566 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



Thus, from earliest infancy, Australia 

 has been to me a land not of old 

 romance, but of new romance, the el 

 dorado of the Mctorian age. It has been 

 the new and hopeful continent where the 

 brave and adventurous men of my 

 native village went to make their 

 fortunes, and from whom the ocean post 

 brought us, from time to time, the preci- 

 ous bulletins of good news. I remember, 

 as if it were to-day, the sensation occa- 

 sioned by the arrival of the first nugget 

 from the virgin quartz, which came to 

 our village, and after being reverently 

 passed from hand to hand, ultimately 

 was stowed away in a secret place in the 

 minister's study. Not all the yield of 

 all the mines of Australia could produce 

 to-day the awe-inspiring effect of this 

 small junk of quartz. 



First impressions are lasting. Aus- 

 tralia remains to me the wonderland of 

 my infancy, the land of immeasurable 

 promise, the new, vast, boundless con- 

 tinent, in which our race) is to renew its 

 }'Outh like the eagle's, and confer upon 

 the world beneath the Southern Cross 

 the culture, the language, and the law 

 which have long been the heritage of the 

 United States, and the United Kingdom. 



Hence from the first inception of the 

 Review of Reviews, I aspired after estab- 

 lishing an Australian edition. First in 

 order of time came the American edi- 

 tion, which has now taken good root. 

 Thanks to the energy and sagacity of its 

 editor, Dr. Albert Shaw, it has now a 

 position of influence second to none in 

 the American Republic. The American 

 edition being established, the Australian 

 edition comes next, and, although there 

 is not as yet the population at the Anti- 

 podes to render possible such circulations 

 as those in England and America, it 

 may well be suggested that, fifty years 

 hence, the Australian edition may be the 

 most important of the three, and the 

 Review of Reviews may be chiefly useful 

 in the evolution of our race by the in- 

 fluence it may secure among its Aus- 

 tralian readers. 



Of all the products of land or sea, the 

 richest and the rarest is the genius of 

 man. Literary genius does not grow on 

 every bush. It needs to be searched for 

 as hidden treasures, and when found to 

 be cherished as the pearl of great price. 



In the development of genius, different 

 institutions at different periods play a 

 great part. At one time, the theatre was 

 the great foster-mother of the genius of 

 man. Sometimes, the chief place was- 

 occupied by the wealthy patron, but in a 

 democratic age, the publisher is the chief 

 mainstay of young and rising man of 

 letters. The newspapers, daily and 

 weekly, fill a great role in this respect,, 

 but the daily and weekly press but oc- 

 cupy part of the field. The monthly 

 periodical has become more and more 

 the arena for the serious discussion of 

 the problems of life. The monthly 

 magazine and Review represents the 

 higher thought of our time, and, hence, 

 a good monthly magazine is as indis- 

 pensable for the culture of a democracy 

 as a well endowed University, or a good 

 common school. Australia at the present 

 moment has no monthly magazine of the 

 first class. But it is a continent of such 

 vast area that it can only be covered by 

 a monthly. Dailies have a range limited 

 by twenty- four hours, weeklies by seven 

 days, but as the experience of the Review 

 in America has proved, if you want to 

 create an organ that will have a Con- 

 tinental circulation it must be a 

 monthly. The Australian colonies, 

 New Zealand and Tasmania are 

 dealing independently with many pro- 

 blems >vhich are practically identical. 

 But hitherto there has existed no recog- 

 nised publication in which the citizen of 

 each could keep themselves informed as 

 to the experience of all. 



This need is nowhere so imperative as- 

 in Australia, whose children 



"Called to so live 

 On the rough edges of society 

 Problems long sacred to the chosen few 

 And improvise what elsewhere men re- 

 ceive 

 As gifts of Deity." 



It is in the beginning of things that 

 such information is so important. After- 

 wards, when society has stiffened, it does 

 not matter so much. A timely hint to 

 the founder of a State may do more than 

 subsequently can be achieved by a whole- 

 Apocalypse backed by the propagandic 

 zeal of an entire generation. 



WILLIAM T. STEAD. 



