THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD.
By EVELYN WRENCH.
THE "Dry" Dry " versus "Wet" campaign has formed the subject of much discussion in the United States and in New Zealand during the past week. President Harding in his address to Congress described as a national scandal the way in which Prohibition laws were everywhere being violated. It was not likely, he said, that the Prohibition amendment would be repealed. But if the rigorous observance of Prohibition was contrary to public opinion (which he did not believe), then the strict enforcement of the law, which the President indicated would take place, would induce people to consider how the law might best be modified. "Such a course," said Mr. Harding, "conforms to law and order and saves the humiliation of the Government and people before the world." From New Zealand come the results of the general election, in which the Government won 39 seats, the Liberals 24 and Labour 17. In the licensing poll Prohibition failed to get the requisite majority, the voting being :—For continuance, 248,000; State Purchase, 82,000; Prohibition, 267,000. The failure of Prohibition was stated by the Times correspondent to be due to the fear of its financial effects.
From time to time it is suggested that Canada might seek to "cut the painter." This is what Sir Robert Borden had to say on the subject to an audience at McGill University a few days since :— " I do not agree with the opinion that Canada should be a separate, Independent nation. I think our power, our voice, our influence, and our service to the world will be infinitely greater if we remain within the Empire than if we should become an independent nation. But if we remain with the British Empire we must accept the responsibilities of that connexion. If war should come again I believe our responsibilities will be far less if we remain one of the great nations in the British Commonwealth than if we take up responsibilities on our own account."
Several correspondents have written to me about the paragraph emphasizing the need for a central depot in London where all the latest American books can be obtained. Sir Albert Spicer, who has done so much to promote British-American friendship, writes as follows :- "I am encouraged by your paragraph in the Spectator of December 2nd to send you a line with regard to American books being so late in coming to this market. For example, F. B. Smith sent me a copy of his new book, On the Trail of the Peacemaker, which I read with much interest and approval, and at once tried to buy some copies to give to friends. The book is published by the Macmillan Company in New York, but I have not been able to find any copies in London. Usually a few come for the reviewers but none on sale. I cannot find that Smith's book has even come to the ordinary reviewers. You can easily see the harm it does to a circulation here, and if you can do anything to overcome the present difficulty you will be doing good service for both countries."
Migration problems are the subject of much discussion not only in Australia and New Zealand but also in Canada, where it is widely felt that the Dominions urgently need more people. Lord Shaughnessy, the former President of the Canadian Pacific Railway and a great authority on immigration matters, told the Kiwanis Club of Montreal the other day that nothing had been done to attract emigrants to the Dominion for the past eight years-. Lord Shaughnessy, according to the Times Toronto correspondent, advocated the appointment of a thoroughly capable and enterprising Minister of Immigration and Colonization, with "an intelligent advertising and publicity organization." Lord Shaughnessy does not think that immigration should be confined to persons of British origin ; he believes that an admixture of new blood and new thought from the Continent of Europe will do' the people- of Canada no harm.
All who desire the freest inter-communication in the English-speaking world must hope that the new Post- master-General will be able to re-introduce penny postage, a reform which he recently stated he would do his best to bring about as soon as possible. The penny post and cheaper cables have done more for Imperial co- operation than almost anything else. And in our relations with the United States who can estimate the benefits we derive from the penny post ? If the United States Government can afford to carry a letter from San Francisco or Seattle to London for two cents only surely the British postal service should do the same. As Lord Southwark said at the recent meeting of the Rowland Hill Memorial Fund, the Post Office is "our greatest commercial traveller."
The extraordinary popularity of world-travel in the United States, to a degree undreamt of in this country, is illustrated by the great number of cruises that are being organized by the leading tourist agencies, such as Thomas Cook and Son and the American Express Company. Every American magazine during the past few months has contained many pages of alluring announcements inviting the well-to-do reader to forget the rigours of a northern winter and embark for more fortunate lands, where under sunlit skies you can wander "by the sea and along the base of green-clad mountains" or "where life is as perfect as it can be this side of heaven." How any ordinarily constituted mortal possessed of the necessary number of dollars can resist these eloquent appeals of the expert American advertisement copy-writer, accompanied by entrancing pictures of palm-trees and blue lagoons, is a mystery.
In addition to the usual cruises on palatial Atlantic liners, withdrawn from their usual service during the winter months, to the West Indies. South America and the Mediterranean, two or three vessels, such as the Cunarder Samaria ' and the Canadian Pacific 'Empress of France' have been chartered for four months tours round the world, costing from $1,000 upwards. The modern Marco Polo can, therefore, in 127 days visit India, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, China, Japan, Hawaii, and return by the Panama Canal to New York, only leaving his floating hotel for side trips in India and elsewhere.
According to the new Report of the Rhodes Trustees, 800 Rhodes scholars were in residence at Oxford in 1921- 1922 ; 156 came from the British Empire and 144 from the United States. The most popular subjects with the Rhodes Scholars were Law 98, Natural Science (including Medicine) 66 and Modern History 40. Oriental Languages and Anthropology attracted only one apiece. As Lord Milnes stated at the annual dinner at Oxford last June, the Trust is undergoing an evolution and before long all the scholars will be elected by former Rhodes scholars in their respective countries. Already this is done both in the United States and Canada.
Those interested in the problem of settling ex-Service men overseas will welcome the news that the South Australian Government is offering 40,000 acres, probably in the Chaffey area near Renmark, for settlement by British ex-Service men. Renmark is the centre of the fruit-growing and dried fruit industry in Australia. The Chaffey area is called after Mr. W. B. Chaffey, who went to Australia many years ago from California and whose enterprise was responsible for much of the success of the irrigation system of the River Murray. Its smiling vineyards, Sir William Beach Thomas informs the readers of the Daily Mail, produce wines vastly better than any Australian wine he ever tasted in Britain. Australians, he thinks, keep the best for themselves.
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