Literary Globe-Trotters,

Observer, Volume XI, Issue 754, 10 June 1893, Page 3

Literary Globe-Trotters,

We may, I suppose, shortly expect Miss Shaw's book on the Colonies. I do not refer to the whistling lady, but to the special correspondent of the Times who so lately made the tour of" these colonies in the interests of the oracle of PrintingHouse Square. Miss Shaw's book, I presume, will consist of Miss Shaw's letters to the Times, supplemented probably by a little fresh matter by way of • padding. Then the volume will be given to an expectant world by a West End publisher — and the limes will do the rest.

And now as to the probable value of the book when it appears: Miss Shaw I believe to be of an observant turn of mind and peculiarly well-qualified to write upon some of the subjects dealt with in her able letters to the great journal she represents. But is it reasonable to suppose that Miss Shaw can, on the strength of a few weeks spent in Australasia, have fitted herself to become an authority on colonial matters ? And yet that i 8 just what she will aim to do, if her letters already published are to be taken as any criterion. The fact is, these literary globe-trotters who rush from one city to another, from one show place to the next, as quickly as special trains and special steamboats will take them, do the Colonies far more harm than good.

How cart their published reports of what they have seen and heard be anything but misleading seeing the necessarily hurried way in which the information on which their conclusions and opiuions are based is picked up ? What did Sala's ' Land of The Golden Fleece ' do for us ? Was it not full of inaccuracies and mis-state-ments ? And what of Froude's ' Oceana ' ? Was ever a more unsatisfactory book written on these colonies ? The taunt tihat the great historian had picked up most of his ' facts ' in the smoke-room of the Northern Club was not without

foundation in fact, and the gentleman who so obligingly furnished those ' facts ' is still with us.

Then, again, look at the libels that were perpetrated upon us by Christie Murray, whose eccentric association of himself with a common-place travelling theatrical company is still fresh in our memories. On the whole, the methods adopted by these distinguished people are quite too suggestive of Count Smorltork and his methods of ' book-making.' Why does not some colonist, some well-informed ' old identity ' write up the Colonies ? The people at Home are badly in need of enlightenment on many points concerning us. They are hardly likely to gather much enlightenment from the crude impressions of newspaper correspondents and summer tourists.