The Rev 



EYIEWS 



TBMl'E,RAI<iCB A^D GEJSERAL LIFE ASSURANCE BUILDING, SVf'AJSSTON 



STREET. AlELBnURNE. 



If a maik is against this line the copy Is a sainple one. Will you read it carefully and then send 8s. 6d. either to youi news apent or to "The Review of Review; 



T. and G. Building, Melbourne, and receive it for 12 months. 



THE HISTORY OF THE MONTH. 



Melbourne, January 23, 1913. 



The political .surprise of the month 

 Mr. Deakin's has been Mr. Deakin's retirement, 

 Exit. Unlike the ante-climaxes which are 



customary among musical and 

 theatrical stars, there is every reason to believe that 

 Mr. Deakin's retirement is absolute and final. The 

 time chosen and the dramatic manner of the retire- 

 ment were characteristic of Mr. Deakin. Mr. 

 Deakin has, more than any other politician of his 

 time, made surpri'-ses fa.shionable. It may be 

 doubted whether he has served the best interests 

 of his partv bv relinquishing the leadership on the 

 e\e of a strenuous battle. Seeing that he does not 

 intend to be idle during the campaign or retire from 

 :icti\-e politics until the issue of the campaign has 

 been decided, a cleverer tactician might have judged 

 it to be politic in the interests of his party to keep 

 his resignation up his slee\-e until the numbers 

 should have been declared. Everybody, however, 

 regrets the reason of ill-health which has been the 

 determining factor in Mr. Deakin's resignation. His 

 is an horiourable and illustrious name in Australian 

 politics. He has rendered great services to Aus- 

 tralia, and in nothing more than by his efforts to 

 lay deep and broad the foundations on which the 

 Commonwealth should be built. Hi's great gifts 

 hiive made him worthy to stand with the most dis- 

 tinguished men of the Empire, and his admirers, 

 whose name is legion, will be disposed to say of him 

 that the hopes which he 'slew at his political death 

 were more than he slew in his life. 



y The choice of a successor to Mr. 



/^. The New Deakin in the Liberal leadership 



Leader. rested between Sir John Forrest and 



Mr. Joseph Cook, and the lot has 



fallen on Mr. Cook. Sir John was by many 



regarded as first favourite. He has commanding 



qualifications for the position. He is a big man in 



every sense — probably the biggest man in the pulilio 

 life of Australia to-day. He has been well de- 

 .scribed as a man of fine personal character, indom- 

 itable [)luck, sterling lovalty to his friends, ajid 

 absolutely frank in .his dealings with men. As in 

 this instance, he has more than once shown that he 

 can take defeat like a man, and his true character 

 is revealed in the remark made subsequent to the 

 election, that " the party's choice must be accepted, 

 and that members must rally round the new leader." 

 As the deputy leader of the party, but more on the 

 ground of service, Mr. Joseph Cook's prior claim 

 to the vacant leadership could scarcely be ques- 

 tioned. His party, by their votes, have recognised 

 that. Mr. Cook's political education has left him in 

 many respects the ablest man in the Liberal ranks. 

 He may not answer to all the requirements of a 

 popular leader. He has not Mr. Deakin's splendid 

 elorjuence, or Sar George Reid's power to entluise. 

 On the other side of the House, with ,1 

 solid Caucus backing, he would undoubtedly \)TO\x- 

 an ideal leader. As leader of the somewhat hete- 

 rogeneous Liberal Party, his task is not so easv or 

 his success so assured. 



XThe character of the new Liberal 

 Romantic leader is indicated in his career. 

 Career. Yrom " log-cabin to White House " 



represents a triumph in personal 

 achievement no more worthy than that of from col- 

 liery boy to first Liberal statesman of the Com- 

 monwealth. Mr. Cook began life as a colliery lx)y. 

 Born in Staffordshire, England, in i860, at the 

 small mining town of Silverdale, Mr. Cook was 

 early 'sent to work in a coal mine. Despite the 

 disadvantages of his surroundings arid the charac- 

 ter of his employment, he realised the possibilities 

 of education and set himself to the task of acquir- 

 ing knowledge. His studies led him to anticipate 

 that he would have greater opportunities of suc- 

 ceeding in a new country than in England, and at 



