AMERICAN NEWS
MR H. G . WELLS ON CIVILISATION. WILKIN’S SUBMARINE ADVENTURE. SAN FRANCISCO, October 28. Mr !H. G. Wells, British historian and novelist, arriving in the ‘United States, had a prediction that an “absolute collapse of modern civilisation is not only possible, but is probable.” “When civilisation collapses,” Mr Wells said as he came down the New York harbour on his first trip to this country for several years, “I will write a book about it. This one may fall as rapidly as any civilisation can,” lie said, “but the case is not exactly comparable to Rome, because the Romans were near the ground, and there was no great mechanical' system to crash down upon them. This is such a crazy edifice w'e have, that it will fall hard.” Genially discussing such unrelated subjects >as the New York skyline and world economics, Mr Wells revealed that he would be in the United States a month, and after he leaves he will begin a novel—on what subject he did not say. “Even the United States cannot manage its financial and economic affairs alone,” he said, when the interview swung to the big conversational topic of depression.
“There are three main factors in the world depression,” Mr Wells went oil. “The first is national finance, the second is currency breakdown, due to no readjustment after the Great War. The third is something that has happened now for the first time in history—production has run beyond any possibility of consumption. One remedy would be to fall back upon economic science before it is too fate, and beat the thing as a world problem. Put the economic leaders in charge, not the politicians, and they will be able to do it. 'lf' you have a world health problem you naturally consult with doctors and biologists. The primary thing just now is to recognise cosmopolitanism/' he said. “If we do not work together the whole world will ‘bust.’ ” HARROWING ORDEAL. 'Eleven underseas sailors, back from two months of suffering and some “grumbling,” smiled bravely and chorused that if someone would give them a better submarine they would try again to reach the North Pole. They were half of the crew of the old Nautilus, once a U.S. Navy submersible, and at the t : me of their arrival in New York, a battered wreck ready to be sunk in the North Sea. 'Under the command of Sir Hubert Wilkins, who with other members of the crew were to return to the United States at a later date, they conquered cold) sickaiess and iiiaily Ur ll akdowns ill mechanical equipment to drive thencraft within 360 miles of the Pole. The fury of the oncoming winter then drove them back, , Although there were divergent statements as to how the strength-sapping experience had reacted on the moral of ithe crew, a spirit of camaraderie prevailed when the men greeted relatives after disembarking in New lork from the liner American Banker. “There was some grumbling. We had a lot to contend with,” said Chief lEng-'neer Ralph D. Shaw, who hails from Bridgeport, Connecticut, and who’ lias /been xfn submarine work since 19.10. “The spirit among us was splendid,’ says Ray Meyers, of Philadelphia, chief radio operator, who was praised for sleepless vigils while the submarine was pushing iits nose along the ice caker of the Far North. The, voyage across the Atlantic was the most harrowing ordeal in Shaw s career. A combination of bad air anc sickening rolling motion made most ot the men ill as the engines broke down, and the batteries went low. r I he niei shivered inside as a quarter of an inch of ice formed on the lining of the craft. When they got into the Arctic, after being towed tto Ireland by r batt'eship, the d.'.'virg rudder went bad. They went under the ice several times but Shaw said he was unable to estimate the exact mileage covered in thir way. Despite all the hardships, be said, he would be glad to 6° agaii with better equipment. Frank Criiley, modest hero, who war chief diver of the expedition, and went down among the colliding ice cakes t< look at the damaged rudder, sail: After the second (inspection I "'as convinced it "’as hopelessly out of gear. iSo we decided to return. E"en with the rudder gone we had to do, some diving to dodge 'the surface ice. “All of us, provided we had a bettei boat, would be glad to go again,” declared Dixie Holland, assistant electrician. Ice cakes crashing against the submarine, which acted hke a sounding board, almost made him deaf, be saic .
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HOG19311204.2.64
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Hokitika Guardian, 4 December 1931, Page 7
Word count
Tapeke kupu
772AMERICAN NEWS Hokitika Guardian, 4 December 1931, Page 7
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
The Greymouth Evening Star Co Ltd is the copyright owner for the Hokitika Guardian. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of the Greymouth Evening Star Co Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.