Man and boy behind win

By virtue of the interest taken in the Sanders Cup the contest has become New Zealand’s most important yachting event, and that Otago should have won the Cup is a matter of great importance in the yachting world as New Zealand knows it.

Since Auckland wrested the Cup from Otago in 1922 Otago has made persistent efforts to win it back, and this year by winning three out of four races Iona has been the means of again returning the coveted trophy to Dunedin. Iona’s success was to a large extent due to the excellent seamanship of A. Wiseman (the boat’s skipper). Out of seven races sailed on the Auckland Harbour he has gained six firsts and one second. When Wiseman sailed the Heather, in the first series of contests between tho Otago boat and the Iron Duke he won the two final races, and this year he has won the Lipton Cup and three out of the four Sanders Cup contests. Iona’s wins naturally arouse interest in the boat herself, for while skilful handling is much in racing it is far from being all. Iona was designed and built by Magnus Smith, of Lyttelton, a brother to Charles Smith, of Port Chalmers. This year the usual method of waxing the bottom was dispensed with, and a special hand glaze finish has been used. Master Harry Nees was sent to Auckland charged with the particular care of this important item. Possibly the real lesson to be learned from Iona’s success is the old one that constant striving brings its reward.

— by ‘Rudder’

Nimmo tracks missing nukes

The finding of the ashes containing the radium which was lost from the Hospital a short time ago will be of interest. The remarkable property of radium, upon which its usefulness depends, is the spontaneous breaking-up of its atoms.These particles and rays are not visible, but they have remarkable curative properties, and their presence can be detected by their action on an instrument called an electroscope. When the loss of the tube containing radium was discovered the Physics Department of the University was appealed to for help, and Dr Jack’s assistant, Mr R.R. Nimmo, undertook the quest. Accompanied by Dr Anderson, radiologist at the Hospital, Mr Nimmo proceeded to the dump near the cement works, taking with him an electroscope, another tube containing radium of a similar size for comparison, and a telescope showing a divided scale by which the movements of the gold leaf of the electroscope could be observed. On reaching the dump, the electroscope was charged with electricity. The charging causes the gold leaf to be deflected, and the deflection is read on the divided scale of the telescope. One might now compare the action of the telescope with that of the bent twig of the water-diviner. We know that in the case of the water-diviner the twig, when water is reached, twists down suddenly. In the case of the electroscope and the radium the gold-leaf remains stationary until it is brought over the radium, when there is no doubt about something unusual being in the neighbourhood, for the gold leaf quickly drops down to its undeflected position. Here, then, we have an unerring radium-diviner. The greater the amount of radium, the quicker is the movement of the leaf. The tube, of course, had been broken in the furnace, and its contents divided among the ashes, but it was possible to locate them within a circle of one yard radius. These ashes have been taken up, and from them the radium will be separated by subjecting them to chemical and electrical treatment.

— ODT, 5.2.1925 (Compiled by Peter Dowden)