TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 117, 19 May 1909, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The departure of England's foremost poet has beezi George Meredith, speedily followed by that of England's most famous novelist. It is lit-i tie more than a year since George Mere- J dith's eightieth birthday was celebrated ; and tho tributes to the veteran which flowed in from all quarters showed how wide was the appreciation of the literary world. It is just sixty years since his first contribution, "Chillianwallah," appeared in Chambers's Journal, and he continued to write almost to the end. Recognition was slow, but he persevered until, in the opinion of many critics, he held the( first place among contemporary men of letters. At the same time he was never popular, as Hall (Jaine or Kipling, for examp'e, are popular, or Dickens and Thackeray in their own day. His verse is obscure and his prose obscurer. In these "strenuous" days, comparatively few have time or inclination to devote long and patient labour to tracldng out the meaning of an author who lacks the virtue of lucidity. From first to last Mr. Meredith's appeal has been to literary circles, and no doubt he valued the appreciation of a select group more highly than the favour of the multitude. Carlyle was rugged and elliptical enough, Browning often puzzling, but Meredith, as even his warmest admirers acknowledge, was more difficult than I either. The sincere affection which he inspired was due to his personal character as much as to his writings. Involved and circumlocutory in literary j style, he was straightforward in his Hie, following the light as he saw it, unswerving to the righfi or to the left. It would be premature to speculate upon the rank he will hold in future days among our men of letters. We may yet see "Meredith Societies" for the study and discussion of his works.; but whatever his appeal may be to men of exceptional intellect, it is probable that to the multitude of readers he will be a name, the centre of great but vague associations. "The General Confederation of Labour" is a fine-sounding A S-wan-song name, and may be without Mubic. understood to represent a great deal. But a name is powerful, only according as it represents a reality. It is like a bank-note, which, however correct in legal form or finely engraved, is valuable in so far only as it represents gold in the background. Of the three significant words in the title of the ambitious body which sought in France to dominate the industrial organisations, twowould need to be deleted before the title could be admitted as descriptive. It was not "general" aad it was not representative of "Labour." This has been apparent for some time, but today's cable news makes it clear. The "Gonfed'eratiou" seems to be a loose concourse of more or less revolutionary and anarchistic spirits, actuated by the lust of dominion, and ambitious to "paralyse society and government" for their own ends. Into such bodies visionary and quite conscientious reformers are sometimes drawn, and to these such temporary successes as are gained are due. But the better men are soon disillusioned, and then collapse is at hand. Evidently it was the object of the leaders to delude and exploit the trade unions ; but it is to be hoped they have done it for the last time. In each case their influence has been disastrous to the workers, and never more so than in the case of the postal strike. The tactics of "bluff," culminating in the fictitious telephone conversation, was bound to bring about a reaction and turn the whole business injlw a farce. The secretary sorrowfully admits that the organisation "merely exists on paper." He still cherishes the illusion that the workers may make it a reality ; but few will be found to share his belief. His speech is interpreted as "the swan-song of the present revolutionary movement." But it is a very different strain from that described by the poet : — .... a caiol free and bold, As wlicn a mighty people rejoice With bliiiums, and with cjmlia'h, and harps of gold — or the melody fiom ".Suniuirfs marbled steep." The swan oi' the "General Confederation," apparently, belongs to "the Voiceless," who "die with all their > music in them."

Too many horses in Wellington are the victims of "under Too Much Work; and over" — undertoo Little Food, feeding and overloading. For years the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has been working — and with some encouraging success — to induce human beings to considerately treat the creatures called "lower animals;" bub many men, apparently with an intelligence little superior to that of the animals which they misuse, seem to think that the best way to get value out of a friend is by destroying him. The argument of self -interest , apart from the " humanitarian principle, should ensure sufficient feeding, and no excessive loading for a beast of burden, but the thoughtless drivers or the indifferent owners seem to persist in believing that j the best way to get value out of a valuable horse is by starving it and straining it. Short commons and long stripes are held to be an excellent diet for animals, and this stupidity endures through the years. Moral suasion has converted many of the convertible, but it seems that some of the ill-users are amenable to reason only by the means which they employ with their horses. For these tne prosecution, the heavy fine, and imprisonment, if the fine fails to inrtil common-sense into the obdurate. The society's inspector has been very busy lately on behalf of the patient draughts that are yoked to crushing burdens and forced up the grades by the lash and sometimes the boot. Sharp eyes are on the look-out for the individuals who have turned deaf ears to all appeals. Will they wait to be prosecuted? Must they be hailed to conrt before they will spe the wisdom of ceasing to play the pitiless game of "under and over?" They may as well take warning in time, for the society is determined to secure happier days for the under-fed overworked horses. Yesterday the Niagara River was asked to do its best for the AubHonouring tralasian delegates, on the Press, their way to the Imperial Press Conference, and soon a squadron of battleships and an army in England will manoeuvre for the edification of the editors. Tho way to. London, via America, has been through very hospitable plains, valleys and mountains. Tables have been spread for the journalists across a continent; everywhere a warm welcome has awaited them at receptions, banquets, and revels of lofty order. The march from San Francisco and Seattle to Toronto and New York has been to the merry singing and orchestration of "blood thicker than water," and the other patriotic sentiments inseparable from the meeting , of Anglo-Saxons, drawn from the ends of the earth. The travellers have been caught up in a Royal cyclone of kindly treatment in America, and another tornado is brewing for them across the Atlantic. Britain is about to prove that | the Fourth Estate has been promoted. Statesmen are to admit, in public, that the pen-handle plays an important part in propping up the 'Empire, and that the intelligent shedding of ink may do much to avert the shedding of blood. New sermons are to be preached on the old text, "The pen is mightier than the sword." May not an orator, not necessarily an Irishman, declare in an afterdinner speech, that the pen will eventually beat the sword into a plough-share? In the intervals, between the feasts and the ga*den-parties, the parades of the soldiers, and the demonstrations of 'Dreadnoughts, the journalists from the Dominions Overseas should be able to valuably instruct the Mother Country about the sentiments of her children, distant by mileage, but close in sympathy, and their hopes and aspirations. The editors, from their close knowledge of the people in their countries, should indeed be valuable missionaries.