AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 307, 24 December 1912, Page 9

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

THE LASH FOR CRIME. j "NO OTHER WAY." Allusion was made by the Chief Justice of Victoria (Sir John Madden) in the Criminal Court at Melbourne last week to. the use of the lash as a deterrent from crime. The occasion »> the sentencing of John O'Connell. a middle aged man, to two years' imprisomr.e.nt for an assault upon what his Honor termed "a girl baby." five years old. "'There are some people in onr midst." the Chief Justice observed, addressing ac eused. -who object to the use of the lash ution criminals, on the ground that it has no restraining effect. 1 know that in the case of those who resort >o garroting aud to rnbbery by violence, it has been of use, both in Australia and in England, in lessening the number of i offence!.: in fact, in the raw of certain, persons, there is really no other way ot maJung them feel the enormity of the I offences they have committed. Tlie crime I you have been found guilty of iis bcr-oni- | ing a never-eenf-intr affront to thus com-j munity.*' His'llonor concluded by strting that i it was necessary, in the imprests u f the, •ommunity. that such offences should be | put down with a strong hand. He ini-1 posed the additional punishment on ne-l cused of "one private whipping of teu strokes with a cat o' nine tails." j At Pcntrido-e to-day Hoggings were ad-j ministered to Allen Moore and Edward j M'Donald -two prisoners who -were re j cetittycbtmeter! on capital charges, and j ordered life imprisonment and a flogging Moore appeared to suffer more rlian M'Donald. "TRASHY NOVELS." "C.irl*-.*' said Lady King-Hall. entrea*t-inn-lv. at the annual prize distribution at ' the Sydney Church of England Girl's j (Grammar School, "don't give way to thati feminine habit of reading trashy novels.". By tra--hv novels 1 mean stories T.hat| are written by second-rate authors. In this class of tk-tion the men aud the. women portrayed are utterly unlike those oue meets in real life. In these | hooks the situations that occur are impossible ones, and the endings are im-prob-ible. About this class ol* book there. is an atmosphere of unreality that L« most unwholesome, and can be nothing] but harmful. And last but not least, such books totally lack all literary merit.] and by feeding on such books one's vocabulary becomes impoverished, and the art of writing one's thoughts forgotten. The reading of this frivolous literature ; imparts a pallor, or, to use a more colloquial erpression. a "wishy-washy' tone jto the mind. There is no doubt but that j the taste -for this class of literature once I acquired is not easily, i". ever, lost. I I nr;rc you, therefore. gi-;s. lo be very fastidious regarding you" literary taste. I 1 urge you to be very critical. Tlie devourer of rubbish cannot know tbe enI joynicnt and the pleasure the reading of a good book gives!. If you re.__d a novel let it be one having distinct literary merit. As this is your sowing time, girls. I would urge you to read that which will be oi educational value to you. "None of you know." said Lady KingJHall. in conclusion, "what the future has lin store for you—what position you may Ihe required to fill in our gvea" Empire. | Whatever it he. you should be well i equipped mentally. Read that, which | will widen four mental horizon, that I which may help you to achieve dietinc- | tion in the larger spheres of life, and -hat which will make you well informed, 'uiturcd, and purposeful women." ( Applause.) -yEW PRINTING PROCESS.

An interesting display of colour-prints,' produced by a new phot-e-chromo process, the invention of Mr. 11. Stephan, of Sydney, is exciting considerable interest. Mt. Stephan claims to have improved upon anything previously known in the printing world, and samples he has on exhibition suggest great commercial and artistic possibilities. By a photographic process, Mr. Stephan is able to faithfnlly prodtH-e. with the assistance of the printing machine, anything that can be held in front of the camera long enough for three exposures, two of them occupying from seven to ten minutes, to be made-, and the manner of this reproduction is claimed to be so simple and yet so absolutely true to every point of detail that the finished print can be placed on the mnrket at a cost several times below that by which any similar colour-print can be produced under any system at present. On tbe face of it. Mr. Stephan has evolved a process far in advance of anything hitherto accomplished. He has copied in periect detail and colour a bank-note originally issued as impossible of imitation; he has delightful prints of Japanese art; he has copies of plumaged bird pictures, and copies nf other art colourings, all of -which tend to corroborate the case he makes out for the almost absolute infallibility of the process which be has perfected, and is now placing trpon the market.