Review of RevtewB, IfTjOG. 



TO MY READERS. 



Mr. W. T. Stead's inspiring message in the English " Review of Reviews,'' which I reprint on 

 the two preceding pages, will send a thrill through readers of " The Australasian Review of Reviews." 

 All that he wishes " The Review of Reviews " to be in Britain I devoutly desire, and he desires, " The 

 Australasian Review of Reviews " to be in Australasia. No better opportunity for a heart to heart talk 

 with my readers could be than that afforded by the change made in the price charged for " The 

 Review of Reviews," when it is brought within the reach of everyone, and there is no financial barrier 

 to the poorest taking it. 



Here in Australasia we have opportunities not afforded to the peoples of older lands. We are not 

 held down by centuries of custom, and are somewhat in the position of a young man setting out in 

 life with no unpleasant past to live down, no bad habits to break, no conservative traditions to shake 

 off. The foundations of our social order are being laid. Untold possibilities lie before us in national 

 wealth. In another hundred years our population will be immense. Our huge area of land will be 

 peopled by millions, and if one sets his ear to the future, he can hear the cry of those millions be- 

 seeching us to lay the foundations of our liberties deep and true. On our policy depends their happi- 

 ness or misery. 



What an opportunity we have ! Class distinctions are almost unknown to us. We have not the 

 chasms separating class from class that exist in the old world. The very air of our lands, sweeping 

 freely over our great expanses, seems to breathe into us ideas that make these distinctions contemptible. 

 We have no State Church. All creeds stand upon the same line. There is no favour to any. 



Of course the individualist whose .be-all and end-all is himself, and who regards Society as a fair 

 field for exploitation, is here as elsewhere. The creed of " Every man for himself, and the devil 

 take the hindmost," is implicitly believed in bv some. Great national vices are already with us, and 

 are assuming alarming proportions. Drink, gambling, and the social evil lift their heads high. Mal- 

 administration of laws and political corruption, though not common, are not unknown to us. 



Australasia's future depends on the attitude of the people of to-day. If it is to be bright, the 

 Individualist's creed must give place to the only sane one of every man for others, and all help the 

 weakest. The blood that flows in our veins also must be pure and our moral natures must be untainted 

 if the best ideals are to be realised. 



I have no hesitation in saying that I have a passion for national, for civic righteousness. I believe 

 that correctness of life in personal conduct is only part of our great duty. The splendid ideal of 

 loving service must tower up level with the ideal of personal integrity. The field of social service 

 never held a harvest riper for the gathering than it does to-dav, and the whole duty of man is not ob- 

 served unless he works in it. 



Government has in the past been left largely in the hands of men of moderate or low ideals. This 

 is speaking generally. We can show some brilliant exceptions. But there have been too few who have 

 entered Parliamentary and Municipal life with convictions and with a passion for doing good, who have 

 looked upon these departments of life as fields in which to battle for the social redemption of mankind. 



The cry of Australasia for the Australasians, I echo, not in any narrow and parochial sense, but 

 with a conviction that in these sunny lands there is an ideal to be reached not possible yet in older 

 ones, and with a desire that the best that is attainable should be gained by them : an Australasia which is 

 morally, mentally, physically, socially, industrially the best country under the sun : an Australasia where 

 there is neither financial extreme, the pauper nor the the millionaire : an Australasia whose conditions are 

 so fair, and whose legislation is so just and equitable that it is easy to do right and difficult to do 

 wrong: where there is a fair wage for fair work, and fair work for a fair w-age ; where there are 

 friendly relations between employer and employe ; while at the same time we recognise the existence 

 and claims of other nations, and aim at the cultivation of a world-wide sentiment of brotherhood. 



To this end these things are necessary — Extension of government, placing in the hands of the 

 people more complete power, the election to Parliament and Municipal offices of men of clean personal 



