RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 47, 19 November 1936, Page 10

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights on Current Events (By Kickshaws.) However beneficial the Fair Rents Act may be, we suggest that a Fair Weather Act would be even more welcome. • « ♦ Japan, it is stated, is carving herself another slice off China. This, we understand, is Japan's idea of joint action in Asia. $ • ♦ The Secretary-General of the League of Nations, it is reported, is to receive honorary degrees of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. “8.5 c. we hasten to point out, does not stand for Bachelor of Sanctions. * * * “Some time ago I read in ‘The Dominion’ about a gyroscopic stabiliser that had been installed on, I think, an Italian trans-Atlantic ship,” says “Gyro.” “Reading iu ‘The Dominion’ lately of the high seas that have been battering even such gigantic ships as the Queen Mary, etc., it set me wondering about the above stabiliser, whether it proved efficacious on the ship on which it was installed, and, if so, why it has not been adopted by other shipbuilders.” [Gyroscopic stabilisers have uot been received very favourably by nautical experts. An Italian vessel, the Conte di Savoia, has had gyroscopic stabilisers fitted since 1932, The results achieved have been stated to be “very variable.” The stabilisation available depended on the ship’s speed, her direction in respect to the waves, and the nature of the waves. Over a period of 18 months, it was shown, however, that the average roll had been reduced from nine degrees to five degrees. One disadvantage from the “owner's” point of view is that a weight equal to 1.73 per cent, of the ship’s displacement is required in the gyroscope, which occupies a space equal to 1.4 per cent, of the gross tonnage. For a ship of 50.000 tons, this means that the gyroscopes must weigh nearly 900 tons. They require a by no means negligible power to drive them.] • * 1 Mention of the fact in the news that Red Admiral butterflies have been found in New Zealand flying strongly at heights of 5000 feet would appear to indicate that the apparently feeble flight of the butterfly is a better distance coverer than might be imagined. There is, for example, every reason to believe that one type of butterfly, known as Monarchs, make successful flights across the Atlantic from America to Ireland. These butterflies have been observed in swarms in mid-Atlan-tic flying strongly. On other occasions they have been observed resting on the water in the Atlantic in large numbers. Mrs. Katherine Grant, who has been collecting this and other data at the Rothamsted Experimental Station in England, has also discovered that a butterfly known as the Painted Lady makes regular annual flights from North Africa to England, and even as far as Iceland. The last place involves a flight of 4000 miles. New Zealand’s popular white butterfly, moreover, has been proved capable of flying across Europe in search of food supplies and cabbages. Lighthouse have reported flights of but’terflie's making good headway against strong winds which one would have thought would have blown the insects into the sea. « ♦ » The decision of the New South Wales Cabinet to make two policemen foot the bill in their private capacity for wrongfully arresting a citizen is probably technically correct. It does, however, bring into prominence an anomaly in the laws of England that appears to have spread to the Dominions. The situation arises front the fact that the “King can do no wrong.” Any official of the King acting in his official capacity cannot, therefore, “make a bloomer” and then say be was doing his duty-by order of the King. The court ingenuously replies. “You don’t expect us to believe that, the King can do no wrong and is incapable of giving any such order.” This curious piece of legal fiction is sufficient reality to make it impossible for a subject injured by a Crown official to prosecute the official criminally and sue him for unlawful acts done in the prosecution of his duty. The official cannot shield himself behind official authority. Moreover, he cannot be sued as an official but as a private person. In the latter capacity, he may not have the money to foot the bill.

Curious as is the state of the law relating to government officials and private citizens, it is even more curious that the relationship was defined as long ago as the days of Charles 11. It has never been changed since those days. The impeachment of the Earl of Danby defined matters. This unfortunate earl proved conclusively that he had written authority from the King of England to do the very thing for which he was impeached. The King’s signature did not save him: on the grounds that the King could do no wrong. The practical result to-day is that although a private transport company may be sued for the accidents of its drivers, even though the directors took every care to forbid bad driving, the head of a government department cannot normally be sued for the negligence of his subordinates. The citizen can. of course, get the culprit criminally punished, but he may not be able to recover damages, because the government official, in his private capacity, may not have the money. If a poor citizen Is knocked down and killed by the gross negligence of, say, a postal van, his widow and family can claim nothing from the Crown.

The passing of the years removed the necessary witnesses and a man in America, indicted 20 years ago for stealing, has been released. The long arm of the law is, apparently, longer than the arm of Father Time, There has been, however, at least one instance of the arm of&the law exceeding even a period of 20 years. Vicenzo do Silvestri was wanted by the Italian authorities for 23 years for a murder. He was caught in the end. His story indeed forms the basis for a play by d’Annunzio. De Silvestri fell in love with Driade, the beautiful daughter of a well-to-do farmer. She was 20 years old, and he was a shepherd aged 22 years. The farmer refused permission for the couple to marry Silvestri kidnapped the girl and fled to the mountains. The girl escaped. Silvestri was sentenced to 10 months in prison. He swore revenge. Subsequently he discovered Driade and three other women sleeping in a hut. The frenzied lover lit the thatch at the four corners of the hut Driade made a hole in the thatch and begged to be saved Silvestri pushed her back into the flames He sang ' ov serenade and danced round the hut while the women were burning Subsequently. Silvestri became' a bandit and terrorised the countryside before he was caught 23 years later, having broken both legs in a full