NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15235, 24 February 1913, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

UNEMPLOYMENT IN AUSTRALIA. That there is a falling-off from the remarkable activity which has characterised

the building trade cf Melbourne for some years is referred to by tho Melbourne Argus as a fact not open to, dispute. It was stated at a public meeting in Melbourne th,it 1410 workers connected with, the building trade are out of employment, and the Argus points out that Victoria is no worse off in this respect than New South Wales, where the Ls.bour Government " dismissed many hundreds of men because it has been unable to continue the works it had in hand. The special causes for some falling-off in the building trade of Greater Melbourne are, says the Argus, that financial institutions have been obliged to curtail the operations of speculative builders in the suburbs, and though in the city proper work is as brisk as ever, the supply of workers in the city has increased. The Government imported only tho number of men whom the representatives of the building trades agreed were required, but others haw been naturally attracted by the activity of the trade and the high wages ruling. If it be proclaimed that financial institutions ought not to shut down on speculative builders, the answer i? that the banks have not the money at their command to meet all the demands. Ore special rests,—, -for the stringency is that the Commonj wealth Labour Government, in order t • I increase its revenue by tout £100, at J the expense of the States, took the note i issue of the Commonwealth into its own I hands. By that interference with the j natural flow of the currency it deprived j the banks of £1,000,000 which was previously available for auvfmces, and to i.hafc erieat. it has hampered the enteral isa of the community. It his restricted it further by excessive taxation. Beyond this, increase of wages and diminution in the amount of work returned for the wages, with consequent rise of prices, have increased the cost of building in recent years by 40 per cont. These are the real reasons for s-.'.ch slacker, ing of a -tivitv in the building trade as exists. | A HERO'S WIDOW. Sculptors look upon Mrs. Scott (widow of the late Captain Scott) as one of the best —certainly the best —pupil of the great French sculptor, Rodin. She has already executed several splendid ; statues, the most important beinc that

of the late Eon. C. S. Bolls, the first British airman to fly 'the Channel. Another —strongly suggestive of her master, Rodin — a statue called "Motherhood," while still more after the. style of her tutor is " The Stolen Baby." But her art does not consist exclusively in reproducing abstract ideas. She ha 3 a wonderful gift for portraiture. With a few deft movements of her fingers she evolves from a piece of clay a lifelike presentation of well-known people. Originally she decided to be a painter, and went to Paris to study her art, but on the first day she attended the class she was struck with the serious, sombre, not to say funeral aspect, of the spectacled spinster students and the room. Heavens," she x thought. "If I stay here I may turn into one of these. Horrible thought. If this is what painters do, then it is not for me." But on walking dejectedly down the street she heard a sound of revelry by day. It was a song with a rollicking Norwegian lilt, and it just enticed her into the studio. It was a mixed class of students modelling and laughing. And as they laughed and sang and worked the lumps of clay grew into joyous forms and figures. So instanter she decided to be a modeller and a sculptress, and she has never regretted her choice, for to-day he? clay creations are to be found in the salons of many European cities. But she likes doing portraits of well-known people,' especially men. That is why her Rolls statue was so successful. An interesting pen picture of the lady at work is recorded by Mr. Sewell Collins, who visited her studio. As she talked there grew out of a chunk of mud a remarkable likeness to the,keen, aggressive head of Dr. Nansen. / "My ambition," she said, smearing a slice of clay along Dr.' Nansen's cheekbone, "is to do portraits of men. I don't want to do women; only men. It is much more fun Men are easiest," she added, giving the Norwegian explorer a savage jab in the eye. " Pay," exclaimed Mrs. Scott, squeezing a piece of Dr. Nansen's frost-bitten ear. ..." the subject of money, is raised my hopes are lowered. . . . The best things I do are the things I make for my own amusementportraits of my friends. . . I do them because I like them. . . , And when I get a bona-fide business order for something, I feel that I'll fail. I'm trembling all the time I'm doing it, tninking whether it is going to please the customer or not." Again she unwound a wet cloth from another bust, and revealed the kindly features of the Prime Minuter. She tied Mr. Asquith up so significantly that the interviewer asked if she were a suffragist. "I am not," she replied. "I am. a rabid anti-suffragist."