Education, Literature, and Art 225 



more closely in sympathy with the people. It 

 has been said that a people gets just as good 

 newspapers as it deserves, and if that be true, the 

 deserts of the Australian people must be high. 

 It has to be remembered, however, that the dailies 

 and weeklies of the Commonwealth are more than 

 news sheets and political organs, since they partly 

 fill the gap created by the absence of any repre- 

 sentative Australian magazine or review. Each 

 of the capital cities maintains two or more daily 

 papers comparable to any similar productions in 

 the world. To preserve the mean between accu- 

 racy, dignity, and decorum on one side, and dul- 

 ness on the other is a task that is yearly becoming 

 more difficult to the newspaper editor, but it can 

 fairly be said that the Australian daily papers are 

 neither dull nor unduly sensational. For the 

 people of the bush, weekly editions are prepared, 

 containing in addition to a r/sum/ofthe week's 

 news much useful matter pertaining to agri- 

 cultural and pastoral affairs, L,ondon letters, 

 serial stories by the best writers, illustrations of 

 the events of the week, and many other features. 

 The arrival of these weekly budgets is an event 

 upon the station or selection, and the interest they 

 create furnishes an explanation of the fact that 

 the average bushman is far from being a rustic, 

 but is very often closer abreast of the times than 

 the man in the street 



Even more characteristic of Australian life are 



the weekly satirical and society papers, and 

 15 



