TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8234, 12 September 1906, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

The reoent complaint by the Wellington Chamber of Commerce as to the ineapaoity of sixth standard boys to write legibly and do ordin ary oommeroial arithmetic accurately found an echo at tha masting of the

managers of the Ohristohurah I'echuical classes on Friday. The director in his report referred to the weakness being observable in the work of the students attending the classes. In this respect Ohristohuroh is evidently no better than Wellington, and the matter ia sufficiently important to warrant very earnest cousidovaniou by the education authorites. Enormous sums of money are spent on education every year. But the publio will have its confidence iu the educational system of the colony very severely shaken if the beat defence that can bo made to the charges levelled against it by commercial men ia fhat "the ctiildren cannot bn expected to learn the multiplicity of Bubj9ats iucluded iu tiio syllabus." If the children ia our Sfcato sonocls are not to be taught properly "the three R's," the curriculum of any dame's school, what is the use of trying to oram a lot of other knowledge into them?

In a report submitted to the Hackney Publio Health Committee, the publio analyst, Ur Leo Taylor, stages that in one gramme of ordinary flock used for bedding he hap discovered 7,590,000 colonies of bacteria, whereas a similar weight of sewage yielded the smaller number of 6,400,000. After gaining this alarming knowledge, he cautiously delayed his report until he had the opportunity of visiting a flock factory to examine the material on the spot, and ascertain where the contamination actually occurred. Dr Taylor adds a supplemental report after his experience at the factory. "The process is extremely simple and devoid of sanitary precautions," he writes. "Old rags of every description, but consisting largely of old clothing in the most filthy oondition, are received at the faofiory in bundles, and, without any preliminary treatment, are placed in a maohine ' wbioh tears the cloth in pieaes, rejecting the buttons and metallio substances, 'i'he shredded cloth then passes under cover to a revolving 'devil,' where the long teeth further break up the olotb, and where, by a current of air, exhausted through a flue into a settling chamber, the dust is removed. Owing to the friction a certain amount of heat is evolved, so that, in addition to being freed from dust, the'flock,' which the material has now become, is dried, and leaves the maohine free from odour. This is the whole process. No attempt is made to cleanse the material beyond the agitation in a current of air, and although this removes the foul odour, it cannot remove the filth with which much of the olotb is impregnated, and whiob only awaits favourable conditions of moisture and warmth to prove a kind of hot-bed. The revolting condition of the old clothing going into the , machine, and the absence of all ' attempt at sterilisation, were the noticeable features of the manufacture. It is very evident that the use of fleck thus prepared is a sorii ous danger to publio health."

Pearson's Magazine has a very in tereating account by Mr 0, H. Jones of the manner in which locomotive engines pick up water while running at full speed. In New Zealand the locomotive draws up at a station and receives water from overhead tanks while it is stationary. With modern passenger expresses, however, standing time is reckoned to be lost time, and stoppages must be avoided wherever possible. Locomotives working fast passenger trains, we are told, consume from twenty five to fifty gallons of water every mile they run, the quantity varyiug>ith tbe weight of the train, the state of the weather, and other conditions. Stoppages used to be muoh more frequent, therefore, under the old conditions than the v trafflo itself warranted, and ingenious minds set themselves to <devise a method of watering the engines keeping the trains standing. The result was the introduction of the water trough along the permanent way, from which an engine can pick up from one tc two thousand gallons of water in about fifteen seconds when running at full speed. To accomplish this, open troughs, about a quarter of a mile long, are laid between the rails, and the tender of each engine is fitted with a hinged sooop, whioh can be lowered so that its nose dips under and skims the surface of tho water in the trough as the train travels over it, the speed foroing the water to rush up the inclined sooop into the tank of the tender. To wick up water Is a simple operation, but, even to the enginedriver, it is an exciting incident on the journey. As the train ruahes along, both driver and fireman are on the alert to locate the position of tbe troughs. While the driver, with his' hand on the regulator, looks out ahead, the fireman watches for the trough, and the instant that the tender ia over it, he, with a quick turn of the handle of u screw, lowers the sooop and notes the rapid rise of the wa*er in the tender as indicated by a gauge. He must be prompt in reversing the screw just before the tender is full, otherwise the water will spout out in great volume through the overflow pipes and flood the train. The trough" are usually from fifty to seventy miles apart, a tender carrying generally about 3,000 gallons of water.

At the Colonial Conference of the Farmers' Union, Mr J. G. Wilson ipresident) touched upon two important political questions olcsely affecting farmers. He no doubt represented the views of the farming community when he protested against the attitude of those people who aemand a reduction of duties on artioles that the farmer produues and an increase on those that he, in common with the general publio, consumes, 'lhe farmer, he said, is the largest manufacturer iu the colony, his dutj being to munufaoturo produce from the soil, and it would be just as well <f those politician?, who apparently regard the farmer as fair game for taxation, should consider the part he plays in maintaining the colony. With regard to the question of tariff revision, Mr Wilson does the farmers some service by reminding the public that .there is something to be said on both sides. Dwellers in the cities are rather'apt to talk aB if they were the only people entitled to give an opinion upon it. The Farmers' Union being devoted

to the freehold cause, is naturally disappointed with the Govertiment'a land policy, as disoioßed iu the Budget. Mr Wilson said the proposals were an absolute capitulation to the Socialist element, and cbey can hardly receive more severe criticism than was passed upon them during the subsequent discussion.