TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8234, 11 September 1906, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

Mr J, G. Wilson's presidential address at the Colonial Conference of the Farmers' Union was marked so far as he referred to the farming yet»r, by a cheerfulness that was fully justified by past success and future prospects. The promise in the Budget that graats will be made in aid of the' extension of th« telephone service in oatlying districts received due appreciation. In this connection it may be mentioned that the British Postaiaster-Ueneral is displaying marked iiberaiity in the matter of telephone extensions in the rural districts. Jn oasea v/hero he is satisfied that a "call" office—that is, au office at which a trifling charge is made each time the telephone is used—is desirable on general considerations, even though there is no immediate prospect of remunerative business he is prepared to oonsider favourably any application for such an office ou a guarantee being given that one-third of the deficit will be paid. Assuming that the annual expenses of a "call" office were, say, £3O, and the receipts came to cnly £2l, the guarantors would only be required to pay £3, the remaining two-thirds of the loss being met by the State. Country representatives may perhaps bear in mind this British policy when the question of telephone extension comes before Parliament.

VI wonder how many tons of picture post-oards are needed, month by month, to meet England's demand for images of its 'stars,' big and little?" asks Mr Max Beerhohm in the Saturday Review. "To how many photographers, at how many angles, in how many frocks, must even a quite obscure actress find herself compelled to ait in the oourse of a year?" When England's Chancellor of the Exchequer remarkod in a Budget speech upon the place taken b} picture post-cards in official returns. the stage should indeed have earned some recognition of its special value to the revenue, The actress postoard holds the record for the largest sales, a smiling Miss Zena Dare being at present one of the most popular subjects while next to her, Mr Lewis Waller, in magnificent profile, commands the buyer's heart, and pence. Still, amongst the 40,000 subjects of cards issued only by one producer, thera are favourites quite apart from stageland. "Somebody's Darling", the most successful of "baby" postoards, reigned in June last, being despatched to retailers as fast as the machines could reproduce it by the newest prooees of photography. Another record-breaker, was that "Warder of the 'lower of London," whose mediaeval grandeur, done in colours, made him the rage throughout England, the sales reaohing to over one hundred thousand in the first month. A reoent oartophilist's note refers also to the "gigantic proportions" of the sale of the "Highland Express," also in colours, duly representing the train so named, and producing a fine effeot of speed. Amongst views of foreign scenery, the series depicting "Castles on the Khine," is said to be most popular; amongst English views, the wastes* or rocky streams of Dartmoor are especially preferred. The next few months will probably see some wonderful figures reached in despatch of New- Zealand Exhibition post-oards.

It was a happy idea of Mr D. Robertson, Chief Clerk, of the Wellington Post Office, to compile a history of the early days of the New Zealand Post Offloe, whereby we can contrast oar present efficient servioe with the (hardships of the first settlers. The early history of the postal service is one of very slow progress and constant complaints of delays and Heavy charges. The first mention of a postal servioe is found in 1831, when a Mr Powditoh was commissioned by the New South Wales Postmaster - General to make up mails at the Bay of islands, but it was 1840 before the first Post Offloe was established, at Kororeka. Prior to this letters Home had been sent by trading ships; to Australia, or by whalers, while inland communication had been carried on hy means of native runners. It was a rare oocnrrence for au answer to be received from England within two years. It is painful to record that the new Post Office gave very litle satisfaction. The obargea were very high—-one batch of three letters from Home cost the addressees 2a 7d each. It may be remarked thnt the average wage of n labourer in New Zealand in those days was about 3s a day, and that of a skilled mechanics ss, so it can easily be realised how heavy charges of a shilling for the conveyance of a letter from the Bay of Islands to Hokianga, or even more for a letter from Home, were to such men. Before lone the Imperial Government took charge of the Post Office, and matters became worse, if anything, owing to the constant disputes between the PosS Offiae and the New Zealand Government. The introduction of stamps in 1855 seems to have been a step in the reform of s very unsatisfactory servide. Communication within the colony was very slow. One official in Wellington complained that to important letters sent to Auckland bo did not receive answers ,for months, and it was not unusual to send letters from Wellington to Auckland, round by Sydney, to ensure greater despatch. The first regular post route between Auckland and Wellington was overland, by natives on foot. Mails left twioe a month, and the average length of the trip was three weeks. It is ourious to notiae that, while there were constant complaints about the officials, the native run/ ners did splendid servioe.

A curious gift has just be«n made (says the Standard) to tue museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in connection with a tree under the shade of which both St. Luke and St. Paul according to Doau Farrar, probably rested. In the Island of Cos, iu the Aegean Sea, there stands, jealously guarded, a huge plane tree, measuring nearly eighteen yards in circumference. It is surrounded by a podium, or raised platform, breast high, doubtless

built to support the trunk of tree after it had beoome hollow and weak from age. The lower branches aie still well preserved, and have been shored up by pieces ot antique columns, over the upper ends of which the branches have grown like caps in consequence of the pressure of their own weight. Close by the tree is a solid marble seat, which is said to be the chair of Hippocrates, the father of medicine, and it is supposed that he taught the art of healing from that seat. He was born at Cos 460 B.C. This gives a clue to the age of the celebrated plane tree, which must be considerably more than 2,000 years old. Dr. Edward Clapton, formerly physician at St. Thomas Hospital, whose devotion to arohaeology is well known, sent an agent a year or two ugo to procure some fragments of the tree. This was done, but at considerable risk, as the Sultan, who attaches great importance to its preservation, has 1 given strict orders that no one is to touch the tree, which ib, therefore, guarded aay'and night. The specimens which Dr. Clapton obtained have now been generously banded over to the Koyal College of Surgeons, where they will be displayed in the museum. They consist of two pieces of branch, a bundle of twigs, from the branches, and a small box of leaves and round buttonlike catkins of the plane tree.