TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8212, 16 August 1906, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

The Melbourne Argus complains of the neglect by the Commonwealth Parliament of questions of vital importance. All the best energies of Parliament, it says, are dissipated in contests over schemes never heard of when federation was proposed, whilst many of the main purposes for which the States came together are unfulfilled. The great problems of finance remain unsolved in order that a union label may bo authorised. Par more intellectui.l and nervous force has been expended over a clumsy and possibly nugatory Arbitration Act thau has been directed to such practical and pressing questions as the government of Papua or the taking over and settlement of the Northern Territory. Immigra-tion-—DOW acknowledged to bo the vital necessity of the great, sparselypopulated outposts of the Empirereceives no attention, whilst drastio remedies are devised against imaginary attacks on oui industrial activity, and at the same time practicable tariff reform is indefinitely postponed.

' The Petite Repnblique, Paris, gives some interesting particulars on the subject of the negotiations between France, England, and Italy concern iug Abyssinia. The construction of the Jibuti-Addis Abeba Railway, the first which penetrated into Abyssinia—which country constitutes, as is known, an enormous mountainous region out off from communication with the Red Sea by Italian, French, and British coast territory—oould evidently not be continued without an agreement 'among the three Powers. As soon as the AngloFrench entente was signed the difficulties caused by the rivalry with British agents disappeared. A little more resistance was met with On

the pari of Italy. There exists on the other aide of tbe Alps a vigorously Imperialistic oolonlal party, whioh diet not lose hope of uniting tbe Italian colony on tbe Indian Ooean with that of Eritrea. That 'difficulty baa Id a great measure baed overcome, and most of tbe points in dispute have already been settled. In its broad lines the agreement between tbe three Powers will provide for tbe open door and tbe equality of the rights of all nations in Abyssinia. It will sanction tbe French oharaoter of the railway on tbe whole of its course from Jibuti to Addis Abeba, passing by Harar. Ihe importance of this new treaty, which, according to tbe Petite Ropublique, will draw closer tbe bonds of friendship already so strong between France, England, and Italy, will esoape nobody. Finally, tbe writer observes that the three interested Powers were not called upon to consult Germany, who is in no wise concerned in the matters under oon sideration.

In reality (writes the London Morning Post) Mr O'Grady's Aliens Bill baa very little in common with the Aliens Act of last year. Both are vaguely "protective" of something or somebody; apart from this superficial resemb'.ance tbey are quite distinct in aim and motive. The Labour men, Who are the promoters of the Bill were among the opponents of tbe Act. Tbe Bill does not keep out any class of aliens at all times, but it strictly limited in effect to the duration of a trade dispute. It does not bim either at excluding alien poverty and disease or at preserving a national type; its object is simply by legislation to deprive one of the parties to industrial disputes of a possible weapon. It is definitely a Labour measure, and not a national meaßure. That is no doubt perfectly consistent with its being a desirable measure. It may be well l'or the nation to rule out certain methods of industrial warfare. But tbe grounds for ruling out the importation of foreign labour must be much more clearly stated than tbey were. Tbe opposition in the House of Lords had good reason for demanding that the Government should either accent or reject responsibility for so fun : damental a change of principle. That the House of Commons should bave let tbe Bill go by without discussion merely shows that even the House of Commons is not always fully aware of what it is doing.

Mr W. T. Macoun, of the Experimental Farm, Ottawa, gives in the last report of the Fruitgrowers' Association his impressions of fruitgrowing in Britain. British methods are charaoteiised as slow but thorough. He noticed much improvement in Ireland, which may yet be a formidable competitor of the Canadian applegrower. In Armagh he found that young orchards are being set out in seotions of ten, fifteen, twenty, and twenty-five acres. The . practice is to grow apples on a dwarf stock, by which means an earlier crop is secured. The method adopted is to plant the trees very closely together, with small fruits between. The strawberries are grown under the hill-system, which permits of abundance of light and sunshine, and the price was for twopence to sixpence per box. There is the great advantage of chekp labour. At the Girla" Horticultural School in Swanley, Kent, there were sixty-four students, who were being thoroughly 'grounded in all branches of horticul< ture. They take positions as assistants in gardens, greenhouses, and nurseries. He saw a young lady directing the operations of two men in the Botanical Gardens in Dublin. The finest experimental farm Mr Macoun had seen was chat of the Duke of Bedford, and he did not know any station in Amerioa that compared with it for thoroughness of methods and range of experiments.