WILL CONSCRIPTION COME?

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 310, 4 October 1915, Page 2

WILL CONSCRIPTION COME?

'lt. is certain," writes Dr. Fitchett in the October issue of Life, just to hand, "that the proposal to establish National Service wil> create a controversy -which may well shake the National Cabinet of Great Britain to its foundations." This sentence was written before conscription in Great Britain became the burning topic it ib, today, and forms part of a very shrewd and interesting forecast by the editor of Life in his monthly review of. the

great war. No magazine that comes from abroad gives such a broad, picturesque, and, on the whole, accurate description of the lighting in Europe and ! the national movements behind the fighting, as does Life, and few writers possess Dr. Fitchett's gift for summing up and estimating the general situation. Dr. Fitchett's review of what he terms "The War of the Seven Seas and on all the Continents," contained iu the October issue, does not ignore the dark spots in the landscape, but, on the whole, it reflects quiet confidence in the final victory for the Allies, and attempts something like a forecast of the way in which the ultimate triumph may be achieved. Supplementing Dr. Fitchett's notes on the war are a review of the o;:*-

standing war novel, an informative article by Carlyle Smythe on "What I saw in France," and a fully packed Explanation Department for the "marin the street." The most conspicuous amongst the genral articles in the magazine for October is one entitled "Snakes I Have Met," one of a series in which W. A. .Somerset Is' presenting 'lie adventures of that curiously erratic character, "Morrissey of the Snakes." This article is accompanied by some remarkable photographs take;: by the writer, and illustrating Morrissey's method of "milking"—i.e.. extracting the venom from a Viger make. The snake was one borrowed for the occasion from the Melbourne Zoo. and, although it bit Morrissey hvicc during the operation, he sufTerea no further inconvenience than a badly swollen arm, and he succeeded in ex-

tracting a quantity of venom—"enough," as lie quaintly put it, "to kill two families of the size they have 'em nowadays.'"

We can confidently recommend Life to our readers. If unobtainable locally F or (id, a '.'•/ postal note sen: to T. ,V"iaw Fitchett, :>>7(> Swanston Street, Melbourne, will bring Life post free i! six months.