TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9687, 11 January 1910, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

LORD KITCHENER'S VISIT.

Lord Kitchner has already given proof of the practical character which had made him the great military organiser of the Empire. He is neither making speeches nor wasting his time in ceremonial reviews. As he has commenced in Queensland, so he will continue throughout Australia and New Zealand. There is altogether too much inclination to treat our volunteers as though they were a mere "show," pnd to call them from their work or their leisure merely to march and parade for officials and visitors If Lord Kitchener helps to stop this undesirable practice, says the "New Zealand Herald," and to promote the idea that our men are trained for a patriotic and not a spectacular purpose, he will set the universal training scheme on its way with a fair prospect of success. THE PARLIAMENTARY SESSION.

The distractions of the holiday season have in a large measure diverted public attention from the fact that the first working session of the New Zealand Parliament elected in,, December, 1908, has been brought to a close. A& to the value of the work done during the session, estimates will doubtless vary according to the point of view, remarks the "New Zealand Tablet"; and w; may note in passing that the practice of looking at political questions exclusively from the party standpoint is becoming more arid more marked in the daily Press. In the days of Mr Seddon's Premiership the denunciations of "the tyranny and autocracy of the Government" by a certain section of the.Press might psrhaps, have had some shadow of excuse. With the advent of the present Premier and the adoption of reasonable and conciliatory methods in the management of parliamentary business, it might have been fairly expected that the journals in question would have taken a more temperate tone. The same old cry, however, is raised as of yore—only more so.

THE PANAMA CANAL.

The annual report of the Panama Canal Commission estimates that the total cost of construction will reach £59,400,000, and that with the purchase price, cost of sanitation, and civil government, the total bill will amount to £75,000,000. The original estimate of the cost of construction, inclusive of policing and sanitation, was £28,800,000. In 1906 the cost of construction alone was estimated at £27,800,000. The increase in the present estimates is attributed to the fact that 50 per cent more work than originally contamplated was found necessary, and that labour and material have grown more expensive. The total amount expended on the purchase and construction up to October 30th was £38,200,000, practicaly one-half the total estimates. It will be remembered that the Payne Tariff Law authorises the issue of bonds to the amount of £58,000,000, which, with the £16,800,000 already issued, will cover the whole cost of the work unless once again the estimates are found too low.