Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954)(about) |
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Sunday 7 May 1916
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1 correction by KMcCue - Show corrections
OBSERVATORY TREMORS.
Questioned as to whether a recent shock of earthquake at Ravensthorpe was recorded on the seismograph sheet at the Observatory, the Government Astronomer said that there were seve- ral erratic movements of the boom, but they were probably caused by workmen walking up and down the stairs while engaged in altering the
electric wires.
A tremor of the crust of earth,
A thousand leagues away or half.
We sometimes read there's been at
Perth
Recorded on the seismograph.
And pictures of a flow of lava Our fancies conjure up in Java. "A tidal wave at Singapore,
Papuan volcanoes in commotion, Or perhaps a bulging of the floor
Somewhere beneath the Indian
Ocean
Or in the blue remote Pacific.
Explains our Pundit Scientific.
"A slap-up earthquake in Thibet,"
He hazards-and he ought to know "A crash where wind and waters met
In Chagos Archipelago,
Or hurricane, a reg'lar spatt'rer.
Between the Cocos and Sumatra."
Yet now henceforth I fear I'll scan
Those communiques a bit suspicious Lest shocks assigned to Turkestan
Or Tamatave or Mauritius,
Should have their real "locus standi" In places just a bit more handy.
A gang of workmen on the stairs
Between the basement and the attic Engaged in 'lectric light repairs
Can make, it seems, a "boom" er-
ratic
Record the same earth-shaking
shindies
As cataclysms in the Indies.
Dark doubts will rise inexorably.
When tremor next the "seismo's" I showed,
Whether 'twas in the Timor Sea
Or somewhere nearer King's Park
Road,
What time conjecturally through his Maps runs the erudite Curlewis.
A Subyacker football game,
A Gone-a-Million-and-a-Half
Club jamboree might have the same
Effect upon the seismograph As hurricanes in the area
'Twixt Cambridge Gulf and Carpen-
taria.
Even the W.A. "Alli"
Debating controversial topics
Might make the needle start and fly
Worse than a tremor in the tropics. And H.B.C. a speculator
On "Sturm und Drang" across th'
Equator.
When Harvest-terrace tongues grow
warm.
And members clinch in faction gory, Our 'stronomer might tip a storm
Not close to th' Observatory,
But where the willy-willies blow In Dampier's Archipelago.
"What are these marks upon the
sheet ?"
One seems to hear him softly purr,
"Of this disturbance where's the
seat?"
Our Government Astronomer.
"The indications I'm perceiving.
But where,oh where, is earth a-heav
ing?"
Then heavy feet upon the stairs.
And sounds of men who wrench and
grind
And bang and bash from steps and
chairs
A light breaks in upon his mind.
No lands are rent nor oceans hum- ming,
It's just the plumber blokes a-plumb-
ing!
Thomas the Rhymer.
Following th« example of their out- side sisters, the lady tomates of tb« Claremont Asylum ar« holding a Q'jee»
Carnival.
Imaginary money is being uwd. 3* million pounds having beets alrrady collected, one gentleman in the white' ant ward having donated three catties. seven Zeppelins, a clay pip», and a banana-skin.
A Queensland paper reports tb* oom of one Walter Tine, who, tired *r( him j wife's nagging, bolted to the bush and
lived a hermit until tracked down »ad captured by his talkative spotme.
Mrs. Pine will sin?:
You talk about your Yank«; »frn-ji.
Of good and 1-r.d desim.
But you should tit me right tmf
wrongs
On Ute trail of (be lonesome Pine.
"West Australian": "Boyal S.ví'íjr of Western Australia.-At the nw fing to be held at the Museum OB To«-sday next, at 8 p.m.. Mr. A. Montgomery, the State Mining Engineer, will gire am address on The Geological SbcnSfe-aace of Certain Physiojrraphical Features of
Western Australia.' "
When Mr. A. Montgomery. M.I.C.E, F.RGS, and a lot of other initiate, has finished with "The Geological Sigmiß cance of Certain Physiographic*! Fea- tures of Western Australia", hf might let us know where sr>mc plain goM may be picked up
The Dandies were out last Monday collecting for thc Ked Cross.
The Swan Pre wry h?<l bx-jed a lorry on which was a piano, and on the said lorry tho company natip. and recited to big «howers of -ash.
Chitty Baker, from S-mn P«-r«fc, stood at the bark of thc lorrv admir- ing Miss Dampier, who wss rtaadCta; on a box waibling a ditty.
"Mind yourself. Mips* Dampier." tum cautioned, "if thc hör?»".* moved oa you would come a crop;>*r."
When the lP.ugh htd subtitled be went lo the front of the lorry and found it was motor driven:
"The Minister for Defence 1» alw>v« all things a politician, and (upon the conscription question) he iw between the devil of such bodies as the Vhrto i ian Labor Conference and the deo« sea of patriotic citizens."-"West Aus-
tralian."
He wrings his hands upon the sand«
and futile furrows plough«:
The sea is deep, the cliff is steep, tba
waters qualms arouse:
And fearsome on the landward side a
Devil mops and mows.
His hoofs and horns to hide be so rna,
be swings a threatening Mil:
He'd quickly frorjrf bi* maw with
George, this unionistic Baal.
Then there's the sea-a quandary to
make the boldest <;uaiL
In vain he tries to temporise, to Ttsib
ble, fence and trim.
The breakers roar alonr the 8tV>r«-. ir*'*
never learned to s ".Im:
And where bis feet might find retreat
Apollyon waits for bim.
Aye, theres the ru'*-Beelzebub «r
wastes <-f heaving «ozc?
Both ways askance observe him -cianea.
there's Hule time to CIUKW.
And yet-and yet I'm game to i»et K
wouldn't trouble Hughes.
No use for him lo lack and trii.t «¿!fc
verbal cut-and-tlerce:
He stands this side the ocean wide ant i that a Demon fierce
i Upon the sands and wrings hi* hand*,
dees politician Pearce.