CURRENT TOPICS.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 24, Issue 17, 4 March 1913, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

The London “Field” writes thus of Australasian tennis in Lawn the event of New Zealand Tennis standing out from Australia in future Davis Cup contests: “There is just the possibility that before the last day lor receiving challenges arrives New Zealand may decide on a friendly separation from Australia. As an independent country the Dominion may send an independent challenge. Now claiming one or two candidates for International distinction, notably Mr C. Ollivier, its present _ champion, the New Zealand L.T.A. is naturally anxious to develop this talent on fruitful soil; but whether the alliance was the Commonwealth —an alliance which won the Davis Cup in 1907 and retained it the two following years—is to be broken before next March nothing definite is yet known. If it is severed both Colonies must necessarily weaken their immediate prospects of success, for the 1 present champion (where the winning of two singles is concerned) is nearly as valuable to Australia as to New Zealand.” All right. We should be glad to see New Zealand strong enough to enter the lists on their own, and they would have had their innings ol the Davis Cup, and may not wish to wait for another. We have done our share. Ollivier has proved himself able to extend the Englishmen, and is very young. A season or two will greatly improve him, so that he will be as good as his admirers belive him to be. He is keen and has improved greatly in the last six months. All the same, I fancy Wilding will see the advisability of attacking the fortress with Brookes by his side. Having regained the Cup (if they can), it would be a more opportune time to separate, if that is really advisable.

The gifts of American millionaires during the year for Gifts of charitable purposes American have been upon a Millionaires generous scale. According to Jigures published in New York, they gave about £65,-1:00,000 for educational, religious, social, and scientific work, besides pure charity. Mr Fierpoint Morgan heads the list. He is credited with £10,000,000, the estimated value of art treasures given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York. Then come Mr Carnegie with £2,000,000. and the Bell Telephone Company with £2,000,000. The latter represents the gift by the company towards the pension fund for employees who have been in its services for more than a year. Mrs Robert Carson gave away £1,000,000, and Captain John Martin £OOO,OOO. Mr R A. B. Widener is credited with £BOO,000, Mr John D. Rockefeller gave £600,000, Mr Richard I. Crane £400,000, Mr and Mrs Thomas F. Ryan £400,000, Mr Henry F. Dimock £350,000, and Mrs Caroline Neustadter £350,000. Twenty persons, including Mrs Russell Sage and Mrs Eli Harriman, each gave £200,000. In 1010 Mr John Rockefeller’s gifts totalled £3,500,000 ; in 1011 they were about £1,000,000. Mi- Rockefeller’s donations to deserving causes during some years past aggregated £40,000,000, and were exceeded only by those of Mr Carnegie. Mr Rockefeller has given more than £24,000,000 to education alone, and over £8,000,000 for medical research. Mr Carnegie’s gifts £2,000,000, for 1012, take no count of the fact that he announced recently that his entire fortune, except £5,000,000, will be transferred to the Carnegie Corporation, New York.

The decision of the White Star Line to equip the Olympic to bum partly oil fuel, was due to the problem with which they are faced of how to utilise the three feet of space between the outer and inner shells ; a matter of 7500 tons cubic measurement, in the new Britannic. This decision marks a momentous departure in the history of transatlantic traffic; for it means that the possibilities of oil fuel, as a substitute for coal, in, the propelling of the giant liners of to-day, has at last been realised. It has, therefore, been decided to utilise the 3ft of space in the inner shell in the forward and after hunkers for "ho storage of oil to ha used in one of the boilers, for which purpose all provision is being made in

The New Olympic

the way of pipes, etc. Assuming that the Olympic will be ready for sea again at the end of March, there will be at least three months for extensive experiments with the oil fuel before the question of type of boilers for the new Britannic requires to be definitely settled. Already tentative steps have been taken to utilise the whole of the 3ft of space in the Britannic for the storage of oil. By using all that space on the vessel now being built she will bo able to carry sufficient oil, with a good margin, for the voyage, so that the enormous amount of room now being used by the coal bunkers would be saved. Moreover, on the Britannic there will be a good deal more space than in the Olympic. This is due to the fact that the frames in the new ship are being placed in position simultaneously and with no obstruction, the plates being fixed at intervals for the supports. This is a contrast to the Olympic, where the decks run into the outer shell and waterways.