BOOKS OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1758, 24 May 1913, Page 9

BOOKS OF THE DAY.

' THE STORY OF THE .EUREKA STOCKADE. Mr. Henry Gyles Turner, whose, "History of the.Colony of Victoria" and "The First Decade of the Australian Common-, wealth" ■ were such, welcome and useful cpntributions to the literature of Australian history, has followed up those works by an interesting little monograph, "Our Own Little Rebellion; the Story of the Eureka Stockade" (Melbourne and Wellington; Whitcombe and Tombs). The author has, of course, made use of. the voluminous reports furnished by the civil vnd military officials on the goldfields to Sir Charles Hotliam, who was Governor of Victoria at the time the disturbances occurred on the Ballarat field, and as Mr. .Turner was at one time on terms of friendly intimacy with many of the persons, both miners and officials, connected with the outbreak, and was present at two oftlio meetings hold in Melbourne in December, 1851, ■at which the warmest sympathy was expressed with the diggers, he has been able to add many personal touches which relieve his narrative from being a mere condensation of official records and newspaper reports. He gives a very fair and dispassionate account of the grievances which led the diggers into what was actually rebellion against the British flag. The grievances were many, the most prominent being the outrageously tyrannical conduct of the police, conduct denounced by the "Argus in tho most outspoken terms. 'Mr. Turner quotes at length' from Mr. William Hewitt's "Two in Victoria," in which the English writer denounced the system under which licenses were issued to tho diggers and controlled' by the police, as one which justly raised "the indignation of 'highspirited, free-born men, aud excited the ■universal hatred of the people as a coldblooded, un-English, un-Christian despotism." Had tho Governor been a man of common sense and moderation, the just complaints of the diggers would have received attention and redress, but as Mr. Turner tells us, Sir Charles Hotham's "ideas of discipline wero those of tho quarter-deck." "With incredible obtruseness both-tho Governor aud his. advisers failed to Tead the signs of the times." "A dissipated and venal magistrate named Dewes, assisted in further infuriating the men, and eventually the storm broke, and armed resistance, to constituted authority was determined 'upon."

Foreigners and the Rebellion, It has been said that the rebellion was really the result of the dissemination of anarchist doctrines amongst the diggers by low-class foreigners of the revolutionary type. This, however, so Mr. Turner shows us, is quite, an erroneous impression. That some of those who led the "rebellion" were hot-headed and mischievous foreigners is not to be denied. .Vera, the nominal commander of the rebels (a Governor), and Carboni Raffalao, an egotistical, half-insane Italian, being specially prominent. But, as Mr. Turner points-out, of the twenty or so of. the rebels who were killed in the Eureka Stockado "ten were Irishmen; of the others, two were English, two Scotch, two Germans, two Canadians, one Australian native, and two were -unidentified. Of the thirteen prisoners eventually brought to trial only two were foreigners, the others were all from;.some';part ,:of the,, British, Isles." | That two or three foreigners worked themselves to the front when fighting appeared imminent,' is not surprising, but, savs the author, the movement was not engineered by dangerous foreigners, as the Governor declared, but "at the outBet secured the sumpathy of thousands of men of all sorts and conditions, irrespective of race, and was a genuine and earnest revolt against unwarranted tyrannical proceedings. ... After the Fight. , "

Mr. Turner gives a detailed account of tho events which preceded the fight at the Stockade, and df the fight itself, but not tho least interesting. feature of his book is his record of the held in Melbourne—trials which ended in a . virtual triumph for the rebels. Peter Lalor, one of the leaders, lived, it may be remembered, to become Speaker of the Victoria! Assembly. All that the Ballarat Reform League demanded has long beon granted, and had not tho protest of men, smarting under admitted injustice, been met by a summons to obedience with tho alternative of repression by brute force, its platform might, says Mr. Turner, "have been secured without bloodshed." That force, used in an offensivo and tyrannical manner, was, says the author, indisputably established by the official report of the Royal Commission, appointed by tho Governor in December, 1854. The rebels had been, impatient, it is true. They had broken the law. That is equally true. But they had been fairly goaded into revolt by seeing gross wrongs go unredressed, and the blame for the rebellion must bo shared by tho very Government against whom it was directed. Australia has no reason to be in any way ashamed of the fight at the Eureka Stockade, although the loss of life was, of course, to bo regretted. It was the first "war" in Australia. May it crovo to have been the last. Several illustrations, plans, portraits, and reproductions of the Government proclamations, enhance the interest and value of the text. (Price, 3s. Gd.)

PROBLEMS OF LIFE AND REPRODUCTION. The latest addition, to tho Progressive 6cienco Series, a series of works in which subjects of great scientific importance are dealt with, as far as possible, iiii a fashion suited to the non-expert reader, is entitled "Problems of Life and Reproduction," by Marcus Hartog, Professor ot' Zoology in University College, Cork (London: John Murray; per Whitcombe and Tombs). It consists to some extent of essays aiul lectures which have appeared in various •scientific.and educational periodicals, but most have been rewritten, and all have been subjected to careful revision. In successive chapters the Professor deals with "Some Problems of Reproduction," "The Qsllular Pedigree and the Problem of Heredity," "The Relation of Brood Formation to Ordinary Cell Division,"' "The 'New Force'—Mitokinetism," "Nuclear Reduction and the Function of Cromatin," "Fertilisation," "The Transmission of Acquired Characters," "Mechanism and Life." "The Biological Writings of Sanwf'l Butler," "Interpolation of Memory," and "The Teaching of Nature Study/' • From the titles above quoted it will be seen that Professor Hartog has covered a good deal of ground, and that he deals with some of the most important and most fascinating problems now ?n----gagingthe attention of scientific observers and students. When ho differs from the conclusions arrived at by other scientists ho is deoidedly outspoken. As ho says in his preface, "A well entrenched position needs strong weapons and unflinching attacks; and I have not hesitated to uso all the k-gitimato arms of scientific controversy in assailing certain views, for they have been widely pressed on the general public with an assuijance that must have convinced many that tho position was defended by tho universal consensus of biologists." For tho general reader, one of tlio most interesting'of Professor Ilartog's essays is that dealing with certain problems of heredity, or alleged heredity, "Tho Transmission of Acquired Characters." The author is specially severe upon certain statements and contentions which have been put forward by Dr. Archdalo Reid. This is a chapter which will specially interest our Eugenist friends. The two final papers, on "Interpolation in Memory" (read before the British Association at Bradford in 1900), and "The Teaching of Nature Study," an address to teachers), will bo found intensely interesting by all rngaged in educational work. The second paper, in particular, contains many novel and inftresting suggestions. Professor Ilartog's hook, like others in the same series, is illustrated bv /lra vines and diagrams, sonie in colour,

which will assist in a better comprehension of the facts, theories, and arguments set forth in the text, and is a model of clear and handsome typography. The price is 7s. Gd. net. I might mention that amongst other volumes in the earn!? excellent series are "Heredity," by Professor J. Arthur Thomson; "The Interpretation of Radium," by Professor Soddy; Dr. Boiiney's work on volcanoes; Professor Newcoinb's "The Stars"; and Professor C. L. Poor's study of "The' Solar System," oto. The prices vary from Gs. to 9s.