TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8298, 29 November 1906, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

Mr Lioyd George baa introduced into his Shipping Bill a clause if literally interpreted, might easily lead to a great deal oi! controversy and litigation. Anyone who can bo proved to nave induced anyone else to emigrate by false repiesentatiooa is to be liable, to various heavy penalties. We presume that this is directed primarily against the class b£ "immigration agents" who do a very profitable trade at Home by imposing on the oredulity of their clients. The Immigration Department in Canada- has had some trouble with the peoph of this kind; as there the large bonus offered for eaoh immigrant secured fur. nishes a strong incentive to dishonest practices. So far as New Zealand is concerned, occasional difficulties have arisen through the guileloasness ot ignorant people who have accepted too literally the rhapsodies of enthusiastic lecturers about the lands "flowing with milk and honey" in the Southern Seas. But generally speaking we believe New Zealand has little cause to fear criticism iu this respect.

Whatever else can ba Baid for or against Mr Haldane, he ia qertainly a businesslike aud practical, man; and bo is now doing bis beat to carry ous in detail the great scheme fir a General Army Stuff which ho fli'sfc submitted to publio criticism two months ago. The Minister for War doea «iot claim auy originality for his proposals, which indeed only attempt to oarryonfc the recommendations of tba Esher Commission, But Mr Haldane may at least olaim credit for this, that he baa realised the absurdity cf appointing a Chief-of-Staff without constituting a well-organised body of subordinates to support his authority and supplement his efforts. The new General Staff is to consist of 171 officers, of whom one-third will be stationed at Army headquarters, and the remainder in control of special com mands and districts. These officers are to aim at the creation of a homogeneous Imperial army, and to secure this end they are to devote themselves to the study of military affair? in theory and practice on the most progressive modem lines.

Mr HaJdane hopes that ultimately the influence of the General Staff'" may oe as beneficial and far-reaob-ing in England as it has become mi Germany and Japan; and the lack of t some such centralising and |co-. ordinaling authority has been so--severely felt in the past that any experiment in this direction, however, tentative, is- sure to effect some improvement in the British i military system. l . > < ;

The proportions-which have been*' assnmed'by the prize fund spontaneously forming in England to reward the inventor of the first saaaesafal" aeroplane show the general belief that the world is on the eve of th© great discovery. If reports which 5 hflve all the appearance of genuineuess are to be believed American in* venters have already experimented ' successfully with a' flying machine? that is heavier than air and that' lifts itself by mechanism. There are leas confident but exceedingly hopeful reports from half-a-dozen-other countries. The greatest mechanicians of the age are working with all their energies at the' solution of a problem which basso far baffled the keenest intellects,, but seems to be at last within the reach of practical science. It* faot, it is quite impossible to doubt that the construction ot a flying machine proper,, of an aeroplane aa distinct from, a dirigible balloon, will be effected in the very near future. Towards this result many modern industrial and scientific d?vßlopmeuts are'now con- '" verging. The working of metals and of fabrics has reached a high degree of perfection so that it is easy to combine strength with lightness in a measure hitherto undreamed of; while the construction of exceedingly light but extraordinarily powerful' motors has become one of the specialties \ of modern engineering —thanks to the motor "craze." We all know how muoh the motor car and its marvellous mechanism owea to the seemingly reokless manner in Wuiob immense soma of money have been lavished upon its development, and it is evident that if once a flying machine sweeps in midair from London to Manchester there will quickly bo the same extraordinary competition between rival makers and the same extravagant patronage cy eager purchasers. So that it is not too much to preaiot that within . ten years from the first successful flight aeroplanes will be owned in every civilised country and will be seen in every part of the world.