WELLINGTON TOPICS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17652, 13 December 1920, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

GOSSIP OF THE WEEK.

LOSS IN SHIPPING SERVICES-

STUDY OF THERMAL AiTIYITY. [BY TELEGRAPH. — OWN CORRESPOND F.NT ] WELLINGTON. Saturday A striking instance of the extent to which go-slow methods are crippling the progress of the country is provided ;n the state of the overseas shippin- services. For example, the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company before the- war maintained wit p. five passenger liners monthly sailings iro-n Britain and New Zealand. To-day. with five steamers, it is with difficulty that a six-weekly despatch e.uh way can he provided, as against the eld four we. k!y on? This means that whereas there were .5 sailings each way in the year there a-.> | now eight, and the efficiency of the fiecf 1 is reduced by a third. As on top of this decreased efficiency, increased work::;" costs have to he piled, the ultimate burden j is a heavy one. Asked exactly where ;, e delays occurred. Captain ChuJiev, marine superintendent of the Shaw. Sa\;!! iii:«c j said there had Wen heav\ delays in Britain sor.ie time ago butth'.s v.-'a* ;.. longer the case. He 'was very please ; to have despatched the Tainui.' the '..*• j vessel from this e nd, 41 dav> after arn .1 jin New Zealand. This "repres. r.u-j .. marked improvement over t! e rime umi* '. ! spent in New Zealand waters at presei■:"' '■ In pre-war days the liners used to p-t away about four weeks after arrival "in I the Dominion, and it was chieflv the- loss j of tune at this end that prevented a rs>turn to the olj basis of sailings. Causes of the Delay. j Inquiries as to the causes of the delays i in the handling of shipping show that thry | are: (1) Slower «oik on the waterside • j (2) absence of local supplies oi coal : and i (3) slow arrival of meat cargoes, etc.. ecu ' sequent on the shortage of railway rolling j stock. Where a gang of four men in t lie : old days would load lo tons of coal, a gang of five or six men will now load eight or ten tons. As these men are ail getting much more pay than of old it is not necessary to go furthei to discover a big factor in the cost of living. The non-production of coal has compelled some of toe shipping companies to rely almost entirely en out" , side supplies, anl- this, besides addir,; to | working costs, involves more delay, as I shipments are. net always procurable to time. The net result is that, consequent upon causes within the control of this Dominion, a given tonnage of o\erscaa shipping can bring into the country in a year only about two-th'rd-s of the roods and passengers that it did before the war and carry away only two thirds of the produce, and at the same time the < est of operating this less efficient tonnage has soared to a fabulous height. A Tourist Boom. The waiting list in Britain for passages to New Zealand is still a long one, with no immediate signs of relief in the situation. The present is the slack season for bookings Homeward, but the outward passenger lists of the direct liners after*the New Year are in some cases already fu',!. Only a small proportion of the arrivals from Britain represents tourist traffic, but* Messrs. Cook and Son report that' the number of tourists from Australia this season will exceed anything previously recorded. Bookings are already very heavy, and the greatest difficulty is'being experienced in securing accommodation for all who wish to come. Tie majority of tin' Australian visitors are bookine for the full tourist trip through the two islands, to it looks as if our holiday resorts can expect a brisk and profitable season. Insurance Against Eruption.

The other day Dr. J. Allan Thomson, director of the Dominion Museum, told us of the high degree of certainty which hs*d been reached in the prediction of volanic eruptions in Hawaii and Japan, and might be similarly provided by an observatory in our own thermal district. As to the probable cost of such an undertaking. Dr. Thomson, in collaboration with Dr. Jaggar, the Hawaiian expert, has worked out an estimate. The newssarv buiidinps would cost under £5000. salaries about £1000 per annum, and plant and miscellaneous expenses about another £1000. Dr. Thomson considers that a buildin" costing about £1000 would suffice to begin with, and that including this the total expenses for the first year would be about £3000, and for subsequent years about £2000. With this observatory it should be possible to predict with accuracy such disturbances as tbc eruption of Tar&wera the blowing up of White Island, and the VVaimangu eruptions, in all of which lives were lost. . Dr. Thomson considers that the greatest catastrophe to which our Volcanic region is exposed would be an eruption at White Island, followed by a tidal wave inundating low' country in the Bay of PJenty. Such a thing might never occur, of course, but its occurrence has been a disastrous feature in the eruption of some island volcanoes, notably ir. the case of Krakatoa, and it should at anv rate he worth spending a little money to be sure of timely warning of any such happening. Accurate prediction could not, of course, bo expected at once, as it would be necessary to collect data over a period, but observation of the intermittent eruptions of Ngaruhoe. combined with the deductions from Hawaiian and Japanese experience, might provide a basis for rrliable forecasts within a short time. Our Lost Rhodes Scholars.

Sydney papers record that Mr. Ben. Fuller has presented the latent New South Wales Rhodes Scholar with £1000. the £300 per annum provided by the Rhodes trustees being insufficient to enable him to proceed to Oxford and leave relatives partially dependent upon him. Dr. Thomson, who was New Zealand? first Rhodes Scholar, states that the £300 a year was just about sufficient in his dnv. He overspent it. the first year, but came out about level on the three year- The Rhodes trustees have advised that under present conditions scholars will remiire additional funds of th<"ir own. This naturally makes the scholarships net wh:it their founder intended, and it will be a pity if New Zealand candidates in future. have to be chosen from the tons of well-to-do families only. Apropos of the above, there is food for reflect: ■ in the :';. t that of about a dozen Rhodes Scholars who have completed th»ir *<>ur?es only three —Dr. Thomson. I'r Ciray and Professor Robertson- have returned :o New Zealand. Some of the others did ior.a back, but departed on rut findir- a:iy suitable onernng Apparently it is nobody's business what be. tos of the scholars, but it does seem ,: city that -o effort is made to place them Ik-re I'r. Thomson points out that the absence of any spcial university en* iv -r.to t'e Public Service, stich rs ; s c!w:i in Britain, 'loses that avenue of emplovment to men takinrz a university eoinse r<broad, as university men are considered for o-;y a small number of medical ;,nd other n- k 's for which their '.raininq ;- ,i sine o ;n non. For the service grnc',;:'!y thty :■:■• blocked. Tins elimination H uien of < ■ ceptional educational attainments ft the Public Service generally certainly strikes a layman as unfortunate.