TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8370, 1 March 1907, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

Bound to Germany by the Triple Alliance, attached to Great Britain by a friendship which has never varied, united to France by cordial relations and an agreement relative to the Mediterranean, Italy is compelled to display caution and suppleness in order to navigate in the midst of diplomatic rocks, says the French paper Petit Parisien. Her statesmen accomplish this task with success.

Our British Parliament is never moved to measures of the most obvious justice by anything except rio's, writes Lady Harberton in Lit eriy Review. Women have no <h)ice in consequence but to follow the historical lines laid down for them by their forefathers; and those who are suffering in the endeavour to obtain justice should have the same sympathy and respect shown to them that is now accorded to h men who in past times" have enown them the way.

An erstwhile New Zealander, in writing to a resident of Asnnurst from Santiago, says: "This is a most wonderful country; the farmers here, who work their land in the crudest form, make money very easily. One man in Ti'ajuen, who has 2,000 acres of land, puts 1,000 acres in wheat each year, and it returns him 40,000 dollars (about £2,500) net. He simply lets the other half remain idle for two years, and then rests the first cropped piece for two years, and so on. They never think of using any quantity of manure or sowing grass seed. For enterprising people Chili offers more encouragement than any place I know of. There is unlimited room here for millions of farmers and manufacturers. Labour ,is socheap—4o cents in winter and 80 cents in summer, and beans (food) for farm labourers. They get through a lot of work, too."

Referring to New Zealand politics, Mr Ramsay Macdonald, in an article in the London Standard, says that if Sir Joseph Ward is tempted to carry on the old order and keep intact the old Seddon party, that will be the most fatal blunder which he can make. "Mr Seddon," he says, "took his party and his time to the grave withhim. Under the Seddon regime a multitude of men who desired to own land had been pitted against a handful of men who hold land, and the multitude had won. But now a new problem has to be faced. A multitude of men in the towns who do not want to ' own land, but who do want to enjoy some of the benefits of the land, have come into conflict with the system of multiple landlordism which New Zealand 'and legislation has created, and that is the problem which Sir Joseph Ward has to face." Mr Macdonald, as a Socialist, hopes to see New Zealand's Premier bring his party into line with the Socialistic movement now developing hi the Old World and in Australia. -

A peculiar business custom connected with the coal-dealing trade, and an equally peculiar proceeding on the part of the Railway Department, was referred to by a deputation which waited on the Acting-Premier, at Wellington, on Wednesday. Mr W. J. Guthrie, a Dunedin coal merchant, said it was a common sight in Dunedin to see from 100 to 150 trucks of coal left standing at the coal siding for days at a time. The man with a coal cart or any sort of cart came along and got the supplies he required while the trucks were utilised in this way, while the legitimate coal-dealer had to conduct his business on proper lines, and furnish himself with yards .and plant. Mr Hall-Jones: To whom does this coal belong? Mr Guthrie: To the colliery proprietors. The Minister enquired if sales were made off the trucks, and Mr Richardson said they were. The owners of the coal had men employed for the purpose. At times ;the dealers had very great difficulty in getting' trucks. He reminded the Minister that the value of the rolling stock temporarily put out of commission in the way referred to was about £15,000. The Minister: Is demurrage not charged on the trucks? Mr Guthrie: So far as lam aware, no. This was the only reference made to the question, and Minister did not revert to it in replying to the other representations made by the deputation.