NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14930, 1 March 1912, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

CONTINENTS WHICH MOVE. The discovery of Father Odenbach, director of, St. Ignatius Observatory, Cleveland, that a large part of the United States is tilting towards Canada, is the latest appearance of the phenomenon known to scientists as dia-strophism. Geologists are busy proving that every portion of the earth's surface is either rising or falling. Recently a volume of data was issued to geologists dealing with tiitings of the earth's surface which must have begun millions of years ago. In Norway sea. beaches have been found ■700 ft high, on which the shells and formations are identical with those now on tho real coast, thus showing that Norway has had a rise of 700 ft. Scandinavia ie expected to be ' 350 ft higher in 14,000 years, but when earthquakes are responsible for the uplifting of the land the rise is naturally somewhat qnickpr. South America has been largely changed within the last few hundred years, owing to earthquakes. The whole of the country in Chili, from the foot of the Andes and a great distance under the sea, was upraised in 1822, the greatest rise being at a distance of about two miles from the shore. The rise upon the coast was from 2ft to 4ft, and one mile inland it was from sft to 6ft. By this single convulsion 100,000 square miles— half the area of France, or five-sixths of the area of Great Britain and Ireland—were added to South America. It has been argued by geologists that these tiitings are sometimes due to an enormous weight on the shores of great lakes, which causes a vast tract of land to sway up like a gigantic see-saw. '' This operation is in progress all over the world to-day, but there is also the remarkable fact that large rivers bring down such a great quantity of sediment and deposit it at their, mouths that whole islands are formed. It is estimated that the Ganges discharges in one. year 20,000,000,000 cubic feet of mud at its mouth. Proofs of the gradual movement of the earth's surface are given on almost every coastline. It has been discovered that the ancient channel of the Hudson River, in America, ran more than 100 miles east of Sandy Hook, and the chan-

nel of the St. Lawrence may be traced i through the Straits of Belle Isle. The i Congo is known to have had its bed in early years 70 miles farther * from the ' west coast of Africa than it has to-day. ' According to Professor Scott, Blair Pro- ' fessor of Geology in Princeton University, in Europe the west coast of Ireland, Scot- • land, Scandinavia, the south of Spain, and the Balearic Isles are all rising, while England, the north coast of France, Germany, and the Netherlands are gradually sinking into ooze. - LEAP YEAR TRADITIONS. An ancient leap year tradition, of whose origin no trace remains, decreed that a lady, who though "of feelings rather rasliful yet could not make up her mind to express these in words," might convey the idea by disclosing the smallest glimpse of red petticoat to the object of her affections, while another superstition prevails in some parts of England to the effect that in leap year "beans grow on the wrong ado of the pod." The only use made of leap year privileges in modern times, except in rare cases, seems to be at a ball, when a "leap year dance" is introduced on the programme. On these occasions husbands or brothers come in for a quite unusual amount of attention from their wives and sisters, arid it probably is the only occasion of which women take up the position of "wallflowers" willingly. Certain financial disabilities attaching to lap year may be mentioned. Those who work for monthly pay give their services one day for nothing. Moneylenders receiving a fixed rate of interest lend for one day free, and where payment for labour is reckoned by the day an extra, and in some cases very heavy, expenditure is involved. That it is a distinct drawback v to be born in 1 " February 29 is obvious, so far as receiving birthday presents is concerned, though as ago advances it must be distinctly satisfactory to have a birthday only once in four years. As a matter of fact, February 29 is a comparatively new ' day in the calendar. At one time leap year day was placed before February 24, February 23 being reckoned twice over, so that prior.to the revision of the Liturgy at the Restoration, the date when February 29 was introduced, the leap year child had nothing to fear in the way of losa of presents. DIMINISING , CRIME. The report of the Howard Association for 1911 as to the treatment and prevention of crime and pauperism, states that the Prison Commissioners' reports for the year ended March 31, 1911, show a great diminution in . the- number of men and women committed to prison during the I year. In England and Wales alone the decrease upon the committals of the previous year is no less than 13,780. Corresponding reductions in Scotland and Ireland point, the committee of the Howard Association venture to believe, to wiser a/id more humane methods . prevailing in the courts of summary jurisdiction. Probably—but on this point the committee have no information— has been an • *-:•.-. ••'•"■-.-, •.' ■ ."-'■■■. ~^-Xi

increased uao of the powers given by the Probation Act, resulting in many;' young offenders being, dealt with; in : other than by imprisonment, but the reduction in number of men and women sentenced to penal servitude leaves no shadow of doubt as to whether or not serious crime has diminished. The number, of offenders between the ages of 16 and 21 has considerably diminished. The total number of such prisoners for 1909-10 was 13,422, while the 1910-11 the number was 11,543, showing a reduction in this class of prisoner of no fewer than 1879. In 1893 the number of girls imprisoned was 3645, which, total has steadily declined till theyear under review, when only 1163 girls between the- ages or 16 and 21 found their way into prison. A sweeping reduction of more than two-thirds of the whole is a remarkable fact. The total number of boy prisoners, too, has been greatly reduced, though not to so great an extent, for in 1893 17,940 boys were imprisoned, but in 1910 the number was 10,380, showing a decline of 7560 during 18 years. The. Children Act and the Probation Act are doubtless exercising their influence, but it must stand to the credit of the magistrates that, the reduction in the number of child prisoners began before either of these Acts was passed or the Borstal system instituted. Pentonville Prison, however, during the year received no fewer than 1341 youthful prisoners, of whom 947 were sentenced to a term of one month or less. Other large prisons had similar experience to Pentonville.