Revieic of Heviews, l/li/06. 



Leading Artlclea. 



58s 



velopt'd it to a higher fxtent than any other country. 

 Our efku'.ition encourages laziness and individual- 

 ism. Mr. Barker, who, as has been shown, is not 

 lacking in courage, dares to say : — 



I venture empbaticaUy to affirm that Germany, with all 

 her schooLs and universities, anfi with her army of 300,000 

 teachers, is a far less intellig:ent and far less cultured nation 

 than is the British nation. The general intelligence and cul- 

 ture of a nation may be measured by the Press, which ap- 

 peals to all. and which reflects the national mind as in a 

 mirror; and I think that no educate! German will contra- 

 dict me it I state that the whole Press of Germany— dailies, 

 weeklies, monthlies— is not only vastly inferior to the Bri- 

 tish Press, but it is quite unworthy of the intelligence of a 

 cultured nation. The German newspapers and periodicals, 

 generally speaking, are filled not with facts but with trash. 

 The German Press is a century behind the English Press, and 

 the low standard of the whole German Pre.ss shows that the 

 German nation is not a nation of thinkers. On the contrary. 



These trenchant criticisms are adxanced as a 

 warning against modelling British education on the 

 more unsatisfactory part of German education — the 

 instruction without the discipHne. 



BALLOONING AS A PASTIME. 



Ballooning, says the Lady's Reulm for Septem- 

 ber, is Society's novel method of recuperation, and 

 the writer of the article tells of the exploits of vari- 

 ous lady balloonists of the Aero Club. The aver- 

 age cost of an ascent is stated to be about jQ^ per 

 head. 



The story of the First Balloon Ascent, by Mr. P. H. 

 Oakley Williams, opens the September issue of Pall 

 Mall Magasinc, the occasion being the public debut 

 of the Citv of London. 



This new balloon is described as the biggest in 

 the British Isles, its capacity being 77,000 cubic 

 feet. Built and designed by Mr. Percival Spencer 

 for Mr. Frank Butler, it has been entered as one of 

 the three representatives to champion this country 

 in the Gordon-Bennett race on September 30th 

 against France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Italy, 

 and the United States. Seven persons, including 

 the writer, went up in this first ascent, and the cost 

 of the expedition was about ;£i6. The writer, a 

 neophyte, thinks that a balloon trip gives more en- 

 jovment for less money than most other hobbies 

 now in fashion. 



There is all the difference, explains Mr. Oakley 

 Williams, between a ''soft" and a "hard" descent. 

 A balloon coming down with a bump on hard 

 ground is apt to rebound several times, and it may 

 bounce over hedges into difficult ground, not to 

 speak of the Jar to the occupants. 



Trailing is called the prime sport of ballooning, 

 coming as near to the joys of flying as may be pos- 

 sible : — • 



It means that a rope 250 feet long^ is let down and 

 allowed to trail over the face of the country. If it dim- 

 l inishes the pace, it eives one an idea of the rate one is 

 } travelling, and a senee of motion absent under other con- 

 ditions. For example, rou mav be travelling at the rarte 

 of thirty or forty miles an 'hoar, hut becan.se you arc 

 travelling at ithe same velocity a« the wind, you eeem 

 drifting absolutely becalmed. 



WHAT MR. BEIT'S WILL HAS DONE. 



In the Empire Reviav Mr. Hubert Reade makes 

 many suggestions for the University of Johannes- 

 burg which is to be founded by Mr. Beit's bequest. 

 He hopes that it may be the centre of a new 

 national cohesion in South Africa. He hopes that 

 it may give the best practical, as well as the best 

 theoretical, teaching in agriculture, horticulture and 

 viticulture, and so bring in the Dutch farmers ; and 

 induce the Dutch churches, too, to let their stu- 

 dents study in the Faculty of Theology in the new 

 University. In conclusion Mr. Reade says : — 



Mr. Beit's will has, in reality, made British Africa one. 

 By his bequest to the Cape-Cairo Railway he has (save for 

 the " Wasp's Waist ") linked together Capetown and Alex- 

 andria, and those best acquainted with Uganda, with British 

 East Africa and with the Soudan, think it by no means im- 

 possible that men trained at Prankenwald might do admir- 

 able work both as administrators and as agricultural 

 pioneers in those vast regions. In a word, Mr. Beit has called 

 into existence the " Far North " to satisfy the land hunger 

 of the Boer, and has given us the means to make the Boer 

 feel himself the citizen of no mean Empire. The Dutch 

 colonists in the Hinterland of Mossamedes found their chief 

 obstacles in the Portuguese Admiuistration and in the ab- 

 sence of markets for their produce. These obstacles will not 

 exist in Northern Rhodesia, and if the Afrikanders can be 

 trained in practical agriculture and ranching under tropical 

 and subtropical conditions, there seems no reason why they 

 should not find homes as planters along the Cape to Cairo 

 Railway. If part of the Education Fund provided by Mr. 

 Beit's will for Rhodesia is .appliel to found experimental 

 farms and agricultural schools on the lines of the smaller of 

 those in Western Australia, and of those managed by the 

 Boards of Agriculture in the United States and Canada, it 

 would appear easy for men. who had received their theo- 

 retical education at Frankenwald or in England, to acquire 

 such a practical training as would enable them to act as 

 directors of plantations throughout tropical Africa. Thus 

 new prospects would be opened up for the Boer farmers, and 

 the area at their disposal for settlement widely extended. 



The Awakening of China. 



Mr. Lionel Giles in the Nineteenth Century pub- 

 lishes a translation of a very remarkable pamphlet 

 widely circulated in the province of Hunan in China, 

 which makes a strong appeal to the Chinese to 

 rouse themselves to action for the defence of their 

 nationality and Empire. He says. Let these 



methods be adopted, and when put into pactice they will 

 prove efficacious. The area of Japan is not greater than that 

 of the single province of Ssu-ch'uan, its population is not 

 more numerous than that of the single province of Hunan. 

 Twenty years ago. as compared with China. Japan was very 

 poor and weak; but now. having been stirred into activity, 

 it has grown to be a rich .^.nd powerful State. India, both in 

 size and population, is not so very far behind China; but 

 because as a nation she was incapable of making an effort, 

 she has fallen under the dominion of England. In the light 

 of these facts it behoves you, sirs, to be neither down-hearted 

 nor yet too light-hearted. What yon must do is immediately 

 to begin girding yourselves for action. If you can manage 

 to do this, though your country were as small as Japan, yon 

 can still become rich and powerful. But if you are unequal 

 to the effort, then, although your country is as great as 

 India, you mast inevitably succumb. 



