THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9022, 7 April 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW.

The February issue of the Westminster commences with an article on " Imperial Federation," the special point being the position of Canada with respect* to the United States. The writer is a believer in federation, but does not show how the practical difficulties are to be overcome.

"The Higher Education of Women" is a branch of a topic on which the Westminster has always hold advanced views. Certain writers have recently contended that what is called the higher education for women will so tax and enfeeble the energies of women that their constitutions will prove unequal to the strain; that their strength will be so exhausted that they will prove unequal to the strain entailed by the duties of matrimony, with its consequent motherhood. The article argues Uiat if women are becoming leas fitted for the dutie? of life it is not because of higher education, but because of vicious social customs, which, by hindering their full physical development, render them weak and delicate in body. For our own part, we think that there is a fundamental error in very much that is said and written on the subject. With many, a " higher education" for women means a severe training in branches of study which have hitherto been undertaken almost exclusively by men. We should like to seo "the higher education of women" consist of a "good education in what is fitted to be her domain —in all that pertaine to the management of a house and the training of children. We do not see why her faculties should not expand in these wide departments. Very few women can pursue a career in which she is liable to long hours of confinement, to exhausting labour, without permanent injury to her powers in becoming a wife and mother. There are, for instance, very few teachers, who have been for long in the profession, who are fitted to bear healthy children. They could not be happy as wives, because they simply could not be healthy. Wβ give the following quotation from the article :—

It is quite probable, as Mr. Spencer very properly points out, that Edwin is not, as a rule, brought to Angelina's feet by her German. But surely it is equally true that, unless Edwin is an absolute idiot, the knowledge that Angelina can whisper soft nothings in his ear in that learned but slightly guttural language will not be a very fatal obstacle to his declaration. Rosy cheeks, laughing eyes, and a finely rounded form are no doubt great attractions, and very desirable. But if one's wife has only these physical attractions, without a corresponding mental development, she may prove a very good nursemaid, but not a very intelligent helpmeet. It is also worth remembering, as Professor MahatFy very properly says, that" it is only when mental refinement is added to physical beauty * * * * that love rises from an appetite to a sentiment." And when those laughing eyes grow dim, and the rosy cheeks assume the contour of the full moon, while the finely rounded form has reached the proportions that roused so much the susceptibilities of Nathaniel Hawthorne, then will one find out, if not before, the advantages of having some mental as well as physical health and beauty. And such education will not render women the less capable of undertaking one of the most important tasks that fall to the lot of any, viz., the care and training of the growth and development of a child's mind. Finally, we should recognise a fact, too often ignored, that, after all, woman has * life of her own to lead. There are many problems in life that a woman has to solve for , herself with such light aft she may derive from her education, and on the proper solution of some of these problems will depend much for good or for evil, both to herself and to those with whom she may be connected. It is, therefore, very desirable that she should have as muon help as may be given by a highly trained intellect, and, in proportion to her previous mental training, will be her capacity - lor judging and living rightly. I

The third article is on "Western Australia," and is a justification of the action of the Imperial Government in declining to hand . over to the 36,000 people now residing in Western Australia the more than a million square miles which is the area of the colony. There seems to be an idea, if Great Britain handed over the entire control of the land, the 36,000 people could simply enrich themselves by dividing it amongst them; but it is forgotten that these nuge resources spoken of can only be developed by labour, and that the people of Western Australia could only do any good for themselves by holding out inaucemente for other people to enter the colony. But probably no narm is done by delaying the matter for a time. "Irish Land and Land Rents" is devoted to proving that, considering the fall in prices of agricultnral products, the rente payable in Ireland must be still further reduced beyond what there is at present any provision for doing. The other articles in the issue are :—" Reminiscences of Cardinal de Richelieu," "The Swiss Constitution," " Free Trade Versus Fair Trade," " The Crofters of the Highlands." Then follow summaries of contemporary literature and of home affairs.