RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 95, 16 January 1935, Page 8

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights on Current Events (By Kickshaws.) News that a party of geologists have been 8S days on ice and are as fresh as when they started seems to confirm those experiments with chilled meat. > * * * ' Tlie Prime Minister of France declares that he is not a member of ' a club of rotary’ Premiers. One section in France wants something far 1 more revolutionary than that. , * * * i It may’ be correct, as Mrs. Mollison ’ states, that any further flights would : be mere repetition, but we hope this I will not be if she flies to Australia. 1 * * * , “Manawatu” writes:—“Recently I i enjoyed the singing at a picture show i of one Jan Kiepura. Afterwards an ; argument arose as to what national- > ity he belongs, particularly as to r whether he was born of Italian parentE age, though not necessarily in Italy.” . [Kiepura is of Polish descent and a . member of the State Opera of Aus- ) tria.] » * * t The recent effort in the tVairarapa ! to produce rain by dropping sand on j clouds is no new departure. Several decades ago efforts of a similar nature ’ were made, especially in Hong _ Kong and other places which suffer from severe drought. The authorities P in Hong Kong have tipped almost every j conceivable substance on to the long suffering clouds with results that are , inconclusive. Powdered bonedust was even dropped on to the clouds with results which were most meagre. Sand produced results no more satisfactory. ’ Electrified sand was better and pow- _ dered ice was stated to have caused a 5 shower. Meteorological experts agree that the only way to make it rain is r to produce artificial cooling of the air by vertical movements of huge air B masses. In order to produce even one £ hundredth of an inch of rain over 109 ; square miles of country rainmakers 1 would have to stir up 650,000 tons of B water vapour. Experts declare that it is possible to do this by detonation. e Roughly 20,000 tons of dynamite would 5 be required to produce a hundredth ' of an inch of rain on a square mile f of country. Rainmaking, it would 1 seein, has'as manv terrors as drought. 5 * * « 1 , The only way to handle the vast ? forces that go to produce a slight fall of rain, would be to discover some s simple expedient that was calculated 1 to produce a snowball effect and hasten ■ Nature to get on with the job. There ) may be some merit in electrified sand - as a rain tickler. Experiments that : have been made in America indicate ■ that showers have resulted, but nobody ■ could say if the showers would not ■ have fallen if the electrified sand hart i been omitted. Another method that ! has met with a certain amount of suei cessi is to spray the clouds with what is virtually a huge scent spray. Water. i not scent, is used for the purpose. The issuing spray is electrified to something like 160,000 volts. The action is to cause finely divided water vapour to coalesce into droplets, the droplets join hands and out of invisible mist, or for that matter visible fog, there comes rain. Nevertheless unless the surrounding atmosphere took the hint it would require considerable expense to make it rain say ovex- all New Zealand. If the weather isi to be controlled there must be no partiality, favour, or affection. » » » . In addition to efforts calculated to make it rain, ox - to stop it doing so, there are men who plan on a grander scale still. Their idea is to control climates. By melting all the ice at the North Pole, a mere nothing, it would be possible to give Britain an equable climate with no extremes of heat and cold. Breaking up the North Pole also would give a mild climate to the whole of Europe, prevent drought in South America and do polar explorers out or a job. The fact that the oceans wouid rise 30 or 50 feet is not worth consideration as it would only mean submerging half London, all New York, most of Wellington, Napier, and several other insignificant cities. Another idea is to build a huge dam between Greenland and Canada. By cutting off the cold inflow from the Arctic the temperature of the Northern Hemisphere would be raised. Britain would enjoy a semi-tropical climate. While talking about dams another scheme is to guide the Gulf Stream by a reflector dam which would focus this stream of watei on to Europe in a more concentrated form. * » » Largely thanks to stamp collectors the progressive manner in which New Zealand instituted air mail stamps before the days of aviation has been brought to public notice by the sale of some of Auckland's famous pigeon post stamps. The price admittedly is deplorably low, to the holders, but the publicity is worth more than the mere £6 or so for which the stamps were sold. Great Barrier Island is some 50 miles from Auckland. Competition in the pigeon post service was so great that two companies actually made the venture. The postal authorities were sufficiently interested in the project to quash it as soon as_ the wheels of government. could be set in motion to do so. The postal authorities were, however, insufficiently interested to adopt such a progressive scheme. This forerunner of aerial mails had its wings clipped before it could become permanent. A launch once ox - twice a week, or less in the winter, was the official communication for many a year and indeed it is so to this day. » * # As a matter of fact the Auckland pigeon post was not technically the first air mail in the world. A stamp was actually struck in connection with a balloon flight in America in 1877. The Hight, only consisted of a seven mile trip but tlie ten stamps still in existence are said to bo worth anything up to £l,OOO because they represent the first air mail stamp the world ever produced. Even this is somewhat of an exaggeration. There is a letter still in existence that was carried out of Baris by balloon in IS7I. If a proper’ stamp had been produced for tlie purpose it could claim the honour . of being the first air mail stamp. Unfortunately the hard-pressed citizens of Paris were otherwise occupied than with the striking of aix- mail stamps. A regular postage stamp was pressed into service. For some queer reason this has little merit in the eyes of philatelists. Franco produced tier first air mail stamp in 1910 and to-day it is worth no more than £5 or so. America instituted a service a year later; but the first regular air mail stamps did not come on the scenes until 1918. Beauty’s haunt is everywhere, Beauty, fadeth velvet skies, Beauty shadeth dear dim eyes. Beauty's daunt is death’s despair. Beauty sleeping still in death, Dreameth beauty mystie wise; Beauty thus in this disguise, Beauty but encompasseth. JVangannt