Other Notarf.r Rooks of the Month. 



545 



of the growing inadequacy of Parliaments to minister 

 to the wants ot the British Empire. The talking 

 machine was invented in the prc-printing days, and 

 to attempt the difficult art of governance without 

 the all-powerful aid of the Press is to court disaster. 

 All this is too true, but there is a remedy, and 



r^,f.i . :y\ [I!, ir. .".i/ -.,.•.'. 



Mr. Paulet St John Mildraay. 

 " fjui-qu""." .iiitlior of " The Supremacy of Public Opinion." 



" Quisquc " makes the practical suggestion " that 

 the institution of one official gazette for the whole 

 Empire would meet a great pul>lic want, and 

 'lial the great work of the Empire's unifiration 

 liould reap a rich harvest from such political 

 rultivation." 



This is no book of idle criticism ; it is compact of 

 sense, and should be noted by all those responsible for 

 remoulding our Constitution as worthy of full con- 

 sideration. One trembles to think of the influence 

 which might be wielded by the editor of such a journal. 

 The official organ of the English-speaking race ! 

 .■\gainst such a rival even the Thuvderer would speak 

 with an exceedingly feeble \oice. and the Premiership 

 would no longer be the highest honour which could 

 fall to the ambitious politician. " Quisque " sees a 

 prototype alread)' existing in the London Gazelle. But 

 to this should be added a soul and such corporate 

 members as at present are dispensed with by that 

 lymphatic monument of typographical torpidity. 

 W ho has not seen the olt-quoted authority " from 

 the London Gazette " ? How many among the millions 

 have ever handled a copy of the only official organ of 

 the Government every line published by authorit\ , 

 and with the approval of King and Cabinet? If it 

 be be?iond the vision of our quidnuncs to realise tht 

 importance of " Quisque's " patriotic advice, it is at 

 least po.ssible for them to adopt the vital suggestion 

 that when next our " head-men " meet in the 

 intercolonial conference their deliberations (which 

 presumably concern the public weal) should be set 

 forth and sent forth to the uttermost ends of our far- 

 flung Empire. 



In all seriousness it is time to have done once for all 

 with the antiquated methods of diplomatic bo-peep 

 played- by these supernumeraries who delight to dui> 

 themselves " statesmen.' They can no longer pretend 

 to prescience or omniscience ; they have been found 

 nut too often by the long-sulTering public, who alwavs 

 loots the bill. This book will strengthen the hands 

 of those who are demanding a more business-like treat- 

 ment of the fundamentals of Government — " Peace 

 and War," " the treatment of the coloured man," etc. 

 — subjects that would naturally be within the purview 

 of the world-wide broadsheet for which " Quisque " so 

 logically and powerfully pleads. At present our 

 governors follow the selfish rule of getting the best ot 

 both worlds. When they need the Press, none .so 

 eager to welcome and hk-.ss ; but if momentarily thev 

 can ignore the Press, then there are none so poor as 

 to do it reverence. 



The uses and abuses of the Press are as various a- 

 the manifold activities of man, and it were an ill thin^: 

 not to advance it to th,it eminence to which its unique 

 usefulness gives it full riaim. 



SOME NOVEL OF THE MONTH. 



Through the Postern Gate, by Florence L. Barclay 

 (Putnam. 6s.). Mrs. Barclay's latest novel is alroad\ 

 nmning the road of its predeces.sors. It will certainly 

 please uomen more than men. for " Little Boy Blue," 

 when he grows up, bei omes the ideal wooer — eager, 

 earnest, restrained, and yet conquering. Maybe there 

 is a little too mm h sweetness in the story, and some 

 may suppose that the bride being ten vears older 

 than the bridegroom would not spell happiness. But 



in real life difference of age does not always imply 

 imsuilabilily, and so «e may wish all good luck 

 to Christobel and her aeronaut. The gem of the 

 book is the Interlude. " .-Vs a dream when one 

 awnkcth.' 



/■'oitr Cliniinrys, by .*^, Macnaughian (Nelson, js.). 

 .\ keenly interesting story of an old-fashioned lad) 

 living in modern days, whose love for an unworthy 

 liusbnnd made life a beautiful thing for her children 



