12 MILES DOWN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17346, 29 September 1924, Page 12

12 MILES DOWN.

SHAFT MAY BE SUNK. SCIENTISTS’ MIGHTY PROJECT. By Telegraph—Press Asaociation— Copyright Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. NEW YORK, September 27. Sir Charles A. Parsons, addressing the American Society of Civil Engineers. advocated international co-opera-tion in sinking a .‘haft twelve miles towards the centre of the earth, to obtain scientific knowledge, especially regarding the possibility of the existence of new chemical elements and unknown metals heavier than those alreaclv known. Sir Charles said that the force of gravitation would chaw such elements downwards from the earth’s crust. “ We know nothing of what is below our feet.” he. said. “I am convinced it would take fifty years to penetrate twelve miles and require .L 20 .000,000 to finance the enterprise. British scientists and the officials of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich are greatly interested in the scheme. It is a practicable- engineering project. 1 would have a shaft of twenty feet diameter lined with granite, and special machinery should he installed to dispel any heat. “ Such an undertaking, owing to' the scientific information it would reveal, is of greater importance than a Polar expedition, and the spot where the shaft should be sunk ought to be determined by geologists.