Australia's Authors: The Ragtime Railway: Show Carnival:
Migrant Controversy: Attracting British and American Capital Fron Ovn Own Melbourne, Sept, 19.
Queensland Railway Strike For the first time, Australians have awakened to the fact that in his country are some writers who at least can claim " small tithe of Gistinetion in other parts of the world, In the past it has been a habit to under-rate_ manufacturers of prose and verse, and to push Eefore the unwary buyers of cheap Uiterature the wares of other countries. During the last week, a serious attempt was made to foster the rapidly-improving talent of our writers, by placing their works prominently before the public, thus inducing them to buy and sample the homemade product. To increase the interest, lectures were given by Jeading professors of the various universities and other learned men, through the medium of the various wireless broadcasting systems. Arti. cles appeared in the daily papers, and. the weekly journals published photographs, and some indulged in criticisms regarding the dead and the living, The neknowledged leader of Australian poetry before the critical] utterances of the last week was Adam Lindsay Gordon, the man around] whom is woven much romance, and whose life terminated with suddenness for which he alone was responsible, Whether the hectic sporting life of Gordon was responsible for the marked acknowledgment of his works after his death, or whether his suicide and the andness of the last few years of his IMfe, it isshard to say. To-day, fierce opponents of his versification axe to be found. Those who, a brief fow years ago, would have taited to have found an audience to listen to their condemnation, to-day have numerous adherents to what is almost heresy, itcher that goes to the spark-Ting Too oft Kets broken at lasts But there, are scores of others when is" ent th to earth The man who wrote this has, like the pitcher, been too often forersost {in the public mind and hig. sun almost has set; yet not 30 long the remaining' adherents to the Gordon schoo! continue to make thole annual pilgrimage to his grave in the Brighton cemetery, near Mel-Bourne, "and there repeat such sections of his works which appeal most strongly to them. One com: mon thought amongst the numerous lecturers, which is borne out after careful rending of the acknowledged works of the best of our poets and novelists, is that Australia still has! to produce a national poet; and, in! the other part of a country's thought, an essayist.
Hundreds of authors has} Australia, and all medioere—women end men, embracing every subject possible to conceive, all struggling to achieve something which will live for all time and failing, gallantly we will admit, in their objective. Dennis with' his satriea) poem called, the "Glugs of Gosh," a poem many true students consider will Ili many years to come; Mai with his ghastly tale, "The Term of Mis Natural Life;" and Rolf Bolder. wood, with his fascinating story, "Robbery Under Arms," must survive a few centuries, if not for all painters of @ true and picture of Australia's t period. In Clark's story many of the incidents are considered tov highly coloured to be termed accurate, but his descriptions of the Yonai settlements no doubt were written after having viewed them with his" own eyes. Children's stories und fairy stories, besides descriptive narratives of travel, make up the rest of the books offer" Sng. The sale during Authors Week considered to have been phenomenal, and many Australian' writers of whose existence Austra-Hians previously had no knowledge cither have secured for themselves a public or for ever lost for themselves the hope of obtai 'Once again from the ranks of the Labour party has arisen a strong] man in the hour of need. The frst jand foremost Labour leader, who is best remembered owing to the strenuous years of the war, was the Rt. Hon, William Morris' Hughes, who willingly faced the antagonism, lof his own party for a cause which the knew to be right. Now, from [Queensland, comes another such leader, who, faced with internal] strife, threats of expulsion from party, and every conceivable form of coercion, steadfastly stood to his guns and by the people of his State. This man is Mr. M'Cormack, the Premier of Queensland, In the Jearly stages of his battle, the after. math of the sugar strike which had Jdeveloped into an excuse to call the entire railway services out, "Big Bill" M'Cormack declared that—he had taken his oath of allegiance, anq that he would not waver for one moment from the path he considered his duty, M'Cormack formerly was a miner at Chillagce and a follower fand adherent of Mr. Theodore, former Premier of his State.' He! had been for fifteen years _continuously a Minister of the Crown and claims that to be a record for Australia, Since shis rise to the premiership, which he took over from Mr, Gillies, Mr. B'Cormack has refused to allow himself to be trampled upon by the executive of the! Australian Railways Union, which had played such havoc with - the Queensland transport service that it had been referred to, and even now is alluded to a3 the "ragtime; railway." Under the present Premier the services of the country must be carried out in a proper Jand workable manner. His keen foresight, and his recent utterances in Great' Britain (which he visited fon financial questions) where he ved an audience fron the King, led to much antagonism to-towards him from the extremists in the party. He has been accused lot having a "swelled head" and various other less nice allusions; Jail of which doubtless are due to the fet that the leader hay a broad and wide vision of what. are. the rue essentials of leadership, and what is best as regards the Empire jas a whole. Mis remarks—upon borrowing in foreign countries reference to England also aroused some enmity, Whether Mr. M'Cormack will reign long in his present position remains to be seen, but, if the present taste of his fighting qualities is not eulficient to warrant the party rotal ting him, instead of making him an enemy,' as in the case of Mr. [Hughes, then the brains of the present Labour movement in Australia totally have vanished. Mr, B'Cormack squashed the strike in practi-ally record time, for he had services in operation within a few
railway war. hours of the commencement of the Spring and its Carnivals Spring having entered, the hour lof business and pleasure has arrived. [Melbourne is in the midst of her show carnival, which is but. the commencement' of numerous shows throughout the State, culminating with the great " Easter Show in [Syéney. 'The entries for the Melbourne and Caulfield Cups are out, Jand the first of the spring meetings has commenced at Rosehill, in Sydney. The big golfing carnival' has just! been completed, with old champions defeated and new ones, the young. sters of the golf world, winning, the Australian championship passing, into the hands of Br. W. 8, Nanki cil, and the Victorian title to Mr. W. H, Edgar. Yet the Show is the: thing! Farmers from all parts of the State have flocked to the ten Jdays carnival. New events have been inaugurated, including a number of motor events. Remarkable improvements have been made in farming machinery, which now has
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.