NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15265, 1 April 1913, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

WHAT, IS SEEN UNDER .WATER.: "No point comes up for discussion more frequently among 'anglers than the question of what fish: see under water," Bays the Spectator. " It is a point on which ; many ■ other questions turn, . particularly those ; of dressing flies lor trout and salmon. , Fishermen, therefore, will, read with . peculiar. interest the , account of a series of experiments conducted by Br. Francis.Ward, and described. by him in the current number of : the.Salmon and Trout Magazine. Dr. Ward has been making hia experiments foir.mony months,, with? a -pond -of his ; ; own; and special- apparatus for photographing objects, ; froajij bclcw ' tfo surface of the water;,andlb© has established, ', or helped to establish;, some very striking facta, : .Oho of the i .... «\ ■ • ■;"<"■';■;' ■•..■■:.:'■'-.'-?■:■■ ■•■•■■■'. ;>:

mosiV fascinating:' .of.Dr. ;. Warda .many e?sperJimflnts has been his s<?ries-"b'* tests of what is actually water, gazing as such different objects as a dimming bird, a heron, and a trout fly. , He ss«ina to have ant under water and looked up through it.at various moving and * stationary creatures and anglers' litres, and, ha has also contrived' to : take some very jremarkablo photographs. The' question: arises at once, of -course, whether ; what la V man; sees ,is what a fish sees. Dr. Ward argues convincingly enough, that in essentials men and fish see alike. Tat?© the field of vision of a, man looking up from, under water, .The field separates itself, as: it were, into two portions, an outer and an inneir field. The • inner field. is. an, inverted cone of light, of which the eye is the apex. The outer field is the.surroundings of this cone. So that the eye under water may be compared to that of a. man seated in a room which- is lighted only by a, circular skylight, in the centre of the ceiling, with this difference, that in a room the higher the-ceiling the narrower would be the angle from the man's eye 1 to the outside edge, of the skylight; whereas under water the deeper the fish' lies the larger and wider, the cone becomes. : This is * because the angle from the -eye to the surface of the water is always the same, namely, 48£ degrees. ; In«ide .this; cone, then, everything which the eye under water sees is seen against a brilliant light; outside the cone the • background against which an object in seen may vary, immensely in character. ". If the waterUs absolutely still, the surface forma a perfect mirror, so that the stones and weeds at. the bottom of a pool would be exactly reflected in it, just as ill the ceiling of the imaginary room 'outside' the centre skylight were a mirror; which exactly reflected the pattern of the : carpet." THE DWINDLCNG ' SOVEREIGN. " For " the ' information of the Select Committee ; inquiring -into the conditions of .employment in the Postal Service, Mr. G. S. 'Barnes, of the Labour Department of the British' Board of Trade, has prepared a table showing; the fluctuations in value of a sovereign during the last 18 years, measured by its capacity to purchase quantities of 23' selected articles of food. These show that, thanks '. to the increase in the price of food, the sovereign has; steadily, declined in value, so. that it now takes nearly 25s to ; get ■ the same amount of food as in 1895 cost 205." Mr. Barnes gives the following particulars respecting the purchasing power of a sovereign in the years under review: Year. . ; s. d... Year. >. s. d. 11595 20 0 VM .... .18 0 11596 " 20 0 1905- 1711 11597 19 3. 1906 ...18 0 IU9B '. „ 18.-6 ■-..:■' -1907- 17 71699 19 4 1903 17 2 1900 18 5 1909 ............ 17 3 1901- ;. 18 4 1910 , 16 11 1902 18 3 1911 „ 17 ft 1903 17.11 .... .1912 ~16-3. Of the 29 articles quoted, only three fell in price—mutton, second-class and " inferior,',' and petroleum or paraffin {not petrol). The figures give the wholesale price in each case before* tliio.cost of distribution to the public and the middlemen's profit is added. / The following table shows, what, the some amount of ' each, article which coat '100 shillings in 1805' cost in 1912—the difference being the percentage increase: ■■.■■'■••■•■•■' What cost '.;,, „ ,-. ~ ./■>.,,-: ... . in 1905 ■.v...'. Article cost last year .'_,: : *' ■ ■/' -'' •-.••■■ ': -.•'/is. ■'•'■■'■ ■ Tea,' untaxed ... v ......... Ist ... ..Coffee, untaxed '• '--wl:*-.'-.;.' '■■t..;;"^47;.-.';.;.;. : Currants ... ...'..."'.,.■ ... W • .'.'■;• ■£*?«('■■'■«>■ -••• •'" •«■" ■.»'•■... " : '*..:us\i- ■ Tapioca . '....•■.• „.-. ; .i: ... '"-,> ,.;^ : -iS9'-- H r ; j;.vi- Milk-. ..a. '•:+..''-;.■■-...■ A.\,.-: -v.; *...•. • ..,* m -is ■- gOT? ■...,,„,,•...,:■ ■ ...^^_: : ..y.^ •. ■;..:v122--'i: Butter ; : •....., ...... ■ ... -117 •'« ;;■;•■■ Cheese ;[:- ■» .;t w.->« ■"-* ':... .'■' '„'.' : 'l24'' ■ :• Lard':.... .• ..........„.^ : "„,.,•;.,: „..' ~ „,';id9v'-:*s ' ■•- Bread >■ :'•...-"',-.; " ..v' : '' ... ■ ;.:"t® 1 ■" Flour ..v--:vs>i'-'.'-*,i-'-r' a. -':■■: w'.'-.^i^U3;'■„■:, ■' Hams ' ..... .•.«, '~,....■,■„. - ! - .....128' :•. Bacona;-".:.,v.. v...,, ■~.-.■ .-.„."■■-.;.■: 135 .'• ■>■■ -.-■. Beef, ■ dlrst ••■ class ..■•« w■. ■■ •;«. ■■'•: .-.■.. ■'•■l2O - ; ■■'•■>: Bees, second class ..i, ...... 135 : ■■:<■ Mutton, flrstolaas"...... -...107 ' ""■'■ Muttony second class ;;■>"'... ■■ \-JPM^'<: : , Mutton, - inferior •'.* ...,."' ... ... :■ \ % Pish -in■■::'■: ...:...... v„ •.,.„:■;■ 104 Coal, house ... • ... ... ~ ...141 rt&>sxa-'<,:: '«■.;-.:•■;«, ... /; ... -■. •...Y-ieo-A^ • ~.Petroleum. ........ ...... 9§ ! :."'.- ; ■ .Soap ~.A . ;..,':,«.;... .... • ... us ... ■ Taking the facts as a whole, 1 says,the Fall Mall Gazette, 'they mean that the cost of living has exceeded any gain that the jworking classes have secuired; in the itieans of-, faring 46.,- All that has beev effected in the way of raising wages, whether by trade unions or by other methods, has been nullified by the tr-v&d of .prices, and at the, end. of seven- years' marked by strenuous agitation and political effort the wage-eajmer finds himself worse off than ;bef<M% i Under the operalion of Qobdenism the rich are growing' richer and the poor poorer,, and under these conditions we have no title to be ijurprised if -a spirit of. social revolution should exhibit, itself in extending areas and ever-increasing menace." v