CURRENT TOPICS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6663, 10 November 1908, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

ENGLAND’S UNEMPLOYED. Bishop Williams, of Napier, who returned from England by the Corinthic last Thursday, speaking to a “Herald” interviewer, said: —“It was forced ou my attention that there aro many unem- ■ ployed in England, and it seems to me a terrible state of things. The Government are trying to deal with the difficulty, and 1 sincerely hops they will succeed. I was told by one of my fellow passengers that he had been shown a large building at Newcastle now untenanted and empty which once was an extensive bottle factory employing many hands. And yet the people still stick to what they call Freelrade —a Freetradc that appears to be quite one-sided. England admits all sorts of things to her shores free of duty, but her exports are taxed in other ports. However, this is a political question on which my opinion is of no importance. Probably the politicians of New Zealand are much more capable of dealing with it than I.” FUNCTIONS OF A GOVERNOR. Lord Plunket, replying to an address of welcome presented to him at Waimato on Thursday, remarked : —lf an official visit from the Governor, at election Jume, caused a certain amount of inconvenience, it brought no misunderstandings as to the object of that visit. It simply emphasised one of the happiest features of our country’s general working. It was one of the principals of the traditional procedure under the British Constitution that the representative of the King took no part in political warfare, but gave his full confidence and support only to those whom tho people of the country entrusted with its government. They had only to compare tho unfortunate misunderstandings which had arisen in connection with the Gorman Emperor’s actions and speeches, with the noble work done by our King, to realise that under God’s providence, the sons of England over tho seas were indeed fortunate in living under the British Constitution. (Applause.) Lord Plunket added that ho felt in coming among them on the eve of a general election that he could do so without anyone feeling that he had any interest in party politics. This could not he said, probably, in any other country in tho world. (Applause.) A NOTABLE SPEECH. Dr R. H. Bakewdll, in the course of an article in tho “Auckland Star" on tho Arbitration Bill, remarks“By far the most notable speech of the ParliSmentary session just concluded is one of which little notice was taken at the time, and which has only become known to the larger part of the New Zealand public within tho last few days by the publication of the full report in the 25th uumbdr of 'Hansard.’ This was the speech made in tho Legislative Council on September 30th by tho Hon. Dr Findlay. I am not in the habit of flattering public men, and, least of all, members of the Legislature who are Ministers, and, therefore, when I say that this speech, is by far the best made during tho session, I am not giving it very high praiso. But it is much more than the best made in the session; it is an excellent specimen of the Very best stylo of Parliamentary oratory, and would have been certain to attract attention, and to be answered with respect either in the House of Lords or of Commons. For it is not the speech of a politician, anxiously conning over each sentence to see whether it can be made to capture a few votes, or whether it must be excised to avoid offending a few voters—it is the speech of a statesman, taking a broad and far-sighted view of a very important measure.” WELLINGTON ROAD METAL. The Pclorus Road Board has been very much hampered in pushing on necessary road work by the great difficulty in getting suitable metal. The enormous cost of carting metal from tho Wairau riverbed to the Havelock suburban portion of the main road is an effectual bar to the use of the motal in that locality, and substitutes from adjacent creek-beds and rocky faces in paddocks havci been found to bo quite inadequate for the heavy traffic the road has to bear*. It was therefore with a good deal of interest (remarks the “Guardian”) that members listened to the . reading of a communication from Mr A. D. Craw- , ford, of Wellington, who offered to supply the Board with any quantity of first-class metal from his Miramar quarries. He suggested that as' the schooner Falcon was now making frequent trips between Havelock and Wellington, with timber, and returning with ballast which had to be thrown out, she could take tho metal as back-carriage to Havelock, i shipping it at Seatoun or Miramar. No prices were quoted , pending information as to the quantity likely to bo required by the Board. The secretary was instructed to get all necessary information and lay it before tho Board’s next 'meeting. THE ROYAL CROWN AND SCEPTRE. Tho “Cullinan,” the largest diamond in the world, which was presented by the Transvaal Government bo King Edward, has been ent into two beautiful white stones, one of which will be set in the royal crown and the other in his Majesty’s' sceptre. Details of the cutting have been given by Sir Hemy do Villiers, who arrived at Plymouth from Quebec, where he was the South African representative. Having heard recently of the progress of the diamond cutters in Holland, he explained that the two chief gems resulting will ornament the sceptre and the crown of King Edward. When it was shipped to England it was a moot ouestion what the quality of the diamond would be, experts being unable to tell the perfection of a stone from the rough. Now it has been found to bo of superfine quality, pure white, and posseted of remarkable brilliance and lustre. The cutting will employ three artisans for nine months. One of the diamonds will weigh 425 carats and the other will be.slightly smaller, but both will he immeasurably larger than the Koh-i-Noor (102,carafe). The great cost of cutting will probably be met by the value of the chips which come from the two perfect gems. THE HOLIDAY TRAFFIC. The number of pleasure-seekers transported by various means in and around Wellington vesterday was very large. It ia reported that fully four thousand took advantage of the special excursions, run by the Harbour Ferries’ Company over to Day’s Bay, while between two and three hundred were taken to Somes Island by the Dnco in the morning. The traffic up the Manawatn line, especially to Plimmerton and Paekakariki, was very’ heavy, while the bookings right through to Palmerston, presumably influenced by the military tournament, there, were considered to ho quite satisfactory. On the Government lines between.Te Aro and Upper Hutt the tickets issued during the day totalled 5000, all hut 1000 of these being sold at the town stations. Passengers over the Eimutakas numbered

1000, probably half of them being bound for tho races at Clarovillo. Tho traffic generally over the Government lines was a good deal heavier than last year, when, however, the weather was rather uninviting to pleasure-seekers. Good business was done on the city tramways, especially by the cars running to the various seaside resorts, and tho takings will probably work out considerably in excess ot those on King’s Birthday last year. SECOND BALLOTS. ““ In ten scattered constituencies, a fourteen day interval is to ba allowed between the polls in cr.se of a second ballot, but there are only three of thesoj seats for which more than two candi-l dates have been nominated, so the chancel of a'second ballot a fortnight later than tho general election is very remote, .It; has been estimated that there aro a dozen second ballots almost certain in other constituencies, ■•/here the second poll will occur on November 24th. CANDIDATES AND THEIR DEPOSITS. Tho Second Ballot Act, .while it doubtless removes difficulties in one direction, seems to have created a new problem which has already bean submitted tor an official solution. Under the general law regulating elections, every person nominated has to deposit *BIO with the returning officer, which is forfeited if the candidate fails to secure 25 per cent, of the successful candidate’s votes. This produced about ,£2OO for a grateful country last election, and should bo even more lucrative this time if the lawyers hold that "successful candidate,” as specified] in the Legislature Act, is the man who wins the election. When there are three or four candidates at the first poll, only tho veriest outsider could fail to secure a 23 per cent, proportion of the total number of votes cast for the winner, but if tho second ballot is taken as the standard, tho task of securing the minimum proportion will be very difficult, as even the loser’s friends may vote to swell the winner’s total, thus making surer the forfeiture s of tho *BIO note. ALPINE CLIMBING. Now that the Main Trunk line passes by Mount Ruapehu it is expected that tho ambition to ascend this the highest mountain in tho North Island will become widespread. The first to attempt the ascent this season were the Rev. D. C. Bates and Mr D. L. O’Donnell, of Wellington, and N. E. Jackson, of Masterton, who on Saturday last ascended) Mount Paretetaitonga, 8025 feet in altitude, and the second highest peak in the, group. A strong south-westerly gale was! blowing in tho lower regions of the mountain, but above 6000 ft it assumed almost hurricane force, and the' way upwards had to be made in the teeth of a blizzard, of ice and snow. This made the attempt on the highest peak, which is two miles southward, an impossibility, and the) party congratulated themselves on their achievement of the north peak, which is only 150 ft lower than Mount Ruapehu itself. The lowest reading of the barometer taken at the summit was _ 21.24 inches. It is considered too early in the season to make the attempt on Mount Ruapehu.