HOLIDAY AWHEEL

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 154, 28 December 1936, Page 9

HOLIDAY AWHEEL

TWO N.S.W. TEACHERS

CYCLE TOUR OF NORTH ISLAND

To pedal six hundred miles on bicycles through the North Island is the ambition.of two young New South Wales teachers, Miss F. R. Bioletti and Miss M. F. English, who arrived by the Awatea from Sydney today ready for the journey which will occupy them for the next month. They plan to journey up the west coast to Mount Egmont, then strike inland to take in Waitomo and Rotorua, and to conclude their trip to Auckland, where Miss Bioletti has relatives. ■ ■ Nattily attired in riding coats and jodhpurs, the two girls attracted a loi^ of attention as they waited on the Queen's Wharf today for their bicycles to be slung down from the Awatea. This was to be their longest trip to date, they told a "Post" reporter, though Miss English could claim a 400-mile trip awheel in. Australia. They had planned their route from maps and taken advice on the road conditions from people on the voyage across, one result being their intention not to ride their bicycles away from the ship and through the streets of Wellington. It was too dangerous, they had been told. Nothing so civilised as hotels will • suit the touring teachers on their trip: . they carry on their bicycles sleeping bags, ground sheets, and all the other paraphernalia so dear to the heart of the out-of-doors enthusiast. But they admitted with a smile that they would i not be too keen on the joys of cycling ; to accept the aid of any motor transport offered. Miss Bioletti comes from Pymble and teaches at West Pennant Hills. Miss ; English's home town is Killara, and her ' school is at Caparra. To most people their tour'would seem more like work than a holiday, but the .pair appar- ', ently regard it as a training canter. ', "We'll do the South Island next year, with any luck," said one of them, "and ! Western China the year after that." means of persuading human' beings i that it is not worth while to injure one another." It was because the scientist represented a new force of great influence on society that it became important ,to understand him, to train rightly, ', and to use him to the best advani tage. Lord Wright, Master of the Rolls, said that the law was not an exact , science. There were some who said \it was not a science at all, and there ' were those who said that rules of law ! were rules of thumb. (Laughter.) ; It was a lawyer from whom sprang, he understood, the germinating idea of this great society. This lawyer was ; Francis Bacon. ; "I do not say that he was, as a ' human being, a very perfect mdi- ' vidual," Lord Wright went on; "nor do I claim for him a high reputation ■as a judge. He took bribes. And > his defence was that he took them ■ from both sides. I "But his idea of the advancement of natural science by actual observation and experiment was something which has had the most profound influence on the history of the wojld." Lord Wright said that they were all ; under the influence of science today. "Whether we should describe ourselves' ■ as victims or beneficiaries I have never • quite been able to make up my mind." he added. '. Referring to science's "endowment of mankind with unparalleled facilities for slaughtering each other," Lord : Wright said that they could only hope that people would be too afraid of what might happen with all tKe ingenious devices, to put them to any use. A SCIENTIFIC HOLIDAY. [ Sir William Bragg, 0.M., in his an- ', niversary address earlier in the day [ to the Royal Society, of which he is president, referred to the suggestion sometimes made that scientific workers might take a holiday. "Today great matters turn .upon the complicated physical science of the wireless valve or the intricacies'of the internal combustion engine, or the highly-skilled chemistry that brings assistance to medicine, or the combination of physics and chemistry, biology, and engineering involved'in the preservation of food," he said. "From this point of view the suggestion that scientific workers might take a holiday looks more ridiculous than ever. No nation could afford such an intellectual disarmament in the face of the world; nor could the world itself in face of the evils that are to be overcome." The application of the new knowledge might be seen in improvements in the health and general well-being of the nation, in its industries, in the strength of its trade, and in its powers of defence—all matters of primary importance. Sir William stated that the council had accepted a principal share in the administration of a sum of £200,000, left by the late Mr. H. B. Gordon Warren for the encouragement of research in metallurgy, engineering, physics, and chemistry. The capital value of the funds administered by the society was now approximately one million sterling, and the society directed the cxpenditurje of about £31,000 a year. &" "■----■- —