POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 151, 28 June 1943, Page 4

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

BY PERCY FLAGE The Japs are chaps who lunge anA lapse.. " -::- *\ *■ • In California Dr. Benjamin Yellen took over t,e practice of Dr. George Holleron for the duration. •:;- # '""' P.rof. L. B. Namier. .". . . the English gentleman is the spiritual heir of the Puritans rather • than of the Cavaliers. ..." '■■<■ ■ • ■> *.'■ It is being said in Berlin that new weapons will be used "until Britain and Russia ask for mercy." It looks. as though the war is to continue indefinitely. -::- *• * . RENO RECORD. William Uren, 32 years old,'has had three wives in ten weeks. He divorced Mrs. Irene Uren on August 13. On September 22 he married Rosa Johnson. On October 20 ho divorced > her and married Vivian Valline. * ' » .'.■• - - POSSIBILITY. According to "Domei's" Malayan correspondent: Cherry trees transplanted ten years ago from Japan to a cooi retreat near Singapore never bloomed in the shadow of the Union Jack: But this year promptly onKigensetsuCJap-, ariese Empire Day) all the little cherry trees burst into bloom. The natives were said to be impressed.' . . NO BUSHIDO. Allied intelligence.officers at Chung« king recently interrogated Japanese officers taken prisoner. One, a Japanese general, who was captured with his entire staff, asked for a sword to commit hara-kiri. The Chinese officer in charge was unconvinced of the sincerity of the wish, and brought the prisoner his sword. The general then decided not to use it and returned ; it with the comment that "Bushido is no longer necessary* in 1943." The general's name was Honim/ which means . "Rabbit." * ' ' . » ■ ' •::• • * ••■.,'■" INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE: English is fast becoming the international language of the. ,worfcL Even ■before, the war it has been calculated that six hundred million people spOke it The - war inevitably increases'. the number -of people speaking English. Not only have prisoners, of war, both German and Italian, been dispersed' through Britain' and the Dominions and the U.S.A., but the widespread dispersion of British and ■ Americanarmed forces is bringing countless people into contact, with the English language: And in ■ England there .are thousands of Poles, French • people, Czecho-Slovaks, and others who knew no English when they went to" her hospitable shores, but now are fluent-.m it. . .*...■ *. : # t , THE TREMBLING TRIO. Hitler and Mussolini and their pseudo friend Tojo, All men devoid of morals with their morale sinking low. The combined Allied actions * have given them a scaire, Anticipating what comes next, ( just how, and when, and where. - , Gone is the blustering bombast of ■ a year or so ago When the war of nerves did seem to them a really worthy show; But the Allies now are masters, they control the sea and air, And their contemplated amphibious • stunts drive the trio to despair. .;. —, NOTA BENE^ -:;-. " -::- ■', . v- ■.:,: PLEAD FOR PITY. /';;:. Listen to Dr. Wille Bauer, •an official spokesman in Berlin, pleading for pity: "... In these terror raidsrtlie British show their devilish, inhumai^ face. ... Little does our enemy think of the cruelty and sorrow he inflicts "on our "women and children. He*hasi no pity. Yet it can- now be said that* in secret; we often; thought of the tims of German raids on British towns. We pitied the sufferings of" those Eng+ lish- people who lost their homes. ..I* it is asked, do we make war to make civilians suffer, the answer is an'^unmistakable No. In fact, we hate this kind of warfare." Then came a passage about the spiritual sufferings of German soldiers home on leave when they saw the damage to their town— "it makes them sick in the stomach" —and an appeal to civilians not to let the soldiers down. ■'.••'■. . ■

RADIO INTERFERENCE

NEW TRANSMISSION LINE (To the Editor.) Sir,—The Public Works Depai^tment is about to commence the erection'of an extra-high voltage power line suspended from metal towers, ■ between Khandallah and Central Park. The route is through Khandallah and Ngaio to Wadestown, up Wilton Road to near the Karori tunnel, and past the Karori reservoir for about a mile; then to Central Park. The use of a transmission line of this construction will mean that all who live within half a y mile or more of it will, have their reception of broadcast and short-wave stations outside Wellington made practically ' impossible. "' , . The Post and Telegraph Department says, I believe, that if you receive one or two local stations satisfactorily you are receiving your moneys worth. No guarantee is given that it will be possible to receive distant stations without interference. But we live in progressive times. The people will not tolerate, nor will a progressive engineering Department seek to impose, in the future, the present restrictions. -No source of interference of such a major character as the erection of this power line in the manner proposed should be permitted. The power station at Khandallah and the new one at Central Park must be joined by power circuits; but they should be joined by underground cables, which will not cause radio interference. The cost of doing the work this way will certainly be higher; it will be worth while, however, if i.t will remove an unsightly, power line and eliminate a constant source of annoyance to thousands of users' of radio sets. . The Public Works Department should look at the public interests from the broadest viewpoint and not from the narrow outlook of providing: the power circuits at the lowest cost.—l am, etc., , A-M.LE.EI"; This letter (from space considefa--tions) has been considerably abridged The following reply and comment a>e made by an officer of the Public Works Department:—"lt is; true ■ the ■ Depart-ment-has in hand the ; erection of a 110,000-voll transmission line between Khandallah and Central Park, and that the route is substantially as described by your correspondent. In locating the line the Department has taken1 eyery • factor into consideration and decided on a route that will least inconvenience the residents of the various suburbs through which the line ' passes, or, rather, skirts. What interference there will be with radio reception is negligible compared with the benefits which will accrue to the city as a_, whole in the distribution of electricity^ " The actual interference will be very,' very small indeed and will affect relatively few listeners and only for short * >/ periods in misty weather. " ' *• ""At all power stations and sub-sta-tions where there is much more elec•trical apparatus than is on the lines In. . question, the staff have radio receiving sets and quite good reception is the ■> rule. Also at the major power stations in the North Island.the Department is successfully operating radio transmitting and receiving' sets used' for "the control of the North-Island systenv' ; "The writer of the .letter admits the' necessity for the new circuits, but sug- . gests that underground cable should be used. It is true that to a very limited extent 110,000-volt cables have been used elsewhere," but experience with them is so limited that it would'be . ,- foolhardy to use them in New Zealand. Also,1 the cost of such cables would be many times that of an over- ' . head line. From a practical engineering point of view, the use of • cables! - cannot be considered " ...