756 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



October I, 19 



THE BRITISH M.P.S. 



The British M.P.'s have come and 

 gone. Their visit was brief, but they 

 made an excellenl impression. Lord 

 Emmott had mentioned in Queensland 

 that owing to tin- exigencies of politi- 

 cal life and die tune it took to reach 

 Australia, the party was perhaps not 

 "up to sample," but, as Mr. Watt so 

 tersely put it at the Town Hall, if thai 

 were so, all we could do was to take off 

 our hats to those left behind! Perhaps 

 the greatest service the visitors ren- 

 dered was the object-lesson they gave 

 in person and by speech, that the old 

 country is not inhabited by effete, tired 

 people who lack energy and are con- 

 tent to drift, as is sometimes assumed 

 here. They showed that Britain was 

 never more alive, never shouldered more 

 valiant!}- the burden of Empire than 

 to-day. With Englishmen at Home it 

 is more and more the Empire first, 

 England second. The visitors never 

 failed to impress upon those who, with 

 them, had sometimes to listen to rather 

 parochial utterances outside the great 

 cities that the Empire must always 

 come before the State. Lord Emmott 

 •in particular, with all the weight of his 

 high office, was able to impress those 

 who listened to his excellent speeches 

 with the vastness of England's pro- 

 gress during recent years, the great- 

 ness of her gigantic trade, and her 

 determination to secure the safety of 

 the Empire by a fleet powerful enough 

 to destroy any combination that could 

 be brought against it. At the same 

 time he showed how cordially she wel- 

 •comes the co-operation of the Domin- 

 ions in defence. 



HAPPY IMPRESSIONS. 



The visitors covered much territory 

 and met many people. The fertility 

 •of the country impressed them greatly, 

 •especially the trip in the Mount Gam- 

 bier district. There is no doubt that 

 they go back with a far greater idea of 

 the potentialities of Australia than 

 they had before. They leave happy 

 impressions, behind them, and take use- 

 ful information to the old country. 

 Such visits, which enable those in 

 authority at Home to see at first hand 



the outlying parts of the Empire, must 

 be <>f great benefit. Hut it is even more 

 necessarv that those who control the 

 destinies of the far scattered Domin- 

 ions should have the opportunity of 

 meeting Imperial statesmen at Home, 

 and of studying the conditions and 

 methods of government in the centre 

 of the Empire. 



THE CADETS. 



A notable feature in the programme 

 of the visitors was the march past of 



[8,000 cadets before Parliament House. 

 The sight was impressive, marred to 

 some extent, perhaps, because the 

 parade was a compulsory one, but for all 

 that a visible sign that Australia is 

 taking her share in the burden of Em- 

 pire. On the whole the boys marched 

 well. Naturally they lacked that ab- 

 solute alignment and precision de- 

 manded from the professional soldier 

 -and it is well they have not got it. 

 1 remember long ago watching a great 

 muster of volunteers on \\ 'imbledon 

 Common, on the occasion of a review 

 by the German Emperor. We in the 

 crowd were all mightily proud as the 

 seemingly endless lines swung past, 

 and thought, no doubt, how much the 

 Kaiser must have been impressed. A 

 few years later, in Berlin, I saw the 

 garrison of the city reviewed by the 

 Emperor, and learned, to my astonish- 

 ment, that these troops — a garrison only 



—exceeded in number the whore force 

 of volunteers I had seen march past 

 before him in England! The machine - 

 lii<e accuracy of the German soldiers, 

 with their splendid accoutrements, was 

 in marked contrast to that of the vol- 

 unteers, and I fear the Kaiser had not 

 been as impressed at Wimbledon as we 

 fondly believed. Fortunatelv in any 

 warfare we are ever likelv to be fated 

 to take part in, individual initiative will 

 count for more than automatic perfec- 

 tion in drill. 



THE FEDERAL BUDCET. 



Sir John Forrest introducedhis budget 

 on October 2nd. The figures he gave 

 make most serious reading. Expen- 

 diture has increased enormously dur- 

 ing the last five years. Sir John in- 



