1938-10-11 — Page 22

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THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1938.

THE GOOD EARTH

IS

King

BLOWING AWAY

Lloyd Barrage are buted far and wide.

The whole history of soil erosion is one of destruction and lack of foresight. The wanton cutting down of the tree belts that sheltered farmlands from the wind, the continual destruc- tion of the grass that bound the soll, and the reckless sowing of crops that took all the fertility out of the earth left huge areas at the mercy of every drought and gale.

By David J. Murphy

a GERMAN CANADIAN PACIFIC

on EDINBURGH

ENBURGH has cast her spell

about me. Now that my year of

STEAMGRIPS in MOTELS

- RAHWACS - EXPRESS

BERTHING PLANS FOR 1939 ARE OPEN

MAKE BOOKINGS EARLY - to socura accommodation desired

study here is over, now that my bags TO CANADA, UNITED STATES and EUROPE

are packed and firmly inbelled for Germany, I feel that I have been only a visitor after all.

And yet I cannot be so, because in my heart I have become almost n citizen. It is this strange feeling of civic pride, Indeed, which is the strangest, finest part of the legacy I take back from my sojourn in Scotland.

Before I crossed the North Sea I had been told of Edinburgh. "Age and beauty in the cast wind" they said. I was told of the Castle and the Waverley steps and the Forth Bridge. I WYB warned of two things of appearing in Bavarian shorts on Princes Street on a Satur- day morning, and of the "skiriing" of the bagpipes of the Gordon High- these

man måde desert, But these new schemes can-· that the mistakes of must land be prepared, but new street in my shoris, and I'm sure a grim reminder not develop overnight. Not only landers. I disregarded both

warnings. I liked walking Princes former years must townships have to be built, not be repeated.

communications established, and Princes Street did not mind me; .In Western the whole territory brought into while I can go back to Germany and

Canada

vis Shanghai, Kobe & Yokohama

EMPRESS OF CANADA via Honolulu EMPRESS OF RUSSIA EMPRESS OF JAPAN via Honolulu EMPRESS OF ASIA

„Noon, Fri., Oct. 14, «Noop, Thurs, Ool. 27. ....Noon, Fri, Nov. 11. ....Noom, Fri, Nov. £5.

Air-conditioned equipment on C.PR. Trans-Continental Trains, Frequent Canadian Paolilo Atlantic sallings to. Europesa Porte

TO MANILA

Thurs. Oct. 20.

EMPRESS OF RUSSIA

Union

Building

Canadian Pacific

Telephone 20752

desperate working order. The effect of tell them that the pipes are not real- BARBER-WILHELMSEN LINE

efforts arc being these factors on the geography by to terrible. I shall tell them that

not all Highlanders are Gordons, but that they will not believe they nover have.

made to check soil books can be easily visualised. erosion and restore Famous towns will languish, the fertility of mil- while the new ones spring up. lions of acres of Well-established railways will People say that first impressions land, The federal fall into decay, while new tracks are lasting ones, but that is not so. Government plan to will appear on the surface of 1 arrived on a cold and dull October distribute no fewer former deserts. Ports that once afternoon, and set off for my lodg than 6,000,000 trees handled huge volumes of traffic the taxi driver must have felt I Ings red and a bit homesick; but for planting round will become derelict as the should see Edinburgh Immediately. huge areas that areas around them are deserted. He drove me all round the town and

The latest move to

restore charged me five-and-six for a one- bushels of wheat. These new the acreage of the world's

I all don't and-cightpenny fure. tree belts are expected to bring larders concerns the Peace feel grateful to him; but I never met like again. Now, I can take the back many millions of acres into River country, in Canada. More tram and say "two ones" like -any fertile cultivation.

than 30,000,000 acres in extent, Edinburgh student. I know, too, But in many cases, the erosion it is highly fertile and also con- just how far I can go without con- has gone too far. Exhausted tains valuable mineral re-sclously or fragrantly defrauding the. soil can be restored by the use sources.

Corporation! It could accommodate

of fertilisers and the scientific some 500,000 inhabitants, but rotation of crops. Eroded soil there are only 18,000 settlers can only be restored when there, and millions of acres ro- Nature makes good the loss, main untouched. An effort is and this may take centuries. The now to be made to bring the only course open to farmers on area under cultivation, the first these semi-deserts is to seek essential being new railroads, fresh land and begin cultivation all over again.

IF you possess a geography when the waters controlled by formerly produced millions of

book, keep it as a sou- venir and compare it with the geography books of ten years hence, for the world will be very much changed by then. Once fertile farm lands are already desert yastos, and Man, hastening to make good the deficiency, is rapidly converting deserts into rich pastures. When the present phase of trans- formation is complete, to- day's geography books will be completely out of date. Soll orosion and land clamation ara the two factors in this large-scale struggle with Nature, and what is involved can be easily gathered from few figures, In the United States alone, and many other countries are just as badly hit, soil erosion has ruined 110,000,- 000 acres of fertile land, while more than 1,000,000,000 acres have lost between three-quarters and two-thirds of their covering of soll.

.re-

To offset this, the Tennessee Valley and Coulee Dam schemes in the U.S.A., and the Lloyd Barrage scheme in India, will bring under cultivation land that formerly useless. The Tennessee Valley scheme will transform 44,000 square miles, while more than 7,000,000 acres of arid waste will become fertile

WAA

BY

Y tearing up the roots of trees and thick grass, the farmers of these areas deprived the soil of its re- servoirs of natural moisture, and of the forces that held it together. By cutting down the belts of trees surrounding fertile lands, the same farmers left the

that lifted it in huge clouds and blew it away.

MUCH

Surveying à Panorama

ста

Looking back on Edinburgh is like surveying a panorama. There was

crowds always the changing Princes Street-a bright crowd, but strangely silent to German cars, who is always so well dressed. One was always so conscious of the beautiful- ly dressed women: but, alas so few "Hausfrauen" among them, or among University girls for that matter!

And so the farmers of the

UCH of the erosion world are taking part in large-

that is bringing scale pilgrimages to areas that about these vast changes has, it offer new

hope, and by this is true, been due to lack of movement the world's centres of farmers. But politicians can- agricultural production are un- not escape

their share of the although dergoing a vast change.

blame. When a farmer is com- But there are many

more pelled to live from hand to changes to come. In some parts mouth, without any backing of of the world, where the soil capital, he cannot be blamed for covers rock by only 12 to 24 taking as much out of the soil

The Universlly itself seemed to me at first almost entirely composed of sedale, bespectacled females, with only a few men here and there, but a good German student I still think there are too many girls, I found life in the quadrangles all the more pleasant.

4.3

loose, dusty soil open to the gales inches, erosion is depleting the as he can possibly get, even if, some modern Demosthenes under the surface at the rate of an inch in doing so, he ultimately ruina a year, and nothing can stop the his loud.... drift. Only a

few years can If the mistakes of the past clapse before new land will have are to be avoided, farming in all to be found.

parts of the world must be put

And by putting tremendous herds to graze on land that could not support them, cattle raisers brought about their own destruction. The herds took out of the soll the life that nothing can put back.

But, at last, the lessons of Nature have been learned at the oxpense of bankruptcy and misery. Some 200,000 families have had to leave the United States' "dust bowl" of Kansas and Nebraska, and they have now settled in the new regions being opened up in Washington, South Idaho, and Oregon. Their former homesteads have been left to rot and decay in the

TALES

A

R

to

SMOKING cigarette with

swanky air, n small boy ap- proached the railway ticket office aud asked for a half Ucket Dundee.

"What?" cried the booking clerk, "a kid like you smoking a cigarette?" "Kid be blowed!" was the indign- ant reply. I'm fourteen."

"Full fare, then, please," said the clerk,

ΟΣ

of

The

The Mound, too, I have never tired of. Always of an evening there was

pillars of modern Athen sending flames among his

hearers; but I never saw them really catch fire!. Edinburgh is above all in its own way class-conscious, but nowhere have I found

and mer the raucous bid class-consciousness we have had In Germany, No, Edinburgh will always cling to its dignity; but I have never stopped marvelling how, the more steam there is let off among the crowds, the more firmly does Britain rest on her distinctive and

on a secure basis, and if neces- sary given Government aid. UITE apart from the Otherwise, the new areas may localised losses of suffer the same fate as the old, those whose land has dis- and if that happens the world appeared, the situation is caus- will be faced with certain sate traditions of democracy. ing some anxiety from the point starvation.

In one thing however, Edinburgh of vlow of the world at large. But because these vaat lags behind the German cities-in Erosion has been going on at changes are Inevitable, don't slum clearance. There seem to be such a rate, and over such a throw that geography book for too many slums in the hollows of wide area, that Jand reclama- away, Study it ten years our city, and I should like to think tion cannot keep pace with the hence, and you will see what but for ever abolishing this squalor. of the city retaining the picturesque, loss, and the world may yet have tremendous alterations have The churches in the city are always to face a widespread food been made to the world's sur- relatively well attended, but the true shortage until more new schemes face. You will find the com- Edinburgh citizen should not let his are brought into full operation. parison enlightening.

OF THE

TRAIN

An old lady was rushing up and was staying a few hours in the village clearly, asked his mother if this was down the platform and looking dis- while fus car, was repaired. He Heaven. tractedly about her. The porter went up to the village constable. "No, na, sonnic," she replied. "It knew the signs.

"When does the theatre open?" he canna be that. It's owro near Jar- asked.

row." There's no theatre here, sir," re- The two men were discussing their plied Robert,

travels. "Well, the cinema, then?" "No, no, air; there's nothing o' that kind here."

cluen?" he asked..

"Lost your luggage, ma'am? Any

"Yes, porter. In a way 1 'have, a good clue," she said. "Ive just found in my handbag the label I forgot to put on the trunic."

Another old lady had arrived at a station where she had to change

about her.

"This time last year, old chap, I was in Japan during an earthquake. Everything rocked and rattled, the. house creaked, and the chine flew

"By Jovel That reminds me," said the other. "I must go and meet my." wife at the station, She's returning from a holiday."

"Good gracious, man. Have you It was little Tommie's first ride in

no evening amusements at all?" about." a rallway train, and the succession

trains. She looked wonderingly "Well, sir," answered the police- of wonders reduced him to a stete,

"If you wait till eight o'clock man, hysterical astonishment.

"Oh, parler," she cried, "will you you can see them shunting the goods train rounded a slight bend and, tell me which is the platform for train!" with

of shrick

Its whistle London??

"Ever been in a train smash?" plunged into tunnel. Gasps

of Turn to the left and you'll be

asked one married man of another. heard from the corner right. madarn," said he, surprise were

"Well," replied his friend, "I can't' where Tommig was altung. Sud-

"Don't

Impertincat, young

say that I remember one exactly." denly the train rushed into broad man," she replied, not appreciating burn.

You can't remember?" daylight again, and'a small voice his waggishness.

"Why, no.

You see, after you've was lifted in wonder,

"All right, then. Turn to your of carriages called out, "Hebben! been married for seventeen years It right and you'll be left", he retorted. Hebben!"."

you soon forget such trifles!""

E. Vrner

"Mummie! It's to-morrow!"

sald.

be

A mother and her small son were travelling in the North of England when the train pulled up at Heb-

A porter walking down the line

A motorist had had a mishap and The little boy, not getting I

Count the "TELEGRAPHS" everywhere

conscience rest with that.

Humble and Impressed

Monthly Service to

BOSTON AND NEW YORK

via LOS ANGELES & PANAMA CANAL PORTS also taking cargo on through Bills of Lading for West Indies ports, Río de Janeiro, Santos, Rio Grande do Sol Buenos Aires, South America.

NEXT SAILING:-

M.S. "TAI PING"

25th Octobor.

DODWELL & CO., LTD.

Agents.

Hongkong Bank Bldg.

Telephone 28021.

OUR BRITISH CROSSWORDS

ACROSS

1 This bird appears not long af- ter the refuse at the threshing (D),

9.Town of Italy (0).

10 Conquer yet perhaps beaten

(0).

11 This is not unusual nor a bad

prefix (0),

The Scottish National War Memorial, however, spoke to me as no other place did, however histori- cal. I have gone there more than once, and always I felt humble and In Germany we are impressed. proud of our soldiers who have fought all over Europe; but here one reads. nome after name-far away battlefields all over the world. never tired of looking at the de

12 Provati on In a Dictator (0), posited weapons and coats of arms- emblems I had never seen before. 14 One of the duck family (4).. in the building I felt tragically 15 This may sometimes be ob young, and yet very old with the

served in a forzaken yacht (5). weight of past misunderstandings, 10 Grain (5). past bitterness, laid from the

18 Judgo (7). shoulders of those whose memory Hes there. "High faced and silent 21 Putting right faulty alignment?

(7).. German Lawrence onco

waid of troops alone in the

desert.

"High 24 This may be found in aurifer- faced and silent" is how I think of ous older strata (8). the Ideal Scottish soldier embodied 20 A warning light (5). ·

in the memorial-a monument and a 30 Do this for griet (4). reproach to world unrest.

31 Charm

(a).

32 "Yet once, more, o yes, and I do not know when I shall be

once more, ye myrtles brown" able to soo Princes Street again, to (Milton) (8). walk the parapet of the Castle, to 33 "Attic, Sle" (ansg.) (0), ramble on the Pentlands, to scramble on Arthur's Seat. In Edinburgh. I have found, it may not be very easy at first to make friends, or to feel a part of the city itself. But the friends you make are real friends, and the city takes you straight to her heart...

Now when I must any "Aut wiedersehen" to it all, I can shake hands and feel I am saying good- bye for the time being to my own city, and stifi better-to fellow-

townamen.

German His font

designs

.not 34 The spoilt

anonymous anyhow. (8), 35 "Stone walls do not a prison

make

; minds innocent and quiet take that for an="

(Love-Inca) (0).

DOWN

2 Not without (8).

A young king (6),

4 The only girl who could make

mino go (6),

5 The crook of the animal world? FOX

4. Coax (0)

7 "Made pets (nzing.) :(8),

116

8 Epithet for perfect service at

Wimbledon? (9).

11 A polyp found in China, Crete

and Estonia (5).

19 As this coin is always going up it is down here for à change

17 When his head was cut off his

father and mother had no als». ters but he was fearless (D). 10 To do this is almost breaking

the tenth commandment, (8). 20 Praise (5)

22. Consider. (4).

21 Not the box in which a car is

packed but the body (7).

25 A selected number perhaps (6). 27 "Man, bai”.

28 Colour (8).

20 This is proverbially belleving'

(0).

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