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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1953-08-20, Page 7ii "Easter island" Place Of Mystery ..Easter island first step," air- lines operating over the Pacific may soon be announcing Chil- eans, whose one colony it is. plan to snake the island of the giant stone statues and strange rock carvings "one of the principal air -links of the South Pacific." It is quite a practicable ambi- tion. The Australian airman, Cap- tain P. G. Taylor, worked out after a survey flight that land - planes could make the trip be- tween Chile and Australia in three days, with Easter Island as the stop nearest South Amer- ica. There are plenty of good sites for air strips on the island, and aviation is . developing rap- idly in the Pacific. Then think of the attraction this 46 square miles of mystery would hold for tourists. Aircraft eat up the vast dis- tances between one small island or group of islands and the next. But scattered over an expanse of ocean four times as big as Eur-• ope, we find the relics of a vane ished civilization, The huge stone statues of Easter Island are re- peated in the Marquesas; there are great pyramids built in steps in Tahiti and Samoa, and an elaborate system of canals and harbour works at Ponape, in the Carolines. Throughout the Polynesian Ar- chipelago there is the legend that these works were carried out by white men with red hair and beards -and there were still many red-haired, bearded, pale - skinned men among the island- ers when the first ships from Europe started exploring in the Pacific. There must have been quite a lot of ocean voyaging in these regions centuries before air- craft, or steamships, or the wooden ships of Captain Cook and company. The theory that it was done, by raft and started from Peru, where there are sim- ilar monuments and a similar legend of bearded white men, was the inspiration of the fam- ous Kon-tiki expendition. This proved that rafts could do it. Thor Heyerdahl and his companions made their trip from Peru, 4,300 miles across the South Seas, in 101 days. The thory is that this migra- tion took place about 1,400 years ago. Another wave of men of a different, darker -skinned race, is For Greater Efficiency -- F. A. Gaffney, who has been appoint- ed general manager of the new department of road transport established by the Canadian National Railways. All the com- pany's highway services, except Canadian National Express veh- icles, will be organized under the one department. If has been formed in an effort to provide greater efficiency and economy of operation. Mr. Gaffney brings more than 33 years' experience in the conduct and economics of transportation to his new position at Montreal. believed to have arrived 600 years later. They came by sea- going war -canoe. Ocean exploration did not be- gin with the Vikings. And yet another chapter of it story was written before European voyag-• ers first reached the Pacific. This time there was no mystery about the origin of the explorers They were Chinese. Chinese junks were trading with India and Arabia before the Caesars ruled in Rome. A jade figure of the Chinese god of long life, dug up during roadrnaking near Darwin, shows that they reached Australia well in ad- vance of Captain Cook. Experts say the figure was thirteenth or fourteenth century, and it was found in the roots of a banyan tree, which is not native to Australia, but is highly regarded by the Chinese That points to a settlement. There is evidence also that junks made the trans -Pacific voyage to Mexico. Offerings of carved jade were discovered deep in the silt when the rain god's sacred pool at ',ihichen- Itza was dredged a few years before the war. They had been thrown in with the human sacri- fices, whose bones were mixed with the other relics of Maya rites. There is no way of ac- counting for the jade unless it came from China, Things like these give tascin•- ating, tantalising glimpses of the secrets of past ages in the Pacif- ic. Will we ever know more? Easter Islanders had their own system of writing, but the last of the "wise men" who could read it died nearly 100 years ago. and no key to the hieroglyphics has been found. parting Partner Ids G;.r. od When Jim Corbett was world's heavyweight champion, a big,. lumbering ox of a man from Car- oll, Ohio, came to the training camp to serve as a sparring part- ner. The new man was rugged and he was strong, with the punch of a mule in either fist. Corbett was riding high at the time, for was he not the man who had licked the great John L. Sullivan and shorn him of his title? Corbett hired the lunlber- ing ox with a lordly wave of the hand and stepped into the roped - off arena with him The new sparring partner serv- ed the clever champion well for a few days. Then, the big ox forgot himself and the reputa- tion of the champion. He began to push Gentleman Jim around. Infuriated at what he considered a personal insult, champion Cor- bett fired his new partner on the spot. Now it was the sparring part- ner's turn to get sore. As he pack- ed his few belongings, he came over to the champion and said, "Corbett, some day soon, I'm go- ing to wear that heavyweight crown of yours!" It seemed a ridiculous boast, for how could that clumsy oaf of a giant ever hope to win the most coveted crown in fistiana? -A year later, Corbett lost his title to the Australian black- smith, Bob Fitzsimmons. The new champion, in his 'first defense of the crown, met -you guessed it---Corbett's old sparring part- ner. And, to cap it all, the spar- ring partner took the title away from Fitzsimmons. The n e w champion, the sparring partner of only a short time before, had made good his boast. After less than a dozen fights in the ring, Jim Jeffries, the big ]umbering ox who had been fired as spar- ring partner by Jim Corbett, was champion of the world! PALEFACE SQUAW? Perhaps marriages lasted long- er in the old days because a bride looked the same after washing her face. 5, Sweets I� ^� v 6, On the ocean ri9�Wy 7, having left a will PUZZLE 8, Neckpiece 9. Wings 10 Not so spuds ACROSS DOWN 11, Deprivation 1, Distant 1. Fencing 16. German river 4. Get away 20,Rubber 8. Summon 12, individual 13. Facility weapon 2. Feminine name 3. Takes back 4. A, weight of tfl4in 14. Butter substitute 15. hospital doctors 17. Girl 18. Shortening 19, Without a date 21. Light 23. Brazilian macaw 24. Mother-of- pearl 26. Played the lead 30, insect 81. Twists about 33. Silkworm 34. Fortification 36. 1i'ominine name 83. Self 39. Largo plant 40. One who is sorry 44. Minced oath 47. Starch. Yielding' herb 43. Secret agent 50. rather 51. Mature 52, Unit of weight 53. Attention 54. Oook In water 55, Sheena 22, Give up 24, Catch suddenly 35. Collection or facts 26. Orb of clay 27, Put away 22, Before 29, Clamor 32, Pillagers 35, Poured 37. Dregs 39, Article o4 food 40, 'headstrong 41. American lak8'. 42. Unadulterated 40, Send out 45. In a line 48, Unit of force 49. Stitch 8 9 fa i7 19 ti4 rS• .v` MA:4g Ile: 4cw: e, At surer Elsewhere on This Page Gruesome.iwosoane-Boris Karloff, of movie -horror fame, shows the steps that change Robert Louis Stevenson's kindly Dr, Jekyll into sinister and sadistic Mr. Hyde, the gruesome half of a"twosome" personality. If the studies of a young Canadian chemist bear fruit, certain weeds which are poi- sonous to farm animals some- day may become useful in the manufacture of drugs for treat- ing the ills of mankind. q: * The chemist is Dr. Raymond Leduc of Montreal who ie con ducting pure research under, a . C -I -L fellowship in the labori- tories of the National Research - Council, Ottawa. His research is aimed at finding the chemitial makeup of "akaloids" in pill= sonous weeds like .the death Camas, Dutchman's breeches, squirrel corn, lupines, spotted water hemlock and larkspur. He will also attempt to determine the reason for their presence in plants and what function they perform, Alkaloids are bitter organic materials poisonous or poten- tially harmful to both man and animal but, in small quantities, have wide medicinal uses. Com- monly known alkaloids are stry- chnine, morphine, cocaine, caf- feine, nicotine and quinine -all obtained from different plants. • * a: Dr. Leduc • is interested chiefly in the fundamental aspect of alkaloid,chemistry. Anything he uncovers that may lead to the commercial application of the alkaloids he is working with, will be passed on the NRC's ap- plied chemistry division. * r The airplane is becoming in- creasingly valuable in North America as an instrument for the quick and widespread spraying or dusting crops and woodlands with pesticides and insecticides Across the world, in New Zea- land, it has found another farm use -the spreading of fertilizer. Agriculturists report that acres of rugged, hilly country there have been converted into ex- cellent patureland, capable of supporting many times more cattle and sheep than previously, by fertilizer spread from the air, $ * 4. Reminiscent of the early and amid -thirties in the prairie pro- vinces, the soils are on the hove in Texas. Clouds of dust roll across the country obscuring the sun, covering the highways and fences, seeping into homes, leav- ing in their wake scenes of des- pair and desolation. Farmers, who have prospered in the past, look with worry upon their bare, parched acres. Merchants carry an over -burden of credit in their book. Banks no longer welcome the rural loan -seeker. * 4. * While Canadians have been fortunate this year to escape widespread damage from wind erosion they nevertheless have erosion problems in many dis- tricts. Priceless top soil is being washed away by rain and un- controlled spring floods due to the lack of sound soil conserva- tion practices. n 4 At one time no one thought of soil as a natural resource Soil, it was generally considered, was an inexhaustible birthright and was used as such. In recent years, however, Canadian soil scientists have come to realize that our soils could be depleted like other resources. This fall a formal course in soil conservation will be esta- blished for the first time at the Ontario Agricultural College at G u e 1 p h, The Conservation Council of Ontario has been set up, one of its prime functions being the promotion of soil con- servation. Canadian chapters of the Soil Conservation. Society of Aierica are being formed: Pro- vincial and Federal departments of agriculture have launched long range research programs dealing with soil conservation. 'l' * ,t But the problem of soil ero- sion cannot be licked solely by agricultural scientists, conserva- tion groups or governments. The man who holds they key to the success of any soil conservation program is the farmer because he owns the soil these various bodies are trying to conserve. His co-operation therefore is es- sential. Because moisture and tempera- ture conditions are usually ideal for germination and growth, the last two weeks of August and the first two weeks in Septem- ber is the best time throughout most of Canada to plant a lawn. e According to James E. Boyce of the turf research division of the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa, fall -seeded lawns get an early start and are able to compete effectively with the warm -weather weeds which ger- minate in late spring and early summer,_ Mr. Boyce describes the ideal lawn soil as a rich, deep, med- ium loam. Clay soils can be improved by use of soil condi- tioners, The proper application of complete fertilizer prior to seeding is much more important than the rate of seeding or the ratio of components of thr= seed mixture, * n. He advises prospective home builders to strip the top soil from the lot, stockpile it in one corner before construction and re -spread it after proper grades have been established. This will save; up to $350 in top soil re- • placement costs on an average - sized lot. Rah Karg, Fahr, P@1;.Y5 General' Electric engineers have produced a "transistor- ized" rriegaphcne that seems to be the answer to a cheerlead- re's prayer. It is expected to have wide application both for military and civilian use, according to GE officials: The megaphone is complete in itself, requiring no external batteries or connections of any. find. The key is found in two tiny germanium beads, "transistors" which do the am- plification' work of vacuum tubes and operate on a minimum of power. They work from tiny batter- ies the size of a matchbox, elim- inating , the need for bulky, high-voltage batteries or an ex- ternal power supply. The new unit has a volume control which permits adjustment of the nor- mal speaking voice from a loud shout to an inaudible whisper. (1Jpsitlr :!!own to prevent peeking) 1 U MIMED- E C3UEIW � da©��A flC W � . O mQfc v U El zl n" Elniniiip ,.1813 JU - i�IH # ®Op ja.tla4,,i27123:;:,13Uv a� ;:iaa Q u5:14MBla a z1 Elk' v uNunrscnooL LESSON Ily Rev. 11. Barclay Warrebr, The Christian's Prayer Life, I Timothy 2:1-8; Romans 8:26-28. ]Memory Selection: 1 exhort, therefore, that, first of all, sup- plications, prayers, interces- sions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings„ and for all that are in author- ity; that we may lead. a quiet and peaceable life in all god- liness and honesty. 1 Timothy 2:1-2. I am writing this before the election but you are reading it after the election. Let us give good heed to the memory selec- tion. Men who stand for public office receive a lot of unwarrant- ed abuse. If we really prayed for those in authority there would be a greater atmosphere of kind- ness and our leaders would do a better job. Our prayers are to be offered in the name of Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God. and man. We need the Holy Spirit in our hearts -that we may ask according to the Will of God. When we have prayed in the Spirit "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his pur- pose." This is not a resignation to fate but an affirmation of faith. It is a triumph in the face of mystery. It is rest in the pre- sence of what may appear to be defeat. I spoke on that text one morning. The next morning I was greeted with the news of the death of a former student. His car had been found in the possession of others. He had been shot. In another year he expect- ed to graduate from medical school and proceed to India as • a missionary. He loved. God. Therefore the promise applies even in such a sad situation as that. A young doctor read of it. He was challenged. He and his family are now ministering in India. Some day we shall under- stand it better. "God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm. Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan his work in vain: God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain." PJ lIZ Phil U SLY T D 5 0 R' II: O L L Stec RI iQ. ABOUTI" For all our long history in North America, we still look with pride upon our membership in the British family of nations, and we dont like it when the fact of that connection is misunderstood or misinterpreted in the United States. We are a sovereign nation with a Queen of our own who happens to live most of her time in London. While we are Her Majesty's loyal subjects in Canada, we ourselves pay for the cost of government in Canada. It is our own government which governs in the name of the Queen of Canada. That may sound like a quaint arrangement, but it suits us. The fact that we are a constitutional monarchy,'and still have deep roots in both Britain and France, makes us a very good bridge between the. United States and Europe. Our foreign policy is not selfseeking, not only because we are shall in numbers, but also because we have no aspiration other than to develop our own country in our own way .. . We won our independence, not by fighting our mother country for it, but by standing at her side in two world wars. Nevertheless, our independence is as dear to us as yours is to you, though we may not set off so many fireworks to prove it. -From an address by H. G. Hilton, President, The 'Steel Company of Canada at New York. Beira' -By Speaking - There's trouble "bruin" in one of the bear families inhabiting a northern woodland. A brotherly quarrel has these two little cubs up a tree.