NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21396, 20 October 1934, Page 12

NOTES AND COMMENTS

TRAVEL BY AIR "In the recent growth of traffic on Imperial Airways routes a striking feature has been the increasing number of business men not only in London, but also in the provinces, who are making regular use of the services to the Continent, and are also in many cases taking advantage of the very substantial savings of time to be effected by using the Empire services both for intermediate journeys and for those between terminal points," sayo the Air Minister's report on civil aviation. "It has frequently been found possible to accomplish in a few hours by air journeys which would occupy days by any other means —for example, a passenger who had to pay calls 011 clients in Palestine, Egypt, Irak, Uganda, Tanganyika, Rhodesia and South Africa was actually enabled to complete his business in SO days, as compared with the 180 days which would have been required had ho used the ordinary means of transport. Another aspect of progress during the year was the growing popularity of the catering service, which is now made use of by 95 per cent of Imperial Airways' passengers. During tho summer about 1000 five or six course meals were served a week on the London-Continental services."

SCIENCE AND HUMANITY "Is not the time fast approaching when science should abandon something of that severe spirit of isolation which keeps it aloof from moral inquiries and still confines it to the austere analysis of natural events?" said the Bishop of Carlisle in a sermon in Aberdeen during the conference of the British Association. "Is it, for example, to remain content with the provision of antidotes to poisons which it has itself created, to meet the menace from the air only by more skilfully constructed methods of defence? Or is it to come down into the arena where men strive *and groan to free themselves from perils that are not natural, but are perversions of the authentic human spirit? I do not believe that by prayers and supplication alone men can wholly free themselves from those moral diseases which paralyse our economic and social life. These need for their cure the bold and skilful analysis of the scientific mind, and they are equally ready with the diseases of the body for the surgeon's knife. The greatest triumphs of art and literature have been won when men have taken for their subject-matter not the external happenings of existence but the inner tragedies of the human spirit. May not a similar victory be won by science when, as I hope it will, it regards not only truth but justice and liberty as equally relevant to its grjeat concerns? Certain it is for all men that where these great needs are not secured there will be little room for science, and truth will hide its head. But let men seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto them." OPEN-AIR CULT Are we on the way to becoming an : open-air people? says the Times. The j question presents itself inevitably as ! one moves about the country, or even j about the streets and open spaces of I the towns. This year has seen a record display of hatless heads, stockingless ! legs, bare arms and shoulders, and j sunburn of every degree of intensity, j The unusually fine summer is, of course, ! responsible for much. But less fickle j causes are at work, too. The revival j of pedal-cycling, the vogue of "hiking," J the growing' volume of motor-cars of every shape and size, all give more frequent occasion and inspire greater desire to be out of doors and to take meals in the open air. Day-long attendance at big cricket matches, pivoting on a sandwich lunch eaten on the spot, is an influence in the same direction. The mushroom growth of "road houses" and the eruption of private and public swimming-pools bear witness to the new spirit. Even in London streets little cafes and tea-shops increasingly favour the open front, though their chairs and tables are still rather shy of the actual pavement. And now an eminent schoolmaster comes to give the blessing of theory to a growing practice. He puts health and physical fitness as the first need of education. Physical education, he says, should be made a main subject, with a competent doctor and a physical expert in every school. It looks as if we shall presently find ourselves a sun-browned nation of Greek perfection of form. Our unpredictable climate may yet have a good deal to say about it. In the meantime, let all of us whom age and circumstance do not forbid seek the healthy body by the open-air route with might and j main.

FIGHTING THE LOCUST At the International Locust Conference,in London, Professor J. C. Faure, of South Africa, described how aeroplanes were used to deal with the swarms of red locusts that invaded tho Union this year—the first invasion for about 20 years. It was found that the locusts at night settled on trees and, therefore, offered a good target for sprayed dust. The dust was sprayed at the rate of 8 to 10 pounds an acre. Encouraging results were obtained with a large machine in Zululand. Exact figures of mortality were difficult to obtain because many of the locusts after being sprayed flow,away into the bush or over an adjacent hill, but it seemed to him that there were ample grounds for stating that a very large proportion of the locust* were definitely killed by this method. No standard method had yet been evolved. The red locusts invaded the Union from neighbouring territories, and if the borders of the Union could be patrolled by aeroplanes it would give them an advantage in their attempts to destroy the swarms. There was reason to hope that tho method would not bo expensive, and it would certainly bo more effective than tho method of hand-spraying at present in force. As they looked to the future they hoped it would be possible to deal with locust swarms before they became dangerous. When in wild* or thinlypopulated country any suitable area that could be cleared easily might bo used as a temporary aerodrome to which large aeroplanes could bring supplies of dust and petrol. Light aeroplanes, which were capable of dealing with smaller swarms, could also bo used for scouting purposes. There were some dangers to stock and human beings in using poison dust, but when used by disciplined men from aeroplanes the risks were obviously less than when used by large numbers of labourers and fanners employing manual methods, j