TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11749, 25 November 1903, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Of the. An fietiy prAtf*. €!MctWip ib V eowptaria k>ww . j,WI tteUsM||ffl >A«t*alk>, atatae wee • famoM n " Wo«wri!SfSß probably but a amaJH pfoportjou the toulptor waa at one time e> geW ''aWjjratß in AnjtmJi*. Aocordhigto bourne "Age," which deals with in * pWaeanUy the title of "The Etriiaat Soulpto? !*> torn," be wm OHO of t«M '*** A *P , * l ffft of the pre-R*phadite land, which ptecedftd te two yeare only #c gold *l**"#Hes £@jß| Victoria. Other members of th* hood were MjHele and WooLoer, together with ft H. Hortte William end JUekarf Powiti, emigrated Victoria in 1890. His »» a sculptor had already t«'*<»^*'' d^, selves to his lather eititttULoifcfi, m 18$ hit profpectt were vary #}&£ (fjg] Only one email ooawation had him during alcfflg eerie* <rf yearn o*fata_al;- /SB application to hit .90. .,. W»..S#fm**..,.&BL also poesaaeitd ne tfNfy **■ *wm of tne Cftriyies, 4*jjm* ,1 Ritskin;' the them* «pon which '"Rtw* WQWWJNsWm lounded. Earing t* .'jttWl hit:;;,(oritm. :.A gold-elds, -be wsjf eneowrafed ff|»BHfP project ty both Otrlyle pn4 JHSHB asm, ' He spent hit - hat -dayi t9»HS land with Tannjaoo, end the clared that had it not keen for he would here gone too. H have had the idee that gold-digg-ft* *Jffl||||i certain meant to fortnwt, end edged ncr if he would be contented to when he had got £20,000. In one «|ffii|il letters, Dante fewU- describee *"MB|H departure. '1 tew him on vettel on Thmeday,'' h* wrote, ewcmpwiird by Bernhnrd oardureye, tou'-wesiere, ASffitiH and belte full of Uttie bag«to peoted hflggeti,'* yftotoeVe gold-digging were not ewrned < ***-«Sf i JBgl atmoeta. Be and bit /W : jMjftgjH flaaith, found that itom*'^* l, *Ssfflm only had 86 ounott offoid 1» #*&*$ WM

Hwiiii' in ' ~' ' " Mid they both came to tho conclusion that nature had never intended them for gold miners. Bub Woolner, writing to Roseetti, said that "he ahould always bu glud to have gone through it, a* it bad given him a strength and a feeling of life which he had never known before, as likewise an intense appreciation of the snudV-t----amount of ordinary comfort; in short, the faculty of content." He went back to Melbounie, where Ims executed eeveral medallion portraitt in profile, for which he wet paid 25 guineas each. This enabVed him to return to London in 1854. Ho applied himself to his profession with eplendid rtsnltt j for in the twenty years which followed hit return he executed some of the finest portrait statues in England and; |b* colonies. Regret in Victoria at the deA parture of the popular tk>vMilitary ernor, Sir George Sydenham Expert. Clarke, is tempered with some i feelings of prido that he should «c one of the three expert* appointed by ♦he Brit>i*h Government to advise them »s to tbe reorganisation of the War Office, yir Ueorge Clark© left Melbourne for London yesterday, and the date of his return is quite problematical, for tho work lymg before the Commission is onerous in the extreme. Judging by the time, taken by previous CoimnisNkma of like nature, it would surprise no one if Sir George's arrival at Home wae followed by his resignation of his Governorship. This will not 1x» hie first experience of military Coinmitmmit. Before he came out to Australia he was o> man of much celebrity as a military expert, and his appointment to a colonial governorship was naturally regarded as indicating a hope, on th© part of the British Government, that Victoria Would benefit by his wide knowledge, of defence matter*. He wan Secretary of 'Colonial Defence in the War Office for eight and a half years, and throughout his career he seems to have made a. special study of the office and its procedure. For this reason he wa» appointed a member of the Duke of Devonshire's War Commission a number of years ago, and of the Oawkine Committeo which reported some two end a half years back. Of the first Sir George told a Melbourne interviewer it .waa "a very bi j. Commission, but nothing Was done on lbs report and recommendations," and of the other, lie remarked that it "mad© numerous recommendations which were never carried out." This, of course, i_ to truly oheracterhftdo of the War Office that.Sir George displayed perhaps more optimism, than was jtuftifiahle in expressing the opinion that this timo "the Government is anxious to do something. There is a desire," he added, *'to uemtrethat confidence in defence organisation that is aeces•uy for welding) the Empire together. If you have not got a War. Office that is acpehjted with the conditions of the milltary forces all jover the Umpire, you have a ttmtg factor that work* for ditintegra-s-on, and a justifiable want of confidence fa the capacity of the Empire for its defence. "If we had a Wa* Office efficient *o the greatest degree it would help to weld m tagetbev in * way that does not exist at preeewt," It is not improbable that the knowledge &> George C_ai*e has gained at first bead of colonial defeooea and colonial Qftokw tmy pro-* aerricenble when question* ol Imperial defence taw being dieeoMed. , neat at the "exiHtery member of to import. ant dj COannxlssion ss "a tremendous timm? and » Ter - ejaatfltmat, •aid in that compliment Victoria feels that ft hut tome ebarev Befcre be • left Australia «*" G*»K» Owka gave ©eveJopment. the Atwtraliane some- . thing to think aboutl Bjw*klng «t , the annual dinner gv«» by tbe Lord Mayor of aWbonrne, he nnfoJded « scheme fox •ttletlni the maritime development oi t»e Bopir* wnioh wat ]k» "twedj to with deep interest, He remind•J hie Lowers that at a conference, ia 1887, Mc Jan Hofmeyr, the great leader of the Aftikandw Bond", >d propwrnded propo■ell■ *» levying a duty of 8 per eeati on •Htowga good* entering the port* of the SWJ"*, the prooeeda of t_ut duty to be •**otea to national defence, $y hit own jart, Sir George conaidered the Mheme impracticable in the first* plant because of the impossibility of, getting any norther of people to agree withe traesHon of the value of different defence*, and, in the second place, because J» money would haw to to administered by 4. central body io London, mhkk "would * five rite to all tort* of jeakmsjec, Hie wwn euggestlon waa that a duty should he levied on foreign good*, but that it ahould; only be * per cenV *bd that the fond thus raised, amounting? to _3_V300,000 ft year, ahould be devoted to maritime de▼•Wiuwittt. Th* administration of th* waoey should bo ixt the hands of an Imperial Council, representing" all tho telfgoverning parte 0 f Eajpir*, md meet. toff every few yeant in th* vatloua cities of the Empire io. succession, "Such a tohatoe," b« declared, "affected nothing, altered nothing, did not ia any way disturb the h«g* oomplex fabric of British oomKwrce, and so individual interest would "fwl the i per cent. duty. It raited no «»*«, controversy, Uke the question of frW W* and protection, It left absolute fiscal freedom for every portion of the Empire, and, on the other hand, it would give Imperial preference of the most prac-! tical character by freiglita, inwwaf tpeed, and giving general facili. tie* of eommunkntion, which would all tell •A both ends ;©* every trade route." The projotaj, at otttlkeo, was too vague to he of much 'value, At a atep *fWfo' **>* txtaWii_-ne_t of an Impe-m:fXw*y&-!&itkm* '«b closer relations ■ I&m;fa-ys&m-e)c*toom of tbe- EmfUtH --'tlsj k would have a certain ; ▼»hW.. ' v But the diffioulty in the way of levying the duty would be great, far indeed, than the author of the echttoe apparently dreamt of. He, indeed, ie moat confident about iti feasibility, and told hit Melbourne audience that if ♦ay flaw oould be found in it he would hn glad for it to be pointed out to him—• *ith the air ot one who knew his challenge could not be taken up. Rut he will have to esplain It more fully before people will know.enough about it to criticise it very deeply.