CURRENT TOPICS.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16038, 31 January 1920, Page 8

CURRENT TOPICS.

(By "PETBE.”)

The Government propose to enforce the Anti-Profiteering Act, so we are told by the Premier. Most people will heartily agree that it Is quite time, too, but' many are sceptical as to whether the Act will be enforced as rigorously as it should be. Previous attempts were not very successful, or were they prosecuted with that vigour and energy one would expect from a Government which has announced itself as determined to give a square deal to everyone. Most householders are of the opinion that the profiteers are getting all the deal and will continue to do so until the public kicks, and kicks hard.

New Zealand may well be st/led the “Working Man’s Paradise.” Five carpenters recently resigned from the staff of a Dunedin contractor, assigning as the reason that they were going rabbiting. Yet carpenters can earn their £1 per day quite easily.

The enterprising people of Westland have enlisted the aid of the fair sex in their endeavour to have the coal fields of the district opened up. The other day two car loads of representative citizens, including ladies, made a tour of the Duller Gorge coal and timber fields, and spent some time examining the coal mines situated right in the heart of the gorge, and entered from the roadside. The opinion was expressed that did the women of the Dominion only realise the vast amount of easily accessible coal lying undeveloped in this gorge through the lack of a few miles of railway, while the whole Dominion is starving for coal, they would raise such an outcry that no Government would allow such conditions to continue. The Westlanders, at any rate, appreciate the influence of the eternal feminine..

Another attempt to unveil some of the mysteries of Antartica is to be made by Dr. J. Cope, P.R.G.S., who was surgeon and naturalist on Sir Ernest Shackleton’s recent expedition. Among the aims and objects of Dr. Cope’s expedition is the survey of the uncharted coastline of Antarctica, the location of mineral and other deposits of economic value known to exist in Victoria Land, and the detailed examination of the physical conditions of air and ocean. This work is to be carried out with all the improved scientific apparatus that has been invented during recent years. The Terra Nova has been obtained for the voyage and the expedition is expected to leave England within a few months for New Zealand, whence a start will be made upon the important work before the expedition. The work is expected to occupy three or four years.

Not the least important work to be undertaken is that which it is proposed to do in connection with whaling. It is the intention of those on the Terra Nova to study as closely as possible the seasonal habits of the whale, note its summer and winter habitals, migratory movements, ets., so that the knowledge can be pot to practical use in the interests of whaling enterprises in the future. The-Terra Nova is well adapted for this work and will in all probability he equipped with up-to-date appliances for whaling.

“These modern French fashions,” said Lady Duff-Gordon, “reveal many beauties, but they also reveal many defects.” A young schoolmarm, dressed in a skirt of the brevity that fashion prescribes, was explaining to a class of hoys the adverb “slowly.” To make her explanation clear, the schoolmarm walked slowly across the platform. Then she smiled, and said to a freckled youngster : “Now, Tommy Ferguson, how did I walk?” “Knock-kneed, mum,” piped little Tommy.

The announcement that portion of Armenia, presumably that portion which was under Russian sovereignty, is to be recognised as a republic, marks another phase in the history of this country. Armenia is all that block of high tableland in the upper valleys of the Euphrates, Tigris, Aras, and Kur, and is about 500 miles long by nearly the same distance wide. In ancient times it was an independent country, and though conquered repeatedly by invading hosts, repeatedly regained its independence, down to the middle age, although with varying boundaries. The territory of this once glorious nation was, until the outbreak of war, divided up among three nations—Turkey, Persia, and Russia—Turkey possessing the largest share.

Armenia’s people for many generations have been an unhappy race, always under the heel of a despotic and cruel

,r ovcrnment. Prom the beginning of the 16th century to 1828 Turkey and Persia shared the territory of these unfortunate people, and, as can he readily imagined, their government was not gentle. In 1828 Russia obtained a footing in Armenia, ,and gradually increased its influence. When the Treaty of Berlin was signed in 1878, Turkey promised to he good and stop persecuting and massacreing its Armenian subjects, but this promise was like all Turkish promises, worthless. Atrocities and cruelties continued, and during the war period the sufferings of the unhappy Armenians wer fearful. The race is not a war-like race, inclined more to commerce, and it is to be hoped that the future holds for this unfortunate race a more generous share of prosperity, plenteousness, and peace than it has experienced for many hundreds of years past.

Erivan, the town selected hy the Allies to be the capital of the new Armenian Republic, has an interesting history. It was founded about the Seventh Century, and was the fortified capital of a Transcaucasian Government, and has met with varying fortunes, being alternately held by Turks and Persians, until finally it was absorbed by Russia. It is divided into two parts, the old Persian town, with narrow crooked lanes, enclosed by mud walls, and the modern ilnsian town, laid out in long, ill-paved streets. The population is about 30,000, and is chiefly Armenian, Persian, and Tartar.

An invention which promises to revolutionise wireless telegraphy and wireless communication of all sorts is at present exciting the attention of ail scientists. It is known as the thermionic valve or tube, by which it is possible to shout a whisper round the world. It may be likened to a series of valveless pumps, one above the other—sometimes a cascade. The principles in this cascade is that each takes up the water at the full speed with which it is delivered, by the lower pump adding to its own momentum. So with this thermionic valve or tube, which is used both for receiving and stimulating wireless waves. Each successive compartment multiplies the sound transmitted to it. Some idea of the capacity of this invention may be gathered from the fact that a telegraphist in London can listen to a conversation taking place in Paris or even New York, by no more elaborate process than a bit of wire fixed to his bed-post, or a piece of rabbit-wire stretched on his roof!