3°4 



The Review ot HevievkS. 



March M, 1906. 



♦'THE SIMPLE LIFE "—IN Ql^EENSLAND AND IN 



ENGLAND. 



■ Two articles in the World's Work deal with " the 

 simple lite '" — one by a woman, a pleasantly-written 

 paper on " Housekeeping in Queensland " • the 

 other by a man, describing a " gentleman crafts- 

 man's " <-xperiment in living, with his wife as house- 

 keeper, in a cottage at Oakridge, Glos. The (Queens- 

 land article is one of the few I have read giving a 

 really true, faithful picture of colonial life. The 

 writer says that in the district near Brisbani- ^^250 

 is thought a comfortable income ; her monthly bills 

 for a family of five — two adults, two children, a ser- 

 vant, and occasional visitors — comes to ^^14 8s., 

 including travelling, dress, pajx-rs, and all household 

 bills. One part of the article may be quoted, as it 

 is absolutely true, and its truth is very rarely real- 

 ised by English people: — 



Men and women alike have votes, and many women are 

 keen politicians, especially in the working class. News- 

 papers are universally read. Kxeryone cets a daily paper, 

 and often a weekly as well. Thoncrh we do much of our 

 own housework, we keep in touch with the lars;er world 

 outside. Knerlish and .Vmerican magazines are in larpe 

 demand, and a novel such as "The Marriage of \\illiam 

 .»8he" is read and disc\issed as soon as it appears Life 

 O'lt hevo is. I cannot help thinkinsr. larecr and freer than 

 in Ki'uland. With one youniJ: servant, there is always 

 Jilenty for the mother to do— jams, pickles, and cakes to he 

 made, sewing for oneself and the children. Still one finds 

 time for the flower-garden and keeping up one's reading. 



At Oakridge, Mr. Powell and his wife are trying, 

 as far as they can, a colonial life in England, and 

 also discovering that hou.sehold capabilities are not 

 inconsistent with high education. Mr. Powell, a 

 (^ambridge man of about forty, formerly a school- 

 master, occupies himself mainly in carpentering. 

 Living in a cottage — a real cottage — he is trying 

 whether an educated man, '' a gentleman cabinet- 

 maker," can make a living by woodwork of the very 

 best kind, and whether the opportunities of such a 

 life would be sufficiently satisfying. Apparently so 

 far he tinds that they are. The other side of the 

 Education Act is shown by his remark that they and 

 their compulsorv school attendance prevent the 

 boys from learning country crafts, and the girls from 

 learning household work. Voluntary dav attendance 

 and really good night-schools is his suggestion. " In 

 four hours at night I would engage myself to teach 

 children what it now takes them a whole week to 

 learn." Under his inspiration a workmen's club 

 alreadv exists, and that without financial help from 

 him. No man in the parish tips less ; no man could 

 realise more thoroughlv the mischief of the tipping 

 snd doling systems. In the football and cricket- 

 field, through this gentleman-mechanic, the best 

 public-school traditions are brought to the villagers. 

 In his succe.ssful kitchen gardening, and poultry and 

 bee-keeping also, he meets the villagers on their 

 own ground, and he takes pleasure in the fact that 

 they accept him so far as to come into his cottage in 

 a neighbourly way and sit down and talk. 



Things made bv a gentleman craftsman are not 



cheap. A kitchen table costs jQz : an oak and 

 syca-more one for ^7, with j£^ worth of woO"! put 

 into it. 



The Navy in the Unionist Decade. 



The chief distinction of the United Service Maga- 

 zine for February is a paper by Captain '" R.N."' on 

 ten years of naval administration. He Lakes occa- 

 sion from the change of Government to review the 

 naval changes during the ten years of Unionist ad- 

 ministration. The writer says: — 



Perhaps the most rem irkahle development in the 

 materiel of the fleet during the last ten years has heen 

 the evolution of the armoured cruiser, the almost complete 

 supersession of the torpedo-hoat 1 y the destroyer, and the 

 advent, as an effective weapon of naval war, of the sub- 

 marine, or more properly speaking, as far as this country 

 is concerned, of the subniersiiile. 



As regards personnel, the writer reports a con- 

 siderable amount of misgiving as to the newly- 

 adopted system of entry in course of training of 

 officers of the limited short service. The keeping of 

 the appointment of Sea Lords out of the political 

 arena is a happy and new departure. There has 

 been a great imprnvement of our naval and harbour 

 dockyards both at home and abroad. The reduc- 

 tion in the building programme, begun since Sir 

 John Fisher became First Sea Lord, is questioned, 

 for we are not maintaining the two-Power standard 

 with a sufficient margin. The writer records an un- 

 usual feeling, an element of unrest in the Service. 

 •• Apex," writing on the manning of the fleet, feels 

 that he cannot foretell the result of the introduc- 

 tion of the short-service svstem. 



Municipalisation in Excelsis. 



The Arena for January says that the Ciennan 

 town of Freiburg has carried the principle of muni- 

 cipilisation into practice very thoroughly : — 



In Freihiirg the municipal utilities are operated with a 

 view to lessening the cost and in other ways heneflting the 

 citizens, rather than with the object of merely making 

 monev : vet the showing, even from the latter view-point, 

 in the German municipality is creditable. In Freiburg, ac- 

 cording to our consul, the street cars, the gas. the electric 

 light, the water, the theatre, the slaughter-house, the pawn- 

 shop, the cemetery, the savings bank and the schools are 

 operated by the city, which indeed also controls a daily 

 paper, vineyards and building lots. T,a8t year the <ity 

 treasury realised, after all e.xpenses had been paid, 3478 

 dols. from the electric plant; 3581 dols. from the gas: 

 13.440 dols. from the cemetery: 221 dols. from the municipal 

 pawn-shop; 65,892 dols. rental from buildings owned by 

 the city; 71.315 dols. from the water department; and 4211 

 do's, from the slaughter-house. 



Many of the things operated by the municipality are 

 primarily for the benefit, protection, education, or develop- 

 ment of' the inhabitants. The pawn-shop, for example, is 

 operated so as to accommodate those who need loans, and 

 who would otherwise l>ecome victims of extortioners. An- 

 other institution for the benefit or convenience of the citi- 

 zens, and especially of the poorer members of society, id 

 the people's kitchen. Here good food is served at very 

 reasonable prices. The receipts from the kitchen last year 

 amounted to 27.806 dols. The city savings bank is also 

 another valuable ins'ituti'Mi, Iteing perfectly safe, and lend- 

 ing to stimulate thrift. The municipal theatre is regarded 

 bv the citizens as almost as important an educational in- 

 stitution as the city schools. Therefore the city each year 

 contributes liberally towards its maintenance. Last year 

 the outlay for the theatre was 89,837 dols Of tlHS amount 

 the city paid 32,606 dols. 



