WHILE THE KETTLE BOILS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 49, 31 May 1940, Page 43

WHILE THE KETTLE BOILS

Dear Friends, For the past week (at the time of writing), all New Zealand has been doing a shiver. Winter has been hiding behind a deceptive sun, and now suddenly has put his tongue out at usand we all shudder away from his first chilly blast. Still, where would we poor mortals be if we didn’t have something to talk and grumble about-be it only the weather. With my toes half baked in the fire, I have been pouring over some interesting facts about cold. Not our mild N.Z. chill, but the real icy blast of the Arctic Circle. Recently an American newspaper man in Finland got a message from his home office: "Send hundred words how newspaper men keep warm Arctic." His reply came back-"They don’t." Further on among my collection, I came across an interesting paragraph describing the actual clothes worn by members of a scientific expedition to the North Pole. And if that newspaper man had known the ropes, his reply telegram would not have savoured of such chill irony.

This is what the men of the expedition wore: Silk underwear next to their skin covered by woollen underwear. Over this they wore sweaters of the finest merino wool, then leather trousers and leather shirts lined with flannel. Over these again were worn fur trousers and shirts made from skins of young reindeer. Topping these, came long lambskin coats lined with fox and great fur collars. Moleskin masks protected their faces against cold winds-with special goggles for snow glare. On their feet they wore dog-skin stockings over woollen ones, and boots of reindeer skin. To make their nights comfortable, they had sleeping bags lined with sateen and a special fleecy inner lining. Their mattress under this was of pneumatic rubber. These scientific men certainly knew how to look after themselves. Even if they did look like a wandering tribe of bears, at least they could snap their fingers at the Arctic freeze. Once set on my "icy trackings," my curiosity led me on to another jotting-

this time not so reassuring. At least, it may serve as an extra tit-bit in your next discussion of the weather. Experts report that the average tem‘perature of the world is slowly rising. An American scientist works out that this rise (if it did materialise), would melt the two-mile deep ice-cap of the North and South Poles, whereupon the average depth of the ocean would be increased by 50 feet-with dire results. The eastern seaboard of America, including most of New York, would be flooded. So would Denmark, Holland, the Baltic States and East Poland. Finland would entirely disappear (one way of settling international disputes). But the story still goes on. Scandinavia would become an island, and England and Wales would be transformed into a group of islands. The learned professor, however, holds out a ray of hope. He does not expect the ice to melt for another 15,000 years. And that will be somebody else’s business. In the meantime, dear friends, I wish you a happy winter, a minimum of chilblains, and the needed courage to spring out of bed these early mornings and brave the frosty world! Yours Cordially,

Cynthia