NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18349, 15 March 1923, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

GERMAN SHIPBUILDING. Beyond the fact that the output of shipping fell very greatly last year in Britain and most other countries, the outstanding feature of the annual summary of the mercantile shipbuilding of the world for 1922, issued by Lloyd's Register of Shipping, is the large amount of construction which has taken place in German yards. Last year 195 vessels of 575,264 tons gross were launched in Germany, including Danzig, while in 1921 tho number was 242 vessels of 509,064 tons. For the intervening years since 1914 no statistics of the output of German yards have been available for Lloyd's returns, but now we see that the launchings in tho last two years exceed the record of pre-v,',ir years. In 1913, a year of exceptional activity in shipbuilding, the launchings in Germany amounted to 465,226 tons, and that was a record figure. In 1912 375,317 tons were launched. The fact is now plain that, so far as productive capacity is concerned, German shipyards more than retain their, pre-war position. Indeed, the largest vessel launched in the. world in 1922 was the Columbus, which came from the Schichau Yard at Danzig. At Hamburg a steamer of 20,000 tons was built.

THE DELICIOUS APPLE. ; In Madison County, lowa, stands a monument which is said to be the. onlv one ever erected to a tree. It tells all who may read its inscription the story of tho "Delicious" apple, the parent tree of which is still standing and hearing after 50 years of fruit fulness. The story is a romance of pomology, dating back into the '50's of last century, when a new settle! in lowa, Jesse Hiatt, planted an orchard. In the spring of 1872 Hiatt found that a Bellflower seedling ,in the orchard had perished, but that from its root had sprung a shoot, which showed an unusual ruggedness and began to climb upward with surprising rapidity. A few years later the tree reached the producing point and was covered with fine apples of an aroma and flavour such as the owner had never found elsewhere. For some 15 years thereafter the new tree bore annually, and, although the crop increased from season to season, its owner was unable to find a way to make its fruit known beyond his immediate neighbourhood. Then he sent samples of the apples to an exhibition in Missouri, the manager of which was a practical nurseryman, who was attracted by them. The tag had become mislaid, however, and it was not until the next year, when Hiatt sent another consignment, that the nurseryman could identify their owner and make arrangements for taking some scions from the tree. To-day the apple is known and grown in every quarter of the globe where the apple flourishes. •

EMPIRE EXHIBITIONS. A proposal that the British Empire Exhibition of 1924 should be the inaugural event of an annual series of similar gatherings has been made to the Department of Overseas Trade by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in London, with which is associated the Dominion of Newfoundland. The Chamber states that it is strongly of opinion that to secure the full benefits of the great efforts and expense of the exhibition in 1924, and in the interest of the whole Empire, it should be followed by an annual exhibition-of the same nature. It suggested that the present British Industries Fair should be enlarged and developed along the lines of the Canadian National Exhibition (a proved commercial and financial success) to achieve this object. Further, the Chamber argued, the decision to hold an annual British Empire exhibition would undoubtedly create a keener interest, and the Dominions would no doubt consider the question of supplying more money, as each Dominion would know that their investment wfculd be a permanent and not a temporary one. An exhibition of this scope, the' Chamber suggested, would have the effect of attracting, particularly from the Dominions, a new class of exhibitors and potential buyers of British manufactured goods, and would keep before British buyers the range and quality of products and manufactures of the Dominions. The Dominions would thus have an opportunity of demonstrating the possibilities which they can offer to emigrants, thereby greatly increasing the British population in the Dominions and drawing the bonds of Empire closer' together.

THE NEW CAPITAL SHIPS. One of the most important articles in Brassy's Naval Annual is that by Admiral of the Fleet Sir Doveton Sturdee on "Naval Aspects of the Washington Conference." Admiral Sturdee has written a comprehensive and discriminating review of the situation of 1921 and at the present time : and he leaves no doubt that the recent decision of the Government " to construct under the terms of the treaty two capital ships of 35,000 tons to carry guns of not greater calibre than 16in." has his unqualified support. "In order to maintain a 'one-Power standard' in capital ships, their construction is essential," he declares. "At the present moment the United States possess three post-Jutland capital ships carrying 16in. guns, and Japan two, while Great Britain has only the Hood, a ship commenced before the battle of Jutland, which only ,oa.rries guns of 15in. calibre, besides not embodying the valuable experience obtained on that occasion. Thus Great Britain has no capital ship carrying 16in. guns, and has only one recent ship tc take, her place in the line of battle to three possessed by the United States and two by Japan. One of the most important revelations during the war was the great superiority of a ship with large calibre guns over a ship with guns of less calibre. This, with the increasing range at which future, naval actions will commence, renders ittjail the more desirable that -these two n»v ships should be constructed. It is mo/t noteworthy that in the opinion of th/ senior officers of the martime nations in command of fleets in the recent war, the <apital ship still remains the bed ro(k on which all raval strength must be based. As the Grand Fleet controlled \he movement of the High Sea Fleet in the recent war, so the battle fleet in the near future will render subsidiary movements either possible or impossible."

GAMBLING IN AUSTRALIA. "The most patriotic of Australians, who form an honest estimate of our character/ will admit, that gambling has a powerful grip on the people of the continent," says the Rev. E. N. Merrington, in an article in the Australasian Journal of Psychology and Philosophy on the "Greatest Australian Interest." " Australians are interested in many things and major things; but, in the mass, they are nilgrims to the shrine of luck. ... The recruiting of the army of gamblers is mainly done by other agents of chance (than sports). In the street, in offices, in factories, even in schools, the influence of the lottery and art union is felt. Sweeps and syndicates, which include the easy-going multitudes of " young people who furnish a silver coin to the common stock, flourish on every hand, and train up our children in the way in which they should not co. We find the Home Secretary of a State like Queensland, with "a Labour Government in power, admitting to a deputation on the subject of gambling that 'The golden casket is now a matter of Government policy!' This lottery, with a first prize of £5000, is fath-' ered by those who represent the more equal distribution of wealth and a premium on production! Gambling is opposed to the first principles of democracy. It rewards in the most inequitable manner, viz., by chance, those who have done nothing to produce such wealth ; and, to do so, it takes the hardearned money of the many to enrich the few. It elicited from the able Governor of the State the protest that he did "not for a moment believe that charity need seek support from the crooked arm hi ugly hazardry.' " Mr. Merrington concludes that to curb this vice there must be a positive and educational development in Australia to combat the barrenness of mmd indicated by the love of hazardry and combined with this, effective measures of repression upon all avenues of gambling. 1 i l ■ ;■•:...