A MYSTERY OF 1909.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 August 1921, Page 12

A MYSTERY OF 1909.

OTAGO’S “LIGHT” SENSATION. Most people remember that in the middle of 1909 there were numerous reports from various parts of Otago, and a few from other parts of New Zealand, that people had seen stange lights in the. air in the evening. Descriptions of the lights varied greatly, and theories to account for thcm we'i'e equally divergent. Some, people said aurora; some said airships, and of (he .latter, a few even heard the aviators,. .muttering darkly in “Gorman.” Thers were people who said they saw the su-pposo/1 objects by daylight, when they were not luminous, but were apparently dark material masses. Those who did not. see the phenomena usually tapped their foreheads, and said, “Poor chap”—the words being a gentle reflection upon the last-named observer of the mystery. One of these “'poor chaps.” who did not soem in the least afraid of the title, and disarmed his hearers by poking fun at himself, road a most 'interesting paper before the astronomical section of the Philosophical Society recently. This ■was Air. J. Orchiston, who, having himself seen the lights very clearly, not only recorded his own observation, but collected a. number of descriptions by other people. The features of the lights, according to Air. Orchiston. wore their great brilliancy, high speed, low elevation above the ground (a few hundred feet), and the fact that they followed approximately the slope of the ground, rising over hills and dipping into valleys. His own estimate, of their speed, made from reported observations at various places, was 200 miles per hour,; and the light was strong enough for the.

time to bo read on a watch when the luminous cloud was many miles away. The paper naturally aroused a lively discussion. Mr. F. W. Furkcrt said that Mr. Orchiston deserved. credit for his courage in facing such an audience with

such a paper. If one wanted to be branded as a “40 horse-power liar” in those days, one only had to say “aerial lights.” But he had seen one himself in the (’atlius district, which was a dry area. Air. Furkcrt described the light ns appearing over a. distant range of hills, ami travelling at such a. speed that its reappearance in a gap in the hills was correctly guessed at.

The members of the section discussed the matter from various points of view, ami it was suggested by Professor Marsden that an observation by means of a spectroscope would have shown at once whether the lights were of auruva! origin