TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8332, 15 January 1907, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

The position that has arisen in regard to the awards of the Arbitration Court and the minimum wage has been the subject of a good deal of discussion, especially in labour circles. Many of the awards that are now running were made on a basis fixed some years ago, and it is thought that some awards have been renewed without due consideration being given 1 to- the increases in the necessaries of life. Mr Tregear, Secretary of Labour, when speaking to a Lyttelton Times reporter, said that he could not help feeling that it was almost absolutely necessary for some change to take place in the direction of making minimum wages awards more elastic than at present. Some interest attaches to the news received last week by cable that the Superior Court of California had upheld the contention of the Williamsburg City Fire Insurance Company that-it is not liable for losses attributable to the San Francisco earthquake. Although British fire insurance companies in most countries, the United States and Canada being the principal exceptions, all insert clauses in their policies excluding liability for fires caused by earthquakes, the clauses vary a good deal as to form, and their precise effi-_ cacy has not been often tested. The San Francisco and Valparaiso disasters have emphasised the importance of the part earthquakes may play in causing conflagrations. There has been a tendency, except in certain countries, to disregard earthquake risks, and in the case of many large British insurance offices the'absence from their United States policies of any exclusion of the par. ticular class of hazard is just now causing a heavy drain upon their funds. , The Sydney Telegraph has a word for "the switch-girl" that has more than a local application. It says:— It is unfortunate for the switch-girl that her work has to be done away from the gaze fof those to whose convenience she ministers. When a man enters a shop and finds it so crowded that he can't get served, he either waits his turn philosophically or goes somewhere else in the same mood. If he wants to board a tram car and has to let two or three pass by because they are crowded he doesn't storm at the guard and report him to the manager. He recognises that he must take his ; chance. But, possibly, that same man called for "Central" on Saturday morning, and because he couldn't see, or didn't think, that the tele--phone girl was answering twelve or thirteen calls a minute ,and had a good many to deal with in advance of his or was prevented from responding at once for the reason that other subscribers were monopolising all the cords at her command, he got on to I "95" —the manager's number —at the first opportunity and furiously demanded to. know why the whole service was in league to prevent him getting the communication he sought. A new race of people has been discovered on Prince Albert Lar.d,

in the Arctic, who have never previously seen white men, who,'lived under most primitive conditions, and who were armed with copper knives, and bows and arrows. The information was brought south to British Columbia, by the crew of the British revenue cutter Thetis, who learned the facts from the discoverer of the people, Captain Klinkenberg, of the steam whaler Olga. Last winter, when the vessel was in the ice near Prince Albert Land, Captain Klinkenberg, accompanied by Eskimos, "started inland on a hunting expedition. He went 250 miles in a north-westerly direction over the snow, finding traces of people, and finally overtaking 150 or more of them. When they saw him they came towards him, armed with copper knives, and bow 3 and arrows. They held these above their heads, and he pointed a rifle at them. One advanced alone, and the captain laid down his rifle, the native putting down his weapons. They became friendly, and by means of signs, Captain Klinkenberg learned from one old woman, who came from Prince William Land, that they had never seen white men previously. He visited the village, and found about 600 people, all of whom lived by hunting and fishing.