Statesman remembered

Mr Massey died on May 10, 1925. To use a trite, but not idle saying, it seems but yesterday that New Zealand was in mourning for one of the greatest statesmen she ever possessed, a man who dominated the politics of the country with admirable efficiency for many years, including a period of crucial anxiety. It was a national mourning, for Mr Massey’s supporters and opponents alike recognised that the nation was sadly poorer for the loss of a real-hearted patriot whose prolonged service to the State and the Empire had been marked by a singularly disinterested quality. It is hardly too much to say that Mr Massey spent his energies to the point of ultimate collapse in the performance of public toil. 

When men of light and leading have been dead for a while it is sometimes said that they are forgotten. There is a cynical hint that the world is getting on very well without them. This is one of those bitter half-truths in which sour souls delight. It is true that no man is indispensable. Memories fade as time goes on, and regrets lose their poignancy; but that is not to say that forgetfulness has set in. Mr Massey is not forgotten. His name is not incessantly on the common tongue, as in the days when he was the subject of alternate eulogy and criticism, but his influence abides. 

On this first anniversary of his passing the people of New Zealand will think affectionately and gratefully of the lost leader; and it behoves all of us to emulate his unselfishness and patriotism. — editorial

New rail yard

The new railway goods yards on the reclamation area on the Anderson’s Bay road is practically completed, and all that remains to be carried out is the formation of access from the Bay road. This yard will replace the yard now on the workshops site at Hillside.

The aftermath

Just as the work of building and stocking the Exhibition was carried out with surprising vigour, so the exodus is being carried out promptly and with a minimum of delay. The work of a week has been a surprise to all, and those in charge of the packing operations are of opinion that the close of this week will see little beyond bare walls and empty buildings at Logan Park.

Gases shed light on atom

‘‘While in ordinary circumstances the rare gases are unable to form compounds they have straightened out our ideas concerning the constitution of atoms.’’ This conception formed the main thesis developed by Sir Ernest Rutherford in his third address on ‘‘Rare Gases of the Atmosphere,’’ delivered before the Royal Institution. The rare gases argon, helium, neon, krypton and xenon, he said, were of the utmost importance, for they formed the corner-stone on which scientists were able to represent the whole chemical composition of the elements. These rare gases were distinguished from all other elements by their inability to form compounds. The rare gases, moreover, had played a very important part in training our ideas of the constitution of the elements in general, and in particular the way that the electrons are arranged round the nucleus of an atom. The modern idea was that the atoms all consisted of a positively charged nucleus, of very small dimensions, surrounded by an appropriate number of electrons, moving at distances very, very large, compared with the size of the nucleus.— ODT, 10.5.1926