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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 5, Issue 5 (September 1, 1930)

World Affairs

page 9

World Affairs

R100's Even Keel—Arctic Relics of a Predecessor—Bradman's March—Pasteur Virus for Rats—Drought and Fire—Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Conquest of the Air.

A crossing of the Atlantic, and not a drop spilled from a tumbler of water placed on the airship's table—such is the proud performance of R100, which has just crossed the stormy ocean both ways. Neither speed nor weight-lifting is yet all that is aimed at, but a world that has seen the motor car develop from the limping vehicle of the ‘nineties, and which has seen the aeroplane and wireless grow in the same time from nothing to something, will not pass a too hasty verdict on the airship as a commercial proposition. The Canadian voyage of R100 will be followed by an Indian voyage by R101. When R100 and the steamer Tahiti started out, anyone at all could have guessed which was the more insurable proposition—and yet, you can never tell. The Tahiti save was largely a radio triumph. One of the great facts about modern inventions is that they interlock, as is evidenced by Kingsford Smith's tribute to the navigational aid of the radio beacon.

Polar Exploration.

There is something pathetic in relics—human relics. Pathetic, and perhaps inspiring. The path of Empire, as Kipling has said, has been blazed with the bones of the pioneers. But the temperate and tropical world that man frequents tends to consume its relics; the sea does not always give up its dead, and even the bones of those that perished in the desert do not long survive the decay of nature. Not so, however, the bodies of men lost in Polar wastes. Discovery in Franz Josef Land of the well preserved bodies of the Swedish engineer-aeronaut, S. A. Andree and his balloon party, bridges the gap of thirty-odd years separating the feeble aerial travel of their day from the aviation efficiency that has enabled Richard Byrd to fly over both Poles. Andree dreamed his dream of North Pole air-conquest some thirty years too soon. The inevitable happened, and he fell asleep. If he could wake and return, what a Rip Van Winkle story to unfold!

Andree's expedition, starting in 1897, was one of the last memorable exploratory efforts of the nineteenth century. Its historical importance lies in that it marks the transfer of exploring thought from the dog sledge to the air. Already men were seeking to do in days or hours what Pole-conquerors like Peary, Amundsen, and Scott did in weary weeks and months. To say that is not to say that Polar exploration by means of a multi-engined aeroplane or an R100 is completely satisfying. At least one Polar explorer, Wilkins, page 10 has announced that he is “through with flying.” The non-stop flier comes and sees, but does not conquer. He cannot claim “effective occupation.” So Wilkins essays to attack the North Pole with a United States naval submarine. It is even cabled that he has backers in a bond to restore the submarine in good condition. How this would tax the credibility of a Rip Van Winkle of 1897. We can hardly believe it ourselves.

A Cricket Wizard.

A search up and down England for bowlers to stop Bradman's march failed. On his season's showing there is an inevitability about this scoring machine that marks the arrival of something different from what has gone before. Other batsmen have been brilliant or consistent, or even both, but through the English Tests Bradman's big scores ran on like the brook. Of course, he may not have another such season; he may not retain his form; but that he should have done so to the extent he has done—in a new country and on strange wickets—is sufficiently amazing. A batsman is not like a Rugby footballer. Individual action by a Rugby player is generally a matter of seconds; mostly, he is a cog in a fifteen-men machine. But a batsman stands alone for hours (if he can) with everyone against him. His is a test of nerve as well as skill. With the eyes not only of the crowd but of an Empire on him, Bradman has turned defence into attack. No fiercer light ever beat upon a cricketer. Who will deny that Bradman, Grimmett and company deserved to bring “the ashes” home?

The Ubiquitous Rat.

War between man and the rat dates back to the beginning of time. The economic cost of the rat, by way of the destruction of food supplies and materials, is incalculable. To the economic damage must be added the menace to health, for the rat carries either pestilence or the pestilential flea, and is both directly and indirectly a menace to public hygiene. And yet human science has hitherto been incapable of reducing the prolific rat tribe to permanently small proportions; even within limited areas only a moderate measure of control has been secured, at no small cost. Now enters the Pasteur Institute with a counter pestilence, “the bacillus of rat typhoid,” with which to “infect whole colonies, which die in a few days.” Something similar seems to happen occasionally among rabbits, but no one seems to hold the secret. A country without rats and rabbits would be a country transformed. The saving should be equal to New Zealand's national debt.

Nature's Dread Toll.

By the aid of many wonderful modern inventions (the moving picture) New Zealand theatre audiences were already seeing in August, on the screen, the forerunners of those United States forest fires which at that time were still raging in drought-stricken parts of the American Continent. August cablegrams completed the tale that was commenced on the moving picture “gazettes,” and a very disquieting tale of destruction it is. Owing to the slump that began (or became visible) in October last, 1930 is not a good year for a “visitation” of nature; and it is clear that the prolonged drought and consequent fires, by hitting the American farmer when he was at his worst, have intensified President Hoover's unemployment relief problem. Last year it was floods, this year fires, next year—what? And to think that the Republican campaign cry in 1928 was “Hoover and Prosperity!” Prosperity based on seasonal developments is hardly predictable. Be it hoped that the drought will not migrate to the Southern Hemisphere.

A Modern Engineering Marvel.

The Australian is a great city-builder. From his narrow lodgment on the coast he has not conquered the interior (it is indeed announced that the Northern Territory and Central Australia carry less population than last century), but he has created wonderful cities in Melbourne and Sydney, the “playground of the Pacific.” In his urban aggregation he sees against page 11 the blue sky noble structures, and one of the most dominating of these—the Harbour Bridge, uniting Sydney with her North Shore—has just closed its steel jaws with engineering precision, girder meeting girder with perfect alignment at the lofty midway point. There was, of course, a celebration, and it was much more complete than was anticipated, for a whale, in the course of a memorable progress up the harbour and even into the Parramatta River, spouted right under the huge bridge. Meanwhile, there is some argument as to which of two engineers is responsible for the design. Design is a thing people may quarrel about. But no one will claim the overdraft.

Falling World Prices.

The end of the problem of falling wheat prices, and holding of wheat, is not yet. Winnipeg cabled on 14th August that the total carry-over of Canadian wheat for the season is 128 million bushels; so that, assuming a 400 million crop in Canada, total supply is figured at 528 million bushels, against 428 million last year. The following pertinent observation
Installed At Auckland's New Station Yard. (Photo., courtesy The “Sun” Newspapers Ltd.) Interior of the new signalling cabin at Auckland, shewing interlocking machine of 128 levers and the operating diagram.

Installed At Auckland's New Station Yard.
(Photo., courtesy The “Sun” Newspapers Ltd.)
Interior of the new signalling cabin at Auckland, shewing interlocking machine of 128 levers and the operating diagram.

is taken from Sir Otto Niemeyer's address to the Australian Premiers:—

It may be hoped, though without certainty, that wool may maintain something like its present level, but with heavy harvests anticipated in Canada, Argentina, and India, and the large carry-overs in Canada and the United States, it is difficult to see how wheat prices can fail to drop further. Though the Australian wheat crop may be larger than last year's, its effect on the aggregate value of exports is likely to be small.

Values in the export market, he added, have fallen and are falling steadily…. United States foreign trade dropped in July to the lowest figure for five years.

The Night Journey.

When night has come,
I know that trusted hands the throttle hold—
I know that steady rails the miles unfold—
I know that endless watchers guide my way—
This is my right—all for the fare I pay.
I fall asleep within a well-laid berth.
And we speed on across the peaceful earth—
Till day has come.