WHAT WE SAW IN AUSTRALIA.* TnEnE are a number of
things which an intelligent person may see in any foreign country worth his attention, but which are scarcely important enough to be described at length in a book. These things may be divided into matters of general interest, which are so well known, or which a moment's consideration can discover, that they are not remark- able enough to be preserved except in a private diary ; the other class are objects not uninteresting in themselves, but of so little importance as also to be unworthy of preservation, except in the note-book or memory of an observer. The authoresses of this work seem not to have borne this rule in mind, and have con- sequently filled their book with a number of details which make some portions of it seem absolutely childish.
For example, it is no doubt a fact of some interest to any 11 future • Governor of New South Wales that the Government House at Sydney is a delightful residence, but that a serious drawback to it is a large sewer, which empties itself into the sea just in front of this residence. But any householder in London is sufficiently troubled with his own drains, without troubling himself with those of the Governor of New South Wales. In another place, these ingenuous young writers express their appro- bation of some "admirably performed private theatricals, quite equal to any we have witnessed at home." No reader in England cares to know that the Miss Hills were at some private theatri- cals, nor is astonished that Australians are as capable of acting as English amateurs. Nor, again, is it by any means an extraordinary fact that the sorting arrangements at Adelaide resemble those at the London General Post-office. This book is, in fact, very tedious, and any one who sits down to read it through will certainly find it depressingly dull. The writers have gone to work in such a conscientious manner, that they have chronicled every little thing from the beginning to the end of their visit. Their inclinations led them more especially to observe numberless benevolent and educational establishments, and having absolutely no literary power, they have presented the world with a book bearing a strong resemblance to a very large report on a number of charitable institutions. In fact, if these ladies had confined themselves to a work descriptive of the various institutions in Australia, and pointed out in what manner they bear upon those at home, they might have produced a work which would have appealed to a smaller circle of readers, but which, as far as it went, would have been more successful than that which they have actually written. As a book to read, we cannot recommend What We Saw in Australia, but at the same time, as a guide-book for any one about to visit or to emigrate to the Antipodes, it will be very useful, and it will be equally useful for reference in the case of those interested in many social and charitable institutions. From this point of view, the book now under review is worth some study. For instance, the manner in which drunkenness is treated in Australia must clearly have some bearing upon the treatment of this question at home. The Australians have boldly carried out the policy of which the late Dr. Dalrymple was a strenuous advocate, viz., of treating habitual intoxication as a disease. There is an Inebriate Asylum, both at Victoria. and at Adelaide. Without passing any judgment on the policy, it is obvious one merit possessed by these institutions is the fact that they hold an habitual drunkard up to the pity and contempt of the multitude, and would probably act more as a warning than a mere fine, which does not so permanently stamp a man as a drunkard.
Again, both in South Australia and West Australia what may be termed deterrent measures are in force, in order to prevent persons from becoming intoxicated, as well as to punish them after they have been found drunk. These measures are simply " pro - hibiting the supply of alcoholic liquor to persons whose names have, according to forms prescribed, been published as those of habitual drunkards, publicans so supplying them being liable to a heavy penalty." The writers, at the end of their volume (p. 437), give the two forms in use,—at the same place they write thus of its effect :—"Mr. Hare (the resident police-magistrate at Albany) assured us that the law, of which these notices are the exponenti and which is in force throughout the colony, has a considerable
• What We Saw in Australia. By Rosamond and Florence Hill. Lonlon. Macmillan and Co. 1875.
effect in repressing drunkenness. Even in the small country districts, where, of course, the police force is small, it is not in- operative." If the Miss Hills had, instead of writing down many of the truisms and petty details of which this book is full, endeavoured to ascertain more accurately the real effect of this Act in other places besides West Australia, they would probably have added a useful contribution to the elucida- tion of a most difficult and most important social problem,—the repression of drunkenness. There can scarcely be any doubt that such a law may prevent a great deal of intoxication, though it must undoubtedly also involve some cases of severe practical injustice. It must, too, be somewhat difficult to carry out, in a place where there are a large number of public-houses. But at the same time, the principle of this measure must always be worthy of serious thought, for it holds up the drunkard, not only to social scorn, but stamps his character, so that it must be a con- tinual endeavour of any honest working-man to avoid getting placed in such a category, even on the simple ground of his own pecuniary position. No employer cares to take an habitual drunkard into his service. It must also tend to diminish the number of those miserable beings who frequent the public-house in some districts of our large towns, simply idling their time when they are not drunk, and who in the end frequently figure in the dock, and then in the prison.
In our opinion, and probably in that of any one who takes up this book with a conscientious determination to read it through, the most interesting portion will be found in the description of the trans-continental telegraph. Englishmen do not, as a rule, appreciate the vast extent of the Australian continent. But it is possible in some way to comprehend the magnitude of the enterprise involved in establishing this line of telegraphs from imagining "the town of Newcastle-on-Tyne resolving to under- take, at its own cost, the construction of a telegraph to the shores of the Caspian Sea. As regards distance, this would be a parallel case, but the difficulties of construction in an unknown country inhabited by savages must far exceed any besetting the European line we are supposing." The Bill for the construction of the line passed through the South-Australian Parliament in June, 1870; it was to extend from Port Darwin inIthe north to Adelaide in the south, over 1,800 miles of land, of which 1,300 was terrain- cog-nita, "excepting what Stuart's 'Diary ' had made known of it." On the 22nd of August, 1872, Mr. Todd, Postmaster-General of South Australia, and the author and unwearying superintendent of this great and useful enterprise, completed the line, after passing through hardships and toils which one connects rather with the journeys of an African explorer than of a Government official.
We shall now have sufficiently shown the character of this work without further extracts or comments. Industrial and Reforma- tory Schools, Deaf and Dumb Asylums, will be found placed among details of every-day life which it would be uninteresting to notice. But if the Miss Hills have done nothing else, they have shown with what facility unprotected ladies travelling alone can see many places and things which must possess the deepest interest for intelligent minds. Still, while fully appreciating the value of some of their observations, we should be sorry to read many books which are written more after the model of the report of a Secretary of a Poor-Law Board, than of some of the graceful works which have fallen from some travelled ladies.
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