TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8280, 6 November 1906, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

Mr T. T. Ewing, the Minister for Home Affaire, declares that New South Wales has gained through federation, lie points out that in 1905 there was an increase of over 4,000 hands employed in manufacturing industries. The increase between 1901 and 1905 in production was £7,310,000, the figures being:— 1901, £39,382,000, and 1905„ £46,692,000. The population of New South Wales since federation had increased by 130,000. The import trade increased by £2,000,000 between 1900 and 1905, while the export trade inureased ty £8,600,000. The deposits in banks of issue increased by £3,500,000. From 1901 to 1905 life insurance increased by about £20,000,000, and the area under crop about 400,000 acres. New South Wales' anticipated surplus of, £1,500,000 this year indicates a state of things unprecedented in recent .years, going baok to the surpluses in the old land sale days, when millions were annually added, to the revenue by the sale of' Grown lands.

Tbo strike in the building trade in Melboimiw comes nfc an inopportune time,' because building operations have lately become very active and some large contracts are being carried out. The brick layers, carpenters, plasterers, painters, and builders 1 labourers, demand a reduction of the working hours from 48 to 44 per week, at current wages The stonemasons already have the 44 houra a week. An argumaot'Used by the men is that if the hours of labour n»e 'reduced there will be work for those who are now unemployed. To this the masters reply that there is even now the difficulty in obtaining skilled labour in Melbourne, This is particularly the case with bricklayers, who are chiefly responsible for the present agitation. The men themselves admit it. So great has been the demand for workmen that incompetent men have been taken on at the • union minimum wage. During the last few years wages in the buildina trade have risen very greatly, and the contractors contend that they have gone as far as they can in this direction. The proposed reduotion in the working hours means a concession of from 8 to 10 percent., and this the builders declare that they cannot afford.

The Sfatistlsobes Jahrbuob, published by the German Government, contains every year about 50 pages of comparative siatisfcios of the world. This ia a sonroe to wbiob writers on tbe ootnyaratire statistics of nations very often go for information. In tbe Jabrbuuh for tbis year tbe sta tistios of population as' to sex are collated. Some countries, &d France and Cbina, give only tbe total population without distinguishing tbe sexes, and they have to be left ont of tbe oaloulation. In Europe tbe only countries in wbicb tbe number of males is given as exceeding tbat of females are Servia, Roumania, Bulgaria, and Greece,

all of which are Balkan States. The Teutonic, Latin, and Slav nations have a slight excess of females, whioh is often only a fen thousands, and rarely as much as 800,000. In every other oonti neat, most of the nations have an excess of male population; thus, in the western world, Jamaica, Mexico, and Venezuela alone have au excess of females. , The United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay- and other oountries have an excess of males. So *ar as accurate statistics have been ob tained in Africa only the Prenon possessions and the Gold Coast Colony have an excess of females ; while in Egypt, the French possessions, the Transvaal, Orange River Colony, and Cape Oolocy males are the more numerous. In none of tne Asiatic oountries are females in excess of males, according to the statistics. In the Philippines the males are in excess of the females.

The Parliament of Newfoundland, it is said, proposes to appeal to the «elf-goveming colonies of the Empire on the recent action of the British Cabinet in dealing with the fishing rights of the coastal waters. At first sight it may seem that the proposal is a startling novelty, and we may easily suppose that it will oome as something of a shook to the feelings of not a few of the statesmen as well as of the general public of the British Islands. The idea of an appeal naturally suggests that of a superior court, and the suggestion i-t nne whioh the mind of the average English statesman may be expected to view with some degree of impatience. Yet there can be little doubt that the iflea is one to whioh they must grow accustomed before long. It was but the other day when Natal appealed to the public opinion of the oolonies of Greater .Britain for their moral support against what looked like an attempt at interference in the tights of self-government possessed by the South African colony, and there can be little doubt chat the appeal was effective in preventing friotion. The question in Natal was one of the right of the colonial Government to deal with its own native tribes in rebellion, without interference from England; the question in Newfoundland is the right of the English Government to make treaty arrangements with any foreign Power whioh override the legislative arrangements of the colony within its own territorial limUs. The circumstances of the two cases are different, it may be admitted; but the principle in each is the same, and it is one which cannot be ignored.