TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 11491, 26 January 1903, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Those who have fMRjf The Language any of the Aniyjjjp of Bees. Agricultural Amm^mH^ shows during ten years will have been astonished •Offi? exhibition shown by Mr I. well-known apiarist, who chime t»jjij|§p|p? introduced the modern system of tury into AuHtnlasia. Mr bees *o perfectly that isfJiSp handle whole swarms of them withMf : fl|& use of smoke or any extraneous terfen'ng with their actions unflwliwl||| «nd even holding them in his stung. Home photographs taken **sBiN by a representative of the "New Graphic" show him, devoid oi of facial protection, transferring A fP|jßp of the insects from a common Langstroth hive in the most 1 hnnd manner, and allowing them on hia beard in numbers. His »' control over bees he attributed ''tyfJEf Klong experience and dose K> them, and a- knowledge of tlieir l| The industry and orderliness of B| race have been dinned into us fo ' , since our childhood that we tlianked Mark Twain to expose $ a P"W&Hm as unmercifully as lie " xhawed ant. The information that bee» a language, however, comes as * **l!Sfem Mr Hopkins, as the result of close tionu lasting over almost tliirty . not only certain of the fact, but that he has learned to w w l< t<jngae. "Wha* m commonly kttW|SK#M.?, the hum of the We," Ite explained'i|f§|||Mi Auckland interviewer, "is simply t that conveys its thoughts to it* *!B|EJR Tb« sound changes with the varioe* iMHS I of the bee." The "tnerry march" $BgslJsJf Khakespeare attributes to the h** when thty bring -home their singing masons, building roofs oC "the surly hum" of "the tice," are not mere imaginative Lions. In addition to these -ISMB; ire a subdued but mournful :overjng the lost of th«ir ¥^^^d|^^M)

Urn" Mr Hopkins continues, "when they L pkmlv vrnmiDg J«u off. ami a much .tetpw one when they deuaro wr. and «, f« you- A very peculiar bum when L T realise that they have one dealing tfb. them that is more than their match." With the List mentioned sound, especially, jj, Hopkins ought to be well acquainted

Tiie story of the wonderful A Romance industrial plants created of by tlie power canals of Industry. Sault tSte. Marie, us told in the American "Review

»f Reviews." is a striking commentary up'm Hie potent influence of water power as a factor in industrial development. Tlie Overflow of Lake Superior into Lake Michi gan, in a current of fiom 5.600.000 to 7.000.000 cubic fee; »i water, mshinsr through tt channel half a liiiio and Jjjli a, mile broad, w.th a fall of 2 feet, forms the Sault Pvapids. The minimum force of tlie Sault i.-J 150,000. and its maximum force 260,000 hoise-p-.>wor. Tb«iirst person who attempted to nuke use of thi-i power was v young whu built •'■ caua! whitb provtd lor the purport. A fortune hunter v\li'i cams acroaj the desp.-indent, engineer took up hi-< project. di«dt;ed unJ deepened the canal, gnd after a number of experts around Jam. organi.-«tJ the Cuzisoiidated Luke Superior Company, fur the manufacture of clremical wood pulp. At iivst th-. , salphur necessary for the successful operation of the plant bad to be brought, Irom Sicily, but the Company's experts dincovered a plajj of obtaining sulphur from the smelter tsmoke generated iji the srneltinj of nickel »»:e. Then, by an electrical method entirely original, they fused, nickel and iion into the linest nickel steel, for which they found a ready market. Today* on the Canadian side of the Sault, "there is nearly a. square mile of mammoth mills, machine shops, smelters, and factories, and v half mile of ore dotksi" More than 500 miles of railway are beinjj built, and along one short line of 12 miles the Company has four copper mines that produce 1000 tons of ore daily. Charcoal kilns have been constructed in connection with th« smelters and steel works, sufficient to consume 625 coids of wood a day. Huge foiests of timber are cleared to feed theee kilns, and on the land thus cleared 300 farms of 25 acres each can be opened annually. The Company ha.s a H«et of seventeen steamers on the lakes, with an aggregate tonnage of 45,000 per trip,; and is etill building. "The steel plant alone, when completed, will cost 10,000,000 doll*rs, will employ 1000 men, and consume 2000 tonS of ore daily, with a product of 1000 tons of steel." An electric streetjailway system bae been established, ay ■well as an express company, and near the sxuaworks a model town 'has been laid out ioi tba Company's workmen. A great road 'lias been constructed, leading into a Canadian wilderness, which will come day yield enormous supplies of wheat of the finest quality. - Yet it is only seven years tince tite man to whom almost the whole of this yast success ia due*, first visited the sleepy township where he built his yorke.

In one of a »enes ol The Hardships articles on the "White of Slavea of England,' Kail Making, now appearing in the

"Otago Daily Times" % pathetic picture is given of the lot of the nail-makers of Bromagrove, a prettilylitwted little town in the Midlands. .Nailtaaking, ac therein described, is one of the hardest and lea«t remunerative employment* in the kingdom. The workman has to supply hie own workshop, firing, and •T(D iron, in addition to a bench and set Of took, coating from £6 to £10 in theinaelvee The abope are attached to the men's cott*(6i, and there the nail-makers may be Keen at their drudgery <lay in, day out, hardly stopping to enatdh food, and never, Mtoept at'night-time, to take rest. A man who was making Flemish .tacks informed the writer that he could make 20,000 in one week, working fifteen houna a day. In accordance with an understanding in the trade 2000 nails ac between man and master we 1200 nails, but only 800 as between master and customer, ao that the 20,000 tocke in Jplity meant 24,000. For these the man would earn 10s 10d, which would leave him just 9e Id after paying working expenses, He would, therefore, have to make 220 tacke for Id, each tack requiring several separate and complex manipulations .of the original red-hot iron for ita construction. In i>ne workshop an old man of sixty and has wife were working together, the husband making clout nails at B|d for and the wife tacks at 6d the thousand. Between them taey could earn, with difficulty, 8« & week, out of which it was necessary to pay 2s 6d a week rent for oottag© and workshop, la for repainj of tools, and Is for fuel. . "I have been married twenty-three y«a»," the woman said, "and I have never had a new dress since I were married. Amusement? There is none for me. Bta and work is all we get." In another case a men and wife, with their fanjily of iive children, kept body and soul together on a total weekly wage of 15s. The .hardships of these poor people are accentuated by tlie •harp practices of the "foggera," or middlemen, who contract with the mastwa- to **11 certain quantities of oaila, and after paithaeing them at 30 per cent, less than .the tariff price, dispose of tliein at 30 per cent, in excess of it. Another grievance is that often a whole week's work is rejected «a some pretext at the warehouse by a Wester who hoe given a larger order, perhaps, than he can dispose of. If it were not for poultry-keeping, the nail-makers, who at present just live, would starve altogether. .Starving, or ''clamming," as they call it, ja, indeed, the dread of their live*. When they are not actually hungry itty are extremely contented, considering their circumstances, and find consolation ■Ik tfceir miseries in religion.