THE SKETCHER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3542, 31 January 1922, Page 52

THE SKETCHER.

THE SEAFARERS 1 EDUCATION SERYICE.

I'HK EXCELLENT WORK DONE BN THE ADULT EDUCATION ASSOCIATION FOR MERCANTILE JACK. There has recently come to pass an Interesting development of the Worlld Association for Adult Education. The education of the sailor as such is so new a thing that it was not even mentioned in the voluminous and instructive Report on Adult Education compiled by the Master of Balliol’s Committee. Our neglect of the British Mercantile Marine in the past has been great. Rather than pay British seamen an honest wage we have scoured Asiatic ports to man our British ships with Eastern labour. Indeed, it is true that wages have not been the only trouble. \\ e have housed Mercantile Jack like a dog, and fed him as if he had the digestion of an ostrich. In this manner thousands of gallant fellows have been driven out of this great aervice, so essential to our place in the world. Mercantile Jack proved himself ip the War a hero second to none. All of us recognised what we owed to him; •11 of us saw without this humble hero, who fetched food for us, swept mines out of the path of the (fraud Fleet, and searched the seas for U-boats, we should have been beaten to our knees. Now a change is taking place which should make tile conditions of Mercantile Jack’s life more worthy of his British manhood. Better food, better quarters, better wages, these ave of great importance. But much more significant of the spirit of the age is the betterment in which the steamship ASneas leads the wav. The .Eneas plies between Great Britain, South Africa, and Australia. This fine ship carries with her a library for the crew, a library most carefully selected to meet the educational needs of the ship’s company. What would Captain Marryat have said of such a thing ; and the great Dr Johnson, who thought no one would go to sea who could contrive to get himself clapped into gaol? These reforms show that men are thinking cf Mercantile Jack as a living soul, as a creature who does not live by bread alone, but whose mind asks for nourishment and whose spirit seeks knowledge. This splendid movement is the work of the World Association for Adult Education, which has put itself into communication with other societies working for the benefit of seamen, and already four ships of the Mercantile Marine are equipped with libraries for their crews. Of course, here and there an interested shipowner had provided books for some of the crews, but because the action was isolated, and because the»e was no definite educational plan, the results achieved were not only a hindrance to the extension c.f the practice, but provided a ready argu : merit- against the adoption of the scheme proposed by the Commission of the World Association for Adult Education. This is now known as the Seafarers’ Education Service, and is directed bv a board consisting of representatives of the leading unions, mission societies, and shipowners, together with some experienced workers in the field of adult education. “In conception,” says Mr Albert Mansbridge, Chairman of the World Association for Adult Education, “the scheme was ambitious and made provision for the satisfaction of the seafarer s desire for education, no matter what it was, but in practice, it resolved itself at the outset Into the provision of libraries of an educational nature on ships as part of one great central library for the whole Mercantile Marine, and'utilised not as an end in themselves, but In accordance with an educational purpose. The mere placing of books on board only results in chaos, but if the supply is carefully selected and the volumes are issued in a systematic and svnipathetic manner by a member of the ship's company acting in co operation with the Commission, the invariable result is good and steady reading. The National’ Sailors’ and Firemen's Union the National! Union of Ships' Stewards, Cooks, Butchers, and Bakers gave the first impetus to the scheme by making grants of £IOO each. Their action was followed almost immediately by a grant of £SOO for books bv the Chamber of Shipping of the United Kingdom, and by t-he grant by the Blue Funnel Line of facilities for experiment on five or six passenger liner sailing to Australia and China. Very soon after, the Carnegie United Kingdom Trustees promised a grant of £IOOO for library service, and the White Star, the Orient. Canadian Pacific, Lamport. Holt & Co., and .1. & 11. Welsford lines opened their ships for the libraries. The provision, of books is roughly about two to every man, and about one third of the whole supply is fiction of the finest quality. For the rest, a whole range of possible interests is served. Every suggestion made by the men themselves is considered most carefully, and, if possible, followed up. It is not easy to generalise with regard to the books seamen prefer. Every voyage has peculiarities of its own. On a recent voyage to China there was a strong demand for books of modern poetry. A small group of half a dozen men read everything of that nature which the library provided", and it was no mean supply. On some voyages Shakespeare and Dante have been well read, whilst on one Australian voyage onlv a stewardess turned to the former. Popular science and travel are always in great demand. Professor Turner’s “Voyage Through Space,” Sir Robert Ball’s “Story of the Heavens,” and Professor Keith’s “Human Body” attract many readers. Macaulay’s “History of England, Green’s “Short History of the English People,” have been read on long voyages. From experience it has been found that Mercantile .Tack has his own preferences

as to what hooks he shall read, and these preferences must not be confused with tlioso of the landsmen. Books on the sea, especially those dealing with the heroes of the past, are certainly well read, but it sT-iil remains true, as was said at an opening meeting of the Commission, that sailors like to read about agriculture, gardening, and poultry-farm-ing. Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that sailors are prone to constructing their romances in fields to which they are denied access, just as many a landsman loves to think and read of the sea over which he seldom, if ever, travels. Joseph Conrad is widely read, but, so far aa novels generally are concerned, Dickens and Scott are quite popular. The authors most read, however, are R. L. Stevenson Conan Doyle, and Rider Haggard. The men in charge of the libraries are urged to encourage the formation of study circles. So far there is not much to report in that direction. On the first voyage of the iEneas a study circle set out on its adventures through tho medium of Industrial History, but found more interest and satisfaction in ending them in the region of natural history. Lectures and discussions are arranged, but these depend almost entirely upon the resources of the ship. On the Ceramic, which sailed recently, there were two University class tutors, and their intention was to place themselves at the disposal of the librarian should he need them. Correspondence classes are also offered, and sailors are encouraged to send in any questions wnich they would like answered. An eminent Professor of Astronomy has expressed his willingness to deal with any inquiries in connection with his own subject. It is quite natural to find that sailors are anxious that the cinema should be used on long voyages. Although this was felt to be desirable, it was considered to be most difficult and expensive. Up to the present only one experiment has been tried, a’nd, as might be expected, the result was an unqualified success from every point of view. There are at least 3000 ships which need an efficient education service of the kind already outlined. Those who say that sailors will not take advantage of it are, as a result of the work alreadv carried out, ruled . out of court. It is considered certain that on any ordinary vessel some 50 per cent, of all ratings will read first-class books. Just one other interesting item. A British Industrial Institute of Adult Education has bean founded, with Lord Haldane as president. It is an offshoot of the World Association for Adult Education. The education of democracy is an ideal which demands faith in the far future. The new generation must be fitted for its work of salvage and salvation. We must look 20 years ahead. Mind-planning is more important even than town-planning. The only way to make democracy safe is to educate it after it leaves school. In this aim we can all unite, for all classes need that elixir of life, the knowledge that makes _ good citizens of rich and poor alike.—Priscilla E. Moulder in the World's Work.

MYSTERY OF THE SUN’S HEAT.

The source of the sun’s energy remains unknown in spite of years of speculation by astronomers and physicists. But Dr H. D. Curtis, of Allegheny Observatory, believes that this energy may result from the breaking up of atoms rather than from ordinary chemical and physical processes. The disintegration of radium releases at least 10,000,000 times more energy than is produced by any chemical action known. In the sun there certainly is lead and helium, both of which are radioactive products. The existence of radium has been suspected in the sun. But radium alone is not sufficient as a source of the solar energv, we are told in the Science News Bulletin (Washington). Were the sun composed entirely -of uranium and its radioactive products, the heat involved would be onlv about one-fourth of the actual amount. The writer continues “Astronomers are driven thus to a confession of ignorance; they do not know precisely how the sun’s heat is maintamed. The most probable assumption, and it is largely an assumption as yet, is that there may well be some dissociation in the atoms’of other sorts of matter, similar to that observed in uranium and radium, and that from such stores of subatomic energy comes the greater part of tho sun’s truly prodigal outflow of energy. “Thirty years ago the general belief was that the”heat of the sun was produced by the resistance that matter encountered as it moved gradually inward as the sun contracted through gravitation. “This contraction theory rests solidly on known physical laws and because the amount of tlie contraction needed to produce the required heat is extremely small, only some 20Of't a year, it would take 10.000 years to produce a measurable change, so the theory could not be proved or disproved by observation. “But geologists objected when Kelvin found that bv the contraction theory the sun could not have existed for more than some 18,000,000 years in the past, nor last more than 10.000,000 or so years longer. They considered 10,000,000 years merely as a day in the making of this earth, and they refused to be satisfied with so picayune an allowance of time, for geological development. “This great heat engine has been operating for certainly a billion, and more pro- ’ bably 100 billion years, and is, so far as we can see, giving out constantly almost the same amount of heat. “The temperature of the sun is between 5000 deg and 8000 deg Centigrade, every square yard of the surface emitting energy to the amount of about 75,000 horsepower. There are few terrestrial powerplants which produce as many horse-power-as does a space 3ft square on the surface of the sun. To produce it would require the burning of a layer of coal 20ft thick every hour. The sun is continually emitting'about. half a trillion horse power ; or, to use a less familiar unit, about half a

sextillion horse-power. Most of this seems to be wasted in space ; our earth intercepts about one two-billionth of it, amounting to about one horse power per square yard, if we could use it. Could we utilise all the solar energy falling on an averagesized roof, it would go far toward lighting a modern city. When the day comes of the discovery of some method to extract the greater part of this solar energy, we shall move out of the age of steel and the age of electi’icity into an age of energy . “This tremendous heat energy can not be caused by mere combustion. Were the sun made of solid coal burning in oxygen, it would be black in less than 5000 years. Emden with true Teutoni preciseness, puts it at 2630 years; months, days and hours omitted.”

WHERE THE TRADE WIND BLOWS.

John Bull is making strenuous efforts to put his business house in order. Not too soon. Long before fateful 1914 this old and respected firm had developed the armchair habit. Stocktaking in the export department sagged in the middle, while the senior partner snatched forty winks. Then the Great Drift set in. Ear away, under the Southern Cross, junior members of the firm were doing so well that strangers noticed it. In pre-war days Germany made successful efforts to capture the South Pacific markets. lhe United States was a powerful rival. Hard on their heels panted little Japan. Fritz has practically lost the Australasian trade —for the present. The alert American gripman steps into the breach. To those who have —confidence that they can deliver the goods —-much will be given. From Sydney (N.S.W.) to San Francisco is a run of only 7 twenty day's. Bright shines the moon to-night—on the blue Pacific Slope ! I have wandered from Port Jackson to the borders of Old Mexico. 1 have seen the sun set behind the green velvet verdure of exquisite Pago Pago —America’s Isle of Beauty in the South Seas; and watched the ” shades of evening steal through the palm groves of Honolulu. An Australian abroad, one may return homo poorer in pocket, but infinitely richer m experience. Searching the apparently obvious for the hidden key, the inquisitive Colonial often finds it in the old place—under the front-door mat. It is a platitude to say' that in the United States business comes first. The chastened joys of iced Prohibition follow' on. Should 'the traveller linger in Southern California, he need not seek information. It will be thrust under his nose. Every' American Chamber of Commerce has a genuine live wive Publicity Department. California, to use a colloquial phrase, “spreads itself. ’ The State of Superlatives is the boss bagman of the Union. And, it has the goods. At present it is perfecting a great advertising campaign in the Pacific. Why not? T.et those who have equal ingenuity' and enterprise step forward boldly' as competitors. Part of this propaganda is sugar-coated in photographs almost unrivelled in clarity, and unsurpassed in their artistic treatment of the most commonplace subjects. These are lavishly distributed. Writers and artists passing through are treated with a courtesy that sinks in. The chivalrous kindness of American men to a woman who is travelling alone may be mentioned as incidental. It represents all that is best in life—as I saw it on the Pacific Slope. California produces more than one-fifth of the fruit grown in the United States. The world eats it, fresh or canned. In the south, textile manufacturers are rapidly expanding. Two hundred thousand acres of cotton were planted in 1918-19. Hardwood from Japan, Mexico, and the Philippines pours into southern ports. From the north come vast cargoes of redwood and pine. Perhaps in the not distant future machine-made bungalows, sent away in sections at incredibly moderate prices, will become regular exports to Australasia. Rapidity of output, as everyone knows, more than balances high wages in the United States. If Australia is innoculated with the “go slow” poison, it will have to speed up to catch the right brand of immigrants to save its commercial life. The tortoise is not going to win the South Pacific Stakes. Los Angeles county is the shoe-string state. A long narrow strip of land connects the big city of that name with ; ts port. In 1909 two small harbour-towns, San Pedro and Wilmington, decided to throw in their lot with the city. Then the trade wind began to blow round the heel of Southern California. Farther down the coast San Diego, basking in sunshine and circled by a safe and beautiful harbour, was stirred by' the same breeze. The Panama Canal’ opened up new sea-routes before the war. But not until 1919 did Southern California “get up the wind” in the full meaning of the term, and make specific attacks on Australasian markets. San Pedro Port is a great centre of activity. As the coastal steamer from ’Frisco noses its way round the massive breakwater (one of the finest in the world, about two miles in length) and glides over the glassy waters, the most uncommercial traveller is impressed. In the outer harbour of San Pedro is. possibly, the largest pier on any waterfront in the United States. At one side of it is a eollossal wharf which is served by miles of railway lines and a magnificent paved road. In the middle pier is a vast warehouse, said to be able to swallow a bigger meal —in cargoe—than any other on the Pacific Slope. The inner harbour shows an equally stupendous a-roa of wharves, sheds, and great warehouses. All this is only the beginning—so T was told—of a trade movement that will gain fresh impetus each vear. Southern California hopes to supply Australasia and the Pacific Isles generally with everything the inhabitants of a temperate or tropic, clime require. Its

shipyards, where steel and wooden vessels are being rapidly built (speedy output, remember, is the secret of U.S.A. success], will provide the tonnage. Even tinned tuna, described at San Pedro as “the chicken of the sea,” shows which way the trade wind blows. The. uttermost Australian settler, combing his whiskers at the Back ’o Beyond, may some day open enticing brands of Californian canned food as a regular habit. Why? Because the most fiery Australian patriot often falls bafoie the foreign lure of “Good and cheap.” Fish is a big export from San Pedro. A fish harbour lias been constructed on the ocean side. This has its own breakwater, and is flanked by Terminal Island. Millions of dollars have been melted down into its fish canneries and allied industries. While the British striker goes oil striking, and the stricken .middle-classes stagger under taxation ; when manufacturers fight the “Go slow” organisation, and the unfortunate unemployed (followed, with loud noises, by the unemployable) shiver in the wintry blast—-watch the Pacific Slope. That’s where the trade wind is whistling —like a super-silver-throated canary—for new customers.—M. Cox-Tavlor.

HOW MAUDE ROYDEN BECAME A PREACHER.

By Douglas Slaxikx. I found Miss Royden, who, according to “Who’s Who,’’ celebrated a birthday recently, in her home on the northern heights, a dear old red brick house of 1702. Its simplicity and sincerity are typical of the preacher of the Guildhouse. When you meet Miss Royden you feel yourself in the presence of a prophetess —no Cassandra, but a prophetess of light and hope, who brings us the glad tidings of the revelation of God which is in beauty; of the Heaven on earth which will follow obedience to the Divine law of our being. The eyes are the eyes of a mystic, one who has dreamed dreams and seen visions, but the firmness of the chin and the resolute carriage of the head betoken the quiet power that will make reality out of these dreams. Above all she has the saving grace of humour, the tender gaiety of -a St. I rancis. Her dark eyes are extraordinarily sympathetic, except when they blaze with indignation; and they can dance with merriment as she reads some timeworn “St. Paulism” with which opponents to the ministry of women attempt to confound her. At the City Temple.— “Will you tell me what made you a preacher, Miss Royden?” “An invitation from the famous City Temple came like a bolt from the blue, that I should occupy their pulpit during the interregnum between the departure of the Rev. R. J. Campbell and the arrival of Dr Fort Newton. I was so astonished that I sent a prompt refusal. Mr Dawson, the secretary, then wrote : ‘Do see me at any rate before you give a definite refusal.’ I did see him, and he overpersuaded me.” She preached four times in that interval, and when Dr Fort Newton came she was invited to occupy the pulpit once a week. Dr Newton accepted the call on condition that he should not preach more than twice a week. R. J. Campbell had broken down under the strain of preriching the three weekly sermons, so it was agreed that Dr Fort Newton should preach oil the Thursdays and Sunday mornings, leaving the Sunday evenings to Miss Royden as the regular preacher. In her formal acceptance of the appointment she put it into writing that she wished it to be understood that she was an Anglican, and had no intention whatever of becoming a Gongregationalist. The first time she preached at the City Temple was, as a matter of fact, the" first time that she had been present at a Non-conformist service. She felt it was asking a great deal of them, so she began by refusing. When they urged her further, she asked the advice of several Anglican clergymen, including a Bishop. They all, with one accord, advised her to agree, though the Bishop stipulated that his name should not be used. —An Oxford Incident.— When Miss Royden is preaching for a movement she makes it. a general rule now not to preach one sermon by itself. She holds her services for three days, because on the first she “puts people’s backs up.” And she always conducts them if possible in a secular hall, because then she gets many hearers who would never go into a. church of a rival sect. “If you ask what started my public career,” she said, “it was perhaps when J was asked to speak before the Uni"versitv of Oxford—my old university—on ‘Purity.’ This was my first landmark, my first stepping-stone out of a little suffrage circle. Canon Scott Holland was in the chair, and there were 1200 male under era dilates present. It was the firsttime for 30 years that the university had been addressed by a woman ; and now in the fullness of time I have again been incited to address Oxford on the subject of sex: only this time there will be women among my audience, which marks a tremendous stride. Then it seemed a wonderful thing for a woman to address the university of Oxford, though it was an audience of men only: now it is nothing to be asked to address ‘an Oxford of men and women mixed.’ At my first- address there was a committee formed of Canon Scott Holland and the presidents of ’Varsity cricket, Doating, Rugby and Association football; every one of them took me aside and told liie what T was not to say!” —“Sex and Common Sense.” — Miss Royden was at the Ladies' College, Cheltham, one of the most distinguished pupils of that greatest ,of women educationists, Dorothea Beale; and at Lady Margaret Hall, oxford. She took brilliant honours at both.

“May T ask you, Miss Royden, wliat led your preaching the course of sermons which are published in your ‘Sex and Common Sense’ ?” “The innumerable letters and xequests which I received on the subject. Reusing ton Town Hall, where I delivered them, was crowded to suffocation on each oc casion, not with prurient-minded people, but earnest inquirers.”