MAGAZINE NOTICE.

Evening Star, Issue 9763, 20 July 1895, Page 4 (Supplement)

MAGAZINE NOTICE.

Now that the Prohibition contest is at its height between the Christchurch contingent and the Premier, Mr T. C. Down's article, which opens the May number of the 'Nineteenth Century,' is peculiarly apropos. Under the title ' An Object Lesson in Pro- , hibition,' he narrates his experiences in the North-west Territories of Canada. Since 1873 the possession and use of intoxicants were until lately forbidden, except under special "permit," signed, in each individual instance of importation, by the Governor. Originally enacted for the sole benefit of the Indians, aud suppc r.ed by subsequent increase of penalties, the law was not only maintained after the inllux of a white population in 1882-83, but in ISSt " hard labor " was added to the line aud imprisonment formerly inflicted for breach of the enactment. The minimum tine was ."iOdol aud costs, the maximum SOOdol. One "credible witness sufficed to prove a ease, and one magistrate to convict. The law was executed by the mounted p.dice, " who were neither more uor less i hau a regiment of dragoons," and their officers acted as magistrates. Every railway train entering the territory was thoroughly searched; .every passenger was made to give up the keys of his trunks, which were overhauled ; aud the possession of even a pocket flask of whisky without a "permit'' entailed punishment. After a time police were installed at every railway station throughout the country, and a patrol was established along the boundary line of the States. The whole elaborate and expensive system was a failure. " Smuggling was reduced to a line art," and the police were utterly powerless to stop it. On otic occasiou, eays Mr Down, "I was at dinner at a friend's home, where the LieutenantGovernor himself was present, aud the whole of the liquor which was used had been brought in on that very day as Colman's mustard. A successful piece of smuggling was regarded with the greatest satisfaction by the public, for the law was resented as a gross interference with personal liberty, and most people took a pride in the breach of it, with the consequence that the law was very soon held in utter contempt. And this was so among all classes of the community." *' The magistrates themselves would not hesitate to encourage the illegal sale of whisky if they could do so without observation. 1 ' "As to the public iu general, not a single festivity or gathering ot any description was thought to be complete without a liberal supply of whisky. Dances, picnics, public entertainments, concerts, agricultural dinners and farmers' meetings, election speecht-s, aud the humble Methodist tea party —none of these was considered satisfactory by the men unless the necessary libations were to be had." Mr Down considers, however, that smuggling and contempt for law " were mere sentimental evils in comparison with the direct inducements to drunkenness which were fostered by the law," and he details the m inner in which this sad result was brought about. He further accuses Prohibition of demoralising that section of the public service engaged in «nforciug it, of degrading the medical profession, and ot impoverishing the country, giving reasons for these grave charges, and in some cases adducing evidence to support them. The detestable trade of the " informer " was encouraged by awarding to him half the iiue indicted, but was kept in check by that most terrible of all " social pests," lynch law. "If a private individual was fouud to give way to this sort of thing (i.e., informing), the people usually took the matter into their own hands, and induced him to leave the placj, under prosp.ct of being taired and feathered and ridden on a rail 10 the outskirts; for they would not have such a man remaining in their midst." Finally Mr Down notic hj "the unblushing spirit of tyranny invariably exhibited by adherents of the (so called) Temperance party." He tells how teetotallers, being the majority of the Liberal caucus held to select candidates to represent the constituency in the Dominion House of Commons, bound the Liberal paity to universal I'rohibition. At that diction " not a single Liberal was returned throughout the whole' of the Territories." In the administration of the law by Prohibitionist magistrates Mr Down does not hesitate to say that "enormous encouragement is afforded for the exercise of private spite on the part of the rank and rile of the Prohibitionists, as well as on the part of the ill - disposed among the community generally. :; This system endured for ten years. The Canadian Parliament then yielded to the Territorial Legislature the power of legislating concerning intoxicants. At the next election of a Assembly tweuty-six candidates stood, of whom only one advocated absolute Prohibition, and he was defeated. In its first session that Assembly passed a licensing law, which came into force in the summer of 18!J2. If Mr Down's statements truly represent the case, it seems almost incredible that a Bill should have been passed by the Dominion Parliament, as alleged in a recent ttlsgram, enforcing universal and absolute .Prohibition. Profess r H. A. SahnonO lays bare some of the secrets of Turkish rule, and tells us who, in his opinion, are ' The Real Rulers of Turkey.' Neither the Sultan nor his Ministry really controls the empire. Power is actually wielded by the ullemahs, or socalled high priests of Islam ; men of humble origin but of considerable talent, who, having mastered the Arabic language and literature, the the traditions, and Mahoniedan law, have constituted themselves into a circle of (/Hasi-religious advisers, surrounding the throne in an almost impenetrable phalanx, supported by a salary of from £3O to £3OO a month, supplemented by direct gifts from His Majesty, and continually augmented in numbers by their summoning to join their ranks at Constantinople any person of like character and pretensions who arises in the provinces. These unscrupulous adventurers, who style themselves " direct descendants of the Prophet," maintain the pretensions of the Sultan to absolute power by the doctrine that he i 3 the " khilif," or vicegerent of the Prophet upon earth, on which belief alone reßts the entire power he enjoys, while on the other hand they keep him in absolute subjection by the fear that they may by intrigue- deprive him of his religious supremacy, and transfer it to some more fmbmissive ruler. The -whole aim of their policy is to maintain the present maladministration, and the corruption upon which it is founded. Every man who has held Cabinet office receives a life-pension of from £l5O to £3OO per n.uulb, anil the majority of these ex-otlicials aud their subordinates support the ullemahs. Professor Satmonc considers that at the present moment the whole structure of the Turkish Kmpirc is shaken to its very foundation by the discontent and open rebellion, of so many of its subject races. Throughout the counity, he fays, Mahomedans and Christians alike hate the very name of their Turkish tyrants, while atrocities, differing only iu degree from those lately perpetrated in Armenia, take place day by day iu every province of troubied Turkey. Why a ' May IJucen Festival,' even though written by the Rev. J. P. Faunthorpe and adorned with "letters from Mr Ruskin," should have fouud its way into a high class magazine is oue of the insoluble mysteries of literature. It might, if very much compresse I and skilfully edited, have been admitted to the * Girib' High School Magazine'—pel haps. Mr Feasey's discussion of 'The Aucicnl English OJhoe of the Jvister Sepulchre ' and Norman Pearson's lucubration cutitled ' True and False Notions of Prayer' have thus much iu common that they deal with the religious sentiment; in all else they are contrasted almost to the point of comicality. The former, arch;eological and ecclesiastical, smells of the mouldering middle ages, long dead and buried ; the latter, superticial and self-satisfied, glides over the most tremendous problem?, evidently without the least notion of the realities with which they deal. Twenty-oue pages, devoted to proof that Giuseppe Mazzini once fell in love, make one regret that so much good paper, type, and printing iuk were uot better used. Twi articles—'Joan of Arc' by Mrs Southron 1 Hi'.), and ' The False Pucelle ' by Dr A idr*".v L»ng'—appear to have been prompt'.-.' 1 by the proposed canonisation of the Maid <■! Orleans. Mrs Hill seems to think thit Joan was at heart a Protestant before the Reformation, but the vital interest of this noble historical figure, so far «

as Englishmen are concerned, iB embodied in the sentence " to end the miseries of France and to prevent England from swallowing up France were the objects of Jeanne'a mission." If England had succeeded in that aim, our boasted freedom would have' been for ever lost; England would have become a mere appanage of a king resident at Paris, and her revenues would beyond doubt have been squandered in Continental wars. Whether Joan be canonised or not docs uot concern U3 in the veiy least.degree, but wc owe her un lying gratitude for having saved us from ourotlves! Incidentally the article illustrates uurioubly Uie tondeney to mysticism) which is silenily but powoil'uily swaying our higher literature, despite the hysteric proclamation of certain scii-uliss that they expelled the supernatural a lone time ago. for Ling's summary of a lulle known chapUr of history is very minute, displays great research, and will not interest most people. Considerable insight characterises Miss do la RamoYs article—appearing under her usual itum ifl plume "Ouida"—on the art of Acting. Taking as her text Mr Irving's recent lecture, she lirst lays down the principle that the true lest "of art is not durability but spontaneity. Music, sculpture, poetry, and painting, she says, possess the latter quality. Music-paper and a pencil are all the external aids required by a composer ; canvas, pigments, aud brushes by a painter; wet clay and an iron rod by the sculptor ; pou, ink, paper, aud the alphabet by an author. But the actor, on the contrary, must have an already invented and perfected work of another person in his hands before he can himself produce and present anything. According to Miss de la RainOYs dictum the only actiug that can stand the " supreme test of art" would be that of the Italian extemporised drama, wherein each player evolves his part mentally as he speaks, and the plot (if such a thing as plot be possible uuder the circumstances) comes out as best it can from the mingling of these fautasias. But while contending that acting is not a perfect art, "Ouida"admits that an actor may be a trite genius. The article is of most Value for its healthy and forcible frotost against State subsidy to the stage, t is fairly sprinkled, however, with apothegms. For example : " The poet and the musician suggest, the actor insists"; ■" there are three legends which no modem hand should touch ; they are Troy, Avalon, and Eden."

Mr E. It. Spearman, having studied French prisous for women on the spot, contributes the result of his investigation. There are but three State prisous for females iu France—viz , Clermont, Montpellier, and Renues—containing together 1,43'J prisoners at the end of last year. The sentences of those confined Varied in length from one year 10 life, and the principal offences were : infanticide 2(i3 Ordinary theft 254 Bobbery IKI .Murder { M Manslaughter ... ... ... 77 Arson... ... ... ... 7o I'oni/ealinciit of birth ... ... 77 aud then a rapidly diminishing number of convictions down to nineteen for passing false money. The women arc employed in needlework and laundry work ; each receives so many tenths of her earnings, according to sentence and criminal antecedents. Of these earnings one-half is i o icrved to be giveh to the prisoner Oil her discharge ; the other half she may expend within the prisou on food, clothing, and tools, assistance to family, restitution, and incidental expenses. In food 72 52 per cent, is spent ; in clothing, etc., 13.SS ; assistance to family, 8.0:2 ; and in restitution (a significant fraction), 0 02. The principal brf ach of discipline was infraction of silence, for. which 810 punishments were iidl cted—rather more than one-third of the whole number. But thca, for the same offence, the male prisoners were worse by nearly one-third ! In these prisons, named Muisous Cantrale.', there a:e no warders for women. Their duties are fullilled by a religious order, the S"-ur-a dc la Saije.ise, while lay sist.irs (>S'"Hrs conccna) do the rough work. Protestant deaconesses replace these ladies in regard to Protestant prisoners. Beside the Slate prisons there are 3SO prisons belonging to the departments but managed by the State, and in them 1,785 short-sentenced prisoners are confined. Many of tiiesc establishments are iu a very bad state ; overcrowding is common ; sanitation and hygiene arc negteeted. Breaches of discipline arc somewhat unre common than in the Maisons Centrales. T:ic third and last class of female prisons is the "correctional establishments," ten in number, containing girls under sixteen years old, to the number of 1,135. That at Nanterre is described as an example, and Mr Spearman says : "No more striking contrast cau be imagined than **that between the old prisons and the spick - aud - span now Nanteiro." One feature of French society, quite alien from English ideas, giws peculiar interest to this institution. "In France parents are enabled, with very little difficulty, to imprison their children if disobedient, idle, or vicious, for one month if under sixteen, aud for six months if over sixteen. Little girls of eight and nine years of age are sometimes sent to these Nanterre cells for fifteen days ' under parental correction.'" Mr Spearman rightly condemns the permission of prisoners "under parental correction" to associate with each other in school and at exercise, seeing that 99 per cent, of them are imprisoned for acts of debauchery generally of a very pronounced character. Two societies of ladies interest themselves in the reclamation of prisoners, and constantly visit St. Lazire and Nanterre. The Protestant society, hii offshoot from the work of the celebrated Elizabeth Fry, was founded in 1839. More than twenty-five years afterwards a Roman Catholic society was started. Mr Pearson speaks very emphatically upon the admirable work done by the Su-urs de la Sagesse and the Sisters of Marie Joseph, and doubts whether the modern system at Nanterre, with lay female warders, will produce equally good results. It is evident, however, that in certain branches another Howard is needed.

A recital of the wrongs suffered by Georgia at the hands of Russia, compiled chiefly from official documents by a Georgian, V. K. Cherkezov, presents us with the familiar tale of fraud and force, priestly persecution and political oppression. It forms a very fair companion picture to Professor Salmonc's delineation of Turkey. The dispute about our naval position ; n the Mediterranean is continued by Mr \V. L. Clowes, but do new matter of importance is introduced, and as the discussion has degenerated into something little better than bandying sneers it is to be hoped it will not be continued.

Professor Wright's article entitled 'ColorShadows' will prove intensely interesting to the artists, professional and amateur, of whose number and talent New Zealand is j'istly proud. The author belongs to the school of theorists who believe that the primary colors arc six in number, arranged in three pairs of contrast colors, black and while, red and green, blue and yellow. The physiological action of any one of these upon a portion of the retina is to call forth upon the other portions a perception of the " complementary " color, hence the shadow of a green paper upon white is tinged with red, and so for the other primary pairs. The interaction of these colors and their mixtures, of their "shadows" (somewhat of a misnomer, since the pheuomena of reaction are under it confused with those of real shadow), and the relations of these phenomena to art criticism, to the management of the palette, to house decoration, and to dress arc outlined with sufficient detail to enable anybody to apply the principle in all cases with success.