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Hokitika Guardian, 10 September 1924, Page 2

Late in July both the King and Queen were present in Liverpool at the consecration of the completed portion of the now cathedral in that city; and attended the solemn and moving rites by which the War Memorial transept was dedicated to the immortal dead of the war. 'the presence of the Sovereigns, .says the “Daily Mail”, is a reminder that the cathedral is one of which not Liverpool only hut the whole British nation may well he proud. When completed it will he in magnitude among the three largest cathedrals in the world, surpassed only by St. Veter's in Koine and the cathedral in Seville. It is also unquestionably the finest edifice which the twentieth century has produced in (ireat Britain, and. perhaps we may dare to say. one of the linest edifices which any century has produced. In its beauty and dignity it recalls the art of the great masters of the Middle Ages, who filled our country with such wonders hut whose very names are now forgotten. That it is the work of a very young man. Mr Gilbert Scott, the son and grandson of famous architects, is the more remarkable, as indicating how genius runs in families. Noble art is in itself a work of worship and a protest against cold materialism. 'I he local patriotism of Liverpool and .Lancashire has been worthily evoked in the efiort to build this magnificent cathedral. It was said by |{uskiu of our churches and buildings of seventy years ago that in them neither architect nor builder ever did his best, and that this tailing was the special characteristic ol nineteenth century woik. It is not true of this twentieth-century temple. It represents hard, taithlul. and costly work, in which nothing has been scamped or spared and in which the aim throughout has been to give of the best. Nor could there he a grander memorial to the dead of the (Ireat AN nr than the splendid transept in this cathedral. From the river on which it looks down thousands of them in the Merchant Service sailed, true and unshaken. in the days when every voyage brought hourly peril of death Ironi the murderous L-hoats. Liver) 00l has not forgotten that IT.COO men of the Merchant Service laid down their lives that freedom might prevail. Ages may pass and many things may he forgotten. hut this building is raised with a solidity that promises long to commemorate their fame and recall to posterity the undying gratitude which the survivors of their race feel to these its heroes and martyrs.

A it Ki'oltT of a (lerman pro lessor that he has obtained a microscopic quantity of gold h.v subjecting men toy vapour for a long period to the action of a power!u| electric current is one more indication that the dreams of the alchemist are being realised by model n science. There is nothing improbable in the report. That lanious British physicist, says a l-midon paper. Sir Ernest. It lit lid-ford, has already disrupted numerous elements, among them nitrogen, boron, tlnoiine. and sodium. Moreover, as most people now know, radium is perpetually disrupting it -cl 1 and passing, with the less ol certain particles, into lead by a jo ocess which all mail's knowledge cannot aflect or iit II tielice. That the transmutation of mercury into gold can have any practical or i oinmeicial value is not proliahle in the present or immediate Inline. 'flic cost of transiiiuiing the base metal into the line metal is enormous. To make mercury into gold an alpha particle has to he forced out. of tins atom of mercury, and a relatively gigantic energy has to he employed so that it would | rohahly cost CIOO. or perhaps even £I.OOO, to maiiufa: t lire hv this pioecss an ounce of gold, which could he extracted flour existing ores in the earth for something le-s than £l. There are. many other substances which can he manufactured nrlilicially h\ I In- i hcniisl at a much greater •o. I than is involved when they ale obtained in other wavs. Thus, synthetic rubber was made in Germany during the war, hut al an outlay of ISs to ‘Jos the pound ; chemically it teas identical with naturally grown rubber, hut ii was too expensive and it lacked certain of the essential qualities In the natural product.