CURRENT TOPICS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 229, 27 August 1932, Page 6

CURRENT TOPICS

(By “Wayfarer.”) The best friends are those who stin: late each other to good—Arabic pl verb. . Girl Guide Captain: What is tl -5 meaning of the words ‘ A girl guwo should be courteous ? New Guffi... I suppose it means that I should have a few boy friends.

The fact that tho Bank of England recently forbade its employees to wear brilliant and inappropriate colours n> clines a critic to the opinion that the bank believes actions should £l*ak louder than colours.

You can’t grab your wife’s arm roughly in Springfield, Mo. (United States’) and get away with it. W, A. Williams tried it while talking to his estranged wife on the public square. Sh© complained that 1.0 hurt her, and showed Municipal Judge M. A. Dodd a small scratch. W illiams is serving a 90-day gaol term.

Statesmen appear to possess privu leges which are not accorded people in the more humble walks of life. NL Herriot, the French Prime Minister, supported this idea at the conclusion of the Lausanne Conference. When he left his hotel he was met by two women journalists —a German representative, Fraulein Dietmann, and Mme. Claude Allain, of a Paris daily, As a symbol of the agreement that had been achieved, he took them by the arms and kissed them, saying; “I kiss a French and a German lady. The crowd cheered on thus witnessing the pact sealed with kisses ! Ottav a seems to have been neglectful in the above matter.

British scientists are never idle, While a small group is about to leave l>y the Discovery II for a further visit to the Antarctic, another party left England a few weeks ago for a year's voluntary exile on a tiny island well within the Arctic Circle. In the interests of wireless enthusiasts they will carry out experiments there with a view to establishing short-wave transmission routes through the ether some 150 miles above the North Pole, Members of the party inclue Professor E. Appleton, of King’s College, Lon* don, the leader, Mr G. B. Builder, also of King’s College, Mr R. N. Nab smith and Mr W. C. Brown, of the Radio Research Station, Slough, Buckinghamshire. “We are anxious to learn why a route across the cap of the North Pole is more difficult for short waves than others through more temperate zones,” said Professor Appleton to a journalist before leaving for Bergen en route for Tromso, in the far north of Norway, which will l>e their base. “Arising out of this we hope to discover why certain wavelengths vary in suitability at different times of the day and year. This will involve investigation of the ionosphere, which is the electrified upper atmosphere. Though Tromso will be the base most of the work will be carried out on the Island of Ringvasso even further north. Conditions under which we shall be working will be altogether new' but -we hope that our experi* ments will be successful,” said the professor. “Indeed, we hope to be in short-wave communication with this country so we shall not be completely isolated.”

Reports from England this week mention the extraordinarily high temperatures recorded in the heat wave which passed over the Southern districts, London sweltering in 92 degress, the highest for many years. Though in May there were floods—* and lamentations —June was a month of sunshine —and fear of a drought. “Flaming June” flamed as it had nob flamed for years, and, farmers excepted, everybody was happy. Glowing summer days, each offering at least eighteen hours of daylight, succeeded one another in splendid procession, creating boundless scope for the exploitation of tho out-of-doors. The charm of the English summer day lies in its glorious twilight. None but those who have experienced this delightful phenomenon can realise itstonic-like effect and what it means to the jaded Londoner, for instance. Only in the far south of New Zealand is there anything approaching the English twilight. In Scotland, in the Highlands, the writer has stood on the banks of the River Ness at 10 p.m. —summer time was in force —and watched the angler casting for the elusive fish in that spot of wondrous beauty. And then to bed at midnight, with the shades of night still not descended fully! The English twilight, it has been well said, makes every fine day a holiday, for, after the “daily grind” in office and workshop is over, there remain several hours of light.’ It is then that the parks and gardens are thronged with joyous multitudes of young and old, that the beautiful reaches of the Thames are dotted with boats, and the swimming pools and baths become crowded. Every park in London, and particularly Hyde Park, with its infinite variety of attractions, accommodates its thousands of ardent worshippers of the open air, and there is not a road leading to the countryside that is not jammed with cars and cycles. Nor does the Londoner tako his pleasures sadly. On the contrary, even in sartorial details, he sacrifices everything to comfort and enjoyment. Low-necked shirts, “shorts,” spacious flannels, and sporting rig of every conceivable cut and colour are worn without the slightest embarrassment. Even Miss London does not blush to imitate the fashions of the so-called sterner sex.

While.on the subject off London, it is interesting to mention its underground streams. A great part of the city was once a marsh drained by these river lets flowing into the Thames. At Sloano Square Underground Station there is, what appears to the eye, an ordinary enclosed passenger bridge over the lines. Actually this bridge carries not pedestrians, but a river. The Westboume is only one of London’s lost rivers. Among others, the Tyburn flows beneath Bond Street and the Green Park, and provides Buckingham Palace with its ornamental water garden. The Fleet, which necessitated the building of Holboxn (the stream in the hollow) Viaduct, passes under Fleet Street. The course of the Walbrook runs close to the ‘ deep foundations of the vaults of the 1 Bank of England. Counter’s Brook | rises in Kensal Green and winds in an , underground channel to Thames-side, . while Peckham took its name from a stream called the Peke, which etill . gurgles on beneath tall buildings and ; crowded streets. For centuries these 1 rivers and the muddy land surrounding them have called for the utmost i ingenuity from the architects and j builders of Britain’s capital. There 1 have been periodic subterranean rebellions, too, but these have always been successfully overcome. The. first London is believed to have been a Celtic hamlet by the banks of the Walbrook. In Celtic, Llyn-din means a stronghold by the marsh. Another theory traces the name from Lud, a 1 Celtic water-God,