Some of the letters from R.W. Holloway to the Cairns Post contain views and opinions that do not necessarily reflect those of any person currently associated with the Holloways Beach Residents Association or the Author of this Web Site.

These letters are all transcripts of letters sent to the Cairns Post by R.W. Holloway and are courtesy of Ian Johnson.
Each letter can be individually viewed by clicking on the title of each letter below.

Additional to the above letters are Historical Exerts taken from past issues of "The Habit".

Each exert can be individually viewed by clicking on the title of each exert below, or alternatively, please click on this link to view the entire page containing all the exerts.


The Titles of these Historical Exerts are as Follows:

Our Post Office No. 1   Our Post Office No. 2   The Seacom Cable No. 1

The Seacom Cable No. 2   The Seacom Cable No. 3   The Seacom Cable No. 4

The O'Shanes No. 1   The O'Shanes No. 2   The O'Shanes No. 3   The O'Shanes No. 4

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January 1915 brought headlines of ships being sunk, Zeppelins bombing England, and Alexander Graham Bell setting a new telephone record of 4,750 miles from New York to San Francisco. Amidst the mayhem and glory around the world, we had many domestic issues that required debate and our R.W Holloway seemed to be in the thick of things as his letter to The Cairns Post on 7th January 1915 would suggest…

FOREIGN MADE GOODS

"Sir, -- allow me to call attention to the danger the public are incurring in buying goods made in the United States. Whatever shop you go to in Cairns you find nothing but American made axes, saws, guns, revolvers, etc for sale but no English. One would think these articles are not made in the United Kingdom by their absence here; but I can say the reverse is the case. You can buy as good (in many cases better) articles of the above kind made there than from any other part of the world. Take, for instance, revolvers. There is nothing can equal Webley's, and in fact they are the only kind made that will fire cordite cartridges without bursting. It is true they are a little dearer than the others (the same as some of the tools named above), but the price is not everything when you want a really good article. Now, as to the possibility of war with the United States, I would say I lived six years there, and the hatred to the British and Japanese by Americans is well known to me, though it is little dreamed of in this country. Now, as the largest part of the foreign population are German and their progeny, with a great number of Austrians as well, it is easy to see what must, eventually happen, aided by a lot of Irish-American malcontents (to whom Home Rule is no solace.) If there is anyone in doubt of the truth of my latter statements, let him ask anyone who has lived in the United States any length of time, what his opinion is, and I have no doubt what the answer will be". ---- Yours, etc., R.W.HOLLOWAY.

Ian Johnson
1ST January 1915.
Reprinted courtesy of The Cairns Post

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HOLLOWAY ECHOES

War was not the only event in 1916. Other noteables were: Les Darcy won a twenty round boxing comp in Melbourne. Ford Motor Company released a cut price $250 touring car and Russia's infamous "seer" and "miracle worker" Gregory Rasputin was murdered by two of his relatives.
Here in Cairns there seemed to be some heated discussion on the question of population. Here is another letter to The Cairns Post form our R.W.HOLLOWAY. This one dated 21st December 1916 and also refers to a previous letter that I have not yet found.

THE POPULATION QUESTION

"Sir,- Some time ago I forwarded you a letter on the above subject, which you kindly published and since then I have met various persons and conversed with them on the matter. While some agree with my remarks, others have expressed indignation at my advocacy of Free Love contained therein, and I was recently told my views were subversive of both morality and religion. Well, doubtless as there are others who hold this opinion I thought I would reply to them briefly. Now, regarding the moral part, I would say that I believe morality can be tested by utility, and that settles that portion of the argument. Regarding the religious objection, I would say that the Bible sanctions polygamy, and the keeping of concubines as Solomon (who is claimed as the wisest man) some hundreds of both. Again on reading the book of Job, it is mentioned that as a reward for Job's fidelity, God multiplied unto him the number of his wives and concubines, so we see that a plurality of wives was not merely tolerated but commended. As regards the sanctity of marriage, it does not seem to be held in high veneration by God himself, for see the punishment threatened to David for his conduct to Uriah (2nd Book Samuel, xii. Chapter 11th verse). Quite so, my Christian friends say but Christ brought a new dispensation in the world and a different ideal. Well, admitting he did, he certainly never preached monogamy. His doctrine was celibacy, and he discountenanced marriage altogether (see St.Luke, xx. Chapter. 34th and 35th verses). He goes even further and recommends emasculation (Matthew,xix. Chapter, 12th verse). I think the above remarks ought to satisfy anyone that our present system of marriage is not based on a religious foundation, nor has it anything to commend in its favour".-- Yours, etc., R.W.HOLLOWAY West Cairns.

Ian Johnson
21ST December 1916
Reprinted courtesy of The Cairns Post.

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In the early part of 1917, England allowed women to be taxi drivers, Victoria introduced daylight saving and the world mourned the death of Colonel William. F. Cody, alias Buffalo Bill. Our R.W however, had his mind on other things and this entry may be a bit course to some readers so it is appropriate that we advise that the views and opinions of our R.W Holloway are 86 years old and do not reflect those of any person associated with this website. This letter from Our R.W Holloway discusses the shortage of fertilisers.

WAR WASTAGE

February 15th 1917 Sir,- I noticed in a recent issue of the "Queensland Agricultural Journal" that owing to the war, many of the fertilizers, such as nitrate of soda, nitrate of potash, etc., were un-obtainable and that others that were had reached prohibitive prices, and on reading the "Winchester Journal" ( England), I saw that at a meeting of the Agricultural Society over there, the shortage was even more acute than here. It was stated that many farmers were attempting to grow the same kind of crops season after season without using any kind of fertilizers at all. It also pointed out that if this suicidal policy was followed, it would take about 7 years for the ground to recuperate, even if a liberal quantity of manure was afterwards used, during, of course, which time the ground would be almost unproductive.
Now this is a very serious state of affairs, but is there no remedy? I say that there is. The human corpse when properly treated by chemicals makes one of the best manures, and here on the battlefields of Europe we have an unlimited supply. Why not ship them to the chemical works at Southampton and Bristol, let them be dissolved in sulphuric acid and mixed with lime and ash and sold to the farmers? That it would pay is unquestionable, and what further proves my statement is that in the same paper I saw several advertisements of persons advertising for dead cows and horses ( for this very purpose)., and for which they were willing to pay 25 shillings each.
The again, there is a great shortage of glycerine which is now at a fabulous price, and as this is obtained from the muscles and sinews of dead animals, these could be first cut out and used, Glycerine is the base of almost all the high explosives.
Now, apart from the commercial there is a sentimental side to the question, and surely it will be comforting for combatants to know that they have not died in vain, and that their bodies after death will still do good by helping to grow food for the living, also to those of a pugnacious turn of mind it should be a pleasant idea that their remains will help make explosives and assist in carrying on the war. Yours etc R.W.HOLLOWAY Cairns 15th February 1917

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March 1917 saw the passing of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin at age 78 and the sea becomes the last battleground for too many sailors from both sides of the Atlantic. But here in Cairns, we find that our R.W has a lighter side and shows he knows his way around the kitchen.

In this letter to the editor our R.W offers his expertise with Lemons.

USE FOR LEMONS

March 12th 1917 Sir, - As there are at present many lemons going to waste through people not knowing what use to put them to. I thought I would send a couple of useful recipes. Lemon Marmalade: First peel the lemons ( and discard the skins), then cut some into slices, taking care to save all the juice, weigh same, adding 1lb of sugar to every pound of fruit, and boil as for jam making. About one hour should suffice, pour into jars, and when cool, seal up or cover in the usual way. Some people do not trouble to peel the fruit first, but it is advisable as the skins of common lemons impart a bitter flavour, not liked by many.
Assuming the lemons cost nothing, it works out at about 21/2 pence per pound compared with 1 shilling 4 pence at the shops as their 1 shilling tin only contains 24 ounces.
Lemon Squash: Cut lemons in half and pass through squeezer, put juice in an enamelled billy, then put same on fire, and bring to a boil.. Just before boiling add 1 teaspoonful of salisylic acid, stirring the same well in. The allow it to cool, and it is ready for bottling. It will keep indefinitely as long as corks are in. When using, add water and sugar to suit the required taste.
Note, - A bottle full will make exactly 13 and 1/3rd drinks,.
Yours etc R.W.HOLLOWAY.
P.S,- Proportion salicylic acid, 1 teaspoonful for 2 gallons juice.

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New Zealand's Wiamangu erupts and sends lava 1000 feet into the air on April 1,1917, Cuba declares war on Germany, Panama declares war on Germany, the War council tells the Victorian Football League it must ask permission to play games or be punished under the War Precautions Act and agent provocateur Mata Hari was sentenced to death for spying. All this and Charlie Chaplin's "the Immigrant" is released in the US. Here in Cairns though our R.W is trying to explain his way out of a mess he created a few weeks earlier. This is the second installment and an attempt to justify the first.

WAR WASTAGE

2nd April 1917 Sir, - A short time back I sent you a letter on the above subject with reference to the utilization of the dead bodies of soldiers by converting them into fertilser. Now some people seemed to be annoyed at the suggestion, but I can only plead that the exigencies of the case demanded that something of the kind should be done, and this is further borne out by the fact that Sweden ( a neutral country) has now been compelled to put its population on bread rations owing to the shortage of crops, which is almost entirely attributed to an insufficient amount of fertiliser being used. Now, the wonder to me is that Germany has not adopted some such plan. Take the people as a rule, they are fairly shrewd and business- like, and not weighed down by any mawkish sentimentality. Well, we read that over there, there is such a shortage of fats and oils that the authorities are at their wits' end to know what to do. Well, they have the very remedy at their own doors. From the marrow in the bones neatsfoot oil could be extracted ( which is a good dressing for leather), from the fat, lubricating oil could be made, and the rest of the body turned into fertiliser after the muscles and sinews had been converted into glycerine, as I explained in my previous letter.
Of course, some people will remark that it is none of our business how the Germans dispose of their dead, and that it is better for us that they don't utilize them. I quite admit this, but I only point it out to show that it seems as if all the combatants in Europe were obsessed with a species of madness in wasting products so urgently needed by the living. Take for example at Verdun recently. It was computed that upwards of200,000 Germans were killed and about 90,000 French. Well, considering a dead horse or cow in England at the present time is worth 25 shillings, we will approximate a human corpse at 10 shillings, here, therefore, is a deliberate waste of nearly 150,000 Pounds ( a loss to be deplored by all utilitarians) and yet we find the Government of the various countries all preaching the seed of strict economy to their inhabitants. What a gross inconsistency! Now, before finishing this letter, I would like to explain that this plan of using the dead for manure is not a new idea of mine by any means, as I will now show.
About 30 years ago in Bristol (England) I called on a chemical manure manufacturer with whom I had done business. He was in the habit of receiving cargoes of bones from South America for conversion into bone superphosphate, and he remarked that there was often quite a number of human bones amongst them. When I asked the cause he was unable to tell me, but later on I solved the problem for myself quite accidentally. Some years after I was in Uraguay ( Monte Video), and there I found the inhabitants disposed of their dead in the following manner: The coffin with the corpse inside was taken to the cemetery and after the burial service had been read, the lid was taken off, quicklime was put in, the lid replaced, and the coffin containing the corpse was put in a kind of vault, all of which were numbered and arranged in tiers, somewhat in style like the boxes at a post office here. The door of the vault or receptacle was pad- locked, and the key handed to the relatives or friends of the deceased, who paid a burial fee which was really a lease of the vault for seven years. At the expiration of that time another similar fee was demanded, and if not forthcoming, the coffin was taken out and broken up, and the bones flung in a heap, there to wait until sufficient quantities had accumulated when they were shipped away to Europe ( along with animal bones from the neighbouring meat works) there to be converted into fertiliser and perhaps come out to the same country again in some form of manure.
Well, this same practice goes on in Venezuela and to the best of my knowledge and belief in almost all the Central and South American States with the possible exception of British Honduras and British Guiana.
Now, as some people will say, that this is a heathenish practice, let me tell them that on the contrary the inhabitants are all ( or nearly all ) orthodox Christians, viz., Catholics, though there is a fair sprinkling of other religious denominations.
One more instance I will give before closing my letter to show that the dead do not always rest where they are buried. It is as follows:- About ten years ago there was offered for sale at Stevens Auctions Room, King Street, Covent Garden, London, a pile of bones. They were the remains of some of our soldiers who had fallen at Tel el Kebir. There was documentary and other evidence to show that they were authentic, and they were offered for sale (not for manure), but as curios. I don't know what they fetched, as I was not present at the time they were put up, but I very much doubt if they realized the cost of the freight that was paid on them, as there was not a complete skeleton amongst them. I know, however, that the London newspapers ( particularly the "Morning Leader") commented strongly on the mercenary spirit of those who had dug them up and sent them to London for sale as a speculation.
Apologising for the length of my letter. - Yours etc R.W.HOLLOWAY
2ND April 1917
Reprinted courtesy of The Cairns Post.

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Collingwood defeats Fitzroy in the 1917 VFL grand final, US actor Robert Mitchum is born and once again our R.W is in the thick of things with his interpretation of the writings of the Bible. This letter to the Cairns post discusses the power of prayer.

PRAYER AS AN AID IN WAR

10th September 1917 Sir,- I see by the newspapers that prayers are being offered by all the Churches and other places of worship in England that the war shall come speedily to an end and that we shall be victorious, and I also see that Germany is doing likewise, only of course they are praying for victory for themselves. Now this puts one in a quandary. Either prayer must be of some use or not. If not then it is nothing but rank hypocrisy to indulge in it, but if it is, then we cannot have too much of a good thing, and I would therefore suggest that on a certain date all members of the British Empire should offer up a prayer for victory, and as we considerably outnumber the Germans, success should be ours. We could of course go a bit further, taking as a precedent a religious sect in Thibet who employ praying machines which are worked by wind or water ( and each revolution of the said machine counts as a prayer), we could use all the gramophones and phonographs available to shout a prayer ( a special record would be required to avoid mistakes), and then there would be no doubt as to our ability to out pray the enemy, which would probably prevent a stalemate arising which might occur if the numbers on both sides were about equal.
Now some people assert that it is not right to invoke the aid of the almighty in slaughtering our fellow men, but if they read the Bible ( the Book of Joshua for instance), they will see there that the Lord commanded him not only to kill all the belligerents of the different cities he was at war with but also to destroy all the women and children as well, and to spare no living thing at all. So people may make their minds easy on that point. On reading the XXXVII chapter of Isaiah, verse 36, the following extra-ordinary passage occurs which I will repeat word for word: "Then the angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and four score and five thousand, and when they arose early in the morning, behold they were all dead corpses."
Now it occurred to me if by prayer and supplication we could induce the Lord to do similarly in the camps of the Germans, it would be a most economical way of carrying on a war. 185,000 of the enemy killed in one night without any expenditure or ammunition. There is also another point I would like to call attention to and that is, that usually a person dying at night knows nothing about it in the morning ( as the dead know not anything), but in the case of the Assyrians they did, as it states they arose ( and were probably half dressed) before they discovered the fact they were dead corpses. What a terrible shock it would be to the Germans if a similar thing happened to them! I know of nothing more calculated to upset their morale more than an event of this kind unless they found themselves live corpses.
Some people may remark, "There is no such things as a live corpses." If that is the case then, why did the writer emphasise the fact that they were "dead" corpses?
Again in the XXXVII chapter of Ezekeil we read of a valley full of dry bones which were turned into living bodies again which is a similar event on a much larger scale.
Trusting my suggestion will receive due consideration. - Yours etc R.W.HOLLOWAY
10th September 1917
Reprinted courtesy of The Cairns Post.

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October 15 saw the execution of Mata Hari, the US approves the creation of a Black division of the US Army and the quiet of the Western Front is shattered by the sounds of US troops firing their first shots. At home in the US, Dizzy Gillespie is born and here in Cairns there is some debate on indemnities and Taxes.
This letter is a bit hard to follow and to swallow but our R.W is persistent in trying to get his thoughts and opinions across to the reader . An interesting foot note by the editor of The Cairns Post.
This letter to the Cairns Post 16th October 1917.

WAR INDEMNITIES AND TAXATION

Sir,- I notice in Reynold's Newspaper" for July 22nd, that Bonar Law made the statement that no matter whether the war ended sooner or later, we must make our mind to face the unpleasant fact that Germany would never pay any war indemnities. That country, he stated was in a state of bankruptcy and each day was getting worse, and when the war ends it will find itself in the position of having been drained of all its gold, its credit gone, and the great difficulty of having to feed it starving population, and be like this for some to come. He further stated that if the remote possibility happened (which he very much doubted) of their being able to pay anything all it would have to be handed to Serbia or Belgium.
Now let us look at our own position and see if it is much better. The war is costing us ( England) over seven million pounds per day, and reckoning the population at forty million, this works out at 3/6 per head per day. Thus a man with a wife and 5 children would be paying the enormous sum of six pound two and six pence per week in war tax alone, and when you come to reckon municipal rates and taxes together with Government taxes for other purposes, all of which are much higher now than they were in pre- war times ( putting them at half the amount of war tax, viz 3 pounds 1/3 pence) you get a total of 9 pounds 3/9 pence per week to be paid before he would have a penny for himself to buy a crust of bread with.
Of course it must be understood that this enormous amount of taxation cannot be paid at once, and that payment will have to be extended over a period of years, but the question of whether to it is right to saddle posterity with burden arises.
Another thing I would emphasise is that while the debt is unpaid, interest is accruing which at 5% per annum ( simple) doubles in 20 years, while at compound interest it is more.
I would point out to the people of Australia that the rate of taxation is going up in like proportion out here, in fact the rate per head is likely to be slightly higher here than in the United Kingdom.
Now Bonar Law further said there were troublesome times ahead and on that point I quite agree with him, for already there is the talk of either repudiation or else the conscription of wealth to pay the debt with. Let us look at what may happen if we repudiate it. It means that all those who have subscribed to war loans will lose their money and as we owe the United States of America a large sum, it is not likely they will acquiesce very readily ( as the Germans have found out to their cost since they hit their pocket book) and hold the English and Australian customs until their debt was paid, and that may probably mean war again.
Now take the case of confiscation. It means seizing all the money in banks, etc. Well, I don't think the capitalists will take that lying down, even if the Government passed a Bill to that effect and the result eventually might mean troops of foreign-hired mercenaries in the streets armed with machine guns with a result that can be imagined.
Yours etc R.W.HOLLOWAY 16th October 1917
P.S - In my calculations I have said nothing about arrears of taxes which have accumulated and which will also have to be paid.
(Mr Holloway is really about the most amusing correspondent we have. If he cannot make our flesh creep in one way, he is determined to do it another. - Ed.)
Reprinted courtesy of The Cairns Post.

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FROM WILLIAM HOLLOWAY
"Sir, - In a recent issue of the Cairns "Post" I saw, that Dr. Kirwan had asked a few questions, at a meeting the Cairns Town Council, regarding the supervision that was being exercised over the milk supplied to the town. Now, as I consider that those questions were rather a reflection on the dairymen of Cairns, and also on the different inspectors doing their duty here, I thought I would try to answer the questions, to let the public know exactly what number of inspectors have authority - and exercise it - over the local dairies.

I will take the query of "Were the cattle ever inspected?"In answer to this I would say that there is a stock inspector permanently resident here. Mr G.L Tanton, who visits the dairies frequently and inspects the cattle. Mr Gallagher ( Mareeba) is also a stock inspector, with power to visit the local dairies, and up till recently the inspector of Police was a stock inspector.
"Are the dairies ever inspected?" In answer to this I may point out that Mr Carew, of Yungaburra, is the appointed dairy inspector, whilst Mr.R.A.Wright, of the Health Department, has full powers to inspect the dairies at any time. I believe the nuisance inspectors of both the Town and Shire Councils have the authority necessary to inspect.
"Do we know what we are drinking?" The only answer to this is that Inspector Wright and Inspector Barnes of the Health Department and Town Council respectively, can take samples for the purpose of analysis, and no one can say inspector Wright has been lax in this respect.
As regards the general sanitation and cleanliness: taking into consideration the bad weather conditions that the dairies here experience at this time of the year., I consider they compare favorably with any dairies elsewhere. Regarding medical inspection of dairymen, of all that I know employed in dairying I do not think any fear the doctor, and, personally, I am willing to undergo medical examination at any time. I writing this I have no personal animus against anyone; I simply would like the public to judge whether there is any need to be frightened to partake of the milk supplied to Cairns. - Yours etc Reprinted courtesy of The Cairns Post.

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Local and world events of 1918 were many and significant, they began in January with a cyclone in Mackay that took 20 lives, then in March a cyclone hit Innisfail taking 9.
In April, the Red Baron - Von Richthofen - was shot down in the second battle of Somme and Spike Milligan and Ella Fitzgerald were born. June saw the sinking of the Sydney bound passenger steamer Wimmera by a German mine off the coast of New Zealand.
In Russia, the former Czar Nicholas II, and his family were killed by the Bolsheviks and August brought a heavy increase in the price for a hair cut to 50 cents in New York.
In September Collingwood were beaten in the grand final ( some things don't change) and October saw Lawrence of Arabia ride triumphantly through the streets of Damascus.
Then, "lest we forget", came armistice and they counted the cost "ten million dead" in the war to end all wars.
Many sought comfort in their religious beliefs and some searched, hopefully, to find a message within the pages of their Bibles. The dooms day seers came out and struck a nerve with our R.W.Holloway. His letter of 30th November 1918 is the beginning.

THE APPROACHING END OF THE WORLD

Sir,- I had recently had a tract given me, full of Bible prophecies, announcing that the end of the world was at hand. It was very ingeniously worded, but I may say it had no effect on me, as a lot of those texts may be interpreted to mean anything or nothing, but as a lot of scientists ( including the late Professor Lowell) have been saying the same thing, I thought I would give their theory.
To begin with, I will give a brief description of our earth and the sun, as it is by the latter the end is predicted to take place. Our earth, as everyone knows, revolves on its axis once in 24 hours, and being 24,000 miles in circumference, a person standing at the equator would be moving at the rate of 1000 miles per hour. We also move around the sun in an eclipse, or egg shaped circle, which takes us one year to complete, consequently part of the year we are approaching and the other part receding from it, the nearest we get to the sun is just under 92 million miles and the furthest we get away from it is just over 96 million miles, the total distance we travel is approximately 564 million miles per annum which is over 1.5 million miles per day. There is also another motion which is far greater and that is in which the sun takes us along with him in traveling his orbit, but that I will allude to later on when I deal with the sun. In addition to this there is a slight rocking motion, caused by the earth getting out of perpendicular and then righting itself, causing slight earth tremors; those are, however, imperceptible to us and can only be told by observation of the seismograph.
Regading the origin and the age of this earth, it is now practically admitted by all scientific men that it was part of the sun thrown off by him countless ages ago and as the orbits of the planets are believed to increase with mathematical precision, if we could only tell what that rate was in regard to our earth we could tell with some degree of exactitude its age; but, as observations taken with anything less than, say, from 5,000 to 10,000 years interval are comparatively useless, consequently we can only conjecture, and though geology has come to our assistance, nothing satisfactory can be told. Scientists say we are anything from 200 to 500 million years old, which gives a long range between.
I will now deal with the sun. This heavenly body is not a fixture in the sky, as some people imagine. On the contrary, he turns on his axis once in about 25 days. His orbit is not known, but even if we did, it is so vast that the long array of figures necessary to express it could convey no adequate idea to our finite minds.
Anyway, we know he is moving at the rate of many millions of miles per day in the direction of the constellation of Hercules, taking with him the whole solar system that is our earth and the other planets, together with their moons or satellites. What will happen when we get there is of no consideration, because in spite of the enormous speed at which we are traveling towards it, the distance is so great that it will be many million of years before we reach there, and long before that time the sun will have cooled off and our earth, by means of attrition, will have disappeared in cosmic dust. Thye sun is composed of metallic substances and gasses, all in a state of combustion; in fact, we know the names of all ( with about six exceptions) as we have them all present in this earth, and this has been found out by means of the spectroscope, the details of which I may explain in another letter.
Regarding the spots we see in the sun, they are caused by burnt-out masses of matter, and at the present time there is a great lump many times larger than this earth just on the point of detachment and it may come away any minute, certainly within the next few years at the very latest and then one of two things will happen. Either a new planet will be formed, or the existing planets will all get a dose of this fiery mixture. Our earth being one of the nearest will get a liberal share, and we may expect a deposit of several hundred miles in thickness over the whole extent of the world.
The death we shall die is a most lingering one, as we shall get roasted alive long before the mass reaches the earth, when it will, of course, turn all the oceans into steam and destroy every vestige of animal and vegetable life.
On the other hand, if a new planet is formed, it will, as far as we can judge, have little or no effect on us; but the scientists seem to say that this is not so likely to happen as the other, and they point out that since the world was first made there is evidence to prove we have had at least one deposit since, if not more; but, of course, this happened long before man existed on this earth. Yours etc
R.W HOLLOWAY
Reprinted courtesy of The Cairns Post.

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The end of 1918 and the world is still celebrating the end of the horror. Many wonder what the future will bring as 1919 approaches.
In Cairns, our RWH also ponders the future as the debate over the end of the world continues.
Under the heading "CORRESPONDENCE" in the Cairns post of Saturday 28th December 1918 an additional note is penned by the Editor. It reads, "We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by our correspondents."
Our RWH seems a little agitated by a response to his previous entry, APPROACHING THE END OF THE WORLD on 30 November 1918, by a person calling himself "Solar",.

THE END OF THE WORLD

Sir, - Kindly allow me space to reply to the criticism of your correspondents in regard to the above subject.
Now I will not trouble to go into a lot of technical details about the sun's photosphere, corona, etc., as your correspondent "Solar" has explained briefly and explicitly about the matter and what he says about the spots is probably correct, as it is the general opinion of astronomers that they are caused that way. What I wish to say is in regard to the particular spot from which the catastrophe is expected, and I would have replied to this sooner but I could not find the magazine from which the article was culled, however, I will quote from memory.
It stated that owing to one of the spots having a peculiar appearance, certain observations had been made which showed a large protuberant mass (of what appeared to be burnt out matter) was being forced out in the form of a cone through the sun's photosphere, and that appeared to be going on for several months. Then a new development appeared to be taking place, the mass slowly becoming detached and on the point of breaking away, and this, it was explained, might come suddenly, or a few years at the outside.
Now, this account was published about eighteen months ago in an American scientific journal, and as the war supervened ( the United States joining the belligerents) doubtless the observations were interrupted; but in any case, we may expect to hear something definite on the matter within the next few months. Of course, there is a possibility that they were mistaken in their observations, but when I mention that Professor Lowell, who was considered by Americans to be the greatest scientist of the day (he has been dead for several months now) endorsed, if he did not originate the theory, it certainly should carry some weight.
Now, let us consider the probability; it is generally admitted that our earth has received at least one deposit on it, if not more since it was first created, therefore, what is there improbable about it getting another the same way?
Next, it is admitted that this earth and all the planets came into existence in this manner, therefore, why should not another planet be formed, which is the only other alternative, as mentioned in my first letter. It is true that we are constantly receiving meteoric dust through the same coming into the power of our attraction, but the quantity we receive that way is infinitesimal and we lose more than we gain by attrition in our journey through space, so this need not be taken into consideration.
Now, regarding "E.G.N.'s" letter, he explains about the cooling off process going on in the sun. All he says there is admitted as almost every schoolboy knows that, but it has nothing to do with this argument. Because if it takes one million or fifty million years to cool, it can neither accelerate nor retard the alleged coming catastrophe.
Now he makes a covert sneer at Ernest Haeckel (Germany's greatest thinker). When I mentioned his name along with others, and recommending his books, I did not say or mean that he agreed or disagreed with the theory. What I said, or intended to say was that all persons interested in astronomy, geology or evolution should read these books, and most of the people I have spoken to understood as much; anyway, if "E.G.N" doubts my estimate of Ernest Haeckel, let him write to any scientist of note and ask their opinion, or better still, let him spend one shilling and buy "Haeckel, his life and work," by Wilhelm Balsche, then perhaps he will be qualified to give an opinion.
Now, the reference to the milk cart; I fail to see the relevancy of the introduction; was some subtle joke intended? I am not a Scotchman, but I must confess I fail to see the point of the humor. Anyway, for the edification of "E.G.N.," I would say that I have not got a milk cart, nor am I engaged in the milk business, and what is more, I never have been.-
Yours, etc,
R.W.HOLLOWAY
West Cairns
(This correspondence must end now - Ed)

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