NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15003, 27 May 1912, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THE OLDEST BIBLE TRANSLATION Recent excavations in Egypt have brought to light many documents of extraordinary value, but none of them has been of greater importance than the papyrus codex containing the Coptic texts of three books of the Bible. This priceless volume was acquired in the early part of last year by the trustees of the British Museum, and for the benefit of all student* of theology its contents have now been published by their orders in the form of a book entitled " Coptio Biblical Texts in the Dialect- of Upper Egypt," One of the most interesting points raised by the appearance of .these documents concerns their date, and, though the question must to some extent be left open, it seems evident that they form the earliest existing translation of any considerable portion of the Greek Bible. Contained in this codex are the greater part of the text of the Book of Deuteronomy, the Book of Jonah, and nearly the whole of the Acts of the Apostles, whilst the opening part of a short composition, written in a cursive Greek hand, but in the Coptic language, is found on the two final folios. This concluding script is of considerable importance in fixing the date of the documents. To compute the age of the codex from a study of the "body of the work would be an impossible task, since it is manifestly older than any other available Coptic manuscript, but the cursive writing at the end of the Acts can be compared with a large number of dated Greek papyri, and, in the opinion of Dr. Kenyon, it may be placed in the middle of the fourth century. The Biblical books were, therefore, copied at some date not later than the year 350, but no conclusive judgment can be given as to the period which may have elapsed before the addition of the script was made. Old as these documents clearly are, they contain abundant proof that at an even earlier period translations of the Greek Bible were in use among the Egyptians. The codex at the British Museum is, in fact, not a direct translation, but a copy of one which already existed. The formation of the letters, the grammatical forms, and the spelling of certain Greek words adopted by the Egyptian Christians all go to prove that the three books were copied by the same diligent scribe.

COST OF OIL VERSUS STEAM.

An interesting comparison of the, cost of motor ships and steamers, calculated oh the basis of the new funnelless Selandia, and a large steam vessel of similar size and the same deqplweight capacity, is made by the " Motor Boat and Marine Oil and Gas Engine." With regard to the question of fuel, the coal sonsumption on the steamer is about 40 tons per day, and that of oil on the Selandia, about 10 to 12 tons a day, hearing out the fairly generally accepted statement that the motor-ship only requires about a quarter the weight of fuel of the steamer. The practice with Selandia will be to take in 900 tons of oil at Bangkok for the round voyage, while the steamer under ordinary circumstances would take in about 600 tons of coal at Singapore arid replenish her supply at various points on the voyage. The difference in. deadweight cargo capacity for the round voyage is about 210 tons in favour of the steamer, or reckoning at £1 per ton net, a saving in favour of the steamer of £210. The next point to be considered is the cost of fuel on the voyage, excluding consumption in ports, allowing in each case 75 days' steaming for the round voyage. Taking a consumption of 12 tons per day, the total is 900 tons, and, at the price of oil in Singapore, 35s per ton, this works out at £1575. Taking the average /cost of coal for the round voyage at 21s per ton, which is the figure at which it works out based on this year's contracts, when oiay 500 tons or so is carried, and at a consumption of 40 tons per day, we obtain a total consumption of 300 tons and a cost of £3150. Moreover, the steamer in coaling, will lose two days on the round voyage, which, reckoned by the owners at £46 a day, means a loss of "£92. The saving in fuel alone in the case of the motor boat is £1575, Now 1 taming to depreciation : Three voyages & j

year may be assumed for each vessel, assuming 75 days' steaming and 46 days in. ports on each voyage that is 121 days per voyage. The extra, first cost of the Diesel ship may be taken at £15,000, and, assuming the depreciation to bo. the same on either steamer or motor ship, the latter, in the course of the year, reckoned at 5 per cent., depreciates more than the steamer, i.e., £250 per voyage. It is estimated by the steamship owners that the watches in the engineroom of the motor boat would be approximately equal to the watches of the engineroom staff and firemen of the steamer, and on this assumption the following statement can be drawn up :— '.'■,■ * In favour of Motor Ship. Fuel .. .. •• .... £1575 By days saved 92 £1667 Loss. By deadweight capacity .. .'£2lo Depreciation on extra cost .. 250 £460 This shows a net gain for the motorship of £1207 per voyage, or, on the assumption of three voyages a year, £3621 per annum.

THE TRADE OF AUSTRALIA.

The trade of Australia is beginning to show some disquieting features. Exports are declining, and imports are mounting up. The drought, which is now assuming serious proportions in some parts of the Commonwealth, will probably still further reduce exports, and as a consequence lead to greater stringency of money. The appended table gives the trading position during the last four years :—

In the first quarter of 1911 the- imports amounted to £16,670,667, so that there has been an increase in value of imports of £3,533,129 for the three months. If importations preserve the same ratio in 1912 to what they did in 1911, the merchandise brought in during the present year will have a value of £80,000,000, or an.average per head of over £16. In every year since the foundation, of »the Commonwealth, and indeed since 1891; the balance of trade has been in favour of Australia — that is to say, the exports exceeded the imports. It will be seen that in each of the full years quoted in the above table the surplus of exports . over imports was from £13,000,000 to £14,000,000 per annum. A comparison of trade for the first three months of 1912, however, shows, that now the balance. of trade- is actually against Australia to' the' extent of £766,465. . .

Imports. . Exports. 1908 ... ... ... £49.799,278 £64.311.058 1909 ... Z Z 51,171,896 65.318.836 1910 .. .. ... 60,014,351 74,491,150 1911 ... ■'..." ... 65,860,303 79.434.226 1912 (three months) 20,253,796 1W.331