TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8378, 12 March 1907, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

It is the intention of the Leader of the Opposition to make a tour of North Auckland on the land question to reply to the Minister of Lands. The Ministerial tour has proved that North Auckland will vote solidly for the freehold tenure, and there is every reason to believe that the southern portion of the province will be found by the Minister when he goes through' taking up the same attitude.

The opinion has been given by Colonel Jarvis, the Canadian Minister for Agriculture, that there 13 room for improvement in the trade relations between Canada and New Zealand, and points out that Canada can, and does, make everything that the Americans turn out. The Van-couver-Australian mail service could be improved by putting on larger steamers, the present boats not being adequate for the growth of the trade. He admits there is much of interest for Canadians to see in these colonies. One thing, he points out, is the lack in New Zealand of really good travelling facilities, and he expresses surprise at the comparatively slow progress made with our railway undertakings. On being told of the time occupied on some of them, he could not help comparing them with the construction of a 2500-mile line in Canada,—7oo miles of it over exceptionally difficult country, full of engineering difficulties—a task that was completed in five years. He presumed that those in authority here had their reasons for the methods adopted, but he questioned the wisdom of the policy.

The National Civic Federation of New York, a leading reform organisation, has decided to take up the question of child labour as one of the most important features of its work. It is stated that fully two million children under 16 years of age are employed. This information has come from officials of the National Child Labour Committee, but has been disputed. To obtain exact information the Civic Federation has invited the presidents of the following organisations to appoint committees to act with its own committee in an investigation covering the entire country:—-The National Association of Manufacturers, the American Federation of Labour, the General Federation of Women's Clubs, the National Education Association, the American Economic Association, the National Conference of Charities, and the National Child Labour Committee. It is alleged that gross misrepresentations have been made regarding the employment of child labour in the coal mines and in the cotton mills of the South. There has never been a satisfactory enquiry into the conditions which, it is admitted, demand urgent amendment.

Under the title "The Fingerpost," the Central Bureau for the Employment of Women, London,has issued a useful and interesting little book, intended as a guide -to professions for educated women. The Spectator (London), reviewing it, remarks that "while we have become accustomed to the woman surgeon, it is less easy to become accustomed to the idea of women as house painters and decorators, land agents, public accountants, photographers, jobbing gardeners, and teachers of ju-jitsu.'' Gardening meets with special approval as an occupation for women. Care and taste are lacking in the jobbing work of men, states the Spectator, and could be supplied by women. Here are some of the amounts likely to be earned by beginners, after varying periods of training:— Sanitary inspectors,. £BO to £100; Government inspectoi's, £200; school teachers, £BB to £150; teachers of gymnastics, £SO; teachers of cookery and laundry work, £80; dressmakers' fitters, £2 to £3 per week; hairdressers, 15s per week; secretaries and clerks, £3O to £100; librarians, 30s per week; gardeners, £6O to £7O.