Temples and Totems Underground

Radio Record, Volume VIII, Issue 22, 7 December 1934, Page 14

Temples and Totems Underground

Beautiful Limestone Formations In the famous. Carlsbad "Caverns, New Mexico-New Zealanders Should Wear More Woollen Clothes-"One of the World’s Most Amazing Happenings."

MR. E. J. BELL (3YA). (PRAVELLING from Dallas in the State of Texas, U.S.A., I covered about 6V0 miles ere I reached the picturesque city of IE] Paso, stiil in Texas. El Paso is situated on the romantic river, the Rio

Grande, and it is’ bordered on one side by the country of Mexico, and also by the State of New Mexico. My travelling companions upon this long journey were a Texas cowboy and a judge from a court in Louisiana. Both assured me that a visit to the U.S.A. would not be complete without my visiting the celebrated caverns at Carlsbad in New Mexico. Upon making further inquiries regarding places of interest, I was advised to see the city of Jaurez in. Mexico just across the Rio Grande, and the caverns at Carlsbad,. I did both of these trips and was well rewarded, The caverns are’ reached by road, and necessitate a motor trip of about 160 miles each way. On New Year’s day, I left El Paso at 7 a.m., and at 10.80 the 160 miles had been covered. Here I found nearly 200 people gathered together ready to explore; the wonderful caverns; every adult had to register at the Government. tourist office, and pay 1 dollar 50 cents fee. I noticed that the receipt was written out in triplicate, one being held by the guide, one by the department, and one by myself; on this receipt it stated that I was from New Zealand. Ten guide officers in smart uniforms now attached themselves to the party, and we prepared to go below. . ; THIS marvellous iimestone: formation , took place some 200 million years ago, about 120 million years ago it was submerged, and again 60 million years ago. Ever since, nature has converted these caverns into a divine fairyland of limestone formations. The American Government has floodlighted the caverns, and it is a masterpiece of illumination. At no time do we see a switch, a cable or a light, all have been carefully; concealed behind rock shields and send their beams to the ceilings or to the walls. As the first guide enters he pushes a button and the lights flash on for i000 feet ahead. Powerful rays cut through the night leaping to surprising heights to pick out marvellous formations. Great pillars shoot up from the floor to meet the roof hundreds of feet above; temples loom in the distance, totem poles ‘send ‘up ‘graceful shafts, and great domes suddenly appear.

DR. MORRIS N. WATT (4YA). MONG the higher animals and birds we see on every hand instances of how nature works tv protect the young with protective colouring, protective habits and instincts. Nature here has taken extra special precautions to safeguard their little lives, and the methods adopted are interesting in the extreme. But tonight I want to take you lower down the

ladder of evolution, right down near the bottom, when nature appears to have become afraid of the forms she has created, and being unable to undo her work has deliberately gone out of her way, not to give protection, but to make things just as hard as she can. DURING the early. embryonic life of man, step ‘by step, is shown the evolution from the simple

tissue to the complete structure he has become. ‘There is a reason for every change. But in the lives of the very lowest creatures in the scale there are abrupt transitions for which we have no answer. Take aa insect, for instance: first there is the egg, and under cover of the the protective shell strange developments occur-and one day there emerges the familiar caterpillar, that crawls about and eats and grows-we can understan:) that part of it. But there comes a time when the caterpillar ceases eating, ceases to grow, in fact it becomes smaller, its skin. hardens, and within a wonderful transformation takes place. an entirely different and entirely new structure de-velops-one of the most amazing happenings in the world. To-morrow there emerges the butterfly. DR. OLIVER (1YA). HE more uniform distribution of wool is a matter that calls for urgent attention. It is not sufficiently realised that five per cent, shortage of supply raises the price unduly, while five per cent. surplus depresses the price similarly. The absence of Germany as 2 wool purchaser during this year has, probably made all the difference. but Germany will not be satisfied for long with synthetic products exclusively.- and her yeturn as a buyer will undoubtedly help prices. But we cannot count upon that. TIowever. the elimination of price panies would help greatly in getting the wool textile trade on a sound basis once more. JN conclusion, I would advise the people of New -Zealand to set a good example by wearing good wool cloth. "Charity should begin at home." If they are content to wear imitation -worsteds

made with cotton warp and mungo weft, they can hardly expect the pure wool industry to thrive in New Zealand or elsewhere. Many high schools are doing good work in fostering the appreciation of wool quality among country boys by so-called wool-classing instruction. They might well go a step further and instruct pupils in the town schools in the appreciation of cloth quality and elementary tests to detect substitutes,