POLITICAL AND SOCIAL. 



'459 



becoming day by day more definitely felt. The State has hitherto shown little or no interest 

 in its literary workers, or in the cultivation of an Australian school of literature, and no 

 attempt has been made to foster anything of the kind in the way adopted in other countries. 

 One notable exception to this blank record of indifference was, indeed, provided in the case 

 of Henry Kendall, who was appointed to an honourable post in the public service of 

 New South Wales. But, in a general sense, it may be mentioned as a singular fact and 



RABBIT COURSING IN AUSTRALIA. 



jfr one which may, perhaps, tend to throw considerable 

 light on the problem of the public indifference, until 

 recent years, on the subject of literary culture and taste 



that the Governments of the Australian Colonies have made no effort to foster, by the judi- 

 cious use of the unlimited patronage placed at their disposal, the development of anything 

 like a distinctive school of Australian literature. Other countries, and particularly the 

 United States of America, where the democratic sentiment is at least as powerful as it 

 is in Australia, have followed a wiser and more liberal policy in this regard. When it is 

 fully recognized how much of the intellectual life of a people, outside of its mere 

 material prosperity, depends on the encouragement and sympathy, on the part of the State 

 and the public, for the efforts of literary and artistic workers in the Colonies of Austral- 

 asia, it will be time to look for definite and characteristic results. The year 1891 saw 

 the first attempt on the part of purely Australian painters to gain recognition abroad. 

 The courage thus shown met with its reward, for the works of three young Victorian 

 artists, Arthur Streeton, Longstaffe and Fox, were honoured by acceptance at the Paris 

 Salon and the Royal Academy, London. 



SPORT AND AMUSEMENT. 



THE equable temperature and pleasant climate of the Australasian Colonies are 

 eminently favourable to out-door pursuits of all kinds, and it would be strange if 

 a young country so favoured, and inhabited by people remarkable for their healthful 



