TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8261, 15 October 1906, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

Mr Bent's Victorian Gambling Suppression Bill has been circulated. It is a s'ringent measure, and contains some novel provisions. Every lottery, by whatever name it may bo called, is declared to be a common nuisance. It is provided, among other things, that tHs will not apply to sweepstakes on a racecourse, if the total amoun* subscribed does not exceed £5, if the contributions do not exceed 5s each, and if the whole sum contibuted goes to the winner without any deductions. Missing word oompetituoni and all similar competitions wherein money or any valuable consideration is giveu, are deeraod illegal lotteries. It piovidea that any member of the police force may at any time without warrant arrest any person found gambing or wagering in the street, road, highway, or public place, and the publication of betting information in the newspapers is declared illegal, as also is the issue of circulars or cards by tipsters, the exhibition of betting placards aud notices. Houses in which games of onance are played are declared unlawful. It is also provided that no race meeting is to be held by any olufc on more that 16 days in any one year. amusa

When tar is used for waterproofing ordinary roads, Bays Engineering, i; has, to ail intents, disappeared at the end of 12 mcnths. At first it gives freedom from dust, but it results in a terrioly greasy, slimy mud, which contains suflieien«•. tar to ruin clothes or carpets. It is also worse for side-slip than any mud which motor vehicles kuve yet encountered. At first the inhabitant of houses bordering on tarred roadß rejoice in the absence of du«t, but after tv time it was found there was dust, and it made ail textile fabrics of a dirty hue, which could n 1 c be removed oy any amount of washing. Examination ehows that this is duo to small particles of tar io. the oust. It is said that the best kuowu waterproof coating is "tarmac." It consists of blast-fur-naoe slag, broken whilst hot, and im.ue J lately immersed n hot tar. .The tai oils peaetrate right through the slug, so that it will consolidate into a homogeneous waterproof coat iug when rolltd. Much fclast-fur-nace slag Is, however, over-limed, so that the free lime will slake, and the coating be broken up. Forgepig slag should, therefore, alone be ÜBed. On the Thames Embankment turred slag is now being laid, but a strung feeling exists that the material is too soft for heavy traffic. '

The cable messages referring to the new "modus vivendi" between Great Britain and the United States regarding the Newfoundland fisheries are too fragmentary to give a clear idea of the full effect of the arrangement. The Gloucester fishing fleet constitutes one of the largest ' branches of America's fishing industry. It comprises some 400 schooners, carrying 8,000 men, and it operates largely on the coasts of Newfoundland aud Labrador. It is naturally to the interest of those engaged or otherwise interested in this industry that the present Ameiioan duty on foreign-caught fish should be maintained, since the free admis sion of fish to euoh a market as the United States would mean strong oompetitiou from the Newfoundlanders themselves. Apparently this is at the bottom of the policy nxpressed in the Newfoundland Bait Act, which excludes American fishermen from the right of fiahing for, or purchasing, bait in Newfoundland waters. The result of that measure last year, as described by a Newfoundland journalist, was evidently a serious matter for the Gloucester fisherfolk. "The oodfishing trawlers fiom Gloucester," he says "who operated on the Grand Banks were excluded from the bait areas on our east' and south coasts during the summer of 1905, and the herring vessels from the same port which sought cargoes on our west coast during November and Deoember- were equally unfortunate, only fifteen loading there the past season, against fiftyfive in 1904, a result mainly due to the colony's restrictive regulations, in spite of the fact that American citizens have fishing rights there under the treaty of 1818." It is rather strange to find a Newfoundlander admitting that Americans have fishing rights under that treaty, because the prevalent belief in the colony Beems to ba that Newfoundlaud's right to act as the sovereign power within her own territorial waters was not abrogated by the treaty. Be that as it may, the colonial Legislature did prevent Newfoundlanders from selling to or working with the Americans, and the Gloucester fishers' season was a total failure. The new arrangements apparently puts Americans and Newfoundlanders oo much, if not exactly, the same footing.