TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8371, 2 March 1907, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

From the published list of the :- ,l atutory half-holidays fixed in dift'er- . Nt p'U'ts of the colony it appears that" :iine combined districts, one huneleven boroughs, town districts, >and "•counties in the North island, eighty-seven boroughs, town districts and counties in the South Island, and two hundred and fifteen road boards have sent in returns ec the day of the week fixed in each place. The great majority of these public bodies have selected : Thursday and Wednesday. In view of the statements that Saturday has been largely demanded for the halfholiday, it is interesting to note that out of the four hundred and twentytwo places in which the local authorities had to fix the day, only eleven selected Saturday. Only six local bodies selected Friday—Little River, Parua, Tamaki West, Bay of Islands, Awatere, and Manganui. Kaiapoi plays "solo" with Tuesday, and Monday is not mentioned. .

The Bill for the reform of the House of Lords drafted by Lord Newton is not very likely to satisfy the Liberal critics of • the Upper Chamber. The fact that the measure has emanated from the Upper House, and that it is proposed by a Conservative peer, is enough to discount heavily its chances of success. Lord Newton suggests that public service of some sort shall be a necessary qualification for a seat in the Upper House, unless in the case of Representatives elected by their peers. The purely hereditary element would thus be got rid of; and while the Bill would reduce the number of bishops in the Upper House, it would enlarge the power of the Crown to appoint life peers. An Act passed on these lines would certainly improve the Upper House by laying stress upon public experience or official capacity as a qualification for membership, and it would at the.same time get rid of the worst weakness of the present system by eliminating hereditary rank as a pretext for Legislative standing.

A special representative of the Sydney Morning Herald writes a rno'st interesting account of Lord Howe Island, a lonely spot brought under the notice of the world only when such disasters happen as the fire on the Ovalau, or the loss of the Annasona and Maelgwyn. Lord Howe Island lies 420 miles north-east of Sydney, and most of its area of 4,000 acres is hilly. Only some 500 acres have been settled on, and the population numbers fewer than 100 souls. The laws of New South Wales apply to them, but are not needed. Their action one to another are guided by the promptings of the common weal; the interests of one family are the interests of all, and the even tenor of their daily life is not disturbed by the conflicts of competition, or the jealousies created by the strife of great commercial life. When squabbles do arise they are invariably settled by friendly intervention, and when the differences get beyond the bounds of local adjustment the visiting - magistrate, Mr Frank Farnell, becomes the arbitrator, friend and adviser. They put their cases before him, but not in the courts of justice. The gaol is one of the curiosities of the place. It is never used. There are no shops on the island, there are no hotels, and there is not a clergyman. ,

In the course of an address on "Federal Tendencies in Education," given by Mr E. B. Sargent recently before the Royal Colonial Institute, and in the subsequent discussion, the rough outlines of a novel and exceedingly interesting scheme, by which Imperial aspirations may be fostered and the ties between England and her colonies greatly strengthened, were sketched. The idea is to form in England an association on similar lines to that which has been established in Montreal, known as the Public Schools Association, the object being to give young men from England who may wish to seek a career in the colonies an opportunity to enter upon that career without undue delay. Those who are to be selected will have to possess a certificate from the master of the school in which they studied, and this certificate will be an assurance to the colonial authorities that the bearer is in every way worthy of advice, and assistance in obtaining employment. It will, in short, be a certificate of bona fides, and a proof that the owner of it has not only left school without a stain on his character, but also that he has passed through the probationary period immediately after school, say, of eighteen months or' two years, learning a profession or calling with credit.