CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIX, Issue 11593, 31 May 1898, Page 5

CURRENT TOPICS.

The first‘iminber of the TBSeraixs new monthly magazine. Of “'The Wide WorM,” con*oevsßM»o,:tains on interesting ac-

count of thevaacions tragedian connected with the ascent of Mont Julsnc. The death-roll opens with the “Hamel accident" In August,lß2o, two jwmg Engfishmen, naanod Dnmford and. Henderson, accompanied by Dr German, and several guides, began the ■neat. When they had reached an altitode of 14*D00ft the snow suddenly gave hnj. The three grridesdn. front were enbnt ; the fourth, Matiiiea.Balmat, k man of great muscular strength, dug his staff through the moving snow into the ice beneath, and so saved himself, Ipbe Hamel incident is noteworthy for a prediction made hy Professor Forbes, famous for his experiments on glacier motion, to the-effect that the bodies which bad been buried in the crevasse would be taeoveced in forty years. This prediction Was almost exactly verified. In 1861 the remains began to appear at the Glacier dee Bessons, more than four miles from theaeene of the accident, having travelled 'downwards at an average rate of 600 ft per ««rnnm The year 1866 was a memorable one for English climbers. It witnessed the death of Mr Young, brother of Sir George Young, who was making the ascent with his two brothers, and of Captain Arkwright, who, with his guide, Michel Simond, and two porters. Were swept by an avalanche into a crevasse when crossing what is known as the “ ancien passage.” In Angost, 1870, occurred the moat terrible Catastrophe which Mont Blanc has ever witnessed, in which eleven persons perished. Two American gentlemen, Messrs Randall and Bean, and Mr MacCorkiadalo, a Presbyterian minister of Gonrock, in Scotland, left Chamonni oh. September 6, with three guides and five porters. The weather set in very severe, hod when, on September 16, it began to clear, a search party found five bodies frown bard some 750 ft from the summit. No trace of the other members of the partyhas'everheen found.

The use-of mine-fields is oneof th&commonestmeans of protecting a harbour, and during tho present war

mniFIEiDS.

there have been frequent references to this form of defence. It is only a day or two since an American boat’s crew was blown out-of the water while engaged in picking np submarine mines at Cardenas, in Cuba. Of the many modes-of counter- j mining, that of absolutely jacking up and detaching mines is the moat-effective ; bnt the fact that the Americans were able to engage in the work without interruption otherwise than by the accidental explosion of a mine , shows that the mine-fields of Cardenas ‘are poorly protected. Unless commanded by coast batteries having electric search-lights, such as would discover a boat’s crew at work in the darkness, a mine-field is an incomplete defence, and the work of counter-mining in anticipation cf an attack by ships would be rather easily carried ont. To an enemy possessed of no definite knowledge of tie position of the mines the work of lifting a mine-field in detail would be laborious, and to some extent dangerous. A buoyant mins floating near the surface might be struck bytlio large whaleboat generally used for counter-mining, with disastrous results to the intruders. In the ordinary plan of laying out a field groups of mines radiate from a common centre, known as the junction box, and when those familiar with the port are picking np mines the junction box is first lifted, and all the mines disconnected, so that they can be lifted as safely as a ship’s anchor. At Cardenas, however, the Americans were engaged in a systematic sweeping of the channels, a work generally carried out on dark nights. In any case, whether the Spanish mines were modem in type, so that the men on shore could test them constantly, or whether they were of the older type, the Americans were courting death. In the one case, they could be attacked by the. defenders ; and in the other, they might any moment explode a defective mine in the process of lifting.

Mr Michael Elurschemj appears to he making ie fairly good progress with his attempt to establish an Exchange Bank in Wel-

THE EXCHANGE BANK.

lingtoh. He has already received one hundred applications for shares from the representatives of thirty-five trades, and is confident of obtaining sufficient support to justify the commencement of active operations. His object, as the readers of these columns know by this time, is to facilitate a mutual exchange between producers, traders and consumers, and he is sensible enough not to be astonished that the applications for shares “come in rather, slowly in the beginning." “It takes a long time," he explains, “to make our bos mess world see the immense advantages they will reap from tho organisation. Especially the local manufacturers hayo not tfye remotest idea to what extent they will he benefited by the institution." Mr Eluischeim then proceeds to open the eyes of these manufacturers. “As tho ; Exchange paper is not accepted in foreign countries, everybody who has accepted it will," he'says, “give the preference to the products of our local industry. * * * If the merchants could not bo made to ‘ fall into line, nothing would be easier than to start permanent exhibitions in every centre • where all the colonial producers could he represented and where orders would he taken for thorn. * * * New Zealanders ought to give the preference to» their own manufactures, for the local manufacturer is also a local consumer, which the foreigner is not, and it is quite certain that a reduction of our outside purchases will not at all diminish our exports of raw material." Mr nurscheim thinks that oven if the British manufacturers could not send us .. boots and shoes and flannels, -they .would;

still want our leather and wool, and that “exchange banking would do a hundred times as much for local manufactures as the heaviest protective tariff;” but ho baa not, so far as we ■understand, made any provisionforpreventing the manufacturers joming tho Bank and offering their goods in exchange for the other shareholders’ xawmaterial.