THE WEATHER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 520, 24 November 1928, Page 2

THE WEATHER

TO-DAY’S OBSERVATIONS Meteorological observations taken at the Albert Park Observatory at 9 a.m., to-day by the Government Observer: — Barometer, 30.021 in. Air temperature at 9 a.m., 66deg. Temperature in shade yesterday: Maximum, TOdegr.: minimum. 57deg.; maximum temperature in sun, 143 deg. Bright sunshine yesterday, lOhr 40min. Minimum temperature on grass, 53deg. Direction of wind at 9 a.m., S. Velocity wind previous 24 hours, 105 miles. Rainfall during previous 24 hours, nil. Rainfall to date this month, .73in. Average for November, 3.20 in.

NORTH ISLAND CONDITIONS

Weather estimated as:—B, blue sky, be the atmosphere clear or heavy; C, clouds, passing clouds: D, drizzling rain W. foggy; G, gloomy, dark weather; H. hall; t*. lightning; M, misty; O, overcast, the whole sky covered with thick clouds; P, passing showers; Q, squally; R, rain, continued rain; S, snow; T, thunder; U. ugly threatening appearance: Z. has*

WAI PA H I FOR AUCKLAND.—The Union Company’s steamer Waipahi was to leave Westport at eight o’clock this morning for Auckland. She is scheduled to sail from here on Thursday next for Suva to load for Auckland. THE GOLDEN HARVEST.—Following the Ocean and Oriental Navigation Company’s Golden Cloud, which is due at Auckland with cargo from Pacific Coast ports next Tuesday, the company’s steamer Golden Harvest is to sail from Los Angeles on December 1 for Auckland. Wellington and Lyttelton. She is due at Auckland on December 27. SUBMERGED DAM FOR MONTREAL HARBOUR. —In order to maintain tbe water level in Atontreal Harbour, which has been adversely affected l>y the diversion caused by the Chicago drainage canal, the Alontreal Harbour Commission has decided to build a submerged dam near Sorel, and has awarded the contract to a firm of local contractors. The dam, which will be built of stone on two sides of the river, and will leave open a central 35ft channel, will hold back enough water to keep a satisfactory harbour level during the navigation season. LARGEST SILVER BELL IN WORLD, —When H.M.S. Nelson returned to her native river, the Tyne, recently. In the Town Hall, Newcastle, the ceremony was performed of presenting to the battleship a silver bell, which had been subscribed for by dwellers on Tyneside in commemoration of the building of the ship at the naval yard at Walker-on-Tyne. This is believed to be the largest silver bell ever cast—over 7,9000 z of silver were used in the casting, and the actual weight of the casting was 4,1400 z troy, or 23cwt, and tjie actual weight of the bell is 2,7490 z, or ljcwt. THE E. R. STERLING. An interesting arrival in the Wear is the sailing ship E. R. Stirling, which is to be broken up after an adventurous career of 45 years. The last voyage of the vessel from Australia lasted 11 months, and she was towed the last 4,000 miles to London. She carries 6,500 square feet of canvas, is 30S feet long with 42 feet beam, and 25 feet depth. She has a capacity of 4.000 tons deadweight and was built in 1883 by Messrs. Harland and Wolff. Captain Sterling, her owner and commander, remarked after his vessel was at rest in the North Dock, that during the war he could have sold her for £IOO,OOO, but now he could not give her to anyone to pay the bills. DUTCH TORPEDO BOAT. The Dutch torpedo boat destroyer Piet Hein, which has been built by Alessrs. Burgerhout, of Rotterdam, to the design of Alessrs. Yarrow’ and Co., Glasgow, successfully ran her official full speed trial on Alay 17 in the Firth of Clyde, when a speed of 36.1 knots was obtained. This speed exceeded the contract speed by over two knots. The performance was a remarkable one, as the vessel had a full load on board. The Piet Hein is the second torpedo boat destroyer built by Messrs. Burgerhout, and is one of eight destroyers under construction in Holland for the Dutch Navy, all the vessels being designed by Alessrs. Yarrow and Co. and constructed with their technical assistance. RACE WITH WOOL CARGOES—In days gone by it meant a great deal to the merchants and brokers in this country "’hen a sailing ship laden with wool or grain from Australia, or with tea from China, arrived home some days, or possibly weeks, ahead of her competitors, writes the “Syren and Shipping.” Alucli of the romance in this class of business has gone w r ith. the passing of the sailing ship, but the competitive spirit remains. Just now it is reported that keen rivalry exists between soma of the cargo steamers, British, German and Norwegian, employed in bringing wool from Australia. Actually, however, the record voyages W’hich have been made —in the case of the Meriones in 33 days 10 hours and 30 minutes’ steaming time—have not had an appreciable effect upon the situation, whatever prestige may attach to the performance.

TRADE BARRIERS..— In the 1927-28 report of the Baltic and International Marine Conference, the oldest consultative body of its description, the directors comment on the unsatisfacory state of the world’s freight markets, and point out that no recovery can be expected until restrictions on the growth of international trade are removed. The •economic consequence o fthe low level twhich freights have reached—the cost of seaborne transports being in some cases even less than before the war—ought to be increased activity in trading, they say, but the unfortunate fact is that international commerce suffers from the same depression as shipping and is unable to avail itself to any large extent of the cheaper cos of transport. Leading commercial men consider one of the most important factors to be the tendency of the various countries to close their doors against foreign goods on the plea that they want to be self supporting, or on other more or less justifiable grounds. The result is the introduction of high tariff walls, prohibitions, and other barriers.

THEORIES AND FACTS.—At the present time new developments in connection with the propulsion of ships are constantly being reported, writes the “Shipping World,” and there is no possible doubt that some of them will eventually have a profound effect on transport by* sea and may even bring about a modifica-r tion of the accepted design of ships’ forms. It is, however, somewhat disappointing to find that the claims made for some of these improvements are. very often merely based on theoretical figures, and that when they have been tried out in actual practice complete silence as to results under service conditions prevails. It iS, of course, only natural that owners in particular, and builders to a lesser extent, should, when they have struck a sound, practical proposition, be inclined to retain the benefits of it for themselves and be reticent about giving facts regarding it to the world at large. It would, perhaps, be going too far to call this attitude selfish, but it is certainly short-sighted. Prosperity in watertight compartments is impossible to-day in any industry. Each industry must rise or fall as a national unit, and unless the resources and the experience of each component part can be pooled, stagnation must result and the foreigner will step in.

INSURING MAMMOTH VESSELS. So. much has been written about the insurance of very big, highly-valued ships of late that the announcement that the new White Star liner is to be 60,000 tons gross, and is to cost £6,000,000, came almost as an anti-climax, from an insurance point of view, writes “Fairplay.” It is, of course, impossible to find a market for so huge a sum as that stated, and, even if the more moderate estimate of £3,500,000 given by “The Times” proves to be accurate, it would be difficult to cover the full amount. The insured values of the Aquitania and Alauretania, given as £1,500,000, represent, with the 15 per cent, disbursements clause, a total insurance of about £2,000,000, and it would seem that at present this is the capacity of the world insurance market. To discover a market for another £1,500,000., even taking into consideration the minor and more remote markets which have hitherto participated in the insurance of very large vessels only by reinsurance, would not add more than a few hundreds of thousands at the outside, jt must be remembered that, by exploiting such markets, the reinsurance market would be narrowed, so that in the end the position would remain unaltered.

‘‘EVERY SHIP A LIFEBOAT.”-It is fx*r ne , r i ll,y agreed, states the ‘‘Shipping Morld,” that the present convention settmg forth the precautions to be adopted for the 4 safety of life and property at sea which was drawn up in the panic conditions which existed after the Titanic disaster, urgently demands revision. The -K Pei * ldlt^ re incurred in providing boats for all, involving the closer spacing of bulkheads, the powering of watertight doors, and the more elaborute and more complicated piping svstein which has now to be adopted, amounted to no less a sum than £26,000. We imagine that this is an under-estimate of the total sum Involved in the attempt carry out the present regulations, for the whole design of a ship is affected. The assumption that the more boats that are carried the greater the safety of the passengers is based upon complete 1§ h l )? r - an< r e of sea conditions. “Boats for all is just the kind of slogan to appeal to the average M.P. and old women of both sexes, in the House of Commons and out of it. The whole problem of safety of life at sea has been changed by the development of wireless, and it would be no bad thing if an occasion could be sought for educating our legislators on this matter. It should not be impossible to arrange for an address in one of the committee rooms in the House of Commons by a qualified wireless expert. and he might well choose as his rf X b 1 1/' slmple al °£ au » “Every ship a

INTERNATIONAL LIFERn.^ -The Mauretainia's **Ct tune s Association s seconH j;,, national lifeboat race at \*ew 1U jently. beating th<- crews frf* r,. W'k 11 ml,e '•ours. OftStatue of Liberty and the Battery”,? ,h *- PROGRESS ON THE MERCr."*'*' Mercer. one of the pioneer burning pulverised coal 111 . stea, »er? York in May, thus co TO p| el w ch h M XfS b^ u^? c w'e^;;f,r stalle^^s functioned veiY ‘muth* be e tt^r e^, to Stn? coinniisshn*£ time: consequently the last 5 much better While in New v new type of distribution will a and tried on the next trip York correspondent of -The Nv * \Vorld" States that tests in tte h pw "S of pulverised coal in a Scotch being continued a, , he league "iL' 1 " under test l a U baU Pl t'ype TmUeri-',?"' 1 *> special burners, both of which ,riUl showing good results. mch are

A CURIOUS “TRAINING SHIP •• story emanating from Hamburg iating to the so-called training ?, 4 **■ Albatross, reflects little credo I tier owners or on the American. “» forming her crew, writes ■ cf-l 3ou tet Shipping.” It appears that iht," »®4 of 63S tons gross, and shown m tT* l Register as being owned bv \, r L , loyiJ, s A. Ross, of Boston, Mass., left the r*®' 5 States some months ago with mt W men on board, all of B whom h al I premium of 500 dollars for the nfi 1 a of voyaging to Europe and baS i ß *! hearing the art of seamanship meknwlS" 1 The ship encountered bad weather in ? Atlantic, and the delay thus wcaSiS! resulted in a shortage of food cas k>n € xl consequence, most of the youths' twS a at the first port of call and C aWM « their parents, who sent them the22l”L 1 ” sary financial assistance to enable Ts , to return home. Evidently the real?? i of a sailor s life did not fit in with S? I ever alluring prospects were held out t them bet ore they sailed. The AihAi. to eventually reached Hamburg in and there she remains, the intereSl: point about her being that so far sw?* not paid any harbour dues. * she was attached by writ of the IW burg Court, and the few boys atinT I board arc waiting for funds from hnS to take them back across the Atl.mu Altogether, it sounds, to sav uX like a very unfortunate business S everyone concerned. HIGH SPEED ATLANTIC SERVICE The fundamental aeiect oi most oi,Z very high-speeu Atlantic Service nroW is that they assume me existence oT volume of passenger traffic which is and willing to see that they pay th* way. writes “Fairplay.” Up to a DoS' speed is certainly an attraction, but whei' it exceeds a certain figure its powers of attraction are bound to decline below proutable level. Moreover, if the hirispeed is achieved at the expense of coa fort—and more \ian often in AH arm ~ weather it would be—the of pay', ing traffic would still further shrink. The ships used in a combined liner and airplane 40 hours’ service as proposed by Mr. Wilder would be turbo-electric vessels like the aircraft-carrier Lexington and six of them would be required. Thei: function would be to travel betweer Angelica and Europe, making the passage !in four days, but voyagers in the liner would be able to cut the passage down to § two days and a-half by using airplane* £ For the convenience—and safety—pf the E aircraft, the six “liners” would be in con- E tinuous operation, and always within SQ6 E miles of each other. They would thu I serve as floating stations for the ’planes, I and when required make practically aa %. all-air passage possible. In the description of the scheme there is no mention of the number of airplanes that would be required, but that an efficient service would call for a fairly large number—end “then some,” as an American himMii might say—may be taken for granted. Tbs capital cost of the scheme, therefore kills it right away, for there is not & sufficient volume of high-speed passenje: traffic to pay* for it. Further, the high speed would be so greatly at the expend of comfort that the inadequate revenue from fares would be even otill more inadequate. Landings and takings off in average Atlantic weather would be real adventures. and. when fogs came aionp, ships and ’planes would have hectic times ti'ying to locate each other. This may of course, be the way in which we shaH all eventually cross and recross the At- | lantic, but, on its details this scheme ha? fatal economic defects—and that is probab’y what the custodians of the JonesWhite Act Loan Fund will say about i: when—if ever—they’ are approached. WITHIN WIRELESS RANGE- | The following vessels are expected to H be within range of the undermentioned B wireless stations during the week-end:- g| Auckland.—Bosworth, Tofua, Maui Po* B mare, Danbyryn, Canadian Winner, Ef. Glenmoor, Marama, Ulimaroa, Aoranft gPort Curtis, Golden Cloud. a Chatham Islands. —Port Arthur, E«t* moor, Rotorua. Wellington.—Maori, Wahine, Ngaio, Ara* | hura, Tamahine, Tahiti, Niagara, Ka- | warra, Tutanekai, Canadian Travew. Kalingo, Trongate, Fcopas, sen, Rimutaka, Port Darwin, karorBosworth. Awarua.—Matakana, Wirral, C. A. sen, Sir J. C. Ross, N. T. Meto« ~ » Alonso, City of New York, Kawatin, | rl Tahiti. PORT OF ONEH'JNGA—ARRIVALS TO-DAY AKAPAWA (7 a.m.), 291 tons, Fffrom Wanganui. RARAYVA (7.30 a.m.), 1,0.7 tons, Bin, from New Plymouth. The Rarawa. which arrived_>t •<jghunga this morning from New f sails again for the same port at 4 on Monday. s .. Thu Anchor steamer Kaitoa a J rl lf a th< Onehunga yesterday morning from South, and sailed again last evening » Nelson and West Coast ports. The Arapawa, which arrived at hunga this morning, is to be disT*_ at three o'clock next Tuesday aitem**" for Wanganui.

Sta tion. Wind Bar. TTi*sr. Wea. Capa Maria.. W 1 30.09 07 B Ruasail . FJ 3 30.08 63 B Hokianjjra Has. .Calm 30.10 65 C Kaipara S 2 30.07 64 B VUnuknu Hds.. SW 2 30.05 65 B Auckland SW 1 30.03 63 B Tiritiri 60 B Kawhia 62 B 29.98 72 B Opotikl . S 1 30.00 66 B Thames S 1 30.05 6-4 B East Capa. ... S 2 30.03 64 BC Ciisborna 30.00 63 B Capa Egmont. W 1 30.01 64 C Wall lint ton. .. .NNW 3 30.00 64 B