CURRRENT TOPICS

Southland Times, Issue 17627, 16 April 1914, Page 4

CURRRENT TOPICS

LIFE IN SIBERIA. An account of the voyage made last year by the Norwegian steamship Correct to the mouth of the Yenisei, Siberia, was read by Mr Jonas Lied, managing director of the company owning the boat, at a recent meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, over which Karl Curzon presided. Mr Lied spoke of the conditions of life in Siberia, which were not so primitive as was sometimes imagined. For instance, at Krasnojarsh, on the Tencsci. there were four or five cinema halls, and, at the theatre, evening dress was Insisted upon. Then, when the ship was off White Island, some Samoyedo hunters were induced to board her. 'and were shown round. A gramophone was turned on, but the only one of the party who understood Russian waved it aside contemptuously, remarking, "That’s nothing’. In Obdorsk there is one which shouts much louder.” Dealing with the articles of trade in the heart of the country. the lecturer showed a photograph of the wild maral deer, kept in captivitc for me sake of its horns, which are cut every year, and sent to China to he used in /the preparation of an " elixir of life.” The. horns fetch about 40s a pound, and a deer in captivity Is worth about £SO. j3j* Hansen went as a passenger in the Correct, and in a paper which was read by Mr Lied said that the accounts of the many voyages to and through the Kara, Sea showed how seldom the ice conditions were such as to make the. paasaga

>«ry t&licait if the right season were *cho«en ; but it was also clear that the distribution and quantity of Ice In summer autumn might vary very greatly from one year to another. Baron Heykiag, the Russian Consul-General, pointed out that It was difficult to overrate the Importance of linking up Northern Siberia with the rest of the world by way of the Kara Sea. for the country' «ould provide Britain with any amount of foodstuffs, timber, and dairy product. . MOTOR CARS IN AMERICA. ~ At least 1000 establishments in the United States were engaged in the manufacture of automobiles during 1013. and their output was estimated at a Value of approximately £100,000.000 in the aggregate. The. number of workers employed in the business is set down »t 100.000. It has been estimated unofficially that since 1902 the motor makers of the country mentioned have turned out no fewer than 1.765,000 cars of Various patterns, although a more conservative computation makes the total only 1,543,000 cars, whilst it is claimed that theft are at present in service Shout 3,955.000 vehicles. New York is said to have approximately 135,000 motor ■ears on its roads, that being less than per 100 of its population, whilst California. with 113.000 has nearly live machines to every 100. It is reckoned that during the period from January to the end of September last 20.953 motor ears, representing a value of about £4,260.371. were shipped from the United States to oversea destinations, those figures comparing with lS.4o6»cars. worth £3.650.460. exported in 1912. and 11.24*. of an aggregate value of £2.313,00.. in 1»11. Canada last year retained the position she had previously held as the best outside customer of the motor builders of the. United States, taking in the 1913 term 5250 machines : the United Kingdom ranking next, with 3900 cars. The average value of the cars exported during the latest period under review works out at about £213 each, whereas that of the cars imported is staled at £5Ol each. The growth of the motor manufacturing industry in the United States is further indicated by the fact that whilst only 15.000 vehicles were turned out in 1902. the total in 191.. was approximately 500.000.