways to provide signalling facilities. Consequently the car could only go as far as the first signal post. If the driver ignored this and went past and bumped into the “Flying Scotsman” he alone would be to blame. If there was anything left to blamd.

One can but wonder if the bulletriddled skull of a freshly killed man would have been passed round for a British jury to inspect, as was done at Miami only a few days ago. Theatrical effects of this sort seem peculiar to American temperament In that country there must be a thriving trade for life-size wax models of murdered persons, miniature models of rooms in which murders have been committed, and the like. For they seem in America to love to drag reality into evidence, to an almost unnecessary extent. There is something melodramatic in counsel whipping off the black cloth from the wax model of a murdered woman, complete with bullet holes, protruding daggers, and the like

. As a method of stimulating public interest there is nothing better than gruesome court exhibits. It is doubtful, however, if the average jury is sufficiently expert to draw correct conclusiofis from the melodrama that unfolds itself so vividly before their horrified eyes. Expert examination of the original, away from the hustle and excitement of the law courts followed by evidence on oath, would appear to be a method more likely to assist the jury. It must not be imagined, however, that some litigants in British courts of law are diffident about producing realistic evidence. In a case in England between a telephone company and the British Post Office the company dragged no less than three tons of real■istic evidence to court. In a recent case at Sydney evidence turned up at court in over a dozen lorries. Unfortunately, from a sensational point of view, none of this weighty evidence included a human skull riddled with bullets.

Important as the sun probably is in producing a perfect sportsman it is difficult not tOvbelieve that Sir Arbuthnot Lane is tending to exaggerate when he says that Don Bradman could never have attained his present perfection if he had lived in England’s sunless climate. These arguments are unfortunately two-edged. Unfortunately for Sir Arbuthnot’s logic England has produced a list of famous sportsmen second to none. In the days of W. G. Grace, the famous cricketer, antisun exponents might just as well have argued that he could not have attained his perfection if he had lived elsewhere.

The fact is that bodily perfection cannot be attained solely through the action of the sun. Otherwise toe tropical races would have conquered the world long ago. Other things as well as the sun play their part. A little austerity in a climate acts as a stimulus. Probably if we only knew it living conditions fate precedence over the sun. Both Australia and New Zealand offer their citizens better opportunities to get away into the wilds, hiking, shooting and camping, than is possible in England even for multi-millionaires. This portion of our heritage is one that should never be placed in jeopardy. It gives the sun a fair chance.

A Dannevirke reader asks for information about temperatures. Would you be good enough to explain how scientists declare the number of degrees of frost registered? Some state that 32 degrees F. is the point from which all reckonings are made, while others state the meteorological authorities have a different point If the latter is the case, would you be good enough to give the reason? There are three common temperature scales—Fahrenheit. Centigrade and Reaumur. Fahrenheit scales are graduated with freezing point of water at 32 degrees and boiling point at 212 degrees. Centigrade scales have freezing point at 0 and boiling point a£ 100. The Reaumur thermometer is divided so that freezing point is 0 and boiling point is 80. Temperatures belowe 0 in all cases are usually given a minus sign. In the case of Fahrenheit scales it is usual among the public to speak of so many degrees of frost. Five degrees of frost would mean that the thermometer was standing at 27 degrees. An international convention of meteorological experts has agreed that although freezing point is 32 F., a frost is not considered to have occurred until the thermometer falls to 30.4 F on a grass minimum thermometer placed one inch above ;ho ground and exposed freely to the sky. It was found that using 32 F. gave unwarrantable exaggerations of *;he true state of affairs. Possibly the average person may, in their turn, consider it an unwarrantable complication.