NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12852, 28 April 1905, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

AN" AGITATION'-TOR THE . PARTITION OF' CHINA.' " A plan for the partition of China is attributed to Berlin by certain London or-gans,-which, make it their business to warn the English against the diplomacy of Germany.. '1 he London Times has gone t-ho length of describing Germany as caught" by Japan in the act of dismembering the dominions of the Son of Heaven. But a nev: phase lias been put upon the subjectby the inauguration of a French agitation for the partition of China, behind which, according to rumour, are publicists of responsibility. The noted writer ou world politics, Pierre de Coubertin, has an exhaustive study ot the subject in the Paris 1' igaro. France, he avers, has everything to gain by the partition of China, and much to lose by the maintenance of her administrative entity in its existing form. The Japanese are, presumably, prepared to seize French Indo-China when "'the time is ripe." , Furthermore' With whom shall we reach an understanding? With Europe, with which our interests are identical. On what basis? There is but one— the partition of China into protectorates with partial occupation. Yesterday that would have been an act of folly. To-day it is safety. To-morrow it may be too late. The Chinese tool may not. escape the hands whiehj are striving', to seize it. Between white j hands and yellow-* hands/ - shall wo? hesitate? The plan, in its. large outline,is very clear. ' It is to approve the Russian descent toward Pekin, to allow English penetration, along the- -Yang-tse,-. to lead the Germans to complete their line of ocean stations by solid establishments on the Chinese coast-, to draw thither the Italians, to round out- our own Empire by an undisputed protectorate over Siam and a serious penetration in. Yunnan and Kwang-si, and to give to this collective acquisition by the Old World of a large portion of the Far East the only suitable sanction a general treaty of guaranties embracing the Dutch possessions, and providing for the defence of the general interests a numerous and well-equipped international naval force." The appearance of this suggestion in the Figaro synchronises with an utterance in the organ 01 the French Foreign • Office', "the Paris Temps, along similar.lines, although less specific., j i '

THE WOMAN OP TO-DAY AS A NOVELIST. It. is deemed a, significant' fact that the leading American - magazines are just at present. committing the writing of their serials to women. The Atlantic Monthly has Margaret Sherwood aud Mary Austin; the Century, Mr?. Humphry Ward, Alice Hegan Bice, and Kate Douglas Wiggin;. in Harper's Mrs. Ward concludes, and in Scribner's Edith Wharton begins. " Surely the women novelists . Have, attained their share of the plums, and a few more!" exclaims Mr. Robert Bridges. He adds a frank admission that " the women writers have won their place through no favouritism, but because they do extremely good •ivoik," and. he goes on to say (in Collier's Weekly): "The ambitious beginner may Study the record of these writers who have succeeded with much profit. They do not 'dash off' their inspirations and whine because they are not appreciated. Every one of them works at her craft with industry, illuminated by intelligence. The most -notabk of them have studied and travelled, and known interesting men and women; . jhey have persistently trained their minds and their observation —jo that to-day these are better instruments than when . they began. When the craftsman gets command of his medium he has arrived at the fullest joy of the artist. Neither fame nor money brings it. Someone recently quoted Homer Martin as having said at the end of his life, when nearly blind, 'At last I have learned to paint.' That 'is the true spirit of the craftsman in every art., Anyone who has closely observed the writings of women in the past 20 years will have noticed a distinct' broadening of the sphere in which they have excelled. There is more fibre, a keener knowledge of more things worth knowing, a better appreciation, not only of the position of women in our social system, but a clearer understanding of the place of men. A ' woman's hero' has ceased 'to be a term of reproach or food for laughter by other men. The current hero (as drawn by women writers) is even allowed to earn his living, to have a profession or some other visible means of support. Of old he was an elegant creature who floated through, the pages as a fairy prince or a villain. A very interesting comparison could be made between a Jane Austen hero and a Mrs. Ward hero. The higher education and the more sensible freedom of women is back of all this progress of the women who write. Their minds have been better trained and they have a surer grasp of the work of the world which is mostly carried on by men.. The biographies of women writers show a remarkable number of graduates of Wellesley, Vassal", and Smith (and Mrs. Ward had all the advantages of an Oxford education through her associations). If the women have come into their kingdom, it is because of intelligent and persistent work added to natural aptitude. And that is the only royal road for any writer, man- or woman."