TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8275, 31 October 1906, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

Mr Deakin can now point to Imperial example for turning his coat, says the Sydney Sunday Times. Tbe Campbeil-Baunerman Ministry, which sailed into office largely on the breeze it raised by denunciations of "bloated" military and naval expenditure, has, after cutting down tbe Estimates by a million or two, just discovered that the Millennium has not yet arrived, and o serious contraction of the cost of defence is impracticable. "No single nation," says the Secretary for War, "is able to reduce its armaments. We cannot afford to be weak. We must put our forces on tbe best possible footing." True, he adds that the day is appioaobiog "when democracies will themselves initiate a reduction," but then better men that Mr Haldane believed 1900 years ago, in Judea, that fchw reign of universal peace was coming, and belter men than be have believed it every oentury si noe. As for democracies being so peculiarly paoific, the greatest of all democracies in ancient and modern times up almost to tbe present day—the Roman and Frenob Republios—were the 'most warlike and aggressive Poweis ever known.

It has long been recognized that any country desirou3 of occupying a foremost place amongst the nations of the world has its scientific obli gations just as much as its political responsibilities. The appearance of a new "Flora of New Zealand," we are gratified to note, remarks a contemporary, shows that the Government is well aware of this fact, and we heartily congratulate the Ministry upon the production of a work which is assured,, not merely of loOal approbation, but of a warm welcome wherever tbe science of Botauy is cultivated. It forms n very agreeable contrast to the bulk of the publications which have beeu issued under the auspices of the Government. It was in July, 1864, more than fortytwo years ago, that Sir Joseph I-looker's masterpiece, "The Handbook of the New Zealand Flora" was published. Since that time, a small but devoted body of workers has been steadi'y adding to our knowledge of New Zealand plant life, and this to such an extent, that uver a thousand species of flowering plants and ferns, in addition to these cited by Hooker, have been placed on record.

The advancement of Mr Oscar Straus, of New Vork, to the im portant position of Minister of Commerce and Labour in the United States was announced iu our cables recently, and this appointment has naturally been received with great satisfaction by the Jews of America. Mr Oscar Straus, whose two brothers aie well-known New York financiers and philanthropists, has had a long diplomatic career. He was first appointed United States Minister to Turkey by President Cleveland. So ably did he fulfil the duties of his posit'ou that, though Demoorat, he was left un-

disturbed bj the change of ad* ministration, and was reappointed by President McKinley. Under President Roosevelt be has retained the confidence of the Republicans, and be was subsequently appointed to tbe etrbaHsy at St. Petersburg —a position which iu view of the relations between America and Russia is one of the most import' aut in the United States diplomatic service. Mr Straus is a well-known business man and an author of some repute on commercial sub jects. He represents tbe United States on the Hague Internationa". Tribunal; and in bis newcapaoity he may be expected to justify the confidence that four administrations, irrespective of party politics, have now reposed in him.

In spite of the distressful conditions. in tbe South, where the lynching mania is still rampant, Mr Booker T. Washington, the distinguished Amerioau negro eduoa tor, is convinced that the salvation of the blaok race must be worked out largely in tbe Southern States. He has just expressed bis views before tbe National Negro Business League in convention at Atlanta, Georgia. Mr Washington, premising that ''an inch of progress is worth more than a yard of fault-finding says that in Georgia the negroes are learning tbe lesson of real progress at a rapid rate. They own at least £4,000,000 worth of taxable property, and in other sections of the South they have made almost equal progress. He had no hesitation in reaffirming his former opinion that the Southern States offer the best permanent abode for the negro masses, because in no pait of the country are his people making more progress or likely to make more. Mi Washington said he did not share the fear that immigration will retard or prevent the progress of the negroes. Tbe millions of unoccupied and unusued acres in tbe South have yet to be utilised, and the present scarcity of all forms of labor oannot always remain unsatisfied. A few thousand strong and thrifty foreigners in every county "will go far toward quiokening our energy and sharpening our wits by bringing their hea'tby competition, which is very much needed in the South. Our salvation is not to be found in keeping another race out of a territory, but in learning to get as much out of the soil, out of our occupations or business, as any other race oan gee out of theirs."