TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10786, 13 October 1900, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The natural attitude toward Old-Time all events in Jubilee Yw j» _ Boating, retrospective, and if th« crowds of 3-ounger folk who meet- *»» opening of the boatijjj season to-day wfcb the usual homage of spring hats and S*» dresses are intent only on seiamg the happy present ere it Hies, some at least the elders will be reoailing very long-pas fc boating days. Avonskle itself, one of our ( earliest settled suburbs, must have a special --* interest in welcoming tie invading crowd 3 j this year. The history of boating i-ow * vtry near to 'being co-incident with the Jig history of Christchurch—is quite so, if one MB may count as boating that earliest use whic.,||f arose from the absence of bridges;, Avoasidj»_ visits in those times beginning with a, cco-tjf' to your friends on the opposite side, v/henfr ttpon, after an interval depending upon t*W.. family , * employments, Bian* worn**) **f

child would come across with the boat, you paid your visit, aad got put back in the same way to the town bank of the river again. It was these boats, too, that ran friendly little races on numerous evenings. Hut more formal aquatic events had to wait for the formation of clulis, the buying of club boats, and, in the first place, the clearing of the rim\ By 1863 the Government had so done it« part that, in spite of watercress, an <nthuHiast could declare, "the Avon from a little above Croft and Ward's brewery, for many miks down, is as good a river as the Cam, not to say better," hence in no way unsuited to aquatic*. In fact, before then, a rowing club had existed, though it collapsed. A "Press" articie of October, 1853 (after such a respectable lapse of years we may be permitted to quote front our awn columns), remarks:—"We fear it •was not a very earnest boat club. We fear it believed in rowing down to Suinner, but not in rowing up again. We fear it believed j in beer and tobacco during the 'tasy rails, , — and that, altogether, it was rather a heretical and unorthodox boat club." The writer, however, goes on to press with great earnestness for the resuscitation of this, or the institution of some more business-like tupporter of roving, pointing out that Providence, having debarred steamers from entering the river. Lad thereby secured the boating contingent against any ctash witli the requirements of commerce, while a due use of such mercies would be a real boon in Cbristchurch, where, office hours once over, unless he could take seriously to cricket, there was so little for a young man tv do. By next October the Canterbury Rowing Club, with Mr R. J. Harman as President, was working bravely, the Railway Club, •with thirty-five active and honorary members, had launched and christened their new bmt, the "No. 1 Express," the Avon and Heathcot* Rowing Clubs were showing a great deal of life and friendly rivalry. RiviT annals, then, with •uch ups and downs of fortune as belong to the vicissitudes of clubs, down to the imposing "opening of the boating season" to-day, jnust date from 1864.

The August "HarmsSand worth" describes an EngCompetitions. lish seaside amusement,

grown*popular during the last few years, which appears especially suitable for transplantation to our often seaward-faring community. The solid wedge ot population which makes its way to New Brighton or Sumner on a public holiday, the number of Christchurch houses left vacant for six weeks at Christmas while the families belonging disport themselves on their favourite beaches, may show that any addition to seaside pursuits in likely to find no lack of either patrons or spectators. The sport described in this case is simply that of sand-building; sand-building undertaken not fitfully, capriciously, and at inauspicious moments aa regards the tide, as in the wont of the untutored child, but under rules and regulatione, with judges, umpires, aEd a subsequent prize-giving raising it to the dignity of an event. At Broadstairs, Woymouth, and Ramagate, these competitions not only happily engage tlte eliildren but delight the adult lookers-on. They take place on days when a late tide permits the toe of the beach aod the spectacle of undemolishal edifices for a good long afternoon. Each competitor, or group of competitors, is allowed a certain space of ground marked off from intrusion within which to erect fort, church, castle, before on umpire, without assistance from grown-up friends. < Advice it is judged impossible to exclude. "The huge crowds often bewilder the children with the suggestions that they shout, and those boys and girls who evolve their castle as they buikl have more 'ideas' than they , ! want. Those who get on best are the sand j sculptors who fix upon their scheme before they commence, ant! carry ifc out utterly regardless of the hints so gratuitously offered. Finally the reauits are judged by responsible persons—usnally town officials, it is stated; for the various municipalities are now taking , immense interest in this attraction to their sands. "Sand competitions please the children," said one wise judge, "and they worry their parents to bring them here another year. The few pounds given away as prizes are one of the wisest items of exptmditure made by the town authorities." Here is another argument for consideration at Sumner and New Brighton. It seems certain, at any rate, that eand-digging with a purpose has added a new charm to the often rather aimless enjoyment of Measklo days, while it gives a great impetus to children's habits of observation. Lighthouses, bridges, churclres, in the neighbourhood, are often quite excellently reproduced. "If tltere happens to be • local stronghold the majority of the competitors take it as their model." Canterbury hardly shinew in strongholds, but littie beach-builders might do something with the local pier, not to speak of the Christchurch Cathedral, and, later on, perhaps, for the ainbitiwis-minded, our Jubilee memorial.

The striking feature of English the valuable report by "hit Fearo Labour. Wilson Fox, the Assistant Commissioner for Labour, on the wages and earnings of agricultural labourers in the United Kingdom, h that it. shows that English farm labourers ere better paid than is frequently supposed to be the case, and that tl*ey have been experiencing a steady rise in the rate of w&jfee for the past half century. Returns have been obtained firm upwards of 9000 farmers, and some of those from men whose families have occupied their farms for generations show that the wwfcly cash wages of ordinary farm Wearers were 48 per cent, higher in I®9 tJhun in 1850. The gradual rise « wagts i* remarkable, because it has occurred in spite of the depression which bag undoubtedly overtaken English '•raring of late years, when low prices and orer-geas* competition have jjiven the farmer something to grumble about. It. is, feoir«Ter, due to a law which stall operates So England—the law of supply and demand. It is Oβ© of the results of the exodus to Ra» towns, a. movement ■which, however fasrtoaate it may be for the men remaining Ja t&e country, is one of the worst features of modem life in England. Labour has ***» getting increasingly scarce of late years, the more skilled and educated men preferring to seek employment in other in<fc»triee than those connected with the land, *Bd the difficulty has been accentuated during the past twelve months by the calling **** of the militia and the reserves. Especially is it fi&rd to get competent young to take charge of animals, because, it ** *aitl, of the Sunday work which » repaired of them, and because they are liable *o be called up during the night when their < 3«u-ges are ill. On the other hand these Wen are paid rather iaore highly than the Sfdinary farm hands, and their term of enpgement is usually longer.

In dealing with the averSome age earnings of English i> Comparisons, agricultural labourers, the task of arriving at definit« averages is complicated by the fact that the men frequently receive extra pay- \ taenia fur special seasons and allowances in kad, this system differing greatly in Various parts of the United Kingdom. Wb»e the hiring gptem prevails, Id which

a farm hand engage* himself for six or twelve months, as in the northern and western counties of England, in Scotland, and in the Korth of Ireland, extra cash payments for piece work, hay and corn harvest, and overtime are few, if any, while allowances in kind, -we are told, mich as board and lodging for unmarried men, and free cottages, potatoes, and fuei for married men are frequent. On the 'other .hand, where the engagsments are shorter, and the rates of cash wages lower, more piecework is done and extra payments in cash at hay and corn harvests and overtime can be earned. Making all allowance for these txtras, Mr Wax. arrives at the following final averages of the earnings of ordinary farm labourers in 1898, since when it is probable they have slightly risen: —England 16s 10d per week, Wales 16s sd, Scotland 18s Id, Ireland 10s Id. Renfrew, with 2ls 9d per week, is the highest paid county in the United Kingdom; County Mayo is the lowest, the average there being 8s 7d. Earnings naturally range highest near industrial and mining centres, averaging, for instance, over 20s a week in Lancashire, | Stirling, Durham, Dumbarton, and Nortiiumfberland, whereas in such agricultural counties as Suffolk, Norfolk, Dorset, Oxford, and Wiltshire they range from 14s 5d to 15s. though it is belkved that owing to the recent advance in wages, nowhere in England at the present time are the average earnings less than 15s. With Mepect to women, their employment in -the fields in England has been gradually decreasing for twenty years, until there in hardly a county in which th« custom still obtains, though on small farms in the North of England wives and daughters still lend their assistance in field -work. Women, howi ever, are becoroittg yearly more difficult to procure for dairy work. The British dairymaid will soon live only in the pages of fiction, and though she will be a. loss in many Ways, her extinction will not be a bad thing for the farmer if it drives him to the creamery and butter factory. One could wish the change was for the .dairymaid's good, but it is to be feared that in abandoning the dairy end the cheese room she is taking up occupations in the towns which will rob her of her traditional roses. Scotch women still take a large share in farm work, in many districts their numbers are nearly «qual on many farms to those of male workers, and in the potatogrowing districts they are more numerous than the men. On the small farms, which are worked almost entirely by tbe farmers and their families, the wives and daughters '■ do a great deal of field work. There is, of , course, much in a report of this nature that i space doss not allow us to touch upon here. On the whole, however, it is abundantly clear that apart from t»he housing problem, r which constitutes a crying evil in too many places, the English labourer, so far as earnings are concerned, is bett«J off than he used to be. Hie employer in many a, case must wish he could say the same.

The perfect host or hostess Scientific is nob so common as people Hospitality, who act in that capacity

are fain to believe. Who is there among us who has not known the unhappy consciousness of having mixed one's guests badly, of having offered a choice dish to a man whose particular detestation it happens to be, of having talked books to a young lady whose jipul was bound up in sport and dancing, and .music to a man with no ideas beyond politics or business, of having, in fine 2 failed to consult fads and fancies which all of US possess in one form or another. To those who are conscious of shortcomings in this respect a Mrs Straker offers the consolations of a new cult, of which she is the priestess, that of Scientific Hospitality. The system is simplicity itself, requiring only careful attention to Mrs Striker's Register, in which is allowed space for the recording of the tastes, habits, and. peculiarities of our guests. Each guest has a double-page sheet, in which, Under dus headings, each of these may be chronicled. Half a sbeot is given up to the important question of eating. In this, having first experimented "in corpore vile," one enters particulars of what the guest prefers to eat'and drink, so that on future visits his tastes may be consulted, and one will not offend a teetotaller by offering him the best of one's cellar, nor hurt the vegetarian* feelings—and perhaps lead him into temptation—by putting roast beef under his nose. •' Here also may be chronicled his idiosyncrasies, if he has any; his pleasure in taking pepper with his strawberries, as do some otherwise inoffensive Scots, or cheese with his apple-pie, as is the custom of some Yorkshire iolk, with, let us hope, sound digestions, or hot batter pudding and gravy as ian appetiser for the succeeding meat, such as \ Essex yeomen delight in. The other portions of the pages are taken up with entries detailing the time at which he prefers to be awakened (knowledge most necessary for the comfort of the guest), whether he likea a hot bath or a cold one, his taste in the direction of outdoor recreation, and whether it is safe to talk golf or fishl in<T. croquet or cricket to him, whether he eings or plays or dances, whether he smokes, and if so, pipe, cigar, or cigarette, what his profession is, and what his religion. Tue hour at which he likes to go to bed may atso be put down, but this is more a matter for the Tiost, and may depend a good deal on the quality of the letter's whiskey and cigars, also on the sociability of the smoking-room contingent. But the hostess will not be doing her duty by Mrs Striker , ! book unless she ascertains and chronicles whether the guest likes his window open at nigut, and what are his tast«s in the matter of » feather bed or a spring mattress. Having thus watched over her guest from his uprising to his down-lying, the hostess who seeks perfection in her role may herself retire, satisfied that she has done her best. She has at any rate l*!t no room for the exercise, by- the perfect guest, of hi* qualities of forbearance and. dissimulation.