One Hundred Years Hence

Southland Times, Issue 25306, 8 June 1935, Page 18

One Hundred Years Hence

—First Prize.— “But the idea is impossible!” I exclaimed gazing at the doctor aggres-

sivelv. “Not at all, my dear Logden,” he replied, “not at all. Once under t e influence of these rays, you are able to see this world as it will be, from any time between eighty and one hundred and fifty years hence. It you are not afraid, I shall experiment on you.” , ~ I considered, and then, not for a moment believing his statement held any truth, said, “Well do your worst, Graeme. lam ready. He smiled at me, and after much adjustment and testing, fixed the face of his queer little box towards me. I saw him twist a knoh and felt some strange intangible change come over me. Then my brain cleared and I gazed around me Not ten yards from me stood a man dressed in some light suit made from what appeared to be some very fragile silk. He turned and came towards me. "Who are you?” he demanded, his eyes taking in every detail of my appearance. , . „ „ “John Logden,” I replied, “I have a chemist’s shop m George Street. “George Street?” he queried. “The only George Street I have heard oi was destroyed away back in 1980.” “1980?” I repeated faintly. “What year is it now?” “He looked at me strangely, “2036,” he answered. T . u i.Then I decided to take this man into my confidence and I tola him my story, which, I am sure, he only half believed. However, he said he would show me the city. First of all he led me to his home, a flat square building with a perfectly smooth roof on which rested an aeroplane. I saw, on looking round me, that all the other houses were the same. I followed him inside and discovered that all the furniture was made of unbreakable glass—very clean, labour-saving an'd serviceable. The walls themselves were made of a hard black substance called “brikole, evidently some new discovery. In the corner of one room I spied what I knew at once to be a television set. My host showed me how fo work it and for half an hour I watched a concert from New York. I was introduced to my friend’s wife, a clear complexioned lady with two fat pigtails down her back. Her dress, too, was of this fine silky c '“th and she looked so cool and calm, that I began to realize I was uncomfortably hot and out of place. My friend soon enlightened me Scientists, he said, had discovered how to keep the sun’s rays directed towards the earth even at night, thus keeping the temperature always warm.. His suit was made of “puffsilk,” woven from the puff balls from dandelions. I felt completely dazed! Then I followed my friend up a ladder on to the roof and we entered the aeroplane. The plane swept gracefully into the air and alighted on top of a draper’s shop. One thing that warmed my heart was the sight of the Post Office, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1935. It was now used as a store-room for oil and other commodities. A new and handsome Town Hall had been recently erected and I noticed that its very ornate clock pointed to 12.30 p.m. I felt very hungry and my mind turned towards food. What delicacies, I wondered, had been concocted in one hundred years. My friend put his hand into his pocket and drew out a small white packet and quickly disposed of the greenish powder it contained. He directed me to do the same. That, he said, handing me another packet, would do for two more meals. So this was the result of man’s brain! Motor cars and food were gone forever! A new invention was about to be completed whereby one sat in a specially constructed chair and was swung across on wires to Australia in five minutes. How I longed to be back in 1935! Who, I wondered, was on the throne? Perhaps we were a republic! But before I could ask I felt a dimly familiar sensation and I found myself once more hack in the doctor’s private study. “You do not doubt me now, I hope,” he said in answer to my questioning face “My invention, however, is not completed, for the effect of the rays wears off too soon. Until I can regulate a definite space of time, my secret cannot be given to the world.” He locked the box away and we have not mentioned the matter since. Perhaps one day, who knows? -2/- to Cousin Joan Holmes (14), 78 Albany Street, Dimedin, N.I. —Second Prize.— Not satisfied with experiences which are and have been, we seek those that are not. In one hundred years’ time one will be a neighbour to the whole human race. This will be made possible by an instrument like a telephone. Television will be used here. One will talk through a microphone and will be answered through a speaker, something like the speaker on the wireless, but not loud enough for the other people in the room to hear. By television one will be able to see the person and what he is doing quite plainly. The wireless will be wonderful in the future. ‘ Take, for instance, a wrestling match which is being broadcast. Press a button and one will feel as if one is in the wrestling theatre itself. There again television will be used. The wrestlers will be seen as if they were real. No static and power leaks will be heard. When one wants to travel to town fifty miles away, ring a bell and an aeroplane will be on the spot in a minute. One jumps into the ’plane, but it is a different ’plane from the one used to-day. It is just a modern hotel. For long distance journeys up to 20,000 miles the ’plane has bedrooms, bathrooms, dining rooms, sitting-rooms, kitchens and everything one would expect to see in a modern hotel. In the wings the rooms will be placed; this shows how big a ’plane will be. The biggest of ’planes will have up to thirty propellers and weight about eighty tons, that is, fully loaded. Electricity will be a great help in the future. The floors will be swept by electricity. Clothes will be washed and cleaned by electricity, even the dwellings will be made and erected by it. No food will be cooked in the future. One will buy a pill and eat one for each meal. Scientists will become so expert that they will be able to put all the good foods of to-day into a small pill. Ships, cars and bicycles will then be things of the past. Science, it is said, will never die; not until the end of the world —l/- to Cousin John McLeay (12), Seaward Downs. —Second Prize.— One night Fairy Violet came in my window after I was in bed, and said if I got up quickly she would take me for a ride on a moonbeam to see a wonderful hall. I did not wait a minute but jumped up and dressed myself and went with her. When we got to the window there was the rainbow right at the sill. Away we went as quick as could be. Soon we arrived at a wonderful castle, all lit with electric light from the stars. It had a big sign at the door which read: “What the World will be Like in a Hundred Years.” When we got inside the door I sat on a chair. It whisked across the floor, and gave me such a fright. It stopped at a table, and a sign read: “Push a button at whatever you want to eat.” I thought I would like “icecream.” I pressed .that button, and out popped ice cream from below the button. I ate that and Fairy Violet said, “Press the other one,” and a tray came out. I popped the dish on it, and away it went. Then we sat on our chairs, and away we went to the kitchen. The dish was being washed by electricity, and an electric fan dried it. After that we went outside and saw in a big shed aeroplanes for everyone, wee ones for kiddies and big ones for grown-ups. Fairy Violet said, “There will be no motor cars in a hundred years.” Then we came to a big room where a great many doctors were looking sick. They said, “We will have to find some other work to do as we have found a cure for everything, and no one would want us in a hundred years.” But Fairy Violet said, “Never mind, you won’t be here, anyway, in a hundred years.” * Then we went to another room where everyone was very busy, inventing new things. We asked them what they were doing. They said, “We are getting new machines for making good things out of what we waste now.” There would be no one out of work in a hundred years and no unemployed. Then Fairy Violet said we had better go home as it was near morning, and away I went, wishing I could live and see all that happens in a hundred years. —l/- to Cousin Dulcie Lewis (10), c/o Kilkelly Bros., Otautau R.D.

—Commended— Can anyone possibly imagine what this world will be like in a hundred year’s time? Things will certainly have changed, and progressed. However let our minds wander back to ancient times, when crude aeroplanes were invented. Now, if we look up into the sky to-day, we see a powerful monster gliding in the blue. We cannot visualize what the coming years may bring. In the twenty-five years, in which King George V. has reigned, great strides have been made in the world, due to tfye good king we have. A wonderful thing which will come in approximately ten years is television. If these wonderful occurances can take place what of the future? There may be many changes. However, although we may not be surviving; we can understand what it will be like. —2 marks to Cousin Dorothy Williams (8), 204 Spey street. —Commended— What will this world be like then? Will New Zealand have skyscrapers like New York, or will it be burnt to the ground, or will it be like it is now? Will it be prosperous or still living in depression. How many wars will there be, a hundred years hence. Often these questions pass through our minds. These questions are all trifles, but the greatest is this, will there still be a “Little Southlanders” Page a hundred years hence? . I’m sure we all hope that in a hundred years time when we have all gone to eternal rest, that the “page” is still flourishing, but that they’ll remember the cousins who have passed. —2 marks to Cousin Lilian Todd (15), Toa P.O. —Commended — In one hundred years time many wonderful changes will have taken place. Probably in the 21st. century, horses will be out-of-date and will not be seen in the paddocks or on the roads working. Machinery will have taken their place. _ Tractors will be used on the farms for doing all the work which was once completed by the faithful horses. Stylish cars will take the place of the gigs

which were drawn by the horses of olden days. All the heavy carting will be done by lorries instead of being done by horse-power vehicles. The conveyance of passengers will be done by the then latest models of new cars. Mails will be carried by aeroplane to many distant post offices all over the world. The wireless and telephone will be introduced into many homes, the telephones being used for the purpose of ordering wares from the shops. When you wanted to go shopping, any day, it would not matter whether it was snowing or not. You will be able to see your purchases before you buy, without going to the shop or even without anyone calling. It is done by television. All you will need to do is to lift the receiver off the telephone and ring the exchange and ask for your grocer’s number and when you get connected ask him to display his goods where you can see them and then you can order what you want. People who have means will employ mechanically worked robots to do the work for them. The people will have to be highly educated so that they will be able to fill in their leisure time. The use of robot will cause the electric power to be inserted into more people’s homes. We all realize how easy life would be if all these things came true and also wish that our descendants will benefit by these wonderful inventions. —2 marks to Cousin Margaret Blatch (13), Gore-Ferndale R.D. —Commended— A hundred years hence, I trust that the depression will be over and the world will be prosperous. Everything will begin and live again. It will be as the spring time of a new century. The science of the world will be further advanced, and travel, by air, will be very common; and still the science of the world will expand and send forth new shoots in every sense of the word, like the flowers which grow in the springtime; and new discoveries and inventions will be made in this hew century, formed from the old.

Science and discoveries will have reached a greater height than has yet been attained. I think that the motor car will have gone out of demand, for new modes of travel will have been discovered. It is to be hoped that the next century will be better for everyone than the one in which we live. New flowers and trees will be cultivated, and there will be new methods of working and cultivating them. Everything will be advancing and reaching a state of perfection which cannot be reached without a great deal of labour and perseverance. —2 marks to Cousin Isobel McKenzie (13), Dipton. —Commended— Can anyone imagine what the world and the styles will be like, a hundred years from now? This is 1935, and a hundred years from now will be 2035. My imagination indicates, that children will be coming to school in aeroplanes, for a French inventor has made an aeroplane that can run at a penny a mile. They will also take the Mace of motor cars. Think of the fashions in clothes! Long hair is coming into fashion again, and the old-fashioned drosses.

Television is coming into use. Don’t vou think it will be wonderful—besides listening into the wireless you will be able to see who is performing. —2 marks to Cousin Daphne Jones (14), 52 McMaster street.

—Commended — What will happen in 2035? There will be no motor cars, and even the latest streamlined cars will be out of fashion. Instead of taxis, little autogyros will be flying about. And the telephone? That must not be missed. We will be able to see who we . are speaking to!. The printing-machines are also changed; they work by themselves. There is no limit to men s inventions.

—2 marks to Cousin Albert Moore (9), 231 Gala street.