TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 31, 6 February 1908, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

"And they talk about a scarcity of labour !" exclaimed a cor"Scarcity respondent in The Post of Labour?" yesterday, and he might have added a "There now !" to clinch the tho ejaculation. Ha advertised for a "handy man/ and within ton minutes after' the first edition of the paper vras out "a stream of applicants commenced an energetic campaign for engagement." Therefore he concluded that workers were plentiful. The Post has been careful to define the departments in which labour can be said to be scarce. Though the supply of tradesmen is about equal to requirements—slightly ut'der in some cases— j there is a shortage in the ranks of the "unskilled." Men are wanted for roads and for the harvest fields, From Auckland to the Bluff there is an outcry' for labour, and the labour is lacking. It is safe to say that to-day scores of men could find places awaiting them. The difficulty ol securing workers has even induced the farmers of Marlborough to ro-operate in a scheme to exploit Scotland for recruits. Yet it , is easy to understand that a "job" for a "handy i man" in Wellington would be rushed. There 1 are scores of men here who hug the city. They prefer to "scrape along" somehow here rather than migrate to regular employment in the country. Better an odd week on and a month off here, than n steady cycle up country, they think. Their misfortune is upon their own heads. Yesterday, at Timaru, there was- a "fireplace," which cost about Fire £15,000 to build, filled with Traps, inflammable goods worth many thousands of pounds. To-day there are four gaunt walls, and a pile of smouldering ashes. The Farmers' Co-operative Retail Stores and Ofllces blazed away like a train of gunpowder last evening when once the flames got a start. The building was merely a shell of brick, practically a furnace, admirably adapted for allowing fire to devour the contents. When the destroyer began its work there was nothing to stay its progress. Men were powerless with their little jets to quench tho fire which roared, without check, through the block. Some money \ras saved when brick partitions were omitted, and how much has been lost now? Probably Wellington and other cities are not without similar structures in which fire would have a license to do what it liked if it secured a hold inside. Tho Timaru event very forcibly shows the necessity for the installation ol non combustible partitions in build- | ings of public resort, such as largo < hotels. Of what use would be a firo- | escape with flames leaping all through a building a few minutes after an alarm was given? The authorities cannot very well make regulations about the materials to be used for partitions in shops and warehouses, but they havo every right to ensure safety for the people who pay to put their trust in hotels by day aud ui^kt.

Wo learn by cable message that a scheme is afoot in Adelaide Christian fon the establishment of Colonists, a limited company wiln p. Limited, capital of a million sterling to form a "Christian Colony" on the transcontinental line (from Adelaide to Port Darwin), and that tho prospectus, in which "Scripture phraseology" is a noticeable feature, is being privately circulated. To some devout folk the Scripture- citations may recommend the scheme — ia the minda of others they may awaken suspicion as to i!\> genuineness. Assuming thnt the intentions of the promoters aro honourable, it may safely be premised that if the community is formed it will have to bo on a much les<i ambition scale than is at present projected. The ex- ! perinwnl, il attempted, will bo interesting to students of sociology ; chiefly, perhaps, on account of the locality chosen. For, however it niay differ in detail from other communities establish 3d to develop some religious or social ideal, in its broader aspect it must have much in common with former experiments of the kind — experiments with which the names of some of the ablest and bost men of modern days have in noticeable instances baen associated, 'and which have invariably disappointed their promoters. "The work! ia very evil," was Barnard's lament, and nothing is easier than to draw up a grave indictment against humanity, nnd proceed to judgment. Having decided that reform is hopeless, the ■entb.usiast withdraws from the world — it may bo as an anchorite, it may be 'as one of a community — and proceeds to construct new heavens and a new earth. Tho experiment succe-cda 'only as tho original ideal is abandoned. "Human nature" comes in with humanity — it is not to be expelled, as the classical adage declares, even with a pitchfork. If the economic basis is sound, the community survives, usually more or less leavened by the social or doctrinal ideal to which it owes its existence-; if economically defective it I perishes. Not even a "Christian Colony" can evade the Reign of Law. If, handicapped and fettered as it is, the Port of London can show Tho Port the vast shipping trade of of • to-day, tho fair inference London, is that it would surpass itself when provided with up-to-dato facilities and equipment. But London's accommodation to-day for ships and their cargoes is, frankly, an anachronism. During the past ten yeara not a development of any importance has taken place in London's dock ac-/ commodation. Now, however, a determined attempt to tackle the question is to be made, and a measure will hs> introduced to constitute a public commission as the authority of the port. Perhaps the greatest sufferers from the obsolete methods obtaining on the Thames ars the Commonwealth and New Zealand. In a comparatively few years theso young and vigorous States have established and developed a produce export trade that, with a continuation of skill and enterprise, promises to attain colossal dimension?. But whilst the last ten years have seen improvement upon improvement emanate from the freezing and shipping companies, next to nothing has been done to modernise tho wasteful methods still adopted in the discharge and handling of colonial perishable food-stuffs on the Thames. To-day's cable, however, is somewhat encouraging, and indicated that the tactical moment was chosen by the Victorian Agent-General in strongly urging upon Mr. Lloyd-George the necessity for greater facilities being pro- \ ided in Iho Port of London for colonial prodnoe. We would suggest that our High Commissioner be instructed to make similar representations, and so strengthen Mr. Traverner's hand. Thft development of our export trade in meat, butter, and cheesa is dspendant to a grfcafc extent upon tho introduction of urgently-needed reforms in London. The sooner these are realised the bottcr for the producer in the Dominion. A shadow is over the cricket fields of Australia ; the gate is Tha making the pitch dark. Everlasting Financiers are' working Gate. out the figures for tho Englishmen's tour, and they estimate a deficit unless a miracle . happens. "If the Englishmen win the i fourth tept match the shortage will bo about £]500." say the gatemongers. "II they lose it, the fifth will be no "draw, 1 and the loss will be near £2500." The people here were very excited, very enthusiastic, about the progresb of the first three tests ; will they be so keen about the fourth? They may begin to be thinking that the tests have 1 not been skilfully stage-managed to ! date, but that any error mtide in iho ! past will be rectified in the fourth. | Sport consists of three things — the players, tho field, and the gate; of theso three the gate is the greatest. Even among amateurs the gate is a very solid institution. In the end the greatness of sport will bo in inverse proportion to the "gateness" — the greater the gate the smaller the Bport. lb all harks back to the fact that a few play and the many look on. A handful of picked gladiators disport themselves in the arena, and the populace twiddles its thumbs tt Is indeed an age of specialisation.