The Star. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1926. AUCKLAND’S CIVIC PRIDE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17978, 15 October 1926, Page 6

The Star. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1926. AUCKLAND’S CIVIC PRIDE.

Health, piety and other virtues too numerous to mention should be practised, we are told, not for one week in the year or for one day in the week, but for every day in the year and every hour in (lie day. And in the list of virtues to which this precept applies should be included civic pride—not merely a sense of gratefulness for whatever the pioneers may have done, but the enthusiasm that makes the work of the pioneers an incentive to further effort in the beautifying or improvement of the civic heritage. 'lbis all-the-year-round enthusiasm seems to flourish principally in Auckland, where no project is too ambitious il its object is to increase the loveliness or prestige of the city. Not long ago the city rejected a proposal to borrow £340,000 fox- the creation of a “ Civic Centre,” but the subject has come up again in a much larger plan, in which a huge area will be cleared in the heart of the. city to givea Continuous open space in conjunction with Albert Park and Myers Park. Such a programme, of course, would give Auckland city a dignity which, apart from its magnificent harbour, it sadly lacks, and would provide a much wanted open space similar to those that make Sydney so much more pleasant than it would otherwise be. Christchurch people will take a neighbourly interest in this latest project, and they may take a lesson, too, from the sturdy patriotism of Auckland wherever its attractions arc concerned. If Auckland had Cathedral Squai-e, fox- instance, it is hard to say what ambitious scheme might be put forward for its beautification, but one thing is certain, that a tramway shelter, lavatories and tramway offices would not he allowed to occupy the very centre of it, and if anybody proposed to work a war memorial into these public conveniences, as is proposed to-day, the great eruption of Tarawera would be a faint echo to the explosion that would follow this outrage on public feeling. Therefore Auckland, with all its parochialism, may serve the useful purpose of sotting a standard of civic pride for the rest of New Zealand, and the daily practice of this virtue is a thing that might be copied with advantage in Christchurch.

Great interest attaches to the observations of the Rev li. Dudley, F.R.A.S., of unusual solar activity at the present time. He describes a procession of spots right aci-oss the sun’s disc, pi-esaging storms, floods and earthquakes in 1928-29. Observations from other parts of the world and the conclusions of other astronomers on these phenomena will be awaited with interest, for it is established quile clearly that the earth’s weather is determined by solar activity, or rather solar beat, which varies according to the disturbances which ax-e known as sun spots. The exact nature of these spots is unknown, although they are believed to represent vast electrical storms. Whether a spot is an uprush of hot matter from within or a downrush of cold gas from above is not known, as Mr Dudley points out, but sun spots are taken as an activity which affects the structure and functions of the sun. They are accompanied by sympathetic disturbances on the earth, and by variations of solar radiation which are to be noticed in ocean temperatures. These, in turn, affect the earth’s weather over a cycle of years. That is why the present solar disturbances arc not likely to have an immediate effect on the weather. Faithful records, carefully filled and analysed, are bound lo give some valuable data on this subject, and in the next few days there is no doubt that moi-e will be heard of this interesting subject from astronomers who are studying it carefully.