TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8105, 27 March 1906, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

Mr C. L. Marlatft, of the Departs raent of Agrioulture in Washington* has prepared a statement as to the loss by| insect pesta in the United States ,eaoli year. He notes that the annual losses in all plant products of the soil, both in tbe growing and in tbe stored state, together with those in live stock, exceed the entire expenditure of the national Government, including the pension roll, and the maintenance of the army and the navy. Plaeing the value of these products at 5,000,000,000 dollars per year, he notes an annual shrinkage, due to insect peste, of fully ten per cent,—in many cases 50 per cent.but, at 10 per cent., 5,000.000.000 dollars is "the minimum yearly tax which insects levy upon the products of the farm."

The Premier recently spoke of further land endowments to education.. There would probably be little dissatisfaction wifch an endowment in aid of free text-books* says School Inspector Strachan in his annual report. Increases in salary have lately been given to several branches of the public service. This would be a free gift ; to the'neople # . In America it is by Act mandatory in twelve States that books be provided free. Throughout, the Union 92- cities of over 20,000 inhabitants find it possible to provide free books. Philadelphia is a city of 1 : ,293,607 people. It began to supply free books in all grades of Hhe public schools in the year 18*18-. The total> amount of land donated to the several States of the American Unions for educational purposes since 1785 is 78;659,439 acresi which is more "than the area, of New Zealand.

The hairdressers and tobacconists* of Wellington are taking stops tode-, finitely fi;x the hours during which thay may keep open their establishments. The ha«ve sent jointly a petition to> the»City Council; asking: for the amendment of the requisition under which the recent prosecutions- against W. F. Ross for a breach of tbe. requisition failed on tbe groud that he was only a tobaooon ist and' not 1 a hairdresserand' tobacconist combined.' Ih addition to this separate petitions have- beensigned by the tobacconists on their own behalf asaing the Council! to fife the same- Hours as were prescribed by the* former Requisition the idea being that by this means the difficulty of discriminating between 8' "tobacconist" and a "hairdresser and' tobacconist"' will' ba obviated. The Council's inspector.' is now verifying the signatures to tbe petitions) and the City Count oil will deal with them in, due course*

The Shop Assistants' Unionj of Sydney,, are perturbed that theState's emigration office at London has been drawing attention to awealth of wages in New South Wales that does not exifct; TheUnion has learned that the Govern, ment'a representatives at Home are endeavouring to induce British shop assistants to pack their kits and trek to New South Wales, where drapers'' assistants receivean > average wase of £2 17s a week* and grocers' assistants reoeive an average of £2.10s a week. The Secretary of the Sydney Union wrote to the Labour Counoil and said that the average wage, at a high estimate, was only £2. A representative of the Assistants' Union informed a recent meeting that the average- wage for males was less than £-2: a week,, and a. lady delegate stated that the- wagespaid to women ranged from Ts<6d: to. 10s and 12s 6d a week.

Tbe landless cottars of Barra, in the Western Islandß of Scotland, have broken out into open revolt and seized a neighbouring island. For a long time past they have been petitioning the Congested Districts Board for Scotland to hase the island of Vatersay, the property of Lady Gordon Cathuarb, bought and divided among them in small holdings, but without success. Vatersay lies about one mile south of tbe main island of Barra. It is an excellent island, rich in. grazing and with good arable ground. In the early part of last century it was occupied by sixty or more small tenants, who were afterwards cleared out of it. The cottars are mostly young fishermen who live in wooden huts along the shore of Castlebay, being unable to obtain house sites anywhere for themselves or their families. All lawful means having failed they appear to have taken the law into their own hands. Several boats oruwded with fishermen, having flags flying and a piper playing, crossed to' Vatersay. The fishermen took possession of the island and divided it up into holdings, which later on they propose to cultivate. They intend to build houses for themselves.

At Bedford College, London, Mr G. H. Wood, F.S.S., addressed a meeting convened by the Women's Industrial Council on "Th« Economio Position of Women as Wageearners." He said that during the last fifty years some very remarkable changes had taken place. For instance, in agriculture in 1851 there were three men tu one woman', but now there were 18 men to each woman. That made it obvious that women had left agriculture more than men. Perhaps the chief women's industry, apart from domestic service, was the cotton trade. There, in 1895, men and women were practically equal, but in 1901 there were 10 women to every 7 men. In the lace trade, on the other hand, men seemed to be slowly displacing women. While in the las'; 50 years the number of males employed in the industry had grown from 9,000 to 13,000, the number of females bad fallen from 52,000 to 24,000. Uenerally speaking, women seemed to be getting hold of the lighter oentralised forms of employment. Daring the past 20 years women's wages, had increased in cotton, wool and worsted and hosiery, but had lost in other trades.