NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18762, 16 July 1924, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

A CHILDREN'S BIBLE. The Cambridge University ' Press have published "The Children's Bible," which has been arranged by Dr. Alexander Nairne, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, and Dr. T. R. Glover. This consists of those parts of the Scriptures most suitable for children; and is intended for teachers and others to tell the story of the Bible in a more convenient form. It should be emphasised that the text used is in general that of the Authorised Version, with here and there the change of a word or the adaptation of an old spelling to that more commonly used in school. "The Children's Bible" is published at 4s, while the same authors have also prepared " The Little Children's Bible," for even smaller children, from five to seven years, Which is published at 2s.

' SCIENCE IN APPLICATION. At the annual dinner of the British Science Guild in London, Lord Sumner said that if they could get rid of some of the misapprehensions which many people seemed to entertain about science, how excellent it would be. Most people seemed to think that applied science was bound up with progress, and that every scientific advance led to some better land. Experience had shown that the greater part of tha discoveries of applied science were purely evil. The gramophone had corrupted 'ihe musical sense of the English and American people for nearly a generation, and as for the moving pictures, the thousands of reels of film did not contain" one foot to a mile that was of the slightest value to anybody. The only effect, except to adorn our streets with plaster palaces and enrich the United States trusts, was to stimulate £he passions and act as a soporific of the human mind.

RECORD CRUISER BUILDING. Interesting documentary evidence of the vigorous activity of Lord Fisher when he was at the Admiralty is afforded by the publication of the instructions which, as First Sea Lord, he sent to Sir Eustace Tennyson-D'Eyncourt, then Director of Naval Construction, as a result of which the Renown and Repulse were built in record time. Eleven days after the battle of the Falklands, in which the value of battle-cruisers was notably demonstrated, Lord Fisher gave the following instructions for the preparation of the model to accompany the design drawings, when they were to be examined by the Admiralty Board and the Commander-in-Chief: —" Battle - cruiser ' Rhadamanthus.' Speed, 32 knots. Six 15-inch gunsTwenty 4-inch automatic guns—all on top deck. (20deg. elevation. Range ( ) yards) (30 deg. elevation. Range, 14,000 yards)---Armoured like ' Indofatigible ' — 2 torpedo tubes—All oil—Radius of action at ( ) knots ( ) miles. Freeboard forward, 35 feet, aft ( ) feet. Length, 750 feet—Beam ( ) Dear D'Eyncourt, That's the sort of label to put on the model! I'm sure you'll benefit by 750 instead of 720 feet. Yours,. Fisher. 19.12.14." On the day of receipt of this note the designs were actually started, and the keels were laid on January 25, 1915. Details were worked out concurrently with the building, and both ships were finished and put into commission

in the early autumn of 1916, or about 20 months after their commencement. It was often remarked by Lord Fisher that Von Spee was not defeated in December, 1314,' but in 1906, when the Committee on Designs, over which Lord Fisher presided, determined on the construction of vessels of the battle-cruiser type.

TRANSATLANTIC TELEPHONY. Important experiments in long-distance wireless telephony were carried out in January, 1923, at tho New Southgate works of the Western Electric Company, Limited, where, as a result of investigations mado by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company and the Radio Corporation of America, speech delivered in New York was successfully received. As a result of the experiments, the Post-

master-General, in April, J.JJ23, appointed a committee to consider tho possibility of Transatlantic wireless telephony on a commercial scale. In the meantime tho experiments were continued by the three companies mentioned, and additional experiments were carried out on behalf of the committee by the British Post Office engineering department, with a view to obtaining further data for the construction of more powerful apparatus. Telephonic transmissions have been made weekly from the Long Island station, and, under favourable conditions, the received speech has been distributed over land lines to telephone subscribers in London and in other parts of the country The success achieved in these telephonic transmissions from America has been sufficient to justify the committee in recommending the Postmaster-General to install a 200 k.w. transmitting set of the special typo at the new wireless station at Rugby, so that two-way conversations can be carried on. It is hoped that, with this apparatus it will bo possible to connect telephone subscribers in-London with subscribers in New York when atmospheric conditions are favourable, as is usually the case during the winter months. The plant will also Bupply the data necessary to determine whether it would be possible to establish a regular and reliable telephone service between the two countries.