TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8365, 22 February 1907, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

We were told in the cable messages of the "freak dinner" given by Mrs Minnie Fiske Griffen to her millionaire friends and their pets in Chicago. Ten of them brought prize pigs, daintily decorated with ribbons. The pigs, which, says a facetious reporter, belonged to the four-footed species and were of unimpeachable ancestry, were seated beside the human guests at a gorgeous banqueting table, and were regaled with asparagus tips and Brussels sprouts with Lyonnaise dressing. Other guests were a gamecock of high degree, whose occasional remarks were loudly applauded, a pink-eyed rabbit with a powderpuff for, a tail, a pouter pigeon, a poll parrot, a chameleon, which was fed with bottled flies from Florida, a Boston terrier, a squirrel, and an Angora cat.

Fears are entertained by many that the tuatara lizard, one of the most remarkable and rare animals in this world, may be exterminated unless steps are taken by the Government to protect and preserve it. In this connection the Hon. J. A. Millar has written to Mr H. G. Ell, M.H.R., stating that the sum of Is 6d for each cat killed is paid to the light-keepers on Stephen Island, and that instructions have been given to them to do their utmost to exterminate the cats which are killing the lizards, The principal keeper has been instructed to supply what information he can as to the number of cats now on the island, and as to whether tuatara lizards are increasing or decreasing.

Colonel Robin stated in Dunedin a few days ago that it would be some months before the Council of Defence could do anything very definite, but in a short time the Council would put before the country its proposals, which he hoped would operate for the improvement of volunteering. There were some officers who were waiting for something which would make them perfect soldiers without much trouble, but they would never get it. They must be prepared to work, and where it was impossible, through business or any other reason, to give the necessary time, it might not be pleasant to say, but it would have to be said, that there were others who could devote the necessary time. If the volunteers, from the officers down to the men, did their share, they would see within two years • whether there was still any talk of a paid force.

In the last ten years 4,500 miles of railway have been constructed in China, and it is instructive to observe how little of this total is due to British enterprise. Of the railway mileage actually completed in China, Russia is responsible for 125 miles, and, in conjunction with China, for 1,515 miles. France owns 2SO miles, and, in conjunction with Belgium, 750 miles. Belgium possesses, in addition to her joint proprietary, 130 miles. . Germany has 250 miles of independently-con-trolled railway, and China herself administers 1,502 miles, while Great Britain,-in association with Chinai under a loan agreement of July, 1903, concludes the list with 80 miles. The future of China depends much upon the development of railways in China. Her resources may not be tapped without means of communication, and the price of her products rests upon her ability to convey them to the markets at the coast.