MOVING PICTURES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 135, 8 June 1906, Page 6

MOVING PICTURES.

The cinematograph, as a pictorial recorder of events oi every character, is an interesting development of modern mechanical genius. It has, of course, its flicker, which is perhaps as little understood as the instrument itself. A Post reporter, corioas to leurn something aboat the business, had a short conversation with Mr. F. Barrett, the operator for the World-Wide PantG&cope Company, wliich commences a season at the Town Hall to-jaorrow. ' explaining the development of the cinematograph picture from the raw material. Mr. Barrett raid the principle on which tlie moving picture is based is the 1 wtJi-known optical theory that the nerve of the eye will cot convey clearly anything to the bvain that p=st>cs tv given point, quicker than the twentieth p?.rt of a second. 'lherefore the pictures are taken at the rate cf twenty or more per second. The pictures, when projected on ( to me elicet at the same rats at which" they were taken form an apparently — bat only apparently — continuous moving picture." 'ihe pictures are taken on a band- of celluloid, which, owing to its flexible nature, is found to be best adapted for the purpose. The" pictures on the band are very email — one inch by three-quarters of an inch. Tins means that sixteen of them go to one foot of film, or 8000 separate pnotographs to the a\erage modern film of 500lt. His comx)any, he added, presented 6000 ft of moviug pictures, or 100,000 separate photograpns eaci evening. ' . An explanation of tho cause of the flicker in the pictures'was asked for. Mr. Barrett stated that each small picture on the band of iilin was succeeded by the next following by the operation of a "striker" working on a cam action. Whilst thia "striker* is doing its work a small fan interposes itself, cutting oS the picture ' from the sheet entirely, but the action is so rapid, that the nerve of the eye canot grasp it in its entirety. The percentage of the action grasped by the nerves, however, i produces on the bruin an impression of a, flicker. ' In reply to another question. Mr. Barrett stated that present scientific develop^ ment did not hold out a possibility "of a fiickerless machine, although the most modem had the trouble reduced to a minimum. In the old style the fan used was a complete half -circle; in Mr. Barrett's modern machine it is a "quartercircle" so the spectator gets only onequarter darkness and thrse-quarters lignt.

Referring to the announcement that the New Zealand Shipping Company and the" Shaw-Saviil Company ■ have decided to establish a regular monthly fcervics to West of England ports, the Otago Times says : — Concerning future developments, nothing further could be gleaned than is contained in tho advertisement. On this point the agents aro as close as the proverbial oyster. Une result is, however, pretty certain, and that is to say that shippers wilk in all probability get their freights carried at much cheaper rates than obtained some months ago — indeed, it is an open secret that substantial concessions have been mado jto shippers for some time past, but these were more or less a matter of arrangement as between agent and client, according 1 to tho circumstances of each particular case, and, so far as can bo gathered at present, the same methods will probably obtain in the meantime. The future intentions of lh© companies involved are, kept a "close secret, and can only be conjectured at present. Thus far it would seem that the "bluffing" stage has been passed, and that matters have assumed a somewhat concrete form 60 far as the rival services are concerned; but as those most concerned declare that " tho present rates are merely the usual winter concessions" the present conditions can hardly bo construed as representing a part of tho prophesied freight war. Meanwhile agente are busy and reticent, and freights aro coming forward freely. Tho Manawatu Licensing Committee yesterday refused to grant a wholesale Uoense to Mr. Hickford, -of Rongotea. iiongotea is a strong no : lioense centre, and until 1904 had successfully resisted every attempt to bring a license into the district. In that year the committee, in face- of a petition signed by 359 objectors, granted a wholesale license to Mr. Hickford, tho keeper of a boardinghovux. The- nreas along the Coast condemned the decision, and in Rongotea one of tho .largest meetings over held there carried a resolution asking theGovernor to dismiss those members of tho committee who were responsible for granting the license. At the Licensing Committee olectione of last March two of these members -who stood for re-elec-tion were defeated, and a Reform, Committee .waft electedj. '