65° - 01.07.1968, Blaðsíða 7

Iceland Periscope
by
kristjAn bersi olafsson
The spring has been exceptionally cold with
pack ice from the Arctic lying along the north
and east coasts almost continuously since March.
For a while sailing along the north coast was
almost totally impossible because of the ice and
at the beginning of July there was still some ice
in fjords in the western part of the north coast.
Along with the ice there was unseasonable cold
which caused extensive damage to cultivated land,
with grass growing very badly in other places.
Spring may be said to have been at least a month
behind schedule in those parts of the country.
As a consequence farmers in those parts may
have to decrease their livestock extensively next
autumn. The Agricultural Association of Iceland
has called on all farmers to make as much hay
as possible, wherever possible, the result of which
may be that hay-making methods now mostly
discontinued may be adopted again. Grass from
gardens and parks in Reykjavik and other towns
may also be mown and sent to the emergency
areas in the north.
*
Early in May a basic change in the issue of
Icelandic currency was announced. To date the
currency has consisted of coins of one, two, five,
ten, and twenty-five auras, and one and two
kronur pieces, and notes of 5, 10, 25, 100, and
1000 kronur. Now all notes of lower denomina-
tions than 100 kronur will be abolished and re-
placed by coins. A 10 kronur coin was issued on
May 5th and a 500 kronur note added, and later
on it is planned to issue a 50 kronur coin and a
10.000 kronur note. In the future, smaller units
than ten aurar will not be used in calculations.
*
On May 20th, 50 years had passed since Siglu-
fjorffur, the second biggest town in Northern
Iceland, received its charter and 150 years since
it was rcognized as a trading centre. Because of
the cold in the spring the celebration was post-
poned until the beginning of July when it was
attended by great numbers of people, among
them the Prime Minister and the Minister for
Fisheries. In the early part of this century Siglu-
fjorSur was the centre of the herring-fishing in
Iceland, but in later years the situation has
changed drastically as the fishing grounds have
shifted. The population of SiglufjorSur is now
about 2500.
*
On May 26th, Icelanders stopped driving on
the left-hand side of the road and moved over to
the right-hand side. The change-over, having been
long and well prepared, was most successful.
People were amazingly quick to adapt themselves
to new driving techniques and accidents during
the first two months after the change-over were
fewer than indicated by the average for the last
few years. It should be noted, however, that
traffic-control was vastly increased and speed-
limits lowered, besides great propaganda for in-
creased traffic-safety being published in the press,
radio, television and in the country’s schools.
*
In early June an international chess tournament
was held in Reykjavik. It was called the Fiske
Tournament in honour of Daniel Willard Fiske,
the well known American scholar, who visited
Iceland before the turn of the century and did
much to increase interest in chess in Iceland.
Fifteen players took part, 8 Icelanders and 7
foreigners, among them 5 International Grand
Masters. The winners were the Soviet Grand
Masters, Taimanov and Vaschukov, with 10.5
Continued on page 20.
After receiving his M.A. in history of religion,
philosophy and sociology from the University of
Stockholm, Kristjan Bersi Olafsson worked with
Timinn from 1962—64, as editor of the Sunday
magazine of AlftyftublaSuf from 1965, and as
editor-in-chief of AllrySubladiff since late 1967.
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