RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 112, 5 February 1935, Page 8

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights on Current Events (By Kickshaws.) ' Where is the man who prophesied last spring that we would have a fine summer? He has overdone it. ♦ * * According to one expert women are better qualified than men to pick the best candidates at an election. But look at the sort of men they marry. « * * A lump of sugar, declares an expert, can keep a man going quietly for an hour. On the other hand a drop of whisky can keep him going noisily for two hours. ♦ ♦ » There are gifts in the civilised world that baffle all explanation. There is an Englishwoman—a nurse—who is able, by handling an egg, to tell whether it is fertile. Moreover, she can state the sex of the chicken it will produce. There are more people than one realises who possess inexplicable powers. Water diviners must be included among them. Water divining has been discredited by experts who cannot divine water, but it is not a fraud, although some water diviners may be frauds. Incidentally, at Rayleigh, Essex, there is a lady who can forecast a storm although the sky is still clear. She does not depend on the barometer or any other instruments. She just “knows” if rain is coming, and can “feel” the approach of a storm before any sign of it appears. Another woman can read a book although blindfolded. Wads of cotton wool placed across her eyes do not prevent her from seeing. It is not a fake. Another woman has the gift of classifying the distances of stars by looking at their spectra—an operation normally requiring several hours of calculation.

The law, having taken its annual holiday, is once more at its business. While on the subject of punishments to fit the crime, perhaps New Zealand magistrates might take a leaf from the methods employed in Afghanistan. Apart from summary immersion in boiling oil and the like, there are other minor punishments that have a curious tang of inspiration about them. For instance three individuals arrested for spreading rumours of rebellion were Sentenced to walk under escort a distance of 1000 miles through the areas concerned. Fitting the punishment to suit the crime is also a favourite principle of one American judge. He sen.tences motoring offenders to copy our all the voluminous State laws on the subject. An amusing motoring case comes from East Africa where a magistrate and his deputy, having committed the same technical motoring offence, found themselves in the position or having to try one another. The magistrate, in virtue of his office, had first fling. He fined the deputy five shillings. Then it was the deputy’s turn. He fined the magistrate fifty shillings “because it was the second case of its kind in one day and the offence was becoming far too common.”’

With commercial flying about to become a reality in New Zealand, it may be mentioned that the aeroplane already has been put to curious uses. Mails already may be dropped in much the . same way that speeding trains drop mails. Moreover, the cargo ’plane has already arrived. In a single day something like 20 tons of freight pass through London's air terminals. .Anything from a grand piano to a radio valve is accepted as cargo. It is perhaps interesting to observe that insurance is cheaper on air-borne cargo than it is on land-borne cargo. Another odd job for which aeroplanes have been pressed into use is to' warm trees. Strange as this task seems, it consists in aeroplanes flying to and fro on frosty evenings over orchards emitting dense clouds of smoke. This method of warding off frost is said to be more effective than any other known. Seed planting on a large scale has been undertaken by aeroplanes time and time again. Over large areas involving hundreds of square miles there is no cheaper or quicker method. As a pest destroyer the aeroplane also qomes to the fore. Ten acres of affected land can be dealt with in one minute. Maybe one day some genius will find a method to attach a lawn mower to an aeroplane.

It is a curious fact that aviators have a horror of flying unless it gets them somewhere. This is to be deplored, because three-quarters of the knowledge so far obtained might have been obtained by flying round the local aerodrome. There is little kudos, however, to be gained by flying round the local aerodrome. Indeed, when endurance tests were fashionable, it was proved that one could fly round in circles for weeks on end unnoticed. The feat failed to stir public opinion. -If • one wants to become popular in the air one must fly from here to there, taking good care that “here” represents a thickly-populated area, and “there” an area even more so. The flight to Australia for that reason has been by far the most popular route. To-day it is a beaten track littered with the hopes and aspirations of individuals seeking quick fame. In contrast to this modern pioneering work the early navigators usually started off from some little fishing village and arrived at a part of the world so benighted that it did not even boast a press agent. Moreover, their journeys took so long that the public forgot about them entirely. We have progressed since then.

With the revival of discussions about human migration, it may be well to remember that there is a limit to the amount of people that the world will hold. This is set according to some experts by the amount of food that the world can produce. Just how long it will take for this condition to arise is a controversial one. Most experts, however, agree that the total population that the world can accommodate is in the vicinity of 12,000 million. By the beginning of next century it is not impossible that the world population, at present rate*, will number 4,000 million. By the year 2,200 it would be nearly 16.000 million. Thus the house full notice should go up within the next 500 years, allowing for a falling off in increase of population as the world gets fuller and fuller. In ancient times population was regulated by bad drains and infantile disease. Progress has removed these defects and population in civilised countries doubles itself every 60-70 years. The time will come, however, when boundaries, as wo know them, will have to be removed. The empty spaces will have to be filled — even at the point of the sword. Eventually. America will have to welcome her ration of 100 million "aliens” and Australia her 450 millions, without regard to colour or race.