TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8327, 9 January 1907, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

Breakfast rftM'W&i'S have been to the fore of J&te years in England. The English people have been asked to admii'S the coffee and rolls of the French, and have been told that their own breakfast of porridge, bacon and eggs, tea and toast, is disgusting and barbaric. Continental nations take the. same view of the Englishman's first mea}. However, the London Daily Telegraph has discovered a French doctor who has a good word to say for the English habit. After investigating the diet of Western Europe, Dr Martinet, of Paris, votes for the English system of meals. The -Frenchman and the German, having begun the day on coffee" and rolls, are not able to survive until tho afternoon without absorbing something massive, and consequently the Frenchman has a substantial lunch and the German a "itaidday meal "of quite incapacitating size.'' The result is a huge break in the Continental day—the German may be off duty for two hours— and the -danger of lapsing into a somewhat comatose condition in the afternoon. -Br Martinet therefore votes for the English breakfast, and a light lunch, with, dinner in the evening.

The Australian papers contain rather disquieting reports of the repatriation of the Kanakas. Malaita, from which most of the Queensland Kanakas were recruited, contains savages in their most primitive form, tragedies being of almost daily occurrence. Inter-village fight ing is rife throughout the island, and murder is a pastime. Some o>f the returning islanders were, at their own request, landed at mission stations for safety. The natives of this island, the friost daring, most cunning, and most savage of the Solomon Islanders., d<? jiot know the meaning oi Word forgiveness, and the breach of a tribal custom, however long ago committed, Will inevitably be punished if ihe offepdei ; returns to his village; Many men offered themselves for . labour in Queensland, because, bf offences they had committed agait'st tribal customs, and realist that even after an absence of fifteen or twenty year-., they must pay the penalty if they return to their villages. Such men have been landed at mission stations. /

Amongst the to be considered by Cabinet &t its ensuing meeting- will be 'the proposed new brick building ;for the Colonial Museum. Plans for this structure have been prepared, and they now only await final approval. The present 'building doing duty as a museum is about thirty years old, and cannot much longer serve its purpose. It is riddled almost from top to bottom with the "borer," the guttering is peeling off, the roofs leak, and the whole place is so time-worn that necessity demands a new building for the reception of the very valuable collections that are to be found within the walls of the old Museum. Moveover, the Maori curios, many of which are of wood, notably the carvings, images, and canoes, etc., are liable to attack from the "borer," and it requires constant application of turpentine to prevent further ravages. Then there is the additional danger "of fire in an old wooden building, destroyingrelics, particularly of Maori art, which could never be replaced. The plans for the proposed new Museum provide for an extension of the accommodation for the geological survey, a full suite of offices for the Public Health Department, a large hall with gaillery for the national Maori collection and historical relics, pictures and literature, besides a series of rooms for the Museum pi^jper.

The Government Viticulturist (Signor Bragato) states that the crop of grapes in New Zealand this season will be a record, and that there is no sign of disease. At the Government viticultural station at Waerenga, in the Waikato, five acres are in full bearing, and it is expected that between 20 and 25 tons of grapes, which will produce between 3,000 and 4,000 gallons of wine, will be gathered. The vines planted on the other 15 acres at Waerenga are doing well, and will be bearing in two years' time. Eight acres at the Government station at Arataki (Hawke's Bay) are down in vines, and should be yielding good crops in 1909. Notwithstanding Signor Bragato's optimism, however, I am told by good judges and by Aucklanders (states a Wellington

correspondent) that the Waikato will never be a suitable district for the production of wines. Hawke's Bay, on the other hand, they say, will produce grapes suitable for wine making.