The Star. SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 1896.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5454, 4 January 1896, Page 4

The Star. SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 1896.

Large numbers of' people will read with keen pleasure the announcement that Mr. John Lee Scott, of the firm of Scott Bros., has definitely undertaken to contest, a Christchurch seat for Parliament, in the exceedingly probable event of there being a vacancy. It yet remains to be seen what are Mr Scott's views on various questions, and until these have been placed before the public, we cannot possibly express an unqualified 'approval of the possible candidate. Still, we have no hesitation in saying that such a man as Mr Scott is likely to make an exceedingly good representative. There are certain broad facts respecting him with which everybody is perfectly acquainted — that he is a citizen of long standing ; that he has always taken a prominent part in electoral contests, and always on the aide of • the Liberal Party ; that .he takes a particularly keen interest in railway matters, that he has had some experience as a Eailway Commissioner, and that he has lived an irreproachable life. These things, we take it, were in the minds of those who .composed the deputation yesterday, and we know that the deputation was of a widely representative character. We shall await, with no small • degree of interest, the outcome of events.

The announcement that Mr Alfred Austin lias been appointed poet laureate will scarcely prove a source of unlimited satisfaction to literary men in any part of the world. Mr Austin is a prolific writer, and has made some name for himself in the three different arenas of essay writing, fiction and poetry. But while in all three he has risen above mediocrity, he cannot, with any show of reason, be considered the greatest of living English poets. To the majority of readers in the colonies his name and his writings are alike unknown. It is, of course, likely enough that in England his poetry is read far more widely than it is here ; but just as in landscape a better perspective is obtained from a distance, so public opinion in this part of the world may claim to be an even better judge of relative merit than that which estimates an author in the misleading light of personal acquaintance. It is not very long since the position of poet laureate was invariably filled by authors of second or third-rate ability. From James I. downwards the office was the gift of the sovereign to any hanger on of the Court who could write occasional verse with facility and adapt any talents he might possess to the glorification of the vices, follies or blunders of his master. At the commencement of the present century, that excellent journalist and third-rate poet, Eobert Southey, was croVned with the laureate's wreath, while such poets as Byron, Keats and Shelley, were ignored. . It is only in the case of William Wordsworth and Alfred Tennyson, the last two holders, that the position can be said to have been filled by men who were not only first in irame but first in ability, and first in the'estimation of their countrymen.

Without underrating Mr Austin's achievements, it must be confessed that he falls far short of the qualifications of his two immediate predecessors. Of the other aspirants to the position whom Lord Salisbury's Government has passed over there are four whose claims would probably be considered superior to Mr Austin's by a majority of the reading public. William Morris, as a narrative poet, and as the author of the collection of legends known as " The Earthly Paradise " has been approved by all critics as facile princcps in his particular line. His namesake, Lewis Morris, would probably be given the pride of place in a good many quarters, and is especially dear to that class of reader which resents the ostentatious scepticism and fin de sidcla pessimism of so much of the poetry of the day. Sir Edwin Arnold, in his " Light of Asia," has shown a good deal of poetic insight, much command of language and a rich and exuberant imagination. But it is Swinburne who, if the award is to be dependent on merit alone, has most claims to be appointed to the position of Lord -Tennyson's successor. It is true that he sometimes offends even his most ardent admirers by his extravagance or ambiguity, or by the too realistic nature of his word pictures. But subtracting from his writings everything that is unintelligible and inartistic, and everything that offends against good taste, there remains enough of genuine poetry to outweigh the collective merits of any two of his rivals. That he has not been appointed affords good ground for supposing that the Conservative Government has been influenced by political and party motives. It is only on this supposition that an action can be explained, which, at least from this distance, appears extraordinary enough.

Lectobb. — Miss Anna Brandon is announced to give a lecture on " Creation" M^^^UQWHaIl l _on«Jan.,a