CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 233, 11 March 1915, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE (WHEAT SUPPLY. It is daily becoming more evident (says the Christchurch Sun) that the Government has made a mistake in not taking over the whole "of the new season's wheat supply at a fixed price, in order to prevent further increases in the price of flour. The futility of fixing a price and leaving the vendors to devise means of evading it has been already demonstrated, but the Government might very well have adopted the method cmployed by the Imperial authorities in regard to the meat. All they had,to do was to fix the price and commandeer the supply, which could then have been issued to the millers as required, and the pric of flour regulated accordingly. As it is, there is every indication that there will be further advances, and unless the Government takes action flour may go to £2O, and the four-pound loaf to fs. The wheat growers, ot' course, are going to do verv well, but there is no gain to the community in high pries for breadstuffs when then" is no surplus for export. Present conditions merely mean that one section of the community is being enriched at the expense of another. In the case of wool, where there, is iv relatively small local consumption and a large surplus for export, high prices add to the general prosperity, and this season it is estimated that an extra tbr>e million pounds is coming to New Zealand on account of its wool clip alone The splendid returns being obtained by the meat exporters also mean a great deal for the Dominion as a whole but no one can be blind to the fact that if the present prices of foodstuffs are maintained, not to mention the increases in clothing and boots, an advance in '■-' ages is through ■> it the Do iMii'on. The purchasing power of is dcr eclating fvst, ar, I the wr-rCn iMist already , 0 f< cling tin n-'neh.

IMPORTANT INVENTION.

I.nt- English papers tell of an inventus which will go far towards rovol.i----t-ir-iHfinf; submarine warfare in t'i<> fi.Ture; and one wonders what navies of the world have taken it up. This is the Fessenden oscillator, which enables submarines when submerged to comimimeate with one another tlirou<di the water.. The oscillator can be described as an improved method of producing powerful sound waves by electrical means, and communicating those wav-s to the water. The sound waves can be receded by an ordinary microphone and telephone, as in the case of ordmn-v suojuanne bell signalling. Bv this method Morse code messages ] mvo hoeii transmitted through water over a di' tance of 30 miles, and telephonic conlorsations under water been carried out orer a _ distance of about, half a mile Hitli luiuroved apparatus these })■■' tances will be greatly increased. It has already been demonstrated in Amen,-, that with this invention it is possible for a flotilla, of submarines to mak« •■. combined attack on m enemy with only one boat showing its periscope, the remaining ones being directed bv te'--Ki'Kpliy and telephony throuel. the y'nter Again, the invention makes it possible for the submarine when submeiU-d t" receive orders from a battleship or ~„y other craft on the surface or the water.