NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19513, 17 December 1926, Page 12

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

STEAMSHIP SPEEDS. Discussing the question of accelerating ocean communications. Sir John Biles, in a letter to the Times, says that hitherto shipowners have given as their reason for not attempting to increase speeds tho report of the Imperial Shipping Committee on the economic size and speeds of vessels trading between the United Kingdom and Australia issued in June, 1923. The committee in general terms suggested that an average speed of more than 16 knots would not be economic. When this report was issued the methods of propulsion in use in the Australian trade were based on reciprocating engines and coal-burning cylindrical boilers, which involved a consumption of fuel at the rate of 1-ilb. of coal per horse-power. There are now methods of propulsion available in which tho amount of fuel carried and consumed ia reduced by one-half and the weight of machinery necessary to give the same horse-power is similarly reduced. This means that the amount of power for a given weight of machinery and fuel may be doubled. Tho increase in power will enable a considerable increa.se of speed to b,e obtained and also a reduction of the weight of fuel to be carried in proportion to the reduction of time taken on the voyage. The total gain in «peed due to these two economies alone will be about 40 per cent. With such a change in the economic condition of the method of propulsion, conclusions as to the speed possibilities in Australian trade which did not take these improvements into account must be completely invalidated, and the report of the committee must therefore be looked upon as out of date and useless at tins present time. , FUTURE SUPPLY OF GOLD. Return to the gold standard in a number of countries has naturally increased the demand for gold, but production has not increased. The danger o;E a shortage has recently been discussed by Professor • Gustav Cassel, the Swedish economist, who says that an increasing scarcity of gold must result, on account of the monetary factor alone, in 'a'continuous fail'of prices, while if production of commodities expanded considerably at the same time, the rise in value of gold would become still more marked. As there exists no: automatic machinery for. reducing, costs pari passu with a lowering of prices, a heavy and continuous decline in prices would be disastrous to the economy of the world. Disputes, strikes and depression would be the order of the day. At present the proof that the supply will be insufficient immediately or in the very near future is not conclusive, largely because of tho development of banking and the economising: of the use of gold. During the period I£lso-1910 the aggregate amount of gold increased on an average by 2.8 per cent, in a year, and this increase kept pace with the world's economic development. In the years immediately preceding the war. the annual output of gold was ample, being more than 3 per cent, of the total quantity of gold, but during the war it fell to 1.92 per cent., and in 1924-25 it rose to only 2.25 per cent. In future, the professor fears, the production will not be more than 2 per cent., and it is therefore of the utmost importance, in his opinion, that the, world in general should restrict its demand for gold as far as possible. This can be done by restricting monetary requirements,, by refraining from using gold coin, and by the central banks economising gold by contenting themselves with holdings in. the two big gold centres of the world—namely, London and Now Yorfo DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORT. Commenting on the large expenditure being incurred in England to make good roads, the Manchester Guardian nays that every big suggestion for the improvement of communication in the past, has. been met with the criticism from one quarter or another that it was going to take trade array from that quarter. "We may be very sure that when the rough tracks of our ancestors began to give way to the metalled road, breeders of riding horses saw ifcheir trade ruined," it says,, "As roads improved coachbuilders must have shaken their heads over the longer lease of life given to vehicles. The making of canals hit the roads on one hand and rivers on another. The making of railways was denounced bemuse, among other thingis, it would ruin the inns, because it would stop the cultivation of oats, because cows would cease to graze and hens would i cease to lay. Moreover, canals would be j put out of commission. The motor-car was bitterly opposed because, for one thing, it would be impossible to keep up the supply of horses for the army. Now ! we are being told that the motor-coach ; will ruin the railways and the motor omnibus the trams. There have even been gloomy forecasts of -the eventual rum of shipping by air communication." No doubt the sea will for many years be the chief means of communication between distant countries; it is the iand, not the sea, that divides. But we shall certainly shortly have a remarkable development of passenger air transport; at present flights such as Sir Alan Cobham's recent long journeys are often regarded as " stunts," but soon people will take naturally to flying, as they have to motoring. The vast distances between the various parts of the Empire, the comparative slowness of other transport, trill make flying a necessity, not an occasional and hazardous adventure. The increased pace of modern life demands increased rapidity of transport, for . people as well as for mails, to follow the increased rapidity and ease of communication for news, ideas and thought by means of the telegraph and | wireless. Co-operation between the parts j of the Empire and a joint vigorous life demand quicker communication than that given by steamship and railways. These will for many .years transport merchandise, but passenger transport will shortly be largely through the air.