258 The Ideal State 



aborigines, who occupied the country long before this 

 intermixture of races, who represent the flower of our 

 Western civilisation, set foot upon its soil. This inter- 

 mixture has brought with it the culture of the ages and 

 the altruistic spirit, and the result is the continued 

 betterment of society and a nation in the very 

 acme of civilisation and refinement. But yet the 

 type of feature and form is approximating more and 

 more to that of the aboriginal inhabitant, demonstrat- 

 ing once again the power of environmental influences. 

 And yet we continue to uphold the superstition of 

 family and heredity ! 



After this digression we must return to Mr. Hobart's 

 article, and we will begin with its conclusion : " All 

 through life the trials and troubles of the industrial 

 community are incessant ; there is no rest ; no re- 

 laxation : scarcely a pause, but like the ever-rolling 

 sea, just a brief calm, to be followed by a fierce storm 

 of the bitterest severity." This is a strong indictment, 

 and one which must be remedied if we are to maintain 

 any consistency whatsoever in our profession of the 

 Christian religion. As in days of old, it can be said of 

 us to-day : "Ye honour Me with your lips, but your 

 hearts are far from Me." Mr. Hobart points out that 

 the child of the working-man is handicapped from birth. 

 It has neither proper food, suitable clothing, cleanli- 

 ness, tender care, nor pure air — all absolutely necessary. 

 Indeed everything seems to be done to hamper the 

 growth and development of the child by a bad en- 

 vironment. Mr. Harold Begbie, in his graphic de- 

 scriptions of London slum life, has made us well aware 

 of the terrible environment as far as morals are con- 

 cerned. We seem positively to do everything to en- 

 courage the growth of disease, vice, and crime, and there- 

 after in sanctimonious fashion talk superiorly of the sad 

 and deplorable growth of criminality amongst the lower 



