TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Southland Times, Issue 19634, 30 September 1922, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Discussing the influence of the “new rich,” who are invading the country and are displacing our ancient “squirearchy,” the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, in a letter to the London Times, observes that when the Barbarians from the North overwhelmed Gaul, Italy and Spain, it appeared as though they hail obliterated the civilisation of the Roman world. This was, however, as the event proved for a time only; and the down-trodden culture recovered, influenced, softened, and humanised the over-mastering Barbarian, while simultaneously the latter imparted to the natives of the old world an unwonted virility that was vastly needed.

“Again, we contemplate a Barbarian invasion, but we may hope that in time these men of the profiteering class, “moneybugs,” as the Americans call them, may be acted upon and humanised by the population on the land —of the country, not of the towns. But. if they are to obtain recognition and to exert influence, they must acquire the respect of our agricultural classes, the yoeman, the farmer, and the working man. This will not be accorded to the new man who has bought the old acres and the vacated manor house, if he spends his wealth, in gaming, in. lavish and ostentatious extravagance, in tearing aimlessly over the country in his car; but. by seeking to know the people under him, by the exhibition of a good life, by sympathy, and by modesty of manner. Confidence will not be readily accepted, but it can be won, and won it will be if the new Barbarian will Lay aside alj “uppishness” and show a kindly heart. And if the new Barbarian will submit, to learn from the men of the soil—then, indeed, we. need not fear but that a good day will dawn in dear old England, in spite of present fears, caused by the unprepossessing manners of the new Hun and Vandal.”

The new' transmitting station which the British Government proposes to rett at Bourne, near Spalding, Lincolnshire, for direct wireless communication with India, Africa, and Austria, and later with

Canada and other parte of the Empire, will surpass in magnitude anything of the kind hitherto constructed in England. While it will not equal in actual size the new French station at Saint-Assise (near the Forest of Fontainebleau), the varying functions of the respective stations have to be borne in mind, says the London Tinies, the one being for general and commercial purposes, the other primarily for official purposes. There will, be, at thfe English station, eight steel masts, each 800 ft high (more than twice the height of St Paul's), These masts support the antennae, and constitute the most costly item of a wireless station. The maste will be arranged in the form of a square, iu the centre of which the transmitting station will be situated. The apparatus will consist of thermionic valve s»ete capable of transmitting continuously at 90 words a minute for reception in Poona, Johannesburg, or Perth, as the case may be. The new receiving station at Banbury, which will represent the other terminal of the Imperial chain, will be built bn similar lines to the station already in existence there in connection with the Lea-field-Abu Zabal (Egypt) link of the chain. In general, it will comprise a central plot, 250yds, by 50yds, for the operating building, and two other plots, 220yds square, on each side of the operating building, and about 550yds removed from it, on each of which will be erected a mast 300 ft high.