A CENTURY HENCE.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 18005, 28 April 1930, Page 4

A CENTURY HENCE.

H. G. Wells, author and thinker, from whose fertile brain have been given to the world many strange and alapming thoughts of the future, appears to have been completely outdone by the latest contribution to scientific and imaginative literature. Lord Birkenhead, a former Lord. Chancellor and Attorney-General, distinguished barrister and brilliant economist, has given us in his new publication a glimpse as to what he visualises the world will be like in 2030- —in another hundred years. If the cabled summary of this book is any true indication as to the whole of its contents, it will prove fascinating and absorbing reading. The book is marked by some startling prophecies which,, if they reach fruition, will turn upside down the whole system of living as we know it to-day. Evidently the writer bases his predictions on scientific theory and not simply on imagination, He appears to take as his main consideration the enormous strides which scientific and chemical research have taken in the last few years and forecasts that in another century the world will see some' of the results of these investigations and inquiries. Coming from some fanatic or wildly eccentric purveyor of letters, we would have been inclined to pass over smilingly such amazing prognostications as an attempt either to play a joke on the world or to gain some cheap publicity; hut from such an eminent public flgu-e as Lord Birkenhead, his sincerity can hardly he doubted; and we must prick up our ears apd listen even though the sceptical among us may he inclined to scoff. When Jules Verne gave to Europe his wonder stories not a hundred years ago of “Five Weeks in a Balloon,” “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” and “Round the World in 80 Days,” it was only natural that the world ridiculed the thought, yet many of his dreams have come t-ue. Fanciful and ethereal were these stories such as are many of Wells’s extraordinary creations, hut they made the reader think and even to-day have an attraction which is irresistible. Wells is one of the most imaginative of English novelists who lets Iris fancy loose upon the world of science and creates new conditions, inventions and forces weaving the;n all into a texture of seeming actuality. At the same time, however, he is a scientist blessed with a vivid imagination.

The, predictions of Lord Birkenhead appeal to the people of 1930 because they are revolutionary. He forecasts, for, instance, beefsteak made by the ton in laboratories, synthetic bread sugar, vegetables cheaper than water. And obviously the literary peer will gain the adulating approbation of the working man by his suggestion thai in 2030 there will.be one week’s work to three weeks’ leisure for everybody! It savours of a sort of millenium. He ( even ventures a daring prophecy regarding birth. Startling indeed are the thoughts. But wise man that he is, Lord Birkenhead is human. Perhaps it is that we are fortunate that in a hundred years we shall have ceased to worry about this world. The law of compensation invariably' works to the benefit of man and when beefsteaks become mere concoctions of the chemist shop at so much a dozen instead of the savoury, juicy and alluring morsels for the frying pan, our generation will be safely away from it all.