HERE AND THERE

Otago Witness, Issue 3292, 18 April 1917, Page 55

HERE AND THERE

A Civilian Army of Night Ploughers. — "We want 2000 American tractor ploughs for the use of a civilian army of night ploughers which we are about to enlist throughout the British Isles," said Sir Arthur Lee, District-general of Food Production, to the Associated Press recently. This new department, which is the outgrowth of Germany's submarine campaign, aims at the enlistment of several hundred thousand civilians to tivate every available bit of soil. "We hope to make the tractor ploughs fill the gaps caused by the shortage of labour, continued Sir Arthur. "For this reason we are going to import 2000, or as many as we can from America. We are going to equip them with headlights for night ploughing. Labourers can work on eight hours, but tractors can work 24 hours. They will be driven by taxicab drivers, and chauffeurs, who wiil he able to learn their mechanism in a few hours. Behind every plough will be a skilled farmer. They will be assisted by prisoners, conscientious objectors, members of the home defence forces, and women. In this way we hope to produce enough food to make us independent of outside help as long as the war lasts. We do not believe we will be able to produce sufficient to feed the population in time of peace, but are confident we will be able to grow enough to stave off starvation during the war. For this we thank the German submarines. They already have given England an agricultural -policy which is destined to make lis to a large extent self-supporting. The submarines also have revived rural life, giving the farmers a minimum wage, and generally making our national defence more effective than a thousand speeches in Parliament." How Ships Sink. — Nearly every class or design of vessel sinks in a particular way. For instance, the old type of single-bottom steamer, with few or no bulkheads —that is, in the modern sense of the term —almost invariably founders on more or less of an even • keel, which means that they sink level, and not with their bow or stern up in the air. This is accounted for by the fact that at whatever point the water may enter, it practically finds its own level, as there are no sub-divisions to obstruct it. Now, in the case of a modern vessel, which is built with numerous subdivisions, it invariably happens that she founders with her bow or stern high out of the water; or else she sinks with a heavy list, or cant, to one side or the other. The reason for this is that the bulkheads prevent the water which enters the vessel ' from finding its level; consequently^when one particular portion of the ship is full of water while the remainder is practically water-tight, that part which is waterladen sinks first, owing to its greater weight. It is for this reason that such terrible loss of life frequently occurs in - modern shipwrecks. Owing to the uneven sinking, it is often found impossible to lower the majority- of the lifeboats, as they would fail to reach the water. Wastefulness of Gold Currency.:— Among the many things which it has been found easy to do without gold currency for internal purposes occupies a prominent place. It is quite possible that the experience thus gained may lead to permanent changes, and gold figure less prominently in future as a form of currency. The cost of making good the loss of weight through abrasion during the circulation of gold coin has hitherto been considerable. The Mint reports that it cost the State alone since March 16, 1892, nearly £1,000,000 in actual gold to replace the metal lost. To this must be added the cost of recoinage and the incidental expenses connected with withdrawal. A further loss —difficult to estimate, but certainly extremely .large—has fallen upon the public. The cost of printing and issuing notes of a like nominal value can be but a fraction of the total expense involved by the abrasion of gold coin in the course of circulation.— The German Emperor's Investments. — The suggestion that the German Emperor is personally displeased at the prospect of an open conflict with the United States because of his financial holdings in that country has more foundation than is usually to be found in support of such statements. If the full extent of his personal commercial activities were revealed they would be found to be very large and remarkably diversified; for he is a good business man, with a shrewd eye to the main chance. It is an open secret that he is largely interested in the Hamburg A merika Line •—hence his friendship with Herr Ballin, — and his holdings were fixed before the war at something in the neighbourhood of £600,000. Like other European rulers, he has been attracted by the tremendous development of the United States and Canada in recent years. Through his agents (for his own name is discreetly withheld) he is the holder of a great deal of real estate and house property in the States, and he is believed to own much undeveloped mineral-bearing land in the Dominion. Ploughing by Dynamite.— Ploughing by dynamite is being carried on very successfully in America. The famous Dupont Company, probably the biggest manufacturers of explosives in. the world, has invented a system which enables the farmer to till virgin land by means of specially-prepared low-power dynamite cartridges, which are placed at intervals of 10 yards. . The dynamite makes a regular furrow, similar to that made by a plough, and the depth can be graded as required. The explosion is so delicate that farm.har.d3 who are drilling the hole for the second cartridge are not injured by the explosion of the first, 10 yards back. Slumps of trees are readily removed, and during peace time the eystem is recommended for the construe-

tion of bunkers and undulating greens on golf courses. United States Forces. — The United States is the world's third largest naval Power. Her principal warships are: First-class battleships 42 Armoured cruisers .. . - .. • • 10 First-class cruisers 5 Second-class cruisers 4 ,-*, Third-class cruisers 16 Although the standing American army is a small one, the country has an enormous reserve to draw upon. The following are recent statistics : Regular army 108,904 Militia 132,208 Hospital corps 4,012 Quartermaster corps .. .. 6,000 Total 246,124