Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1928-11-15, Page 6Great Shannon Power SCh +fie Will Drive Ireland's Industrie Arrny of Irish and German Workers Carry on Task of Har- nessing River's Flow --Undertaking Called Second Only to Niagara Dublin ---Ireland's ,great need has ~level by some 25 teeth, Six great. long been for cheap, home -produced sluice gates will regulate the outflow. Owing to -the elevation of the water 'power to take the place of imported level, low-lying ground up the river will 'be flooded except where protec- tive embankments are built. A'fish at pass will be provided in the weir to enable salmon to reach Lough Derg. Some 4000 men are employed en the works, and of these over 400 are Germans. Close by is a small Geer - *Spat, and the Shannon electricity soueme is the first bold, well-planned tempt to meet this need. To -day, huge, redpainted. electric standards stretch spider -like from the Shanon 'works, covering the country with a network of cables through man village of wooden huts, gayly which it is confidently predicted that curtained,,•with flowers on the win= next year he industries and towns of clow sills. Fair -complexioned, flaxen - haired women may be seen swinging sturdily across this Irish mountain side passing from one but to another. The .canal bed has been cubthrough the hills—the tail race for the Free State will be supplied with light, heat, and power. Previous schemes for utilizing the water power of the Shannon have come 'to nothing because • of the na- tural difficulties. The problem fac the most part being cut through solid ing the engineers was to get a eon rock. Mechanical diggers are at tinuous fall of sufficient volume, sum work. Caterpillar excavators drawl alar and winter, to maintain a con up the side. The town of Limerick stant supply of power. The Shannon is used to the sullen boom of the isa river of c flow. It fiuctn• blasting. Notice boards in German see~ from 00 cubic cubic feet in win are freqpent and trucks bearing the ter to 75,000 cubic feet in summer. legend "Krupps" or "Siemens Bau The plan of the Shannon scheme union" rumble up and down. Is: 1 To secure an adequate storage) The strange mechanical "banker" i basin. 2 To construct a canal—the head race—from this basin that will weighs 250 tons. It keeps two me - lead t hewater to the point where the chanieal diggers working •at full ca- deepes fall is possible. 3 To guide parity to Supply its needs. This ma - the spent water •thro.ugh another chine, brought over from Germany canal—the tail race—back to the in sections, is busy making the bank Shannon. of the huge canal, smoothing, the side, picking up sand and gravel with one continuous pull. Lakes as Reservoirs Three lakes—Lough Derg, Lough Ree and Lough Allen—are natural re- servoirs, which can be drawn on to The center of all the work is the maintain .the• water supply. From great power house at Ardnacrusha, Lough Derg to Limerick the Shanon where each of the turbines will gen- flows in a winding course of some 30 erste electricity to the extent of 30, - miles, gradually dropping about 100 000 horsepower. The sluice house, an feet. The head race for the power. immense dam, stretches across the development has been pland to begin canal, pierced by six holes. Three of where the water level of Laugh these holes lead to pipes 20 fee in Derg can be retained with the least diameer and .145 feet long. They effort. convey water to a tapering. spiral, In the present `partial develop- like a -gigantic -snail shell, 100 .feet .:meat" scheme, only :Lough Derg will -below These turbines are -:among be required for water storage. But the largest in the world. and -each in the "further development" which bearing' Weighs 20 tons. is .anticipated to be .reached- by 14137; When: the :scheme -.is -working, 105 Lough Ree and Lough :Allen will be tons...of- water a .:second will enter used, while in the "final devtelop each . intake pipe; .and the -. bearing ment" the storage capacity of the will carry .a total weight of 502 tons, three lakes will be more than quad- which is the greatest known strain rupled by artificially -raising the level any single bearing has to stand. of Lough' Derg about 7 feet. The engineer, overwhelmingly The weir and the intake' building, proud of this . Irish achievement, are. situated about four miles from said: "It is second only to the power Killaloe. The intake• building is a station at Niagara Falls, and we had massive wall of reinforced concrete to make every bit of_this, while that set at an angle to the river. Three ; was ready made. Anyway," he ad - pierced openings will admit the water, ded, with an Irish twinkle, "we shan't waste so much power here!" When the work is completed, the water will trickle slowly in over a period of three months, during which head race and the tail race by means time the bed of the canal will settle. of a lock instead of by devious ways' Searching tests will be made for leak - of river and canal. Flooding of Low -Lying Ground The weir will restrain the Shannon from entering its natural bed and the wheels of industry hum through - will help to raise the upstream water out Ireland. Turbine at Power House bven bb : p*'letz, Should Make Safe. Motorists T of th Boy Matadors Thrill Spain STARTING THEM YOUNG IN THEIR AUTOMOBILES he line-up at the commencement of the children's race which is held with success every year on the esplanade e Invalides in Paris. The Singing Leaf By ALICE WETHERELL Brown Leaf should have been lone- some. For she was the only leaf on. the whole oak tree without a gay, gay dress. But she wasn't lonesome real- ly. For Brown Leaf had a secret that made her very happy. So happy, in- deed, was Brown Leaf, that all her sisters on the tree began to talk about it Feat in Bull -Ring Revives In- terest in Old -Time joust Barcelona, Spain—A last desperate attempt to revive the past glories of the bull -ring is being made in Spain by, meals of two schoolboys, Manolo and Pepe Meji as, aged fifteen cmc, fourteen. Since Gallito, Spain's greatest ma- tador of recent years, met his death in the bull -ring it has been generally felt in Spain that the days of the bull- fight were numbered And as no other star of his magnitude came fore ward to take his place, this feeling grew. Now, howeyer, these two school- boys, descendants of a long line, of bull -lighters, have suddenly stepped into the arena, and have won even the applause of the veteran toreador idols of yesterday. Manolo and Pepe Mejias' names are on every one's lips, and their photo• graphs in all the Spanish newspapers. When they killed six young bulls iu the Monumental bull -ring in Barce- lona the other day, there was not a place to be had in the vast building. Seats which normally cost about two shillingswere sold at a .premium of from thirty shillings to ,three pounds. Pepe, the younger, an unassuming child with soft brown eyes, looked even younger than his years, and once he had ' discarded his glittering costume of gold sequins, it was easier to picture him as a schoolboy rather than as a killer of bulls. Manolo, his brother, a typical Span to my song, z a ish youth in appearance,, was equally Night after night, she had bathed in autumn party. Brown Leaf could hear unperturbed by the tumultuous re thrush's the , moonlight and listened to the the approaching music of the Frolick ception they had received that after - thrush's song. And one moring she ing Winds as they came, led by their noon. „Splendours of Sport" bad wakened with this pretty new king. brown dress. Oh, if she could only "Poor Brown Leaf! �' she heard her "The people of Spain," said Mano get her great wish as easily as she sisters whispering. "She will have a 10, "are neglecting the bull -ring foi had changed her color. poor time at a fancy dress party in a the football field, but we. descendants of a mighty race of bullfighters, have sworn to revive the splendours of our national sport. "Bullfighting has lost its hold on "ht, h the sunset loveliest 5 the Spanish people because et,.timid Brown Leaf heard their whispers. .night and think of the loveliest ~cunei: l'i etch the ~nese . For a'Pter listening very .closely to the. t dha 'e' eti er heard." 'toreadors '1tose first tholtgiit bas -birds .all ,smmtter- • lon, Brown Leaf Thzs advzcc +� as easy to "Bathe in the moonlight and listen TheFancyDress Party thethrush had said At last there came the night of the It would be easy to get her great dull, dull gown: like that.' wish. When she had asked the thrush And so that she might not hear about it, he had said: their voices, Brown Leaf kept repeat d c singlelag. to herself: T t Tlunk • of the fellow. you ever:- heard:" lovelies scan you v "•• 1':'ho, - who, • who, who • are you?" been" for 'their own safet 'S and not for • :•low. Fyr` the glory of the "arena Kn1 the ti•adi• the behind And in -a 'minute Brown ' ea Ywould tin wto from r set all her sietets' -t ere up he heard very,' very quiet smalls. She tl riasinging as they came Brown Leaf •heel• always tiiatched the 'I, f sa 'that tion of the real bullf• ights. would used. to waken: in the :morning tosunset. from her sheltered P �tnd dancing die before' • sweet little chirp of : the baby' thrush. Anci:that<1s a very soft sound Yes, heel -been here,. • she lied' watched it Anne: Brows: Leaf's sisters. were wixspering with ethem• as they'nang .to' her about On and on the sisters danced, until shoat her; but what did.she care? She the lovely colors that she saw ` And at last they dropped from weariness. had her secret. think of the loveliest sound you ever go - "What makes Brown Leaf so: heard." That, too, was easy, for "Stop, winds, we're tired. We're happy?" she heard her sister in the wasn't the thrush's song the loveliest ing to sleep," they all were calling. scarlet dress say. "If I looked• as dull sound that she had ever heard? And when grown Leaf looked down d inthat Brown dress I'd to the head race. There is a smaller opening for navigaion. Boats going from Limerick to Killaloe will be able to proceed direct . through the r:,p etnhtsii:'s nest. When tile'thrushes el 'I' 1vittds S;er°'singihv to keep , the'bull." Pepe` said that liis greatest desire was to share with his brother the honor- of becoming Spain's most famous matador. The boys confessed that they had become bullfighters much against the wish of their father, Bienvenida, who was twice severely injured in the bull -ring at Madrid. If Manolo, three years ago, had not confided to his brother his intention of jumping into the bull -ring at Seville with an old cloak of his fa- ther's which he had bidden under his jacket, the boys might never have achieved their ambition. This action of Manolo's, although he was found out and severely punish- ed at the time, proved to the father that nothing would thwart the boys' desire to become matadors. Since then, under the experienced tutorship of their father, the boys ages. Then, in October or Novem- ber next year, driven by Shannon power, electric lights will blaze and Educated Welsh Still Believe in Witch Doctors Foolish Supersitions Are Exis- tent Among People of All Classes r MOLESKIN CURE from off his chest, and the asthma im- mediately returned." FATHER ANDA TOOTH To superstitious beliefs there is ap- parently no end in Wales. Here are some mentioned by Prof. Gwynne Jones: A man is expected to suffer from toothache before the birth of a child to his wife, and to lose a tooth every time a child is born to hint. A girl will know that she will get married if she is able to retain in her Incredible though it may sound in mouth a drink of water from a well this matter-of-fact age, witchcraft is while she walks three times round the well still widely believed in and practiced ; A marriage will be unlucky if the in Wales, and among its devotees are bride returns to a house in which no people of education as well as simple fire has already been kindled. folk. A bird flying against a window at night is a portent of death; a tree that This: fact was announced at the falls has a similar si jubilee.congress of the Folk Lore So- ciety which is being held in Burlington House, Piccadilly. It occasioned no surprise in the audience, for this con - as she does ashe saw that thb winds had left her Would she get her greatest wish if sisters down among the flowers in the cry my eyes out." she did all thisnight after night? "I can't understand,"whisperedgarden. Orange Leaf, another sister. "You'd Brown Leaf couldn't tell, but she could "We're not tired," the winds kept think to see her smile that she had try. She had got her other wish by singing a dress as gay as any of us. But trying. But this great . wish was so "No, we're not tired," said the Bing then she could have had if she had much more important. She had want- of the winds. "This is the time for bathed in the sunset pool as we dill, ed it ever since she had first heard our real music." Then he came up instead of listening to those thrushes a baby thrush whisper to its mother, quite close to Brown Leaf and whis- all the time." Then she had wanted it more than pared: "Well," said Purple Leaf, "perhaps ever when the young thrush had sung "Sing a lullaby, and ' we shall play now the thrushes have gone away his first song to the sunset. She had our harps." "The King says I can sing. The Thrush was right," thought Brown Leaf. Then, as the winds began to play their harps, Brown Leaf watched the sunset and thought harder than • • Work Writes the author of "The Simple slated entirely of men and women who Life," "When I am forced to contem- have spentyears in delving deep into plate the idleness of some •men's lives, the mysteries of the world's supersti-,� a great sadness takes possession of me, with such deep distress does the emptiness of all this vanity . fill me; but I never tire of watching a work- man at his task, on account of a cer- tain lofty dignity, a certain majesty, that surrounds hfm in my eyes." Evil will it be for any country when work comes to be generally despised, and the idleness of the very wealthy is admired as the ideal condition she will take a bath in the sunset pool, and still change the color of that dull dress." "It certainly will be a dull party for her if she stays that color," said "I want to listen to the thrush. I Scarlet Leaf. Now Brown Leaf heard every single "I want to learn to sing," Brown word her sisters said. But she was Leaf had said. And of course the happy, for she had her secret still other leaves had laughed at her. Brown Leaf did know that the party A leaf sing! Who had ever heard eves to be a fancy caress one. For of such a thing? What was Brown tions. According to Prof. Gwynne Jones, belief in witchcraft is particularly strong in Cardiganshire, Montgomery- shire, and along the English-speaking border. BEWITCHED COW. "A medical friend of mine," he said :'told me the other day that a .young woman university graduate who had l _ distinguished' herself in science came A GREAT COMFORT to him and asked hint if In could cure One of her father's cows, which, she A rich but very eccentric' man died declared, had been bewitched." The clergyman, who was young and Another case which had come to his new to the parish, thought it a fitting knowledge was that of an extremely opportunity to call and comfort the Intelligent and well-read man who, widow. "You must not grieve," he Buffering from depression, journeyed told her. "The body that lies here is 40 miles to consult a witch -doctor,. not your husband. It is merely a though at the time he was being at- husk, an empty shell—the mit has tended by his own family doctor. gone to heaven." There are many witch -doctors to be found in Wales, it seems, and their aid its sought by sufferers from all kinds imf complaints. A man who was suffering from i.sthma and could get norelief from Ordinary medicines went in despair to one of therm and was given a piece of Said J. J. Tunney to G. B. Shaw, ,'moleskin to wear on his chest. "1 ant "The brain is 'mightier than the said Prof, Gwynne �/ i that jawet, both'r told,"'ones, I find, can earn big money; tine man was cured of his complaint. "Yet, G. B. Shaw to . J. J. Tanney. , frhen one day his duet Ganite tei lidtn -Boston Transcript. 0 ltd removed the piece of - moleskin wanted it so badly that she had sat and listened to that song instead of bathing in the sunset pool with all her sisters. She wouldn't move a tiny bit from behind the thrush's nest. the King of the Winds had issued an order to that effect. In fact, it was that order that had made all the other leaves bathe in the sunset pool. But Brown Leaf had not cared to bo gay - colored. She had chosen brown her- self, Brown Leaf Chooses "I'd like to be the color of your feathers," she had told the thrush_ "You do so remind me of a tele - scene, Mr. Simms." "My "appearance, do you mean?" "Partly, but you're so easily drawn out, seen through and shut up again." — _-•:• -- Leaf thinking of! She had wanted a brown dress and now she wanted to sing. Why couldn't Brown Leaf be like all the others? Brown Leaf was sorry she had told her greatest wish. But she hadn't told her secret. She hadn't told them how she was going to learn to sing Perhaps she would surprise them yet, even though they laughed at her. she had ever thought before of the have gone from triumph to triumph Thrush's lovely song. Manolo is desribed by authorities on And as the winds played on their bullfighting as the more stylish ex - harps, Brown Leaf began to sing a ponent of the "art," but Pepe is the lullaby to her sisters, who were lying more daring, and it is from this child in their cozy beds among the flowers. of fourteen that the bullfighting And Brown Leaf was very, very happy when she saw their looks of under- standing and of thanks.—The Chris- tian Science Monitor. Townley: "What have you got in your garden this year?" Subduds: "My neighbor's Plymouth Rocks, Leg - and Island Reds." horns Rhode -e / •(G DY • le ioRe be Thi sal spokaee. De. AI)AMSO 'S ADVLNIUR —B r a Jaco%sso L "fans" of Spain are expecting great things. King Amanullah- Gets Air Wise Afghanistan Monarch Wants Plane Service to India London.—An Afghan -Indian air serv- ice is one of the latest developments in King Amanullah's drive to Western- ize his country. Reports from Peshawar, in North west India, say that Amanullah has issued instructions to the GoverlL r of Jalalabad to prepare four landing grounds in his province. At the same time three Afghan Air Force officers arrived at Dhakka for the purpose of picking a landing site there. Providing Afghanistan can reach an agreement with the Indian- Govern- ment, this means that a Afghan Mail an passenger route will soon connect Kabul with Peshawar, and bring re Mote territories within easy and quick access. Already two air services are operating in Afghanistan—one a halt- Russian enterprise between Kabul and Tashkent, in Russian Turkestan, and . the second, a purely Afghan venture, which now carries mail and passer), gers from the capital to Mazar -i -Sharif in the north. Soviets Press Sale of "Godless" Books 21ioscow.—llenceforth all govern ntent=run bookstores throughout the. Soviet Union will displayanti-relig- ious books in their show windows. Emelyan• Yaroslaysky, secretary of the - Communist party and chairman of the "Godless" Society, and Artem Halatov, head of the state publishers, addressed a circular letter to the book- shops telling them to push the sale of anti -religious literature. What has become of the -old -fashion. ed business men whose evenings were spent "on the booke?"