TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7944, 19 January 1906, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

The great anxiety which was aroused all over the world at the prospect of magnificent Niagara falling entirely into the hands of eleo-tric-power companies desirous of harnessing the cascades to their dynamos and destroying the beauty of the syot for ever has now happily been set at rest. Yet' few people are aware of the immense undertakings which are already at work or in process of construction at the Falls, and that without seriously marring their beauty or diminishing their grandeur. By the time the present undertakings are completed waterpower to the value of over 900,000 borse-nower, hitherto going to waste, will be oonverted into electric power, and conveyed by wire to wherever it may be wanted for lighting and motive purposes. The work is in the hands of three com. panics. Huge wing dams have been built out into the stream above the Falls to collect the swiftly running water and lead it into the deep tubes or tunnells by which it is conveyed to the turbines. Further tunnels carry the exhaust water "back to'' -the river-bed at the foot of tho Falls..

Even tbe Rues! a a revolution baa ita oomio episodes* &t Proscuroff, a considerable town near the Austrian frontier, two students and a doctor suddenly proclaimed tbenisolvesTbaders of the revolutionary party,'haranguing the populace in too market-place. The Governor, to tbeir amazement took them at their own valuation, and summoned them to the" palaoe. They, fearing a trap, Joitily replied that jf he wished'to tee them they would give hitu audience at tbeir boose too following morning at ten o'clock. Thoroughly alarmed, be despatched an aide-de-camp to interview them, who asked, "Are you representatives of the proletariat?'' Tboy replied in the affirmative. "What," asked the aide, "are your demands?" "The withdrawal of troops and police from the town, except such as wish to accer>t the revolution." The Governor ately himself up in his house, and the three revolutionaries proceeded to administer the affairs of the district, to the astonishment of the population. Wnen the Provincial Governor heard of the farce he ?eut a company of soldiers to arrest the triumvirate and restore the Czar's authority. But the revo lutionanes fled across the frontier, taking with them the contents of the treasury, which they are now understood to be spending in Paris.

Wolves have increased to an alarming extent in the bunting districts of Canada. Hitherto it has been considered safe in the early autumn tolie down and pleep where ever the night might overtake one. But two young fellows who wanted to shirk a long walk to camparid went to sleep beside a deer path have learned a different lesson. It was a dark and wiudy but warm night, and tbey did not start a fire. They were awakened eirly in the night by the onset of three wolves, which seized one by the leg and the other by the shoulder with sufficient force to bring the blood. Their shouts and struggles seemed to shook the brutes, whose grip relaxed so that they were able to shake themselves free. The cooler of the two was able to seize bis rifle, and this be fired from bis bip in the direction assailants. From the fact that what looked like spbts of blood were discovered on a flat rock near by next morning the young men judge that the shot reached one of the wolves. Bat at the time they were amazed at the stillness which suoceeded the report. Not a rustle or the snap 'of a twig could they hear, yet when a white birch was touched with a match and a shaft of fire shot up the trunk there was not a sign of a wolf.

Tha English novel appears to be suffering, like its French con tempo , rary, from over-prodaotion and the] canker light uf sensationalism; Except during a few abuormal seasons, the output of novels (disregarding the Bixpenoy reprjut, the "pem#y. : dreadful," and the "threepenny blighter") has rarely been greater than during the past two years. Publishers have sprung up like' mushrooms, novelists have multiplied bewilderingly, and fiction is. being poured but. upon a jaded public, by the cart-load. - Doubtless readers of fiction have multiplied in England, as in France; yet it is a. very familiar, fact, in literary circles, that novel-writing, at least in the higher branches of the. art, has ceased to pay. Many once popular favourites are silent, in part, no doubt, because so many publishing houses are pandering to the demand for sensational tales, more or less devoid of literary merit. Yet, like the debutante behind the pastrycook's counter, the most determined novel reader is, after a time, gluted with sensationalism. We appear, happily, to be now reaching a condition -of national repletion; and it is held in some quarters that the six shilling novel has plumbed its lowest artistic deep.

The Government poultry expert, Mr D. D. Hyde, who has been visi ting the poultry farm at Milton, hats many enoaraging things to say about the work done there last year. Recently he.informed a Christoburoh reporter that mor'e eggs had been disposed of to breeders and more chickens had 1 been batched than ever before. It was also pleasing to find that complaints about the infertility of the eggs had been very few, in fact, numbers of letters were received by the manager, Mr A. Carr, informing him that whole sittings had been hatched. Tbe farm at Burnham had done equally well, though not quite so many chicks were reared there as x at Milton. At the latter place some 1500 chickens were reared; at Burnham the number was about 1200. Speaking of the Buruham farm Mr Hyde said he was surprised that "those interested in poultry farming and tbe public generally did not visit the place in greater numbers. Reverting to the work of the year Mr Hyde said thex greatest demand among poultry breeders had been for White Leghorns and Silver Wyandottes, he supposed on account of the reports of how the various breeds were doing at the egg-laying contests. The export of poultry is just commencing, and Mr Hyde thinks the season will oe a good one, although the trade previously has been principally con lined to South Afrioa. Mr Hyde says a number of Auckland poultry farmers intend shipping to London this year.