TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8250, 3 October 1906, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

A story which, if not true, ia picturesquely invented is told as to how Lord Grauard became a member of his Majesty's Government isays Mr H. VV. Luoy). A captain in the Scots Guards, bo ho'da the unique position of being the only member of the officers' mess professing Liberal principles. This was frequently made the occasion ol' goodnatared badinage. One day, whilst Sir H. Unmpbel'-Bannerman was in town engaged upon the task of forming his Government, Lord Granard reoeived a note from the Premier inviting him to call at Helgrave Square. He, hastening to obey the summons, was duly admitted to* the presence of the Cabinet maker. He was surprised and finally embarrassed by 0. B.'a evident reluotanoe to coae to the point. He started various topios of conversation, and did not fail to observe that the over-worked Premier was growing impatient at the length of his visit. At last 0.-8., half rising, banteringlv asked whether he could do auythirg "for his morning oaller. Fortuuatoly, Lord Granard bad brought with him his summons, which was promptly denounced as a boax. "But as you are here," 0.-B. continued, "I should feel it a great .advantage'if you would accept a poet as Lord-in-Waiting, whicLj would give you the opportunity of conducting iu the House of Lords some departmental busi nes3." The offer was promptly accepted. Lord Granard decidedly had the best of the joke, since ho obtained honourable Miniaterinl ofQoo and a salary of £702 a year, considerably iu excess of a captain'j pay.

Some quaiut items of informai tion are, given ia the British annual Blue Book on the Post Office. The total number of undelivered postal packets during the year ended March 31st last was 27,099,174, a increase of 530,434 on tbe figures of the previous year. The numbar of registered letters aont through the post with insufficient uddressas was 320,041. They contained £16,887 in cash and bank notes, and £656,845 in hills, cheques, money orders, uostul orders and stamps. The number of lattera with valuable contents poatod with no address af [ all was 4,59L>, the contents iu- ; eluding £2OO in cash and bank notes, and £9,76G ia various forms of Cud unaddressed letter contained etiequos to the value of £2,500. Altogether the number of insufficontJy addressed letters containing vnluabiss showed an in creuse of 4,000; the value of the •property thus entrusted to the mei-cy of the post oiHca* .by a careless publio increased by no less than £33,000. Tho uutnbar of articles found loose in tne post iucluded £1,380 in cash, and £12,272 in cheques and other forma of remittance. '

Dr Uydef, the presidoufc of thp Gaelio League, who has been making a tour in the Uuited States in the interest of the League, la the course of an interview on the eve of hia dopn.rture from America said: —"America ia a conglomeration, an extraordinary 'mixum gatherum' of outions, wbioh at the same time is working out a nationality of its own. That nationality will bo neither English nor German nor Slavonia nor Irisfi, hut it seeme to me that what-J\merioa ib Bound to do is this in working out a nationality-To pick out and assimilato everything that is best and most striking in the various races that inhabit her. Of these rnees tho Irish is perhaps the moat important. They are nlso the race with the oldest civilisation behind them, and Western Europe does not forget the debt that she owes them. I think, so far as I can judge, the Irish people have done in the United States as much as -jould be reasonably expected from them. Remember that, the bulk fof them came hero in a starving condition after the great famine of 1847 and 1848. At that time they were squatters in the woods, scavengers in the streets and employed in the moat menial capacities. Their sons or themselves, after graduating from this

life of hardship, moved forward infco oivio employment, into the shops and stores, sons again have moved forward into the learned professions, Into the Universities, into trade. In going through the New England States 1 found that, as a role our oountiymen had almost full control of the press and of the politioal appointments, and fa? more than their share uf the judicature and of the medical profession. In one town in New England, I came aoross five Dr, Sullivans. On the other hand, they do not seem seem to have many of fche large business houses in their control, though they are the business managers of large numbers of them; nor to have much share in the New England mills, which I believe are largely run by Englishmen; nor Respite their land-hunger et home do they seem to take at ail kindly to the land. I scarcely met any Irish farmers in New England. But they are great at managing railroad departments and they are considered to make the best police and firemen iu the world."

To an ordinary man the recent British naval manoeuvres simply meant a parade of marine forces; to the thoughtful they implied such diverse issues as the keeping of a kingdom and the giving of daily bread to all men, for, as a writer in Commercial Intelligence re-marks:-—"The most glorious thought of all [:is that this gigantic strength is available for the protection of our own national commerce and that it assures us the free the ocean on which to carry our mercantile traffic. The present manoeuvres are designed to shoW to what extent the British navy is equal to the task of protecting our oommerce in time of war. The recent Royal Commiesion on food supply in time of war has declared that it would be beyond the power of any naval force which would bo at the disposal of any possible combination to prevent altogether the importation of our supplies, but it should not be forgotten that though the Commissioners did not apprehend the risk of actual starvation, they did not rightly view with the utmost concern the effeot war might have upon prices, and consequently upon the condition of the poorer classes." It is ourious to look back and refloat that within the lifetime of men and women now living there was not a single line of railway or a steamship existing. Today there are 550,000 miles of railway, and 18,000,000 net tons of steam-carrying power on the ocean: "The wonderful effeot on commerce of this increase of transportation power is seen in the fact that the international commercei of the world has grown from about 300 millions sterling in 1800 to approximately 4,500 millions sterling in 1905; or, allowing for the growth of the world's population, the commerce of the world's people, as a whole, has grown from less than 10a per capita 100 years ago to nearly £3 per oapital at the present tim«s."

The writer who, under the pseudonym, Marcello dalle Jfietreveochie, has recently invited the Holy See to take steps to verliy the relics of St. Peter is uofc receiving much encourgement from suoh authorities on the subject as Professor Marucchi and Father Grisar, S.J. The former has quite lately expressed his conviction that the apostle's tomb was not actually profaned during the Saracen invasion of 846, and is equally confident that Vafer's statement to the effect that the sepulchre was rifled during the sack of Konie in 1527 is untrustworthy, because unconfirmed by nuatemporary writers. Father Grisar is of the same opinion. Professor Murucchi, moreover, though admitting the human possibility of the removal of the relics,declares tiao site of the torn b incontestable, do affirms, therefoie, that the shrine, whether containing St. Peter's remains or tbe contrary, must ever remain a fit object of veneration, just as the empty sepulchre of the Saviour in Jerusalem or the now vnoant tombs of tbe martyrs ill the Catacombs. The Jesuit and the professor aru of one ixiind in holding that the interests of science would be served by a verification of the relics, as suggested in a resolution at the Inst Congress of Christian i* rohaeology. The opportuneness of such a prouesp, however, they are content to leave to the decision of the Pope.