RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 256, 27 July 1939, Page 8

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights On Current Events (By Kickshaws). The British Empire, it is contended, should keep its armour bright. Other nations, indeed, seem to have perfected a sort of stainless steal. * X‘ * The Argentine is said to have Antarctic claims. We feel, moreover, that the recent cold snap in Wellington is giving us Antarctic claims as well. 0 * * A New Zealand racing man is reported to 'be spending a penniless holiday in Australia. Fortunately, the currency regulations) have left him his shirt to back. “I don’t know where ‘Mitch’ got the idea —see your column, July 25—that the French Catholic priests in NevZealand ‘formulated the Maori alphabet,’ ” writes “A.W." “Lee and Kendall’s Grammar, with the alphabet they worked out, was published in 1820, and the French mission under Bishop Pompallier did not arrive till 1838. Lee was a Cambridge .professor, and Kendall a Church of England missionary. Some changes were made in their alphabet afterwards, such as the dropping of the ‘d,’ but it has remained substantially the same.” So short is memory we are telling one another that this is the coldest snap we have ever known. Certainly, the weather is cold, but we forget that as recently as 1938 snow was- lying one-third the way down the hills at Day’s Bay. Flakes of snow also fell around the other harbour suburbs at that time. Snow was lying properly at Karori for several days, and the hills all round the harbour were heavily coated with snow. In spite of the present bitter weather, there are probably old residents who could remind us that ■there have been even colder snaps. Perhaps there are some folk who can recall the particularly severe spell in July, 1872. The cold snap reached its worst on July 6 of that year. No; only were there heavy falls of snow in the commercial centre of Wellington, but ponds were frozen over in the neighbourhood to a '.thickness of one-quarter of an inch. The end of the last century appears to have been a particularly cold period. Snow was reported in Wellington streets on many occasions, including October 13, 1883; August 22. ISS4; June 26, 1886; and again on August 27,1886. - » * * There have been several falls of snow, in and around Wellington during the present century. Maybe the severest, in 1926, compares favourably with the worst of the falls at the end of last century. In 1926 Karori, the Botanical Gardens, and the heights around Wellington were well covered. Falls in 1904 and 1918 were nearly as severe. These three occasions represent the coldest snaps of the .present century, unless, of course, the clerk of the weather is out to -beat records in 1939. Snow was also reported in Wellington on July 25. 1930, and on July 3 and lAugust 5 and 6,1932. One wonders what the weather was like in the win.er of 1836. Maybe someone has a rough record of that winter. There is reason to believe it was a cold one, if Sydney weather is any criterion. The Astronomer Royal of New South Wales noted in his dairy at Sydney on June 28, 1836 “snowing heavily, snow lying one inch thick.” It is understood that this is the only recorded instance of snow in Sydney.

Argentina’s' quaint claim to the South Polar regions ou the score there was once a natural geographical link between the Antarctic and South America introduces a new slant on the territorial partition of the world. Maybe some faint cheep will be heard i I-oid New Zealand, for there is reason to believe that at one time we, too, were linked by land with the Antarctic regions. One may well ask who is to decide which of the two claims is the' greater. Are nations to base claims for territorial cousinship on the problematical inovemems of earth masses half a million years ago? If so, it may be interesting to point out that Britain and the Continent were once connected by land. Does this justify Britain claiming France, or vice versa? A further problem is created by the fact that at one time the Mediterranean was dry land. This should cause Mussolini to think. Lost Atlantis is lost for ever; who shall resurrect these geologically antiquated connexions?

One feels that if previous land movements are to be considered as justifiable claim for land long since removed elsewhere, civilization is doomed to waste much time on something over which it has no control and no definite facts. One interesting idea suggests that at one time the whole of the land surfaces of the world were lumped toge.her. At a certain remote period the continents broke loose and drifted slowly across the world to their respective positions. In support of thus theory the map of the world may bs converted into a quite convincing’ jigsaw puzzle. Attempts to At oiie, continent into another is near enough to give a show of plausibility to the suggestion,. Moreover, it is suggested that this drift has not yet ceased. The Americas are stull drifting westward. In course of time the Americas will have drifted across the Pacific and bumped into Japan. Maybe this will cause Senator Borah to wake up with a jump. Meanwhile, we would suggest that Argentina’s claim to the Antarctic be deferred until this drift is completed.

It is perhaps interesting to point out that experts have been making efforts to prove whether the continents are still drifting or not. A crucial test has been taking place in Greenland, where tbe position of a test point on Sabine Island has been measured from time to time with great care. The longitude of the point was first determined in 1823. It was again measured in 1870. 1906 and 1932. Allowing for all known errors of measurement at the various dates, there is indication that Greenland is drifting westward at the rate of 13,2 feet a year. There is no need for Greenlanders to show alarm, because it will require 400 years for their country to have drifted a mile It has, moreover, taken 800,000 years for Greenland to reach her present position after casting loose from Europe. Other careful measurements taken over a number of years indicate that America is moving west at about three feet a year. The race is on..

“Could you inform me if at any time the Australian Forces were in the Army of Occupation in Cologne, Germany? lam under the impression that they were there, but only for a very short period,” writes “J.H.A."

[The Army Secretary. New Zealand Military Forces, kindly advises that: — “The information you require is not on record in this office. I am, however, informed from reliable sources that the A.I.F. were not with, the occupying force at Cologne..'’'}