NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16492, 6 March 1914, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The news that H.M. surveying ship Fantome during a recent cruise 'between Albany and Hobart, discovered a depth of just over 3000 fathoms, or nearly three and a half mile§, has more than'a passing interest. The Fantome’s 821 b deep-sea lead, with the weight of the wire line to aid it, took more than half an hour to reach the sea bottom. This tremendous depth, however, is far outdone by that of two amazing chasms in the oceanfloor in the South Pacific, comparatively close to our own shores. Just to the eastward of the Kermadec Islands, less than five hundred miles to the north-east of the New Zealand coast, the sea-bottom drops suddenly to a great pit, with an extreme depth, as recorded a few years ago by H.M.S. Penguin’s sounding machine, of 5155 fathoms, or nearly six miles.

This sounding was taken by the Penguin on one of her surveying cruises from Auckland to the Tonga Archipelago, and as she worked northwards she found and charted another huge depression, to the eastward of Tongatabu, with a depth almost as great. These two ocean-abysses are now marked on the maps in deep blue as the “Penguin Deep” and the “Tonga Trough.” Here, far down, is eternal stillness in striking contrast to the volcano - troubled earthquake - shaken shallows on the western side of Tonga where Falcon Island and burning Tofoa lie, and where new islands sometimes arise and old ones disappear. It is not easy to realise all that is meant by a sea-depth of five or six miles. To say it would take two of our Mount Cooks, piled one on the other, to fill the vast hole and then leave room for another respectable peak on top of them before the surface of the ocean were reached is to convey but a very bald conception of the “ Penguin Deep.”

What is everybody’s business is nobody’s business. Probably this familiar adage explains- why a correspondent should require to write to the “ Lyttelton Times ” this morning reminding the people of Lyttelton they have yet taken no public steps to keep the memory of George Laurenson fresh among them. It may he, however, that those still mourning the • death of the sturdy Radical, who literally laid down his life in the public service, feel he needs no memorial to speak to those who hold him in affectionate remembrance! The feeling is natural enough. No tribute in brass or stone is required to testify to the earnestness of George Laurenson’s life or to the heroism of his death. But other generations will arise that will know nothing of the efforts and achievements of the past decade and if only for their sake Lyttelton should commemorate in some adequate way the zealous part its representative played in shaping the political destinies of the country. The suggestion that the suburb at Diamond Harbour should be named after the late member seems to be an admirable one. George Laurenson took an active part in the acquisition of the sunny slopes across the harbour and it was an expression of municipal enterprise that epitomised his whole conception of land reform.

Survivors’ stories and reminiscences of the three-days’ fight at Orakau will be plentiful in the north during the next two or three weeks, as the Waikato jubilee gathering approaches. Some, no doubt, will be of the campgossip order, with a large admixture of heroic fiction, but there is no need to draw on the imagination for tales of the encounter There is one old man, a Maori named Tupotahi, a cousin of the celebrated Rewi, who tells of an ingenious but pathetic device to which ho and his. comrades resorted when they ran short of bullets for their cartridges on the second day of the siege. There were some peach and apple trees growing in and near the pa, and they cut branches of these into 6mall pieces and placed them in their smooth-bore guns. The peach tree bullets were not heavy enough, so they discarded them and tried pieces of manuka wood. These did not suit either, and then they experimented with apple-branches. These were solid and carried well, and it was decided to use them for night firing. That night the defenders used chiefly apple-wood bullots, reserving their few lead balls for the day and for the final charge out. The . old warrior who tells the story is still living not far from the spot where lie fought and was wounded fifty years ago.

King Alphonso of Spain is continuing to prove himsolf a young man. Three or four years ago his hold upon his throne was thought to be precarious, owing to the rapid spread of advanced Republican ideas among the Spanish people, and the fall of the Portuguese monarchy seemed to bring the revolution appreciably nearer. But King Alphonso, acting apparently on his own initiative, has changed the situation materially by the simple process of getting to know the republican leaders. He told his horrified Court on one occasion that it was his ambition to be “ a King for Monarchists and the Chief of State for these who dislike the word ‘ King.’ ” Ho has

sent for public men suspected of leanings towards republicanism and talked the matter over with them in a friendly, unassuming way. He utterly refuses to be guarded when he walks abroad in his capital and the other week, when a theatrical benefit performance for Terez Galdos, a famous republican writer, was announced, King Alphonso informed the .promoters that he was going to be present. He attended with his queen and received an enthusiastic reception. Apparently the Spanish throne is secure as long as he continues to occupy it.

While the curative virtues of radium are being proclaimed and hospitals all over the world are being urged to secure supplies, the extraordinary scarcity of the mineral is apt to be forgotten. It is estimated by competent authorities that the world’s stock of radium at the present time amounts to about seven grammes, or roughly a quarter of an ounce. This quantity, which could be carried in a man’s waistcoat pocket, represents the result of the handling of thousands of tons of radium-bearing ore and the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of pounds by various companies. Bit the supply is going to be increased materially in tho future. An American Company has offered to sell the United States Government 200 grammes of radium during the next six years at a maximum price of £16,000 a gramme, an enormous reduction upon the current Tate. The mines in Cornwall are being developed rapidly, too, and there are reports of discoveries of ore in several parts of Europe. Radium should be comparatively cheap and plentiful before many years have passed.

The late Lord Strathcona was a “ two meal a day ” man during seventy years of his long life. His ideal day was one that gave him twelve clear hours for continuous work between an early breakfast and aJate dinner, and he used to lament the’ loss of time entailed by holidays. “ These Saturday afternoons and Sundays are not good days.” he said once to a friend who visited him at his London offices on a Saturday morning. “ Very' disturbing to work. No office, no mail.” Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, • one of Canada’s railroad kings and gifted himself with a tremendous capacity for work, amused a Canadian gathering in London some years ago with a jest on the subject of his old friend’s incessant activities. “You will be gratified to hear,” he said solemnly, “that yielding to the , earnest entreaties of Sir Thomas Barlow, Lord Strathcona has decided to relax his energies. He has yielded to the united pressure of his medical man, his family and his friends, and has promised to leave his office at 7.30 each evening instead of 7.45.” The great Canadian remained at work until within a few weeks of his death in his ninety-fourth year.

Mr Russell’s suggestion that New Zealand’s naval base should be in Cook Strait will annoy the good people of Auckland very much indeed, but the matter seems to require more consideration than it has received from the Government up to the present time. Auckland has two strong points in its favour. The beginnings of a naval base exist there already and the ships stationed at the northern port would bo nearer to tho scene of .action in the event of a Pacific war than if they were lying at Wellington. But on the other hand Auckland is a long way from the dominion’s important coalfields and the protection of these fields might prove to be the supreme duty of warships in New Zealand waters. If a hostile squadron came to the coasts of the' dominion,' the first point of attack naturally would be the capital city.