The Club Smoking Room

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XL, Issue 18, 29 April 1908, Page 6

The Club Smoking Room

By

HAVANA

THE railway disaster in Victoria,” said the journalist, “reminds us very forcibly of the awful risks traffic at holiday time. Nearly all

we run through the congestion of the big accidents on land and at sea have taken place either at Easter or Christmas, when trains and boats and trams are overcrowded, and the officials and employees are overworked and liable to blunder through excessive stress and strain. If it had not been for the disorganisation of the time-table the Ballarat train would not have been delayed as it was for three-quarters of an hour, and the accident at Braybrook would not

have happened. If it is absolutely necessary that we should cling to our present senseless fashion of everyone taking a holiday on the same day, then it seems to me that the working staff of our railways should be considerably augmented, and all overcrowding and unpunetuality should be rigidly prohibited. At the same time, in spite of a few big disasters, railway travelling is proved by statistics to be quite one of the safest means of travelling. It is wonderful, considering the long hours that railway men work, and the excessive nervous strain to which they are subject, that accidents are not of more frequent occurrence.” <S> <S> “I suppose,” remarked the lawyer, “that the most absolutely safe place in the world is on board a Cunard liner. It is the boast of the directors of this great line that they have never lost a life. Indeed, their constant insistence on this fact is apt to become wearisome, and one sometimes almost wishes that their record in this respect could be broken. If you complain of the food, or the service, or the state of your cabin, or the extortionate charges, you are always invited to remember that these things are trifles compared with the fact that the company has never lost a life. An accident, in which a large number of people lose their lives or are wounded is apt to strike the imagination far more forcibly than a series of accidents to individuals; but I believe 1 am right in saying that more people are either killed or maimed through accidents with horses or horse-drawn vehicles than through accidents arising from all the other forms of locomotion put together. In the colonies we have been singularly free from big railway smashes; we are more liable to disasters at sea; but I have often been struck with the large number of individuals eases reported of accidental deaths. Coach accidents, buggies upset, riders being thrown, are of almost daily occurrence, and seem to bear out my contention about horses.” <?><?>s> “It is a marvel to me how some fellows escape,” put in a volunteer officer. “At our recent manoeuvres one or two of our fellows had some nasty spills, but they managed somehow to escape being seriously hurt. One place we had to ride down in the dark was nearly as steep as the side of a house, with a swamp at the bottom, and an equally steep climb up again on the other side. Three of our chaps got thrown, and one lost his rifle in the swamp. These Easter camps are grand things, as they accustom the men to roughing it, and show what they are good for. And we had to rough it more than we bargained for, as a great part of our meat was condemned, and we were left on half rations. It is a splendid holiday for sonic of the fellows who come in from the country districts, and they are like schoolboys in the tricks they play on each other. One day some wag altered all the stirrup leathers, and it was really rather funny to sec men with one leg up in the air and the other vainly trying to reach down to the stir-

rup. One of the most amusing incidents that I can remember having seen at a camp happened a few years back. A certain gallant warrior had a deep-rooted aversion to sleeping in a tent, so he had a kind of'glorifled dog kennel on wheels constructed for his special benefit, and he fitted it up most luxuriously inside. This was altogether too much for the more mischievous spirits in the camp, so one night, when the gallant man was snugly and safely asleep inside, some of the boys up-ended the whole affair, with the door underneath and the warrior a prisoner in his own dwelling. We heard all his furniture rattling down on top of him, and sundry voluble expletions came in muffled tones from the interior. There was a bit of a row over it, but the whole camp expressed sueh innocent surprise when questioned about it that nothing was done to punish the culprits.” <» <s> <S> “I remember that time,” said the major, “and I shrewdly suspect that you played a more active part yourself in the affair than that of a mere passive spectator. They say that some foreign joKer has invented a new gun that is not only smokeless, but also noiseless. If so, it will revolutionise warfare. I can conceive nothing more demoralising than to find yourself being shot at without the slightest indication as to where the shots are coming from. At present we depend on the firing for much of our information as to the strength and whereabouts of the enemy. You would be surprised how difficult it is to spot men in khaki moving through scrub. It has become necessary to use powerful binoculars, to spot them at comparatively close quarters.” <s> 4 <s> “Talking of binoculars,” interposed another officer, “I wish someone would advise me as to the best sort for general use. I bought a pair of prism glasses, paid ten guineas for them, too, and tried them at the rifle range. In a good light they seemed to do all right, but in dull light or mirage they did not seem nearly so good as a pair I have that did not cost a-quarter of the money. They are frightfully trying to the eyes, too, and I found that after using them I could not shoot worth a cent. They seem rather complicated sort of things, and perhaps I don’t quite understand how to work them. Anyway, they were recommended to me as being the best and latest thing procurable in glasses, so I suppose the fault is in myself. But all the same, I have heard lots of chaps say that the prism glass doesn’t suit them. Our worthy professor here probably knows all about the inner working of these things, and the laws of light and optics, and all that sort of racket, so perhaps lie will enlighten us.” ❖ <S> <?> “The prism binocular,” replied the professor, “is constructed optically on the system invented by Porro in the early part of last century. Two totally reflecting rectangular prisms are—” <?><s><s> “My dear chap,” interposed the major, “you aren’t giving a lecture in class. We don’t want to know all about rectangular prisms an/1 Mr. Porridge, or whatever his name is. W’e want to know the best glass to use in all weathers.” 4> ❖ ❖ "I beg your pardon,” resumed the professor, “I forgot the extremely practical nature of the modern mind. A prism glass or any very high-power glass can only be used in a clear atmosphere, be-

cause of the large amount of light that is lost. Except in a very good light, tlie pupil of the eye is not completely filled with the rays passing through the optical system, and the brightness of the image formed is less than the brightness of the object observed. The object glasses of prism glasses are small, and the magnification employed is frequently too high' for general use, considering the size of the object glass. For use in all weathers and under all atmospheric conditions you can’t beat the old style of field glass known as the Galilean type. It doesn’t strain the eye, and it can be used when other glasses would be useless. Nearly, everybody makes the mistake, in regard to all optical instruments, of thinking that high magnification means greater efficiency and usefulness, whereas it is a rule amongst scientists to never use a high-power if a low-power can be employed instead. I should say that for military operations what is known as the ‘service outfit’ would be the most useful equipment. You get a good binocular of over four magnifications, and a telescope with a power of 18 diameters, and the whole thing goes into a very small case which can be fixed to the belt. The total cost is only half that of prism glasses. The following rule is practical, and I hope not too technical for you. If you want a telescope to perform well in all weathers, and to pass a hundred per cent of light, that is, to show the object as bright as it. really is, you must not have a higher magnification than ten for each inch of aperture. Thus a telescope -with' a two-inch object glass should magnify, twenty times, a three-inch thirty times, and so on. In all optical instruments one that passes plenty of light should be chosen in preference to one of higher power and less light, as in this country our atmospheric conditions are not favourable for excessive magnifications. All the same, the prism glasses can’t be beaten in fine weather and on a clear day.”