TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIX, Issue 8110, 3 April 1906, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

The Lyttelton Times has authority for saying that a number of "shrewd" New Zealanders have reoently taken advantage of the Government's scheme of assisted emigration. Their plan has been to obtain a single passage Home and then to make use of the AgentGeneral's office to get an assisted passage back. By this moans they save something material in the way of passage money and secure advantages which they would not obtain if they took a second or third class ticket in the ordinary way. They can, if they desire, go to London by the San Franoiuoo or Suez Oanal route, and make up for their little extravagance by returning by one of the lines subsidised by the Government.

It ia intended to make Kapiti Island, lying off the shore opposite Waikanae, a sanotuary for native birds an.l vegetation. The Government haa nearly completed the purchase of the private owners' rightß, and a caretaker has been appointed, whose first duty, it may be imagined, will be to oompass the destruction of the oats, whioh are numerous on the island. The colony will now possess three sanctuaries—Resolution Island in the south, Little Island In the north, and Kapiti Island near Weimgton. These should give some guarantee that specimens of the distinctive bird-life of New Zealand will be saved from the extinction that threatened them until quite reoently.

Mr Eason, the Premier of West Australia, has given an unqualified condemnation of the principle of carrying out Government works by day labour. He said that after a year of experience he realised it was almost hopeless even with the beat offioets and men to put into work, whioh was supervised by the Government, that energy, that push, that go, and that vim whioh were absolutely necessary to the successful carrying out of any work at all. The Jaws under whioh a contractor worked in West Australia at present were so disadvantageous that they called for immediate reform, and he would promise in the next session of Parliament to try to induce tbe House to pass such legislation as would remedy the existing evils.

An analysis made by an Auckland chemist and by a leading chemical company in England, show that tbe giant seaweed which fringes tbe shores of the North Island, contains an extremely large percentage of that rare element iodine, chiefly occurring as iodates. An expert is to leave England immediately to conduct further experiments to see whether the manufacture would be payable, Most of the commercial iodinu used at the present day is manufactured from the ashes of seaweed, collected on the coasts of Scotland and Normanby, and known as kelp and varie respectively. There is every reason to believe that New Zealand will prove a serious rival in the industry, as there is an unlimited supply of kelp on the Auckland coasts. The various byproducts of kelp, viz., potassium, sodium, and magnesium, are of considerable value.

To keep oneself up-to-date, Mrs Oratgie (John Oliver Hobbes) declares, one should go to Amerioa every two years. She says ths new grand tour should be to Amerioa.. The secret of American success, she olaims, is to be found in the fact that they are not afraid of experiments. Houses which oritioa would* describe as moderately good and' new, were pulled down without remorse, and better ones erected. Id England there seemed to be something of a terror of experiments. She did not see a single drunken, man during her three months' sojourn in Amerioa, Nor was she accosted by one beggar,, though she visited nearly all the great cities. She was much impressed with; the high standard of living and the culture of the working classes. Telephones were to be found in even the workmen's tenement buildings. The intellectual life of the women ofl the middle classes was without its equal in England, and old-ladies of seventy and eighty were to be found attending educational' meetings at eleven a.m.

Mr Keir Hardie,.the English labour leader and member of Parliament, gives the following as his views of the American labouring man:— "American workmen are a long way behind Europe in the matter of political education. In Europe the labour is practically identified with socialism. In America socialism is still in its infancy and is by no means co-operative with the Labour party. Moreover, American capitalists are still able in a orisis to smash thn labour organisations. The fact is that no real Labour parly exists in Amerioa, where the workiug man votes either Republican or Democratic ticket. Here labour is better organised, is far more highly educated in political science, is frankly socialistic, objects to all international barriers, recognises no nationality in politics, and directs all its efforts against capitalists, wherever they may be found The American Labour party will doubtless in the futui-e adopt the ideals of European socialism. At, present it is hopelessly ignorant."