TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8209, 13 August 1906, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

Approval (says the Melbourne Leader) has beeu given by the House of Representatives to the new trail service proposals, and we may assume that the Senate will exeroise a similar faculty of common sense. Tbe socialist suggestion of .Mr Tbomas. that the State should enter into ocean transit competition, is too muoh in the nature of risky experiment to'recommerid it to reasonable judgment. Any fear that the new combination was unequal to the responsibilities it has assumed has beon discarded since the real nature of the hacking has been made known. Universally it is admitted that it is strong enough to do all that it has undertaken. In the long run the benefit to the producers will be of more vital importance than the acceleration of the mail service.

With referenoe to tne recent cable message from Paris saying that'the French Cabinet favoured the abolition of capital punishment, it may be said that the sentenue of death has been abolished in a number of European countries. In Holland there have been no executions since 1860, and oapital punishment was totally abolished by law in 1870. In Roumania it was abolished in 1864, and Portugal has adopted the sume course. In Belgium the punishment of death is practically abolished, ior, though the death sentence is formally retained, no execution has taken clace in that country sinoe 1863. Switzerland passed total abolition in 1874, and although revival of the right to execute followed a temporary inorease iu murder in 1879, oapital punishment has entirely ceased throughout all the Cantons. In Austria there has been no abolition, but- executions are rare; while in Sweden, Denmark, Bavaria, and North Germany they are growingffeverw v er and fewer.

Speaking in Dunedin a few days ago, Mr J. F. Arnold, M.H.R., "said: "From my experience of three Parliaments 1 can assure you that Parliament la very muoh above the average status of the community. The temptation in political life to do that which ia doubtful is even less than that whioh you would meat with in an ordinary professional or mercantile calling. You may go for days in the House without hearing a single word to offend the ear; and although it mny be true, as you perhaps feel inclined to remind me, that there is such a plaoe as Bellamy's, where drink is supplied, I do not suppose that 5 per cent, of the trade done at Bellamy's is in alcoholic? beverages. A considerable number of the members of Parliament are Christian men, and I ask you to discount, very largely what you may hear from time to time from people who are not qualified to express an opinion as to the alleged evil character of the su-roundings of Parliament."

The parasitio insects, valued at about £l,ooo,|which Mr Boucher, the Government Porrologist, brought to New Zealand from CaliforniE recently, for the purpose of enabling the Agricultural Department to aombat the woolly aphis and the codlin moth, were presented to the colony free of cost in recognition sf the department's thoughtfulness in having ut; various times sent consignments of certain parasites required by the California!! State authorities. Asked i'V a Nes Zealand Herald reporter i! I here was any likelihood of the imported insects becoming pests t Mem .selves in turn when they had consumed their natural food supply, the oodlin moth and the woolly aphis, Mr Boucher snid that he did not suppose that these peats would become entirely extiuct in the colony, but he didg think the balance would be maintained, that the pests would bo reduoed by natural meaas, where artificial means had bitherto not been successful or only partly so.

So rarely dees oue hear a good word for tho plans insignus that the good opinion of the aoting-Inspector-General of Forests, West Australia, is interesting. This gentleman, in a recent report to the Lands Department writes; —"This pine is indigeuous to California, and is the quickest growing of all the pines, specimens being found in the Eastern States which have attained a height of 70ft, with a stem girth of sft, in tlvrteen years. Lai-ge plantations of this tree have of late years been formed in Victoria, and its wood is now being largely used for commercial purposes. Of the trees felled recently twelve have been measured, and gave a basal diameter averaging 2ft, with a length of bole from 40ft to 70ft. These trees contained nearly 600 cubic feet of timber, the age of the trees being thirty years. Uy planting 6ft apart and gradually thinning up to 12ft, three hundred trees can be .matured per acre, iu frotn twenty-flve to thirty years. The piue ie used in Victoria for packing-cases, and on account of the non-fissile properties of this

wood, it is found to be eminently suitable for making oaaea for oarrying .heavy weights. Ik ®^ Bo makfls good weatherboards, flooringboards, wagon and dray aides, raftera, furniture, etc., ouJ may, therefore, be deeded a timber suitable for a variety of purposes for -whioh the imported article is now used." Pinus inaignus ia ao highly esteemed in Victoria that the Foreßt Department intends in future to plant oufc annually from thirty to forty thousand trees of the species.