TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8268, 23 October 1906, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

Kemarkin'c on the 'Death for Death' ory of the "B'ack Hundred" in Russia, the London Times says:—"Here again it must be noted that it is the moderate and constitutional politicians who are to suffer. It is not the terrorists, but the constitutional Democrats, who are marked dowc for assassination. We have still to see whether the Government J will try the experiment of ruling i without any 00-operation from these enlightened and patriotio Russians. To all unprejudiced onlookers, well wishers towards Russia, such a policy cuuld only seem a counsel of despair. In oneAtriking instance it has practically failed already. No dearer proof could be afforded of the Government's powerlessness to deal with the revolution in the face of the general indifference of society than has been given during the last few weeks in Pollaad.

If the abandoned steamer Port Stephens has nol; already been carried on to the rooky ooaats of the Auokland Isles, and battered to pieces in the wild swirl of waters which smashed up the Anjou on Gape Bristow, or hit ud against a floating berg, there is a rich prize waiting to be pioked up by some enterprising captain. But there are long odds against anyone coming into the Bluff with the fort Stephens in tow, and if this valuable steamer clears the islands which have snared many another good ahip, she may drift away to the Great Harrier and oe ground to pieces in the ioe for aught anyone knows of her fate. And, but for the timely appearance of the Raveaaoourt, not only the ship but her crew might have disappeared In the mysterious South, leaving a small gap in the mercantile marine, aud a handful of widowed and bereaved womeafolk to hope against hope that a miracle would happen to bring their relatives home. It also oooura to ue that it is a bit of a gamble with fate that a big steamer should leave New Zealand for Australia light in trim, and, consequently, more likely to get knooked about in rough weather, with only about a fortnight's provisions on board. A

broken shaft simply means that unless the vessel is exceptionally lucky her crew are faced with the prospect of a lingering death in the moßt unfrequented part of the ocean.

The September Soribner oelebrates the thirtieth anniversary of the invention of the telephone in an article by Mr John Vaughan. He q>lotea statistics to show the tremendous growth of the telephone in America since Mr bell obtained his first patent:—-To-day the exchanges ate numbered by the thousand, the telephones ay the million. Various industries, unknown 30 years ago, but now sources of employment to many thousands of workers, depend entirely on the telephone for support. Numerous factories making load sheathing, dynamoc, motors, generators, batteries, office equipments, oables, and many other appliances, would have to close down, and thus throw their operatives into idleness and misery, if the telephone bell should cease to ring. The Bell Companies employ over 87,000 persons, and, it may be added, pay them well. Many of these employees have families to maintain; others support their parents, or aid younger brothers and sistere. It is safe io say that 200,000 people look to the telephone for their daily bread. These figures may be supplemented by the number of telephones in use (5,698,000), by the number of miles of wire (6,043,000), in the Bell lines, and by the number of conversations (4,479,500,000) electrically conveyed in .1905. The network of wire connects more than 33,000 cities, towns, villages and hamlets, Mr Bell, who is stili alive, is a Scotchman, having been born at Edinburgh, in 1847. As professor of vooal physiology in Boston University, he was trying to perfect an apparatus to make language sounds visible to deaf mutes, when he became convinced that articulate speech could be conveyed electrically.

As the safety of New Zealand from invasion depends primarily upon the superiority of the Imperial Navy over any possible combination of foreign navies the rise of the big battleship is a matter of deep concern to our people. It was stated in our oable iressages recently that the Frerch Budget Committee had reliuauished the ide<* of reducing by one half the six battleships which had been arranged for in the official naval programme. This follows very olosely upon the partial yielding of the British Government to the Naval Lords in a similar attempt to economise expenditure by reducing the number of big battleships to be proceeded with. Takn together, the incidents dwtuonstrate the convincing character of the arguments which can be adduced in support of the advantages possessed by warships of the Dreadnought class. The bearing of this upon the all-important question of naval supremacy cannot be overlooked by those who have the welfare of the Empire at heart. The appearanoe of the big battleships threatens to reduce to inferiority a great number of ships which are exceedingly modern. These "Dreadnoughts," which all the great Powers are now hastening to build and launch, have the speed of cruisers, a protective plating which renders them almost impregnable against any but the heaviest guns, and a range of heavy fire which would enaole them' to batter down from a safe distance warships that were the strongest known only a few years ago.