To the Editor of the "Nontu-Ciina Darcy News"
Sip—"A little learning is a dangerous thing" That truism is well fMlustrated by the unconscious humour of Admiral Woo's letter published in your issue of May 4, in relation to the Pratas Island. His instruction re~ garding visibility may seem to many to be more original than correct. For Instance, in order to render a light visible in clear weather for 20 miles he holds it to be necessary to elevate 8/600 feet above sea-level, or more than half the height of the Eiffel Tower. I always thought that Western mathematicians had a formula show-Ing that for 444 miles of visibility an elevation of only 15 feet above sei level was necessary. cited by Admiral Woo this would involve an elevation of 200 feet. But we know of course that_in China What we-call the opposites" prevall~ white for mourning, not black, and 0 on—and it may be that the curva~ ture of the cart in China is also different, After enlightening us about light houses, the Admiral proceeds to inform us that the Chinese Admiralty has studied for years past the ques-Uon of placing @ light on Pratas Island and came to the conclusion that such a Light is not really required. I agree here, I make many passages yearly between here and Hongkong and I never sight the Island, which is not in the track of ordinary trade routes. But the Admiral fails to record that the Chinese Admiralty rather inconsist~ ently did in fact build a lighthouse on the Island some years ago which from a general navigational point of view proves to be a white elephant. And he further omits to recall tha' according to reports at the time in the Hongkong press, the Chinese Admiralty sent a large working party to the island to build the lighthouse and failed to supply them with suffclent food and water, the result being that many died of starvation, and the survivors were rescued by foreign steamer.
Manila, May 12.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.