Mr, Justice MeCardie, an ornament of the High Court who has often stimulated opinion by' his comments from the Bench on modern modes and manners, has expressed a strong! view that Parliament should take note of the unsatisfactory state of the law in regard to the relations between husband and wife, This dictum arose out of his Judgment Jin a case in which—for the purposes of settling the liability of an {nsurance company—a woman sued her former fiance but present husband for damages sustained in a motor-car accident, to which he was alleged to have contributed by his negligent driving. Mr. Justice MeCardie, noting that the marriage had occurred since the accident and that the couple were happy, gave against the wife on the ground that her person did not constitute Iher own separate property within the meaning of the Married Women's Property Act. Then he proceeded to make the sug-' gestion for the benefit of Parliament, The learned, judge bachelor. That may be held to indicate a disability or a special qualification for expressing opinion on such a delicate matter, according to the particular taste and fancy of the reader. However that may b it is intriguing to find that in this 20th Century Parliamentary' intervention is still considered be of value in settling the relations between the protagonists in what Bernard Shaw: has called the duel of the sexes humbler—and more Early Victorian—pablic official than Mr. Justice MeCardie has placed on record the historic dictum:
"the law is a ass—a idiot", ta application to the basic principle' of ital relationship the eye of Parliament. Mr. Bumble piously and considerately went on to express the hope that Parliament would learn its error by experience. Mr. Justice McCardie evidently thinks that this achievement has been reached. It is a cheerful thought but it requires an abundant jism—and blind belief in the wisdom of the average MP. male or female—for its unqualified endorsement.
Not that there is an absence of literature on the subject. From the time of the triangular duel in the Garden of Eden to this present July morning, poets, essayists, novelists, historians, philosophers and' dramatists! have endeavoured to educate their fellows on this question. Yet, the more the subject is discussed the greater is the difficulty of arriving at dogmatic feonclusions on which Parlia-—|rrentary action can alone be satisfactorily attempted, And, so long as Mr. Bumble's view cannot be completely discarded, Parliament would-be considered {to have rushed in where Solomon may have trodden but certainly Failed to secured fyll_ marks. Even in the Courts, where Sir Henry McCardie scintillates, and where adjustments are made, in ever increasing measure, in the relations between husband and Wife, there is but a superficial handling of the problem. In fact no other activity of life shows so strong a divergence between the facile conclusions of theorists and the fierce, determined relentlessness of practical realities. The Courts touch only the obvious and the unnecessary points of difference, The fundamentals remain: no Act of Parliament, no ex cathedra utterance from the bench can shake them, Even the writer of the [daring problem novel is painfully inadequate, in this regard, Novelists, "of course, must be forgiven for attempting an impossible task. They have to be 80 prolific nowadays. The rush and bustle of modern 1 makes it an astonishing fact that there are so many books, When the wise man wrote that "of the making of many books there is no end" he could hardly have foreseen the interminable stre which pours out from the publishers into the modern dookseller's hands, If it is a question how the writer of today finds time to reel off his contribution to the stream, it is equally a question how the public finds time to read even the smallest fraction of the printed words put at its disposal. The reviewers probably would not pretend that they perform the feat—some of them are good husbands or wives and have families to rear—and, if that is 80, the public are most unlikely more conscientious. The stenographer has to _answer for much. Charles Garvice, perhaps, was the first novelist who discovered the secret of mass production by judicious _marshalling of a battery of stenographers. Edgar Wallace to-day has carried the practice to a fine fort, Yet if a competent subeditor, possessed as all competent sub-editors are, of completely ruthless instincts, were to tackle some of the best sellers of today, it is possible that the publishers would save enormous amount of expense by the mere device of printing the first page and the two penultimate pages and leaving the rest blank. The reader would not lose a single link in the plot and he or she could improve the record for novel-reading speed [Spada was interested. and Spada announced that he would not allow the service to continue so long: as itis enemy ran it, and it was for} this reason that two gendarmes were sent with the omnibus—an insufficient and unfortunate precaution, as it tuned out. Some time ago Spada revenged himself with equal blood. thirstiness on another man who had spoken slightingly of the Jssme young woman. He crept up to this man's house at night and shot his uncle and sister through the window, killing them both. [Spada seems to have had a grudge Jagainst the Sari @'Oreino gendarmes, [who captured another bandit named} Rutili, a great friend of his. The great difficulty in catching these Corsican desperadoes: is that the country people are afraid to give information against them. Operations} Jon a large scale against them would foe expensive and Inst 2 long time. The authorities therefore usually, the hope that the bandit will be betrayed some day lout of revenge. by several minute Is Edgar Wallace the favourite novelist of the young.people of, to-day? Perhaps P: G. Wodehouse—in those stories in which the love interest is not too dominating—rivals him. Generally it may be suspected that the fashionable cult of crime fiction —always in some measure popular in schools—has been adopted by the younger generation. Yet it is natural that their fathers and mothers should look back and sigh for the splendid writers of their own splendid age. A. A, Milne has of court secured a niche to himself but, with him too, the modern insatiability ha ed a tendency to ov Winnie the Pooh. Barrie, with Peter Pan, also stands alone. But thet past generation was rich in its library store. Was there not Lewis Carroll, with his inimit-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.