TOPICAL READING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8336, 19 January 1907, Page 4

TOPICAL READING.

On a man being arrested for, crime it is expected that the police will caution him that anything he may say will be given in evidence against him. "This custom," recently observed a London magistrate, "is a very foolish one, I have carefully considered it during my experience at the Bar, and as a magistrate, and it has always seemed to me veryfoolish to maintain the caution. There may be an outrcy in the Press as to insufficiency of evidence in a murder trial which might cause a great deal of anxiety to the Home Secretary, who might be perplexed as to what to do. It may be possible to prevent all this by not checking * the confession. A prisoner may be going to say something which would at that time be strong evidence of innocence; he is stopped, and when he makes the same statement before a jury, the jury say 'All this has been concocted since.'" The latest device for breaking boys of the cigarette habit comes from Alleghany, Pennsylvania. It is a drastic, but effective method, invented by the choirmaster of one of the churches for his choirboys.' It consists in giving the boys "smokr ers," at which pipes alone are smoked. Mr J. R. Dodsworth, the choirmaster, gives prizes to the best performers, every boy who can smoke a pipe without making himself ill receiving a sum varying from 3s to 4s, according to the amount smoked. The boy ,who' can last out to the bitter end get's 2s extra. Mr Dodsworth declares .that in nine cases out of ten his method cures the boys of the cigarette habit. The smoking contests are open to boys between the ages of 8 and 14. Naturally enough, older members of the choir are not included, as a cure in their case would be somewhat expensive. Mr Dodsworth has used this method for some years. In connection with the efforts now being made by Japan to secure predominance in China, the following excerpt from a report of the ActingCommercial Attache to his Majesty's Embassy at Pekin on the foreign trade of the country is of interest : "China has begun to awaken to some, at any rate, of her needs, which are many. This thirst for foreign knowledge has led to the adoption of foreign things and foreign ways. . . . Round the corner the road is being repaired, and a fine steam roller is crushing the metal into the ground, and a few yards beyond stands a galvanised iron shed containing a fire engine. Many of these articles, such as the hats and dressi are supplied by Japan, but others, and the most expensive, are of European make, .the steam roller, for example, bearing the name of a well-known British manufacturer. In addition, cotton mills, flour mills, and other industrial enterprises, entirely in Chinese hands, are springing up, and the awakening of China warns the foreign manufacturer and merchant to be on the alert. Hundreds of native newspapers are now publishecV in China, and sent broadcast over the land, and the Japanese especially are taking advantage of their advertising columns to vigorously push their trade." The Parks Committee of the London County Council recently reported that during the year ended September 30th last 24,749 games of bowls were played on 74 greens, 2,904 games of I cricket on 45 pitches, 1,535 games of croquet on 31 courts, 16,228 games of football on 231 pitches, 2,246 games of hockey on 39 pitches, 120 games of lacrosse on 7 pitches, 102,649 games of tennis on 476 courts, 2,063 games of quoits on 36 pitches. In two years the number of games at bowls has increased by 10,000, of cricket by 4,000, of football by 2,000, of lawn tennis by 42,000, and of "quoits by 1,300. Croquet has made little progress, and lacrosse compared with last year, has fallen in popularity from 251 games to 8 120. | Golf links are provided on Black-1 heath, Clapham, Streatham, and Tooting Commons. Basket ball is played at Battersea Park, Blackheath, and Horniman Gardens. The number of cricket and football pitches, judging by the applications, is only equal to half the demand.