14 



The Review of Reviews. 



Jnlu 1. 1900. 



This is sorr\' reading. The end ol' 



Purity in course is not yet. Mr. Crick mav 



Administratiop. have to defend himr.elf. Mr. Willis 



may yet return. But the story as 

 far as the mere finding goes is enough to cause a 

 good deal of heart-searching on the part of electors. 

 According to our s\stem of Government, we put in 

 charge of important State departments, at high 

 salaries, men whom we have elected to Parliament, 

 and who not only may have no special business 

 fitness for ihat work, but men whose moral characier 

 is sometimes such that they are not fit for high 

 positions. When will ue recognise that a man's 

 private character ought to enter into considera- 

 tion with electors when they are. selecting men 

 to reji^'esent them. Men will not deal, except 

 from expediency, with ])ul)lic matters on a 

 different basis to that on which thev treat their 

 own. Consequently we witness the jiathetic spec 

 tacle occasionally of Ministers of the Crown iisin- 

 their positions for j)ersonal ends. New South Wales 

 is to be congratulated upon cleaning up this jjolitical 

 mess. Not a stone should be left unturned to bring 

 to justice every offender against the pul>!ic weal. 



Empire Day has again come and 



Empire gone, and as I prophesied a vear 



"^y* ago, the general tone of the speeches 



was vastly higher. There was in the 

 demonstrations (and the observance of the dav was 

 general and hearty), as true a patriotic ring, but the 

 tones of moral character in Empire building and of 

 universal peace were quite the dominant ones. It is 

 strange how public opinion changes. Even from 

 some quarters where a few years ago the chief thing 

 emphasised was the necessity of a bellicose spirit 

 with a turn for bjccaneering in order to create an 

 empire, there was this year a plaintive kind of sug- 

 gestion that moral worth was the chief necessity. 

 It was not stated as emphatically as that. It was 

 only a suggestion of a glimmering of truth. We de- 

 voutly hope, howe\er, that the good work may go 

 on. But in most cases the note was true and clear, 

 and it made the hearts of honest men beat high to 

 see the wider o.tlook and hear the more manly 

 expression of the great basic truths of nationhood 

 and worldwide brotherhood. 



The new Premier of West Australia, 



West Australia. V'" u^'^'i'^^u" ^^°°'^' ,^^'r ^u''^"^ ^ 

 sketch of the proposals of the Go- 

 vernment. His first announcement, 

 to the effect that he anticipates a deficit of _;^ii8,ooo 

 at the end of the financial year, comes as a slight 

 shock, seeing that big surpluses are coming to be 

 quite an ordimrv thing in the States. A second 



shock, but of another character, came with the an- 

 nouncement that the first economy would be effected 

 by reducing salaries from ^looo to ^^Soo. This is 

 delightful and most refreshing, and indicates a spirit 

 that has been lacking in many of our politicians. 

 Mr. Moore and his Cabinet are to be congratulated. 

 The proposal to establish a tax on unimproved land 

 values, with the double object of gaining additional 

 revenue, ancl of compelling owners to use their land 

 to the be.st advantage, is one that the other States 

 might well follow. A progressive policy is to be 

 carried out with regard to land settlement ; liquor 

 law reform in the direction of Local Option is pn - 

 mised, also economy and effective administration. 

 The programme looks to be one of the healthiest 

 that West Australia has had for some time, and her 

 sister States will wish her heartilv everv success. 



I hripugh the baseless charge of a 

 The Success j,^^^^;^ individual that the Rev. A. 

 nf Victorian ,, ,- , ,-., ■ c c ^u 



Wages Boards. ''^- ''''o^''' ^s Chairman ot one oi tlie 

 Wagrs Boards in Melbourne, had 

 given his vote in favour of " sweating," that gentle- 

 man ha.s, in clearing himself of the imputation, inci- 

 dentally paid a high compliment of this method of 

 settling tr.ide disputes. Anyone knowing anything 

 of it must be enthusiastic over it. Mr. Edgar statetl 

 that he had been Chairman of three Wages Boards, 

 in the meetings of which decisions had been given 

 on many thousands of details, and that on only on'' 

 occasion he had had to give a casting vote. It wa> 

 then given to the employes ; but that is only by the 

 way. The evidence is most opportune and valuable, 

 because it shows that the representatives of the em- 

 ployers and emploxes, equal in number, do n' :: 

 vote partially and solidly. Reading between th 

 lines of the declaration, one can see the reasonini;. 

 and convincing, the reasonableness, the impartiality, 

 the give-and-take that ought to characterise meeting-^ 

 where opposing parties gather to find a commrn 

 ground of agreement. Wages Boards beat Arbitra- 

 tion Courts hollow as a method of smoothing away 

 trade difficulties. The simplicitv of the thing is its 

 charm and its success. 



Mr. Fred. T. Derham, of Melbourne. 



4 frre is appealing for help to work a free 



Kindergarten. Kindergarten, or child garden, in 



one of the Melbourne suburbs where 

 there is an abundance of children with no play- 

 ground but the street. E\erv student of sociology 

 knows what a training ground of juvenile crime that 

 is, and no sweeter philanthropy can be imagined 

 than that wh'ch seeks to make child-life enjoy itself 

 and to preser\'e its innocence. One can't help 

 noticing, as one moves round a city like Melboum<> 

 or Sydnev, that the children do not re«lly know 

 how to play, and when they do have their games, 

 there is not the delicious thrilling abandon that one 



I 



