RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 293, 6 September 1932, Page 8

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights on Current Events LOCAL AND GENERAL

(By

Kickshaws.)

A scientist considers that an experimental colony ought to be started in which to try out conflicting theories. When a colony gets like that it is immediately turned into a Dominion.

According to Archdeacon Monaghan, when a young man thinks he has no betters he is a fool. By these standards the same young man might argue that his betters are not much better.

It is reported from America that a brick-laying machine has been invented that will work in the same way as a man. The final test will be to see if it can lean up against a wall and whistle.

The discovery that astronomers bad made a mistake of no less than twelve seconds in their prediction of the latest eclipse of the sun in America is not really as sensational as might be imagined. It does not mean that the stellar system has been stealing a march on us. But it does mean that even the most expert mathematicians are a little worried by the vagaries of the moon, and to a certain extent the sun. The sun itself does not move with absolute regularity; neither for that matter does the earth. But the biggest worry is the moon. Some seven years ago it was made public that the moon was then running a few seconds late. Perhaps it would be more correct, but for the vanity of man, to say that predictions were a few seconds ahead. Although astronomers have traced the moon through all her complicated motions she refuses to follow too rigidly to time-table.

Admittedly the vagaries of the moon are matters of only a second or two. When it is remembered, however, that the moon trundles along at the rate of a mile every two seconds, it is obvious that even 10 seconds means a not insignificant distance. Every effort has been made to discover why the moon should have these fickle ways. So far nobody has solved the mystery. Her waywardnesses too large to be explained by mistakes in observation. Possible influences of other planets, of the shape of the sun, even the action of hypothetical bodies not yet discovered, have been exhaustively investigated for the last fifty years. They have all been rejected as inadequate. All that we know is that the moon does not run true to time-table. She is also slowing up at a rate so small it can only be measured in centuries. She is affected by recurring, influences every 300 years. But there are other influences at work on the moon about which we hear little until suddenly it is revealed at an eclipse that the moon is “out of place.”

The statement in the news recently that the first newspaper was printed over 1200 years ago is true up to a point, but it does not go far enough. It is believed that the Chinese had newspapers at least 1000 years before the Christian era. Certainly it is a fact that the Roman newspaper “Acta Diurna” was published iu 691 B.C. It will be seen, therefore, that the newspaper can honestly claim a pedigree that goes back at the very least 2600 years. The oldest surviving newspaper to-day, if we, except .the “Peking Gazette,” is the “Gazette de France,” with an unchallenged pedigree that goes back to April, 1631. Originally edited by a physician, it is one of the few newspapers in existence that can claim to have had a king, Louis XIII, as a regular contributor. So far as this Dominion is concerned, journalism goes back to the days of Mr. RevanS, who was the first editor of the first newspaper, the “New Zealand Gazette,” to be printed in the country. Actually the first edition of this newspaper was printed in London under the auspices of the New Zealand Company shortly before the pioneer ships left for New Zealand. Has anyone got a copy?

It is not known- who saved journalism from penury by selling space to advertisers. The custom in England at any rate goes back to the days of Charles I. The early advertisements, curiously enough, were mostly matrimonial. One attribute of the newspaper world is as old as newspapers themselves. It is said that Marcus Tullius Tiro, the slave of Cicero, wrote shorthand some 2000 years ago. Just as Tiro’s shorthand has immortalised Cicero, so John. Willis with his improved brand of shorthand was just in time to take down Shakespeare’s plays as they were acted at the Globe Theatre. The honour of inventing the interview is supposed to lie with an Englishman named Redpath. As he emigrated to America when young, the first interview was published in an American newspaper. The “Boston Daily Advertiser" claims this honour in 1867. The first interview, be it noted, was about the currency question.

Those interested in science do not often point out how blindly their fel-low-workers and themselves are groping in the dark for something they do not understand. The president of the British Association is to be congratulated on his boldness. We seem to be to-day on the verge of solving problems that have baffled humanity through the ages. Yet the only solutions that we get are a spate of often meaningless long words. Cancer, influenza, and the common cold have possibly had more long wbrds written about them than anything else. When one searches for the kernel of knowledge it is discovered to be missing. In spite of the marvellous communications of to-day none of them are reliable. Cables are upset by magnetic storms, radio has its static and fading, and the telephone has its limits—or we have. We are still waiting for a certain, cheap ana absolutely reliable method of communication. In fact, it is not improbable that the uncivilised savage has forestalled us. The “bush telegraph’ has never been explained by scientists.

It must not be imagined that all slaves, mentioned a day or two ago in this column, are of necessity unhappy or badly treated. There are parts of the world where slaves are better off than many of their free brothers in other countries. Most of the slaves in Arabia, for example, were born in bondage. They are sufficiently contented with their lot to consider it superior to that of the ordinary tribesmen. It is doubtful if they would make an exchange if allowed to do so. They are well fed and protected. In some of the great desert areas every household has its slaves. In many cases the slaves follow the professions of their masters. There are numerous instances in these districts of slaves rising to positions of power and distinction. Possibly tbe biggest centre of slavery to-day is China, where there are estimated to be at the very least 2,000,000 slaves. Many of these claves are girls.