NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18632, 13 February 1924, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

WATERLOO BRIDGE. There is apprehension regarding the condition of Waterloo Bridge. A settlement has been reported in the pier on the Lambeth side of the central arch, and having regard to' this fact and to the continuous heavy traffic over the bridge, advice is to be obtained as to its actual condition throughout. Our forefathers, who put up Waterloo at the cost of a million, would have been surprised that anything could go wrong with it. Oanova said it was " the noblest bridge in the world." The engineer was John Bennie, eon of an East Lothian farmer, who had been a countrv schoolmaster and a master wheelwright before he took up engineering It was originally intended to be the " Strand Bridge," but its name was changed to "Waterloo" in honour of that decisive buttle. The first stone was laid on October 11, 1811, and the bridge was opened on June 18, 1817, the second anniversary of the battle, by the Prince Regent, who was attended by the Duke of Wellington and a brilliant staff of officers who had fought at Waterloo. THE MASTER BUILDER. We have long known, not by direct observation but by inference, that there exist in nature atoms of a limited number of kinds, all the atoms of one kind being alike in regard to their most important characteristics, says Sir William Bragg. Certain minor or- temporary variations are possible, but they are negligible. Of these atoms taken in various proportions and put together in various ways, nature builds all the materials that we observe, the earth and all that is in it, and the whole universe so far as our knowledge can reach. Yet there are only 90 kinds of atom, and only a few of these are relatively common. Also, it is deeply wonderful to think of it, nature has only the atoms themselves to build with; nothing analagous to cement or glue or nails or tools to fit the atoms together. The atoms themselves provide all the elements of construction and of workmanship. > They are not only the bricks but also the mortar and the trowel and the scaffolding and the plan. With the X-rays we may watch the* atoms as Nature puts them together into little unite of pattern, and multiplies the units until the .whole is visible. Given time aritt peace her arrangement is perfectly regular, and we have the perfect crystal, the simplest result of her building, revealing by its form the fine pattern on which it is made; Otherwise we may have the disorder and irregular formation of bodies which show no trace of crystal form to the naked eye, though Nature is so orderly that even then we generally find attempts at regularity if we look deep enough. FRANCE AND GERMANY. A speech in justification of the French policy in the Ruhr was made a few weeks ago at a ceremony in Courneuve, a suburb of Paris, by M. Poincare. "We went into the Ruhr only because we despaired of securing onr rights by any other means, and because we knew that, the principal wealth of Gernitany being centralised there in the hands rof a few potentates of industry, we should sooner or later find, by occupying this privileged region, the means to break down the German resistance," he said. "Germany had never made any but derisory offers to us, and she would certainly not have made any better ones if she had seen that, hesitating and fearful, we were prepared to grant her the delays she asked for, to demand no guarantees and to rely on what she termed her good intentions. We asked from the first moment only to set up in occupied territories a loyal co-opera-tion that would permit of concerted exploitation of the pledges and progressive liquidation of a portion of Germany's debt. Germany, however, imagined she would wear 1 out our patience and played a kind of last card under the rather ridiculous illusion that either she or others would be able to make us give way. Once more we have held out and our effort has already , been rewarded by results. Resistance has ceased in the Ruhr and on the banks of the Rhine. The German industrials have all signed agreements with our engineers and the German Government itself is proposing to enter into conversation with us. We are not yet at the end of the road, but we are getting nearer it every day. The essential point is not to wander off from it and not to give up any of our guiding principles. We are in the Ruhr and we will never leav>j until we are paid. 'We are ready, however, to consider any method of settlement that may render this payment more speedy. and more certain*"- •;