THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7947, 24 January 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1906.

After seven years of offloe, rich in praotieal results and characterised by exoentional administrative ability, M. Loubet declined to acoept nomination for another term of the Frenoh Presidency. M. Loubet was sixty-seven years of age on Decern? ber 31, 1905, and he protested that another term of office would see him too far over the Biblical limit of man's allotted sphere of life—three score and ten. As recently announced

by cablegram, M. Faillieres has been elected in his stead. The only qualification necessary for the highest office in, Franco is that its holder must be a Frenchman. He need be neithor a Deputy nor a Senator, and, although be is customarily a man of known political opinions, he need not be a politician at all. M. Loubet was President of the Senate when the National Assembly elected him to be Preside: t of the Republic* in 1898, but although he had filled high office and bad been actively engaged in politics for years, he was comparatively little known to the "man in the street." The Assembly adopted the usual precedent in electing M. | Faillieres, who was, also, President of the Senate when oromoted to the higher office. He owes his election to a variety of ciroumstances. He is known to be a sound politician, be is not a person of too ambitious tendencies and be is certainly distinctly decorative. His return, it was also held, would be satisfactory because it would not be objectionable to the reactionary party. M. Douraer, who was his opponent in the contest, is a former Governor of Indo-Ohina, and President of the French Chamber. He has held both the portfolios of Finance and Interior in tho French Cabinet. But, as a Radical Republican of clearly defined political opinions, and an active and pushing partisan, be lacked the necessary political neutrality which has helped less oapable men to the Presidency. Many people are anxious to possess a motor oar, but are deterred by the fear that the running cost will prove prohibitive. In the "Autocar" an interesting collection of experiences are published. The details have been supplied quite voluntarily by readers of the journal, and make valuable testimony. Tne firot contribution is from a doctor practising in the Melton Mowbray district. Twelve months ago he purchased a Little Star car, and ha? sinne run 2505 miles at a cost of £l6. The car complete coat £222. The two horses he kept before be acquired his car'have been sold. A Mansfield resident has during the paßt twelve months run a 12-h.p. De Dion 7528 miles at an average cost of 2.284 pence per mile. Another correspondent finds that his total expenditure (including the cost of the car, less the amouat for which it was ultimately sold) was £7OB in two and a half years. In that period he travelled 11,260 miles, so that the cost works out at Is 3d per mile. Deduoting wages and initial outlay, it was 7d per mile. Dr Dowse, of Wexford, states that during thoy<w he travelled 3,236 miles. His repairs cost 245, petrol and oil '£B,-and. his total expenses were £lO 0s 4d. The owner of a 12-h.p. I Clement-Talbot found that the first : year it cost him 2%d a mile for 9600. miles, and the second year d%d a mile for 11,123 miles, giving an average of mile for the two years. The car was used 454 days, Female olerks in New York, are rapidly increasing in number, and the edict has gone forth from one of the leading insurance companies that in future they are to be engaged in preference to men. Employers deolare that girl clerks are equally as skilful as men, and are much more accurate, loyal, and honest. Furthermore, they do not drink or bet, though they are occasionally known to dabble in stocks and shares through a "bucket shop." Hitherto the Equitable Life Assurance Society always employed males, but within the past few months they have engaged nearly fifty young women. An official of the Mutual Life Company remarked to a New York pressman: "We are not Engaging any more men olerks; we 1 prefer to employ women. We find women cleverer, quicker, and more reliable and they make far less demands upon our time and temper than men. It is even likely that in a year or two practically ail the ordinary clerical posts in this and uther companies will be entirely filled by women." The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company employs 1,700 women in a olerioal staff of 2,500. The girls represent practically every nation in the world except the Chinese. Within a short period the Young Women's Christian Association of New York has found em- 1 ployment for 4,000 young women, one-third of this number replacing male clerks. In the face of the figures given aoove—and there is no reason to doubt their accuracy—one cannot help wondering what in the future will be the condition of tho mere highly-civilised man. In recard to many avocations women are steadily ousting men, and the question naturally arises, are men finding fresh fields of employment? To some extent they certainly are —the progress of science and our present state of civilization in which innumerable luxuries are looked upon as necessities, have resalted in the creation of a vast' amount of extra work, or employment, but, notwithstanding, the effect of the increasing female labour in the labour market is at the present time an unknown quantity, and, the result, to say the least, is an interesting social problem.