TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8372, 4 March 1907, Page 4

TAL IC P O READING.

It is difficult (says the Sydney Mail) for the enquirer to obtain from employers or employees any real estimate of the truth regarding the dearth or otherwise of labour. Two diametrically opposed interests cannot give an accurate estimate, and the truth is likely to be found between the two. There is no doubt that employment is getting better, and that workers are being well sought, but the point is how much surplus labour is available? An event last week supplies an answer in one respect. In order to get the Kosciusko Road into good order this season, 200 : men for road-making were sought by the Works Department a few days ago. No fewer than 800 presented themselves for the positions, and they were, on the whole, a good class of able-bodied men.

Captain Hewitt, at the last meeting of the Farmers' Union at Palmerston North, read an'interesting paper on "a possible cause of weakness in the potato plants of to-day." Potatoes are grown, generation after generation, from tubers, on account of the readiness of growth, the crop being produced the same year, and also because the variety comes true. But any weakness or disease is transmitted and intensified, and plants from cuttings are never so strong as those grown from seed. It takes two years or more for seed to produce a crop of tubers, but the plants are healthier, and there is always the possibility of new-and valuable varieties. Captain Hewitt said he had not seen potato fruit for years, the flowers generally being infertile. He recommended bush settlers growing potatoes in virgin soil—almost the only condition under which seeds are developed now—to plant the seeds and thus restore the lowered vitality. He further suggested that where it was desired to produce a prized variety it might be done by root grafting, the" eye of the required variety being inserted in the young tuber of the seedling, when the vigour of the seedling would be thrown into the old sprout.

After many experiments with a large variety of chemical and other inventions the British Automobile Club, the Motor Union of Great Britain, and the Roads Improvement Association have come to the conclusion that tar is the best and in the end the most economical means of keeping down the dust on main roads, states a London paper. These three bodies are at last in full agreement on the point, and the two firstnamed have combined to offer prizes —one of 100 guineas, with a gold medal added, and another of 50 guineas, with a silver medal—as an encouragement to' the invention of new mechanical appliances for spreading the tar more rapidly and cheaply than can be done by hand. The special need for such appliances is explained in a memorandum which has been drawn up for the guidance of competitors. "Tarring," it is stated, "has so far proved itself superior to any palliative for laying dust, but the method of application by hand is expensive. If a mechanical apparatus can be constructed, either in the form of a horse-drawn car or mechanically propelled vehicle that would spray the tar upon the road, the labour factor

can be reduced very considerably. Such an apparatus should apply the tar more uniformly and cause it to penetrate to a greater depth. The quantity of tar required should also be much less."

The London Times recently contained an article from its special correspondent in San Francisco which places the Japanese question there in a very serious light; The average Californian, it appears, believes that war will break out between the United States and Japan within five years, and possibly within a few months. Japan, he thinks, desires the Philippines and Hawaii, and is only waiting for her financial position to improve before she strikes. There are only fifty thousand Japanese in California, but they are industrious and capable, and many have attained to wealth and good position. The fact that they are beating the American population by improved business methods accounts for part of the hostility, and the scare about Japan's warlike intentions explains the rest. The quesI tion of the schools is a very minor grievance, and was seized on only as I a good cry with which to open the campaign.