THE REAL AUSTRALIA.
The Real Australia. By Alfred Buchanan. (T. Fisher Unwin. 6s.)—Mr. Buchanan is, we learn from his preface, a resident Australian. He is not by any means foolishly partial to the land of his adoption. On the contrary, he is even severely faithful. Whether his estimates are just or not, they are certainly not such as can be called flattering. He apologises, it is true, for the rudeness of Australian crowds at cricket matches by saying that the rough element in Sydney or Melbourne is able and willing to pay for admission, while in England it either cannot or will not. We doubt the explanation. The crowd is better behaved at Lord's than at the Oval, and better at the Oval than at Sheffield or Nottingham ; but it is a question not of money, but of manners. Elsewhere he is not apologetic. He is a severe censor,—sometimes so severe that we prefer leaving our readers to find out for them- selves what he says to giving any extracts. Extracts would be pretty sure to give offence, while, it is very probable, they would not fairly represent the author's whole judgment. One extract, however, we will make, because it is very appropriate just now. After remarking that no one would deny that "nations are more likely to hang together when there is a tie of self-interest between them," he goes on to say that we cannot apply the maxim to the union between Britain and Australia:—" The bond is not one that has grown strong by reason of political adjustments or of commercial necessities. Its virtue consists in the fact that it has not been manufactured in the mills of diplomacy. The more it is tampered with, the weaker it becomes. It is made of impalpable materials—of such materials as memory, sentiment, self-abnega- tion, heredity, pride. To attempt to trim it in one place and to buttress it in another is to attempt to alter its character and thus bring about its decay."
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