NEWS AND NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 June 1932, Page 8

NEWS AND NOTES.

A IST OUT SHIP. Fifty-eight years age the United •Suites coastguard patroii, the Bear, was launched on the Clyde, and for forty years it did duty in and north of the Bering Sea. The advent of a modern vessel sent the Bear into retirement where it has remained until recently. But ;again it is to be put nto commission, for Bear-Admiral Byrd has just brought the old vessel to take his proposed expedition to the Antarctic. It says much for its Scottish out.tiers that, having fogged 1,000,000 miiies policing the Bering 'Sea, the vessel if still lit to be equipped for her long journey to the south. The little vessel 'that won fame for the rescue of Lieutenant (freely and his party, and that has neanly half ;a century of Arctic servic e recorded in its log, is being given further opportunity to add to its laurels in an expedition to Antarctic seas.

“THU COLOSSUS OF THE NORTH.”

Feeling against the United States has found expression in various ways in the -South American States. A few weeks ago a group of labour leaders in Chile proposed the formation of a Latin-American /labour federation to promote a union of the republics south' of the United States, and to insui'e an indefinite campaign against “dolrar domination.” This group arranged the

Latin-American Labour Congress which met last month, a conference of the

more conservative type of workers' i ‘.ider.s, when it was agreed to afsist in propaganda for a. United States of Latin America. While it was agreed v the representatives assembled that the idea was old, it was felt that the lime was propitious for a renewal of discussions on such a. union, “in view of the tyranny of the Government of the United States of North America toward the oountrj<« ; of the South.” ■HIMALAYAN EXP ED ITI ON. Only one attempt to scale Xanga Parbat, a mountain peak of the Hima- . 'vas, Ivs been made, and that was by (Mr A. F. Mummery, a British mountaineer. in 1895. His experiences in the climb have formed the basis of most of the recent attempts made on the of Northern India, and no doubt his records will be- carefully bud fed by. an. expedition to be led by a German mountaineer in an effort to conquer Nnnga Parbat. Should the efforts of the party be succe.'i fud, ' the highest summit will have been reached, for the height o»' the peak is 26,629 •feet, but it will not be the highest altitude, for two British climbers, Mal- !• tv ”nd Irvine, succeeded in reaching a higher altitude in attempting Mount Everest. The" expedition includes eight. Germans and two Americans, one oi whom is a woman w’th considerable mountaineering experience. SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. Tlie> annual report, published a few weeks ago, of the work of the National Physical Laboratory in England, shows how extensive are the services that scientific experts render to industry. During the year investigations have been made into subjects as remotely associated as magnetism in steel, dental ■ alloys, visco'-ity in steel, wireless interference, traffic lamps, surface tension of . milk, wearing of jewel pivots and the spinning of aeroplanes. Of more direct interest to the Dominion are meat wrappings and the “spread-ability oi butter.” The butter experiment, also of interest in numberless homes, is carried out by squirting butter through a hole like toothpaste out of a tube. The pressure required to force it through 's measured’, and attention is then centred on the selection of the best treatment of butter to ensure its easy spreading.