TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8189, 23 July 1906, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

Sir F. Treves, speaking at a distribution of school prizes, at Cambridge, said the pedagogue of old, if asked his intentions with regard to a bos, would answer that he hoped to make a man of culture of aim. Such a youth would have a remarkable knowledge of ancient Greece and Rome, and an acquaintance with many venerable authors. Ho would be apt with quotations and have the power to do strange thingß with uumerals. Now such was the practical aud utilitarian spirit of the age, such the pressure of modern life, that pure culture had become a qualification of depreciated value. The lad who had to make his way in the world had tn rogard hio education from commercial eyes-. What the school-master had to do was to realise that he hnd not only to make a man of a boy, but a specific man—a man of business aud with a definite profession. The best advice he coukl give to medical students was the sooner they dropped their text-books the better, for *he more practical the teaching the greater was its value.

A writer >n the Napier Telegraph states:—"When wool is delivered into any store in a dump state it should be sent to the scourer at once, and not allowed to stand about the store or be put in the sun thinking it will dry. I can tell you as an expert that once wool gets wet or is put up wet, it will not dry by letting the bales stand. There are lives lost and many thousands of pounds lost every year by trying to save a few pounds in not scouring damp wool. Belly pieces should never < be ahipped greasy, as they hold more moisture than any other part of the fleece. When a quantity of wool has got wet and has bad to come to the scourer, I have noticed that belly pieoos nre always in the most heated state. A very simple way for a storeman to find out if wool ia damD is to have a few pieces of wire with u sharp point at one end and a loop for the band at the other. This wire should be 15 iuohes long, and if there is any doubt about the wool

that ooraea in for shipment being damp stab a few - bales ia the side about midway of the bale, and leave the wire in for 24 hours. -At the' end of that time it will tell if the wool is heating. If it is found ao, suoh tvool should be sent to the scourer, as it is always dangerous to ship."

Judging from the proceedings at the Trades Hall, oa Wednesday, the Otago Daily Times thinks that the policy of the, Independent Political Labour League is to ignore the New Zealand Workers' Political Association. As to the lormer body's doubt as to the propriety of trusting the Labour and Liberal combination the' Tlnies says:— "Frankly, the League does not trust some of those members of Parliament who pass as Liberals, and most significant of all, if Mr Breer may be accepted as its mouthpiece, does not trust Sir Joseph Ward, the coming Pramier. It will bef for the Workers' Political Association, which has made compulsory preference to Unionists a oardinal plank of ifcs platform, hereafter to reconcile the maintenance of its principles with its support of a Government headed by a Premier who is unable to recognise that there is any sound reason why Unionists should be treated as a privileged class, but the view he takes on that point alone seems 'o condemn Sir Joseph Ward in the eyes of some of the political leaders of the Labour Party."

Having reoeived advice from their Loudon agents that on acoount of the American meat scandal there was a lessening demand for tinned meats on the Home market, several of the big meat companies (says tne Wellington correspondent of the Dunedin Star) have approaohed the Government asking their assistance in seeking to establish the fact that no exception can be taken to the tinned meats prepared in the oolony. As a matter of faofc, the Government had already moved in the matter, and the High Commissioner iQ- London had cade publio the manner in which our slaughtering, inapeofcion and oanning operations at the meat work* were carried On. Sinoe then a conference has been held in London between Sir Joseph Ward, the High Commi°aioner, and the buyers, and the prooess in foroe in all the large meat works throughout the oolony has been thoroughly explained and accepted as quite satisfactory by the buyers. Of course, the shortage in the demand is the direct result of tbtf terrifying effect. the Chicago horrors have had upon the publn, who are bound to look with suspicion on tinned foods for a time. But New Zealand tinned meats have always been held in high regard everywhere, and the endeavour that is now being made is to assure the publio that there is not the slightest need to take alarm, as the high standard of these goods is never likely to be reduced under the present rigid regulations in force in New Zealand.

A correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald writes:— "Walking or driving in the London streets to-day it seems a physical impossibility that room'should be found for another cab, oart, or carriage in the crowded thoroughfares. Yet we are on the eve of seeing a wholesale accession of vehicles. The horse omnibus being threatened with rout by the motor-cars, hansoms and fonr-wheelers are now threatened with being swept off the streets by motor - cabs. Arrangements have been made for the early appearaace of 50C of these vehicles. They will be of the landaulette type, easily opened or closed, handsomely upholstered, seating four persons inside, and one by the driver, who is dressed in smart uniform. The new cabs will be furnished with the taximeter, whose use the London cab man of the older type has indignantly denounced. The vehicles, whioh are of French construction, have been contracted for at the price of £3OO each, exclusive of tyres and taximeters. If the scheme is carried out with anything like the completeness promised the competition of the old cabs will be hopeless. The motor 'buses already in upe have demonstrated the fact that whexe they are available horsed publ;o conveyances do not get a look in.