NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21274, 30 August 1932, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS

CURRENCY AND PRICES So many distinguished correspondents have recently discussed the subject of "increasing the means of payment" that it may be mere impertinence for a layman to inquire whether the barometer really controls the weather; or, in other words, whether currency really rules industry and commerce, says a Times correspondent. Nevertheless, the following facts remain. From February, 1894, to September, 1896, bank rate was 2 per cent; money was dirt cheap; trade was very depressed. But. although the Bank of England was actually embarrassed by the amount of its gold holdings, no one ever suggested that the glut of gold was artificially forcing up prices, for the very simple reason that they obstinately persisted in remaining low. Is there, therefore, any reason to suppose that a ' controlled" expansion of credit at the present time would be any more successful in raising prices elsewhere than it has been | in the United States of America ?

WIRELESS AND THE SUN The total eclipse of the sun which is to be observed in Canada to-morrow is to be made the occasion of an experiment to decide between rival wireless theories. It is now well known, says the wiieless correspondent of the Times, that the two ionised layers in the upper atmosphere, which reflect wireless waves, have their electrification replenished every day by means of solar influence, but the exact nature of the solar stream which is effective is by no means so certain. There is a good deal of evidence which suggests that the upper or Appleton layer is caused by ultra-violet light, but in the case of the lower Kennelly-Heaviside layer it is not yet settled whether ultra-violet light or swiftly moving atoms constitute the agency in question. Professor Appleton stated at a meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society in January that the question of ultra-violet light versus moving particles could be settled by making wireless observations during an eclipse, for the effect of the cutting-off of the ultra-violet light would bo immediate, whereas the eclipse of the hypothetical particles, because of their lower velocity, would not be so closely correlated to optical totality. Professor S. Chapman, the chief exponent of the particle theory, has since shown that, iri consequence of the motions of the moon and the earth, the stream of supposed particles will be interrupted by the moon more than an hour before the ultra-violet light is stopped, so that what may be termed the "particle eclipse" may, in fact, bo over before the "optical eclipse" begins. The "particle eclipse" effects, if they occur, are to be expected in Greenland and Western Europe. If the observers in Canada experience a partial return to night-time conditions round about totality it will show that ultra-violet light is the principal ionising agency; but if, on the other hand, the same kind of effect is observed in Europe about two hours before the totality occurs in Canada, the experiments will decide in favour of the moving partible theory.

ALLIANCES AND THE LEAGUE With the institution of a League of Nations and an international repudiation of war for the enforcement of national policy there should be no further need to uphold the principle of a balance of power, "says Sir Rennell Rodd, ia a letter to the Times. Its placo seems destined to be taken by a new factor as a regulating coefficient in the relations of States, a balance of influence. Such a factor is, I think, already making itself appreciable. Its effectiveness in the society of nations will depend on the authority which particular nations can exercise over the economic conditions of the world, and on the estimate formed by other countries of their stability and their financial and economic integrity. To assume that the spirit of rivalry and mutual mistrust which tradition and sinister experience have created in nations, competing for a position of vantage, will be extinguished by a realisation of the disastrous effects of war is to ignore the lessons of history. That rivalry would indeed appear to have been intensified rather than diminished since the peace, in contrast with the results of a settlement of Europe made 100 years ago. Obviously no one nation can consent to deprive itself of the means of protective defence until all other nations have agreed to disarm proportionately to their geographical and political necessities. Least of all can the British Empire with its world-wide responsibilities, intensely vulnerable by reason of its sea-borne food supply, reduce itself to impotence. But we can progress a long way on the road by the immediate suppression of aggressive armaments, pari passu with other nations, when Ihey give practical evidence of their intention to eliminate war from their political conceptions. With this end in view it is desirable to strengthen the bases of the League of Nations by certain additions and-definitions. Among the most obvious of these must be a recognition that specific alliances among its members are inconsistent with the spirit of a league itself intended to bo a Universal Alliance for definite ends. ... In a world no unit of which can stand in isolation, a new sanction must take the placo of material force, and the factor of stability and credit is going to provide a new coefficient in place of one which implied perpetual unrest and periodical disaster.