THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1907. "DIABOLO" AND "WOBBLEWOBBLE."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8991, 28 November 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1907. "DIABOLO" AND "WOBBLEWOBBLE."

"One craze makes many" to alter a well-known proverb. In this workaday world, where life becomes more strenuous with the passing years, the demand for light and ever-varying forms of recreation are eacerly ' sought after. Fortunately, or unfortunately, as the case may be, those who seek generally find someone to to provide that which is desired. It so happens that many simple and even childish devices have been made to serve the purpose of public and private recreation, and have ofteri become a craze to the verge of imbecility. A few days ago Macmahon's pictures gave an illustration of a couple of tradesmen who were so enamoured of cards that they played euchre at their work and in every waking moment whereever they happened to* be. In this country, as well as throughout the civilized world, of late years a j large wrecenta'ge of the population j has'carried childish amusements to a similar extent. VTittleback" had an enormous run, and eventually succumbed to ping-pong, which was played wherever a small table and a piece of netting could be procured. Public halls were set apart for the game, and billiard tables were given up to the racket and celluloid balls. Pinp-pong is now but a name, but another game has been invented which puts its former glory in the shade. It is named "Diabolo," and is a French invention. The apparatus is simple. It consists of a piece of string attached to the ends of two wands (one of which is held by the player in each hand), and a reel which is caused to spin on the string and can be sent high in the air and caughtjagoin. Not a game, one would

imagine, to "catch on." Yet, according to English and Continental papers, tens of thousands of people play at it at night and day as if their very lives depended upon it. The London "Evening News" states that 60 per cent, of the population of Paris devotes several hours a day to the cult of "the good devil"—as it is there'callecl. Children play at it in the streets, senators in their clubs, .and the athlete uses it to develop his muscles. It is. played at mealtimes and between meals. Ladies and children play at it in the London \ parks and business men devote Sunday mornings to the game. Already twenty-two clubs have been established in London and at seaside resorts, and the original importer is eaid to hav£ sold in London over a million sets in the last three months. We learn from our English exchanges that still another game.euphemisticallycalled "wobblewobble," is about to arrive from America. It consists of moving across a polished floor on a sort of stool or castors by means of muscular movements of the limbs. It is somewhat of a pity these games did not reach our dominion before Parliament met. They would have been the means of shortening speeches and the session, ani have saved us from much harrassing legislation by attracting members' attention to 'an occupation more ~ fitted to the mental calibre of some of them. "Wobble-Wobble" is by no means a new game to our Parliamentarians, but the American , variety of it has the advantage that it cannot be played within the Legislative halls.

Among the most valuable measures passed during the late session of Parliament may be placed the Infant Life Protection Acc, which secures to the children of the poor, and more especially to illegitimate children, a fair chance of life. Early in the session the question of infant mortality was raised in the Legislative Council, and the most interesting discussion that has taken place in the Upper House for years ensued. The Infant Life Protection Act is the result. The Act does not cover anything like the multifarious provisions suggested by the Council, but it makes for the preservation of infant life in a way that, must be con- j sidered eminently satisfactory. The bargaining for lump sums between parelits and keepers of infant houses has been vetoed, and the dependence of the latter upon the regular payments of the former ceases entirely. When a parent fails to pay the keeper of an infant home the Government now takes upon itself to collect the amount, and in any case pays for the maintenance of the child, so that there can be no excuse for underfeeding it. In a word, the State undertakes that if a foster mother or infant-home keeper does her duty to the child, she will not be left with only a useless action at law against the parents. Under this Act the State accepts the risk of the parents' failure and undertakes itself to make the parent do his or her duty by all the legal means of compulsion available.

The New Zealand Employers' Federation finds reason for grave dissatisfaction at the way the labour legislation whs rushed through Parliament at the end of the recent session. "The Federation" was afforded no opportunity to place the views of employers fully before the Government on questions affecting their interests, and as a result the employers have, they state, been severely treated iii connection with clause 15 of the Factories Act, which will necessitate either a weekly rate of wages being paid to all women and young people in factories, or the throwing out of employment in the s'ack season of thousands of these employees. Then in connection with the Shops and Offices Bill, the amendment which was adopted providing for a poll of the municipal electors to decide the day of the statutory half-holiday is said to be strenuously objected to by shopkeepers all over the dominion. Apart from the iaet, of the advisableness or otherwise of the provision, what the Federation objects to is amendments being sprung upon employers in this way. In the present case there was no provision whatever regarding the statutory half-holiday in the bill as originally introduced, and it was not until the Employers' Federation saw some reference to it in the newspapers two days before the prorogation that it had any idea of the intention of the Government to insert such a provision.

The Agricultural Labourers' Aceom modation Act, passed during the late session of Parliament, enacts that adequate accommodation is to be provided for iigrieultural and pastoral workers and fiaxmill hands. In the case of accommodation at a homestead, every room where the labourers are placed must contain at least 240 cubic feet of air space per man. If two or more persons are accommodated, separate rooms, for eating and sleeping are to be provided, and a meal room myst contain a fireplace or some sufficient means of warming it. Regulations as to the accommodation to he provided in other cases, as, for instance, for men engaged on distant parts-of a farm, or in cutting flax for a flaxmilJ, may be issued from

time to time by the Governor-in-Council. These regulations may vary for different parts of the dominion, and for different times of the year. Separate sleeping accommodation is to be provided for Asiatics. No appeal is allowed against the decision of the magistrate. Where a contractor is employed on a farm, the responsibility of providing for the men employed by him is thrown upon such contractor.