NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15552, 9 March 1914, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA. During the last quarter of 1913, there was a general improvement in industrial conditions throughout .Australia, resulting in a decrease in unemployment. The per-, centage of unemployed members of trades unions was • 5.3, compared with 7 per cent, for the preceding quarter; 7.3 per cent, for the second quarter; and 6.4 per cent, for the'first quarter of the year. The' percentage' of unemployment at the end of last year (5.3) is lower than that for the corresponding period of any year for which records are available, with the exception of 1911, when the percentage was 4.7. The total number of industrial disputes in the Commonwealth, beginning in tihe fourth quarter of 1913, was the same (60) as for the third quarter of that year. The number of days lost and the estimated loss in wages were, however, considerably less. During the quarter the total number of working days lost was 92,893, and the estimated loss in wages £43,043, compared with 138,819 and £58,163 respectively during the third quarter of that year. The total number of industrial disputes whi-ih occurred during 1913 was 208, involving 50,283 workpeople. The number of working days lost was 622,535, and the estimated total loss in wages £288,101. During the whole of the year 1913 there were 319 changes in.- rates of wages, affecting 163,132 persons, and resulting in an estimated total increase of £36,875 in the' weekly wages; an average increase of 4s 6d per week for each ' person. affected by the changes. Regarding the wages of female employees in manufacturing industries in the . Commonwealth it appears tihat the average weekly wage received by such female employees in 1912 was 19s 8d for all workers.

CONCRETE FOR ROADS. An American writer puts forward the contention that a large sum would be saved every year on' road maintenance if horses were altogether abolished and all vehicles motor-driven. Good roads would he required in the first place, and the consequent saving in maintenance would provide for permanent roads in all the principal States of America in from ten to fifteen years. One of the chief hindrances in good roads work has been inefficiency. Royal Oak township, in Oakland county, built a macadam road a year or two ago to connect with a concrete road in Wayne county. . The macadam road was almost impassable within six months. Trie first mile was built :by a contractor. The township . built the second mile itself. It is better, but not good enough. A Detroit man built a. mile of concrete through, the township with the aid of other property-owners. It is a model thoroughfare. Not a'. penny has since been needed for its upkeep. But the township authorities, still' afraid of the initial cost of more durable roads, are wedded to the obsolete macadam' construction, with a maintenance ' expense that grows larger yearly. In New York State the macadam road has been found to be a heavy annual tax and it does not meet the traffic conditions of to-day. The authorities have paid as high 'as £200 a ! mile per- year for maintenance. Starting with an initial cost of nearly £2000 per mile, the expense of -maintenance the following year would be at out £100 per mile. The next year it would run to £120, the following 12 months' to £160, and after costing £200 per" mile for a few years more the' road '■' would then need to be completely rebuilt.-. In constructing highways ' one. of the cardinal points is that they should be built and paid for by the present generation and not by future generations. ' '

JAPANESE . JUDICIAL" SYSTEM. The Corean conspiracy , trial,. together with the prosecution of an Englishman in Yokohama, has, drawn attention to the Japanese judicial system and its defects. Mr. Albertus ' Pieters, •an American missionary, has written and published a series of articles traversing the police administration and- judicial system of Corea as revealed by the proceedings in the celebrated conspiracy case, in which it was alleged that a number of , Coreans conspired against' General Terauchi, the Japanese Governor-General of Corea. As these have failed to provoke any reply from the authorities,. it is fair to assume that the ■ criticism is not.altogether undeserved. Dealing with the police administration, •he says that the gendarmerie in Corea are either incompetent and inefficient,, or that they are cruel and criminal, and then, he cites cases of people of other nationalities who . assert that the police had servants in their emploj who had been arrested on certain charges, tortured, and afterwards liberated. That the police employ .these methods habitually is the common conviction in Corea. The arbitrary powers possessed by the Courts in the matter of deciding what evidence shall be allowed and what shall be excluded lend themselves to misuse, and the most absurd things' are possible '. under such a system. For instance, in the Appeal Court the Court had before it the statements of •' approximately 100 men to the effect that they had been solicited to join in the conspiracy, and had done so- But the statement that they had consented was ignored by the Court, and when the lawyer for the defence pointed out that these men had said they had consented, he was informed that he had no business to criticise the judgment upon the basis, of evidence which the Court had not admitted.

TO MODERNISE JERUSALEM. One of the richest Jewish merchants in New York has just retired from ■ business l-ut not to a life of ease. Mr. Nathan Straus, it is announced, intends to better the Holy Land and try to modernise and I improve Jerusalem. He has an imposing record of good works, and. these, supplemented by what he has in prospect,, will round out a full life of benevolence. His intentions include: (1) Inducing cities, especially throughout the United States, to require pasteurisation of milk as a prevention of tuberculosis; (2) • establishing a pure water supply system in Jerusalem, in which he asks aid to the extent of £20,000 a year for five years; (3) modernising the city of Jerusalem, which he refers to as the old home-place of his race. " The needs of Palestine are very great," says Mr. Straus. "I went to Jeusalem last year because I was drawn there by associations of the Holy Land. I found conditions that appalled me. Starvation and disease held the people in their grip. I ■ did what one man cotilfl to relieve the unfortunate, establishing a health department ; for Palestine, and soup-kitchens in Jerusalem at which 330 people are fed. daily. Jerusalem stands on a hill, and there is every reason why it should •be made as healthful, and delightful a place to live in as the most modern' city in the world. What- is chiefly needed is modern waterworks. There is plenty of water to be had if proper pumping stations were erected. At the present time water is the most precious possession of the household. It is kept in cisterns under lock and key; every drop of it is valuable, because there is no water system availalle. The defects of' the sanitary arangements of the city on' this account are tumble.''