THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1907. INVENTIVE NATURE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8387, 23 March 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1907. INVENTIVE NATURE.

Modem Nature study quite refutes Solomon's idea that man has special rights in invention. Manrdoes not invent, we are now told. Nature has done all the inventing. He only observes and applies. A hot spring first taught him the value of boiling water. A tree with drooping branches gave the model for the primitive round hut with central pillar, and a forest glade suggested all fine church architecture. Whether in arts or mechanics, the most ingenious effects have been anticipated by Nature; and the discoveries ana inventions of the future will probably arrive through still more careful observation of her minuter forms of life. A writer in the February number of the Royal magazine gives some agreeable examples of the natural prototype. Edison's telephone was evolved by studying the human ear. His electric wire, delicately poised receiver, and expanding mouthpiece, are all practically duplicates of the human auditory apparatus. The diamond point drills used to pierce the Mont Cenis or Simplon tunnels are but imitations of the boring apparatus of the gad-fly. The trachea of the crane, no doubt, suggested the cornet and other wind instruments desired to give, like this far-heard bird,'; a loud resounding cry. The "umbrella bird" went out provided against showers while the crowned heads of Europe had no such protection, from hard weather! But perhaps ; the best known as well as the most striking instance of conscious imitation, is in the case of the Victoria Regia and the Crystal Palace. Mr Joseph Paxton was not an architect, but a gardener. Many architects had failed to design the kind of building required by the Commissioners of 1851, when he suddenly produced a sketch founded updn the leaf structure by Which the Victoria Regia obtains its wonderful strength and

buoyancy. The lines of the vegetable skeleton were copied in iron; and the building which a lily suggested made i the gardener Sir Joseph, and remains one of the most remarkable structures in the world. ROADS AND CAES. Motorists complain of the bad state of the road between Masterton and Carterton, and especially of the condition of the main thoroughfare in the latter town, the municipal humourists whereof are enjoying a huge joke at the motorist's expense. It seems that on the outskirts of the town thei-e has been erected a large sign warning drivers of motor cars that they must not travel through I the town at a greater pace than eight miles per hour. As a matter of fa.efc. no owner of a car —unless he were about to become a permanent resident of the Porirua Asylum—would venture to drive j.along the main street at anything more than a snail's pace, say, something under four miles per hour. A rumour has been bruited abroad that there is some understanding between certain manufacturers of motor cars and the Carterton Borough Council, but we have absolutely no hesitation -in saying that there is "nothing in it." Culverts might be put in with advantage i where the water races run across the road. The cost would not be very great, and the benefit that I would be derived would be conI siderable. It would not merely be an 'advantage to motorists, but to other travellers as well. In any case there is no reason why motorists should not receive favourable consideration. The "motor industry" is promising to become a local industry of some importance, and local bodies would not exceed their powers if they were to recognise this fact, and regulate some of their actions accordingly. SLIGHTLY INCORRECT. A Press Association telegram stated the other day that a record compiled by Mr Ell, M.H.R., showed that since the introduction of the system of rating unimproved values, polls had been demanded in 82 districts. The results were as follow: —Counties, twenty won, none lost; road districts, ten won,' two lost; total, twelve; town districts, two lost; cities and boroughs, thirty-eight won, ten lost. If the telegram is correct then Mr Ell's record is incorrect. To what extent it is incorrect we cannot say, but the statement that no poll for rating on the unimproved value in counties has been lost is contradicted by the result of the poll in the Masterton County on September Ist, 1906, when 243 ratepayers voted for the introduction of the system, and 245 against. There were three informal votes. However, Mr Ell's "record" shows that the principle is rapidly becoming popular, and this is a matter for gratification.