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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1922-09-21, Page 3Newly Discovered Twins in Our Sky • The discovery of two new stars, de - dared to betwins, bY Dr. J. S, Plas- kett, of the Astro -physical observatory at Victoria, 13,C., is profoundly inter esting, especially in view of their gi- gantle 'size -one et ahem being a sun seventy-five tinges as big as ours, and .the :other sixty-three times as. big— but the phenonierion of 'iioubles," Where star's are concerned, is na great. novelty. TI,,e star nearest h.o the earth, called Alpha Centauri,may be seen. with a • good field glass to. be really a pair of sun, watch,the. astronomerstell us, revolve about acommon centre of gravity, Each of them Is about the size of our own orb of day. They are visible only in the night sky of• the southern liemisp'here. These nearest cosmic neighbors of ours are distant from us about four and a third light-year$i, " or approxi- mately 25,408,016,000,000 miles. If you were bo 'start to -morrow for Alpha Centauri in an airplane—or let ue say an ether-plane—and travel 200 miles an hour, night and clay, without stop- ping, you would get there in a bit over 14,500,000 years. Most familiarly known of all the constellations is. the Dipper. In the middle of its "handle" is a star called Miz&r, . *Web. 19 in reality twins -a pair of giant suns. Again, in Scorpio there is a brilliant red •sun linked with a much . smaller bright green sun The ancients were well acquainted with Castor and ;Pollux, two Menet:el, gains which they called Gentle', lir the Twins. They are not really t'wins in, an, •astrotiontieal eers°, glut net very i ling ago the extraordinary dd'soverY was made that Castor revoivee ,about a yet larger globe wliic'h is dark and therefore invisible Although no man has 'seen, or ever will see, that dark globe, its existence and its power of attraction are mani- fested by swaying the motion of the great star which revolves about it, The situation thee pres'eiited is .most re markable; for here we have the spec-• ba,cle of 'a fiery orb many' times bigger' than our own sun revolving around a colossal world which quite possibly is inhabited.! It has .often been said that we have no knowledge of any planets other than thoseof the solar system, al- though it is to be presumed that there are billions of ahem. But there ie one very interesting exception—a dark globe which revolves• about the great star Algol (in Medusa's Head), cut- ting off three-fouurths of its light at re- gular intervals of sixty-eight hours. The dark sphere. is about four-fifths the size of Algol, its diameter being approximately 850,000 miles. In other words, this enormous planet is about as big • as our sun. Chopped off, ,it would make 1,250,000.woritle the size of ours. Once more "our insignaecance! E%PL9RING NEW PORTIONS OF QUEBEC FORMERLY KNOWN . AS UNGAVA TERRITORY. available to indicate this territory's, posseseioni of a great wealth of natural resources. of -many kinds, and this it is which has decided the provincial government upon its commercial pene- tration. Topographically the country is profusely dotted -with thousands, of lakes, (hundreds of which have surface areas of from twenty to one hundred square miles. These are connected •by a veritable network of rivers and streams, forming an unexcelled 'sass tem of transportation in which port - ageing is, practically unknown. These routes are rich in water -powers, which will add considerably to the province's already tremendous aggregate in this regard, Climatically the temperature ranges from cold temperate on the southern coasts to Arctic on Hudson Strait, and it is generally so rigorous that it is doubtful if the country will ever be fit for agriculture, though the soil is generally a rich mixture of sad and clay. Advance Party Are Gathering Data Regarding Assets of This Unexplored Region. The provi;n'cial government of Que bee has organized on expedition' into the Ungava territory, or as it s'hould now be known, New Quebec, the first object of which) will be the establish- ment of a series of posits or stations from which later on the great task of exploring the region and .gathering in- formation regarding its topography, rivers and streams, resources of tim- ber and minerals• wil be carried on. An innovation in Canadian explora- tory work will be- the introduction of wireless .telephony,' a ;system of com- munication w'hidhl, from the: outset, will eliminate many of the inconveni- et_ees: and hardships .of the pioneer while -Tule advance` party went out; during -the summer and established a base of ,operations at Hamilton Inlet On the coast of Labrador. It is just ten years since the boun- daries of Quebec Province were -ex: te'ncled'to take :in the territory of Un gave., which lay immediately north of the province, embracing alit the main land:with the exception of the north- east coast, which, under the name of Labrador; fell to the jurisdiotion of Newfoundland. The territory thus. transferred in 1912 from the Federal government to Quebec comprised some 351,780 square miles, which. gave Que- bec a total area of 703,653 square miles, snaking it by far the largest province of the Dominica.. As. Yet An Undiscovered District.: Ungava, or New Quebec, is• yet to all intents and purposes an undis- covered country, such fragmentary and meagre Information as is' avail- able beingthe result of exploration of a most rudimentary character. Ex- cept for white settlement along the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the At- tete, and siderite.in widespread distri- bution, which it is considered will be of great economic importance at a fu- ture date. Mica occurs. frequently. Ornamental stones of many varieties are found over the area. Limestoziea considered excellent for building pur- poses, are known, as well as cement rocks and grindstones. Fish and Fur Abundant. Practically all .the numerous lakes of the territory are stocked with food Forest and Mineral Wealth. Forest is oo'ntinuoue over the south- ern part of the peninsula, though north the region is treeless, woods be- ing . only found about' the margins of small lakes or in the valleys; of rivers: The range, of the various trees de- pends en many factors, but tibe follow- ing are found in large quantities in the southern area:—birch, aspen, balsam, poplar, 'cedar,' Jack -pine, white spruce, black spruce fir rind temente. Though hardly a. commercial asset at the pre- sent time, these constitute a valuable possession, and 133i the future the trees of the more favorable portions' will be profitably worked into lumber and also provide material for pulp and paper mills. The merest observation has dis- closed indications of a great hidden mineral wealth,and that this has al- ready attracted widespread attention is evident from the fact that several mining experts backed by British capi- tal have gone up into that territory 'this summer to make surveys and prospect. It is thought that gond prob- ably occurs in many quartz -veins which heave been encountered. Silver has been found associated with lead, and occurring in quantities of econo- mic value in bunches• of galena. Oc- ourrences of copper -pyrites are report- ed as. fairly common. There are im- mense deposits' of magnetite, hems. dd t, wor yet to come - ff e.a 8l11hg+or`. ty, including lake and brook trout, land -locked and sea -run salmon, white- fish, pike•, pickerel, suckers and ling. Cod is taken off the coasts in large quantities and salmon is plentiful in the coast waters. 'One of the ,outstanding resoure'es •of New Quebec ie fur, an asset of which a comparatively small toll is yet taken. Probably more valuable' fur- bearing animals are to be found in this area than other sections of North- ern. Canada, because included in the species are the purely Arctic and pela- gic types. Animals found extenisiveiy there include the lynx, wolf, red, croes. black and silver' fox, marten, fisher, weasel, mink, wolverine, otter, black and polar bear, walrus, and many species of seal. Small bands of rein- deer are to be found, whilst cariboo, range unmolested, suggesting the es-- tablishment of further ranching entei prises of these two valuable animals. The work being undertaken by t Quebec Government is of purely a liminary nature with the object of s,. sequently having on. hand reliable on the territory's. ass'et's as soon. ploitation is considered justifl merest cursory observations. doubt as to the immensei, New Quebec, and .it is merely ter of time before the furnis adequate transportation twilit the introduction of capital will b. about a development productive of much and varied a wealth as any oth area of. the Dominion. antic coast, and a few whites em- ployed by the Hudson's Bay Company, the , entire inhabitants are either In- dians or Eskimos. The territory of New Quebec has: a population of about 14,300, of whom 3,500 are Indians and 2,000 Eskimos. The white population is chiefly French-Canadian, obtaining a ' livelihood • mainly from the coast fisheries, which is supplemented by hunting Auld trapping in the winter months. , - Sufficient information is, however, flsbes of large size and superior quali- Stories of Famous People The British Premier's First "Hit." Lord Riddell's book, "Some Things That Matter," contains a new and in- teresting • story about Mr.. Lloyd George's, first bit in Parliament. It appears that a fellow-1Vf,P.—. a rating : expert—failed to makehis points when addressing the House. After an ineffective ettemnpt'he a hand- ed his papers to Mr. Lloyd George, saying, "Being a lawyer, you know -something about the subject, and you seem to have the art of stating a ease. Read and make use of these notes," Mr, Lloyd George did, and riaade his first oratorical succea's. in Parliament. An Author's Fortune. The rewards' of •authorship are not . always; bail, Mr. A. S. M. Hutchinson has already made $350,000 out of "If Winter Comes," and It is probable that he will, get enothter '$150,000' before that remarkable "seller' stops making money for him. His now book, "The Freedom, promises to be almost as successful, for it is being bought at the rate of. ;i thousand 'copies a day. Mr. I:iutcliinsorr is resp'onsibl'e ter a good ttr .y tri connection with his now le State Banquet at 13nchingham Palace A blaze and riot of itrldl Fat, hu'n.dtsd all of pure gold 'Withthirty spreading tables agleam, wed 'the yel-• dozen, other gold plates. to fall back an low of & 'olden prates•, of pporgnes that it ease of nieed. And even the platee, .are miracles, of the goldsmiths art, :and end. tureens are 'ale erg,uaeltely chaeed gorgeous many-brauciied candelabra; by master -hands ae if each were de=' e prodigal prolusion of golden tank - erste, vases, and goblets crimson - draped walls blazing, every square yard of them, with •ehields' and plaques of gold, until the eyes ache with the splendor and flame of it ail• , Such is a come which aright have come straaigbt from the woudenland of the "Arabian Niglhite." Secli is the Beane of aState banquet et Bucking - bans Palace, or at King George's castle at Windsor. If you are favored, you may be per- mitted a,glimpse of. two Royal parties, each no larger than an ordinary draw- ing -room; and a Yeomen of the King's Plate will tell you that the contents of these two roorn;s• alone are valued et $7,500,000. 'And by no means aid his Majesty's treasure of gold is to be seen there. For the purpose of a single banquet; tour tone and more of this gold plate are transported in vary bearing the If Trees Were People. if trees were people, pines would be Toor p 'im•"" for popularity; Their .:piffled frocks, through Summer,. Fall, infeei and Spring, don't change at And birches in their gown& of white, Dancing witli winds that trail the night,.' Welly c ; lithe maidens, free and glad, Ne if the world is sad. A Les with their love for dress eateti1 ;:" goy I guess. be tall, slim eand-silvered with., pale ,# and chestnuts in .the m, sturdy business men, s would be mothers fair, ffspring tender pare. d be'philosophers, ;oe'er occurs, t with the sod, eir minds to God. let Alleyn Storey. A Germ -Proof House. "No germs nor earthquakes need ap- ply," might well be the legend en the 1M lintel of a house in Yokohama, de- signed esigned and constructed expressly to resist those undesirable things. The walls are made of hollow bricks of glass,in which is introduced a chemical t1 solution which has the effect ofcaws- lar ing the temperature of the rooms ora never to vary. The windows are closed with screens through, which the air penetrates only after being filter- ed. The creator of this extraordinary device is a European physician, suf- fering from a sort ef-miorobe-phobia. He sees germs everywhere. He hard- ly dares' to eat or drink, through fear of swallowing armies of microbes. A similar fear of germs is found, of course, in many people, thiou•,gh less pronounced. Yet our anoest'ors lived just as long as we 'while ignoring this danger. Plain Jane. A pretty young lady ranted Jane, While walking was caught in the rain, She ran—almost few; Her complexion did,•, too, And site reached home exceedingly plain•. Make something out of 'life. Don't --'-- drift, don't loaf, don't w'hine. "Quit novel. A Scotsman went into' a shop ,you like men, be strong." and handed out'three half-crowns for a copy, with the worths., "Witb a great price bought I this, freedom." No Carpet Knight. The conllnan'der of the American army in France is not the sort of sot - (liar who ot-dder.who "'takes• it easy" when he has the right to aa -so'. In hie, lively Jour-' nal of the Great War Gen. Charles G. Dawes gives us &hie. gl,imps.e=�ot Genet`- ' al '- Pershing at headquarters on a frosty morning. • When I got up the next morning,. lie, writes, it was ver' coal and snowing• 1 General Harbord cents. ts. to my door and 11' asked me tocCms and dress in his nocni, for he tett a vs oo i fire. Not- witlrstatiein•g the fire the ;air in the room Was freezing eeold, and I was' proud of myself for forcing myself through my horning g J nira tic ,exer- cises.: While:t was doin4 that I leolesti out of the window, and there was "Brack Jack" clad only in pyjamas, bath robe and slippers and with his bare ankles s•howing,' runn'ng tap and down in the snow! I navereaw.antan-1 mope ,,,physteeny fit es his age. sipnea as a single work of art, One of the candelabra et tells, won- derful sernriee'-^that of " at, George - flghting the. deaeon—ooataiee 2,700 ounces of gold, avid cost $50,000;.. uxi other, known as the "Hesperides," is so heavy that three strong men ean scarcely raise it to the table -level, Every age, singe the far -away days'. of Queen Mary, sister of Elizabeth, is represented yin this collection of Royal plate. There is the :toilet service; with the mirror that ministered to Tudor Mary's vanity Meets centuries, and a half . ago; there is a silver -gift flagon which once adorned the cabin of an Armada admiral there are Elizabeth- an sugar -castors, and gold cups of por- tentous weight; Stuart plate, ranging from silver•glit fire -dogs to a table of s•oliid silver; a massive; eommunioa- serviee.used by Queen Anne; epergnes and tureens • made for Frederick, Prince of Wales, George IL's son; and Royal Arens from Windsor to Bucking- so on, down to a gold spittoon, a ham Palace; and touts more are lett Siamese king's tribute to Queen Vic - behind. toric. In these treasure -vans are epergnes Sieh are some of the golden trees of gold which weigh several hundred- sures of the King; and in many noble weights. There are dishes, two or mansions in Great Britain are other three of which are as much asany similar collections worth, in the aggre- man would care to carry far; .and half gate, several king's ransoms. Anion'g a dozen of the dingier plates even are them are the eollectiorus of the Dukes, one man's sufficient load. As for the of Northumberland and Norfolk, the candelabra, you will see three strong- Marquis of Bath, and Lord :Fitzwil- armed men straining their muscles to liam. deposit one of them in the van. The Duke of Bedford's gold. plate at There is one dinner -service alone for Woburn Abbey is es'pe•nially magnifi- the making of which over $1,000,000'cent., So lightly, however, was it re - was paid a century ago. The gold of worded by the eighth duke, that on his winch it was fashioned—generations death, in 1872, gold plate worth many of Court • plate melted down --was thousand's • of dollars was found strewn valued at $2,500,000. about the, floor of his house in Bel - Here we have a complete service grave Square in such, a deplorable con - for 140 dinners—centre plaques• to re- dltien'that it narrowly escaped being present water, epergnes, candelabra, consigned to the dustbin as worthless tureens, entree dishes, plates by the meta:.. Canadian Building Boom Big- gest Since War Began. Canada is experiencing a building boom. Figures for the first six months of the year show a volume of construc- tion unequaled in any year since 1914. Building permits had an aggregate value of $132,452,000 for the first six months, as compared with $111,763,500 in the first half of 1921. Ontario ac- counted for $74,586,900, Quebec $31,- 294,200, maritime provinces $5,521,700, and the western provinces $21,049,200. Of the total $53,435,300 was invested in. residences, $39,660,900 in business buildings, $10,050,700 in industrial con- cerns and $29,305,100 ,in engineering i ; construction. Compared with last year building. in Ontario has. doubled- and Jenirs• Toronto' has, led all Canadian. cities in ginning in - the work of this kind. a sohiool of native bus recently, been tlonal Park et Banff.. a matter for regret in r chief tourist centres side only goo=ds. made S'tatee . England and as a.. general thing were ! gar, the million dollar mark was pass- cteiristic nor beautiful.' ed. S. Smith, of the Arohaeo- Regina, Edmonton, Moose Jaw, en ;of the Victcria Mu- Brandon, Lethbridge and other west - ore than .once pointed out ern centres report more building than c,.fered by our own pre - since ii before the war. Building in tan designs and advocated these western cities is taken as a should `be utilized more barometer of the prosperity of the ag- ponnection with •our Nandi- r icultural prairie provinces. d manufactures. These de Building was almost at a standstill during the war and has been shack since. Resumption of construction on a substantial scale is looked upon by business men and economists as an augury of prosperous times ahead. This activity extends from coast to coast, Fifty-six cities show an in- crease in construction of 30 per cent. over last year, Quebec reports an in- crease of 50 per cent., Saskatchewan 300 per cent. Value of permits in Win- nipeg increased $1,000,000. In Cal - signs ; are particularly suited to pot- tery, wood carving, block printing and weaving. A few years ago some In- teresting experiments in the making of Canadian pottery were made by Miss Mary Young of the Geological Survey staff, which attracted oonsider-, able attention. -Mies Young recently resigned troth the Service and joined a small group of craft workers at Banff who hope to build up there a craft centre that will. eventually sup- ply the 'whole of the National Parks wiilh cbaraeteristic and beautifully made Canadian gifts of Canadian ma terial and, where possible, of Canadian design. A. pottery' has. been built and more •applications from students than can be accepted have already been re- ceived. l fie Distracted Captain. L:ierrtenant ',Cale -"They say Cap - /tale Jamas was very calm and collected after his accident thds, morning." Col'o'nel Spin --"Yee, yes, quite calm —he's still being collected, how'eve4" Educational System's Relation to Music. There is a real need for music ap- preciation study throughout our edu- cational system. The splendid de- velopments in public school inusic work increase rather than decrease the importance of giving to our uni- vereity and college men and women similar opportunity. There is a need for an opportunity whereby every student will at leant become familiar with the Milton and Shakespeare, the Dante, Moliere and •Schiller o1: music, as well as the melodramas. Music is a pleasure which we' con- tinue to use throughout our lives. Many of the subjects which we in elude in our university and college Courses have as' their baeic argument the fact that they lead toward citizen ship, a larger understanding of -rife• and its problems, and towards an en- ri.cbled enjoyment of the world about us. To no other study do these argu- ments apply more adequately than to the study of music. Excepting the daily newspapers, the number of :peo- ple who listen to music is greater than those who read. 1t is a more frequent source of enjoyment than books. But how do we listen? Are we getting the most out of music? Camouflage. "Doctor, if there is anything the matter with me don't frighten me half to death by giving it a long scientific name. Just tell me what it is in plain English." "Well, sir, to be frank, you are lazy." "Thank you, doctor. Now tell me the scientific name for it. I've got to report to the missus." Blue Riband of the Atlantic The great struggle that is going on between the White Star liner Majestic and the Cunard liner Mauretania for the Blue Riband of the Atlantic takes one's' mind back thirty years, when the previous Majestic and the Inman liner City of Parte raced against one another voyage after voyage with varying tartans until finally th•e Teu- tonic slipped in and got away with the record. • The Mauretania'aas held the record since she was: a new ship in 1907, con- stantly improving on her own speed until 1909, when she logged a record that hag not since been touched. She has found it well worth while to gain the position, le spite of the enormous A group of teacheis who lane 0 torts or a4;15r0110 and i ramie. slime etiow oilier train by which they travelled• through Canada. 'Slee, orae. attee,te a : toes,,,selen i ,- amount of fuel that bus to he con sumed at these high speeds. When the Germans were elbowing their way to the front in. the North Atlantic passenger business they de- cided that nothing but the record would be a satisfactory advertise rent. Owners and builders co-oper- ated to sacrifice direct profits and con triv'ed to capture the position in 1897. In the early days special efforts were trade to break the record on s certain run, but nowadays every voy age •has got to be a record or some thing very near it as witness the fact that there was only a difference of five minutes• between the best and the worst of the M.auretaaiia's last three Westbound passages. I This strain could not be rnainteineic if the firemen had to stoke as they did with .coal fires, but with liquid :fuel , one hand can look after nine furnaces and still have a 1'ot of time left on his hands. Nowadays the strain is all an the eyes by looking through the spy -holes to see that the maximum amount of flame.and heat is being 'ole tainetl at the nozzles, and the mini- ' muni of 'slneke and soot. It is difficult to compare` the per- iormances .of the two, big ships es they are published at present, because they are takers between different slots. The Majestic times her run to the Eddy - tone, while the Mauretania generally works straight through to Southnmp- ' :ton. The day's run at 'sea is, of Course, aekoned by the sights ,el.en of the sun sena sonletlmee of tl,•a stars and e is abti utely accurate. but all the time _u ship is most way she is tow - Ing a little revolving log by which her spied may be judged welt enough ter nn,ost purposes..