TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIX, Issue 8120, 14 April 1906, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

Paris will shortly be able to lay claim to bo the home of the free theatre. A committee has been formed for the popularisation of theatre-going amongst the masses. It started with the assumption that if it is to succeed no price must be charged for admission. The committee has already decided to establish four new theatres in Paris on popular lines, were selections from tlie very best dramatic authors will bo produced. The necessary money for the enterprise will be raised by lottery. A portion of the funds thus obtained will be reserved for theatrical developments in the provinces on similar lines. Artists employed at these theatres will be free to enter into engagements elsewhere. Thw theatres themselves will be run by the State.

Tho South (says the Auckland Herald) never obtained its magnifi cent lailway system by petty votes of £5,000 or £IO.OOO per annum. It got them by small votes for small railway work, and by ureat votes for great railway works, us tho South knows to its gratification and tbe North kuows aa well to its cost. To build the East Coast line, to open up the splendid settlement country it will traverse,, to secure connection between Auckland city and the Auckland town of Gisborne, will take a large sum of money, which may be miserably dribbled over fifty years or economically expended in Ave years. Doubtless we can get tbe money if the province takes sufficient interest to demand it pressingly, if Auckland city will unite with the equally interested towns and districts in a much needed agitation. The case for a reasonably large vote ia complete, there are two Ministers from districts interested in the Cabinet where they may voice our claims, find, after al', some railway money must be Bpent where it will earn something. •

A very important event in connection with the Grand Lodge of* New Zealand of Free and Accepted Masons will take place, on May 9th, at Christohurch. This is the installation of His Excellency the Governor as the Grand Master of New Zealand. Up to the presentt. time New Zealand has not had a Governor in offioisl connection with the craft, though in Australia two or three have done so. When the New Zealand Grand Lodge was inaugurated eftorta were made to get His Excellency Bro. Lord Onslow to take the first Grandmasterahip, but they were unsuccessful. The installation ceremony which it is anticipated will be very largely at-, tended by brethren of the craft, will take place in.the Choral Hall, and a banquet wili be held immediately after in the Canterbury Hall. On the following evening there will be a conversazione and reception by His Excellency and Lady Plunkett.

Is the linou handkerchief doomed? In a recent issue of the New York Medical Record, Di* L. A. Barkan urges the use of paper handkerchiefs,, whioh shall be burned up. The handkerchief, he says, "is quite a dangerous baoteria carrier and preserver, chiefly on account of being stored in the depth of a pooket where a mild temperature, humidity, and seclusion of air an 1 light contribute to the increase and spread of bacteria." He specifies the bacteria of pneumonia, tuberculosis, "their frequent precursor, influenza," and cerebro-spinal meningitis. The band Kerchief, he asserts, deposits the bacteria in clothes and pockets, and spreads them broadcast. The moral .seems,to-be that, the man who would preserve his own health and that of the people about him, should begin the day with a few dozen paper handkerchiefs, which are destroyed as fast as they are used.

. It appears that quite a large number of New Zeaianders correspond with medical firms in Melbourne and Sydney which advertise certain specialities, and doubtless these correspondents have wondered why no replies have been received. They will perhaps be surprised to learn that the Postmaster-General of Australia has refused to forward mail matter addressed to certain addresses in Australia, the official reason given being that there were reasonable grounds for supposing that the firms concerned were engaged in receiving money in connection with a fraudulent and immoral business within the meaning of section 57 of the Post and 'lelegraph Act of 1901. This power of prohibition was tested in the Federal High Court, and the official edict was upheld. r Since the Vancouver mail steamers were withdrawn from New Zealand this colony has not had any direct communication with Canada, and shippers of produce have had to send cargo via Australia for transhipment there to Vancouver. The New Zealand Government has for some time been negotiating for a direct service, and the result of these negotiations has been the establishment of a joint contract between the Governments of New Zealand and Canada on the one part and Messrs Alley and Co., of Vancouver, on the ojfcher, by which a six-weekly service of cargo steamers has been arranged. The Industries and Commere Department has received advice that the first steamer under,this contract will bo the Bucentaur, 6,000 tons, sailing from New Zealand about April 30th. It is hoped that New Zealand produce exporters will/make f'Ml use of the advantages the new service offers to enable them to open up trade.