Medlow Bath.--Jenolan Caves.--Giant skeleton.--Mrs. Foster Turner's
mediumship.--A wonderful prophecy.--Final results.--Third sitting
with Bailey.--Failure of State Control.--Retrospection.--Melbourne
presentation.--Crooks.--Lecture at Perth.--West
Australia.--Rabbits, sparrows and sharks.
We recuperated after our Brisbane tour by spending the next week at
Medlow Bath, that little earthly paradise, which is the most restful
spot we have found in our wanderings. It was built originally by Mr.
Mark Foy, a successful draper of Sydney, and he is certainly a man of
taste, for he has adorned it with a collection of prints and of
paintings--hundreds of each--which would attract attention in any city,
but which on a mountain top amid the wildest scenery give one the idea
of an Arabian Nights palace. There was a passage some hundreds of yards
long, which one has to traverse on the way to each meal, and there was a
certain series of French prints, representing events of Byzantine
history, which I found it difficult to pass, so that I was often a late
comer. A very fair library is among the other attractions of this
remarkable place.
Before leaving we spent one long day at the famous Jenolan Caves, which
are distant about forty-five miles. As the said miles are very
up-and-down, and as the cave exploration involves several hours of
climbing, it makes a fairly hard day's work. We started all seven in a
motor, as depicted by the wayside photographers, but Baby got sick and
had to be left with Jakeman at the half-way house, where we picked her
up, quite recovered, on our return. It was as well, for the walk would
have been quite beyond her, and yet having once started there is no
return, so we should have ended by carrying her through all the
subterranean labyrinths. The road is a remarkably good one, and
represents a considerable engineering feat. It passes at last through an
enormous archway of rock which marks the entrance to the cave
formations. These caves are hollowed out of what was once a coral reef
in a tropical sea, but is now sixty miles inland with a mountain upon
the top of it--such changes this old world has seen. If the world were
formed only that man might play his drama upon it, then mankind must be
in the very earliest days of his history, for who would build so
elaborate a stage if the play were to be so short and insignificant?
Illustration: OUR PARTY EN ROUTE TO THE JENOLAN CAVES, JANUARY
20TH, 1921, IN FRONT OF OLD COURT HOUSE IN WHICH BUSHRANGERS WERE
TRIED.
The caves are truly prodigious. They were discovered first in the
pursuit of some poor devil of a bushranger who must have been hard put
to it before he took up his residence in this damp and dreary retreat. A
brave man, Wilson, did most of the actual exploring, lowering himself by
a thin rope into noisome abysses of unknown depth and charting out
the whole of this devil's warren. It is so vast that many weeks would be
needed to go through it, and it is usual at one visit to take only a
single sample. On this occasion it was the River Cave, so named because
after many wanderings you come on a river about twenty feet across and
forty-five feet deep which has to be navigated for some distance in a
punt. The stalactite effects, though very wonderful, are not, I think,
superior to those which I have seen in Derbyshire, and the caves have
none of that historical glamour which is needed in order to link some
large natural object to our own comprehension. I can remember in
Derbyshire how my imagination and sympathy were stirred by a Roman
lady's brooch which had been found among the rubble. Either a wild beast
or a bandit knew best how it got there. Jenolan has few visible links
with the past, but one of them is a tremendous one. It is the complete,
though fractured, skeleton of a very large man--seven foot four said the
guide, but he may have put it on a little--who was found partly imbedded
in the lime. Many ages ago he seems to have fallen through the roof of
the cavern, and the bones of a wallaby hard by give some indication that
he was hunting at the time, and that his quarry shared his fate. He was
of the Black fellow type, with a low-class cranium. It is remarkable the
proportion of very tall men who are dug up in ancient tombs. Again and
again the bogs of Ireland have yielded skeletons of seven and eight
feet. Some years ago a Scythian chief was dug up on the Southern
Steppes of Russia who was eight feet six. What a figure of a man with
his winged helmet and his battle axe! All over the world one comes upon
these giants of old, and one wonders whether they represented some race,
further back still, who were all gigantic. The Babylonian tradition in
our Bible says: "And there were giants in those days." The big primeval
kangaroo has grown down to the smaller modern one, the wombat, which was
an animal as big as a tapir, is now as small as a badger, the great
saurians have become little lizards, and so it would seem not
unreasonable to suppose that man may have run to great size at some
unexplored period in his evolution.
We all emerged rather exhausted from the bowels of the earth, dazed with
the endless succession of strange gypsum formations which we had seen,
minarets, thrones, shawls, coronets, some of them so made that one could
imagine that the old kobolds had employed their leisure hours in
fashioning their freakish outlines. It was a memorable drive home in the
evening. Once as a bird flew above my head, the slanting ray of the
declining sun struck it and turned it suddenly to a vivid scarlet and
green. It was the first of many parrots. Once also a couple of kangaroos
bounded across the road, amid wild cries of delight from the children.
Once, too, a long snake writhed across and was caught by one of the
wheels of the motor. Rabbits, I am sorry to say, abounded. If they would
confine themselves to these primeval woods, Australia would be content.
This was the last of our pleasant Australian excursions, and we left
Medlow Bath refreshed not only by its charming atmosphere, but by
feeling that we had gained new friends. We made our way on January 26th
to Sydney, where all business had to be settled up and preparations made
for our homeward voyage.
Whilst in Sydney I had an opportunity of examining several phases of
mediumship which will be of interest to the psychic reader. I called
upon Mrs. Foster Turner, who is perhaps the greatest all-round medium
with the highest general level of any sensitive in Australia. I found a
middle-aged lady of commanding and pleasing appearance with a dignified
manner and a beautifully modulated voice, which must be invaluable to
her in platform work. Her gifts are so many that it must have been
difficult for her to know which to cultivate, but she finally settled
upon medical diagnosis, in which she has, I understand, done good work.
Her practice is considerable, and her help is not despised by some of
the leading practitioners. This gift is, as I have explained previously
in the case of Mr. Bloomfield, a form of clairvoyance, and Mrs. Foster
Turner enjoys all the other phases of that wonderful power, including
psychometry, with its application to detective work, the discerning of
spirits, and to a very marked degree the gift of prophecy, which she has
carried upon certain occasions to a length which I have never known
equalled in any reliable record of the past.
Here is an example for which, I am told, a hundred witnesses could be
cited. At a meeting at the Little Theatre, Castlereagh Street, Sydney,
on a Sunday evening of February, 1914, Mrs. Turner addressed the
audience under an inspiration which claimed to be W. T. Stead. He ended
his address by saying that in order to prove that he spoke with a power
beyond mortal, he would, on the next Sunday, give a prophecy as to the
future of the world.
Next Sunday some 900 people assembled, when Mrs. Turner, once more under
control, spoke as follows. I quote from notes taken at the time. "Now,
although there is not at present a whisper of a great European war at
hand, yet I want to warn you that before this year, 1914, has run its
course, Europe will be deluged in blood. Great Britain, our beloved
nation, will be drawn into the most awful war the world has ever known.
Germany will be the great antagonist, and will draw other nations in her
train. Austria will totter to its ruin. Kings and kingdoms will fall.
Millions of precious lives will be slaughtered, but Britain will finally
triumph and emerge victorious. During the year, also, the Pope of Rome
will pass away, and a bomb will be placed in St. Paul's Church, but will
be discovered in time and removed before damage is done."
Can any prophecy be more accurate or better authenticated than that? The
only equally exact prophecy on public events which I can recall is when
Emma Hardinge Britten, having been refused permission in 1860 to deliver
a lecture on Spiritualism in the Town Hall of Atlanta, declared that,
before many years had passed, that very Town Hall would be choked up
with the dead and the dying, drawn from the State which persecuted her.
This came literally true in the Civil War a few years later, when
Sherman's army passed that way.
Mrs. Foster Turner's gift of psychometry is one which will be freely
used by the community when we become more civilised and less ignorant.
As an example of how it works, some years ago a Melbourne man named
Cutler disappeared, and there was a considerable debate as to his fate.
His wife, without giving a name, brought Cutler's boot to Mrs. Turner.
She placed it near her forehead and at once got _en rapport_ with the
missing man. She described how he left his home, how he kissed his wife
good-bye, all the succession of his movements during that morning, and
finally how he had fallen or jumped over a bridge into the river, where
he had been caught under some snag. A search at the place named revealed
the dead body. If this case be compared with that of Mr. Foxhall,
already quoted, one can clearly see that the same law underlies each.
But what an ally for our C.I.D.!
There was one pleasant incident in connection with my visit to Mrs.
Foster Turner. Upon my asking her whether she had any psychic impression
when she saw me lecturing, she said that I was accompanied on the
platform by a man in spirit life, about 70 years of age, grey-bearded,
with rugged eyebrows. She searched her mind for a name, and then said,
"Alfred Russell Wallace." Doctor Abbott, who was present, confirmed
that she had given that name at the time. It will be remembered that
Mrs. Roberts, of Dunedin, had also given the name of the great
Spiritualistic Scientist as being my coadjutor. There was no possible
connection between Mrs. Turner and Mrs. Roberts. Indeed, the
intervention of the strike had made it almost impossible for them to
communicate, even if they had known each other--which they did not. It
was very helpful to me to think that so great a soul was at my side in
the endeavour to stimulate the attention of the world.
Two days before our departure we attended the ordinary Sunday service of
the Spiritualists at Stanmore Road, which appeared to be most reverently
and beautifully conducted. It is indeed pleasant to be present at a
religious service which in no way offends one's taste or one's
reason--which cannot always be said, even of Spiritualistic ones. At the
end I was presented with a beautifully illuminated address from the
faithful of Sydney, thanking me for what they were pleased to call "the
splendidly successful mission on behalf of Spiritualism in Sydney." "You
are a specially chosen leader," it went on, "endowed with power to
command attention from obdurate minds. We rejoice that you are ready to
consecrate your life to the spread of our glorious gospel, which
contains more proof of the eternal love of God than any other truth yet
revealed to man." So ran this kindly document. It was decorated with
Australian emblems, and as there was a laughing jackass in the corner,
I was able to raise a smile by suggesting that they had adorned it with
the picture of a type of opponent with whom we were very familiar, the
more so as some choice specimens had been observed in Sydney. There are
some gentle souls in our ranks who refrain from all retort--and morally,
they are no doubt the higher--but personally, when I am moved by the
malevolence and ignorance of our opponents, I cannot help hitting back
at them. It was Mark Twain, I think, who said that, instead of turning
the other cheek, he returned the other's cheek. That is my unregenerate
instinct.
I was able, for the first time, to give a bird's-eye view of my tour and
its final results. I had, in all, addressed twenty-five meetings,
averaging 2,000 people in each, or 50,000 people in all. I read aloud a
letter from Mr. Carlyle Smythe, who, with his father, had managed the
tours of every lecturer of repute who had come to Australia during the
past thirty years. Mr. Smythe knew what success and failure were, and he
said: "For an equal number of lectures, yours has proved the most
prosperous tour in my experience. No previous tour has won such
consistent success. From the push-off at Adelaide to the great boom in
New Zealand and Brisbane, it has been a great dynamic progression of
enthusiasm. I have known in my career nothing parallel to it."
The enemies of our cause were longing for my failure, and had, indeed,
in some cases most unscrupulously announced it, so it was necessary
that I should give precise details as to this great success, and to the
proof which it afforded that the public mind was open to the new
revelation. But, after all, the money test was the acid one. I had taken
a party of seven people at a time when all expenses were doubled or
trebled by the unnatural costs of travel and of living, which could not
be made up for by increasing the price of admission. It would seem a
miracle that I could clear this great bill of expenses in a country like
Australia, where the large towns are few. And yet I was able to show
that I had not only done so, after paying large sums in taxation, but
that I actually had seven hundred pounds over. This I divided among
Spiritual funds in Australia, the bulk of it, five hundred pounds, being
devoted to a guarantee of expenses for the next lecturer who should
follow me. It seemed to me that such a lecturer, if well chosen, and
properly guaranteed against loss, might devote a longer time than I, and
visit the smaller towns, from which I had often the most touching
appeals. If he were successful, he need not touch the guarantee fund,
and so it would remain as a perpetual source of active propaganda. Such
was the scheme which I outlined that night, and which was eventually
adopted by the Spiritualists of both Australia and New Zealand.
Illustration: DENIS WITH A BLACK SNAKE AT MEDLOW BATH.
On my last evening at Sydney, I attended a third seance with Charles
Bailey, the apport medium. It was not under test conditions, so that it
can claim no strict scientific value, and yet the results are worth
recording. It had struck me that a critic might claim that there was
phosphorescent matter inside the spectacle case, which seemed to be the
only object which Bailey took inside the cabinet, so I insisted on
examining it, but found it quite innocent. The usual inconclusive
shadowy appearance of luminous vapour was evident almost at once, but
never, so far as I could judge, out of reach of the cabinet, which was
simply a blanket drawn across the corner of the room. The Hindoo control
then announced that an apport would be brought, and asked that water be
placed in a tin basin. He (that is, Bailey himself, under alleged
control) then emerged, the lights being half up, carrying the basin over
his head. On putting it down, we all saw two strange little young
tortoises swimming about in it. I say "strange," because I have seen
none like them. They were about the size of a half-crown, and the head,
instead of being close to the shell, was at the end of a thin neck half
as long as the body. There were a dozen Australians present, and they
all said they had never seen any similar ones. The control claimed that
he had just brought them from a tank in Benares. The basin was left on
the table, and while the lights were down, the creatures disappeared. It
is only fair to say that they could have been removed by hand in the
dark, but on examining the table, I was unable to see any of those
sloppings of water which might be expected to follow such an operation.
Shortly afterwards there was a great crash in the dark, and a number of
coins fell on to the table, and were handed to me by the presiding
control as a parting present. They did not, I fear, help me much with my
hotel bill, for they were fifty-six Turkish copper pennies, taken "from
a well," according to our informant. These two apports were all the
phenomena, and the medium, who has been working very hard of late,
showed every sign of physical collapse at the close.
Apart from the actual production in the seance room, which may be
disputed, I should like to confront the honest sceptic with the
extraordinary nature of the objects which Bailey produces on these
occasions. They cannot be disputed, for hundreds have handled them,
collections of them have been photographed, there are cases full at the
Stanford University at California, and I am bringing a few samples back
to England with me. If the whole transaction is normal, then where does
he get them? I had an Indian nest. Does anyone import Indian nests? Does
anyone import queer little tortoises with long, thin necks? Is there a
depot for Turkish copper coins in Australia? On the previous sitting, he
got 100 Chinese ones. Those might be explained, since the Chinaman is
not uncommon in Sydney, but surely he exports coins, rather than imports
them. Then what about 100 Babylonian tablets, with legible inscriptions
in Assyrian, some of them cylindrical, with long histories upon them?
Granting that they are Jewish forgeries, how do they get into the
country? Bailey's house was searched once by the police, but nothing was
found. Arabic papers, Chinese schoolbooks, mandarins' buttons, tropical
birds--all sorts of odd things arrive. If they are not genuine, where do
they come from? The matter is ventilated in papers, and no one comes
forward to damn Bailey for ever by proving that he supplied them. It is
no use passing the question by. It calls for an answer. If these
articles can be got in any normal way, then what is the way? If not,
then Bailey has been a most ill-used man, and miracles are of daily
occurrence in Australia. This man should be under the strict, but
patient and sympathetic, control of the greatest scientific observers in
the world, instead of being allowed to wear himself out by promiscuous
seances, given in order to earn a living. Imagine our scientists
expending themselves in the examination of shells, or the classification
of worms, when such a subject as this awaits them. And it cannot await
them long. The man dies, and then where are these experiments? But if
such scientific investigation be made, it must be thorough and
prolonged, directed by those who have real experience of occult matters,
otherwise it will wreck itself upon some theological or other snag, as
did Colonel de Rochas' attempt at Grenoble.
The longer one remains in Australia, the more one is struck by the
failure of State control. Whenever you test it, in the telephones, the
telegraphs and the post, it stands for inefficiency, with no possibility
that I can see of remedy. The train service is better, but still far
from good. As to the State ventures in steamboat lines and in banking, I
have not enough information to guide me. On the face of it, it is
evident that in each case there is no direct responsible master, and
that there is no real means of enforcing discipline. I have talked to
the heads of large institutions, who have assured me that the conduct of
business is becoming almost impossible. When they send an urgent
telegram, with a letter confirming it, it is no unusual thing for the
letter to arrive first. No complaint produces any redress. The maximum
compensation for sums lost in the post is, I am told, two pounds, so
that the banks, whose registered letters continually disappear, suffer
heavy losses. On the other hand, if they send a messenger with the
money, there is a law by which all bullion carried by train has to be
declared, and has to pay a commission. Yet the public generally, having
no standard of comparison, are so satisfied with the wretched public
services, that there is a continued agitation to extend public control,
and so ruin the well conducted private concerns. The particular instance
which came under my notice was the ferry service of Sydney harbour,
which is admirably and cheaply conducted, and yet there is a clamour
that it also should be dragged into this morass of slovenly
inefficiency. I hope, however, that the tide will soon set the other
way. I fear, from what I have seen of the actual working, that it is
only under exceptional conditions, and with very rigorous and
high-principled direction, that the State control of industries can be
carried out. I cannot see that it is a political question, or that the
democracy has any interest, save to have the public work done as well
and as economically as possible. When the capitalist has a monopoly, and
is exacting an undue return, it is another matter.
As I look back at Australia my prayers--if deep good wishes form a
prayer--go out to it. Save for that great vacuum upon the north, which a
wise Government would strive hard to fill, I see no other external
danger which can threaten her people. But internally I am shadowed by
the feeling that trouble may be hanging over them, though I am assured
that the cool stability of their race will at last pull them through it.
There are some dangerous factors there which make their position more
precarious than our own, and behind a surface of civilisation there lie
possible forces which might make for disruption. As a people they are
rather less disciplined than a European nation. There is no large middle
or leisured class who would represent moderation. Labour has tried a
Labour Government, and finding that politics will not really alter
economic facts is now seeking some fresh solution. The land is held in
many cases by large proprietors who work great tracts with few hands, so
there is not the conservative element which makes the strength of the
United States with its six million farmers, each with his stake in the
land. Above all, there is no standing military force, and nothing but a
small, though very efficient, police force to stand between organised
government and some wild attempt of the extremists. There are plenty of
soldiers, it is true, and they have been treated with extreme
generosity by the State, but they have been reabsorbed into the civil
population. If they stand for law and order then all is well. On the
other hand, there are the Irish, who are fairly numerous, well organised
and disaffected. There is no Imperial question, so far as I can see,
save with the Irish, but there is this disquieting internal situation
which, with the coming drop of wages, may suddenly become acute. An
Australian should be a sober-minded man for he has his difficulties
before him. We of the old country should never forget that these
difficulties have been partly caused by his splendid participation in
the great war, and so strain every nerve to help, both by an enlightened
sympathy and by such material means as are possible.
Personally, I have every sympathy with all reasonable and practical
efforts to uphold the standard of living in the working classes. At
present there is an almost universal opinion among thoughtful and
patriotic Australians that the progress of the country is woefully
hampered by the constant strikes, which are declared in defiance of all
agreements and all arbitration courts. The existence of Labour
Governments, or the State control of industries, does not seem to
alleviate these evil conditions, but may rather increase them, for in
some cases such pressure has been put upon the Government that they have
been forced to subsidise the strikers--or at least those sufferers who
have come out in sympathy with the original strikers. Such tactics must
demoralise a country and encourage labour to make claims upon capital
which the latter cannot possibly grant, since in many cases the margin
of profit is so small and precarious that it would be better for the
capitalist to withdraw his money and invest it with no anxieties. It is
clear that the tendency is to destroy the very means by which the worker
earns his bread, and that the position will become intolerable unless
the older, more level-headed men gain control of the unions and keep the
ignorant hot-heads in order. It is the young unmarried men without
responsibilities who create the situations, and it is the married men
with their women and children who suffer. A table of strikes prepared
recently by the _Manchester Guardian_ shows that more hours were lost in
Australia with her five or six million inhabitants than in the United
Kingdom with nearly fifty million. Surely this must make the Labour
leaders reconsider their tactics. As I write the stewards' strike, which
caused such extended misery, has collapsed, the sole result being a loss
of nearly a million pounds in wages to the working classes, and great
inconvenience to the public. The shipowners seem now in no hurry to
resume the services, and if their delay will make the strikers more
thoughtful it is surely to be defended.
On February 1st we started from Sydney in our good old "Naldera" upon
our homeward voyage, but the work was not yet finished. On reaching
Melbourne, where the ship was delayed two days, we found that a Town
Hall demonstration had been arranged to give us an address from the
Victorian Spiritualists, and wish us farewell. It was very short notice
and there was a tram strike which prevented people from getting about,
so the hall was not more than half full. None the less, we had a fine
chance of getting in touch with our friends, and the proceedings were
very hearty. The inscription was encased in Australian wood with a
silver kangaroo outside and beautiful illuminations within. It ran as
follows:
"We desire to place on permanent record our intense appreciation of your
zealous and self-sacrificing efforts, and our deep gratitude for the
great help you have given to the cause to which you have consecrated
your life. The over-flowing meetings addressed by you bear evidence of
the unqualified success of your mission, and many thousands bless the
day when you determined to enter this great crusade beneath the Southern
Cross.... In all these sentiments we desire to include your loyal and
most devoted partner, Lady Doyle, whose self-sacrifice equals or exceeds
your own."
Personally, I have never been conscious of any self-sacrifice, but the
words about my wife were in no way an over-statement. I spoke in reply
for about forty minutes, and gave a synopsis of the state of the faith
in other centres, for each Australian State is curiously self-centred
and realises very little beyond its own borders. It was good for
Melbourne to know that Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and New Zealand were
quite as alive and zealous as themselves.
At the end of the function I gave an account of the financial results
of my tour and handed over L500 as a guarantee fund for future British
lecturers, and L100 to Mr. Britton Harvey to assist his admirable paper,
_The Harbinger of Light_. I had already expended about L100 upon
spiritual causes, so that my whole balance came to L700, which is all
now invested in the Cause and should bring some good spiritual interest
in time to come. We badly need money in order to be able to lay our case
more fully before the world.
I have already given the written evidence of Mr. Smythe that my tour was
the most successful ever conducted in his time in Australia. To this I
may add the financial result recorded above. In view of this it is worth
recording that _Life_, a paper entirely under clerical management, said:
"The one thing clear is that Sir Conan Doyle's mission to Australia was
a mournful and complete failure, and it has left him in a very
exasperated state of mind." This is typical of the perverse and
unscrupulous opposition which we have continually to face, which
hesitates at no lie in order to try and discredit the movement.
One small incident broke the monotony of the voyage between Adelaide and
Fremantle, across the dreaded Bight.
There have been considerable depredations in the coastal passenger trade
of Australia, and since the State boats were all laid up by the strike
it was to be expected that the crooks would appear upon the big liners.
A band of them came on board the _Naldera_ at Adelaide, but their
methods were crude, and they were up against a discipline and an
organisation against which they were helpless. One ruffian entered a
number of cabins and got away with some booty, but was very gallantly
arrested by Captain Lewellin himself, after a short hand-to-hand
struggle. This fellow was recognised by the detectives at Fremantle and
was pronounced to be an old hand. In the general vigilance and search
for accomplices which followed, another passenger was judged to be
suspicious and he was also carried away by the detectives on a charge of
previous forgery. Altogether the crooks came out very badly in their
encounter with the _Naldera_, whose officers deserve some special
recognition from the Company for the able way in which the matter was
handled.
Although my formal tour was now over, I had quite determined to speak at
Perth if it were humanly possible, for I could not consider my work as
complete if the capital of one State had been untouched. I therefore
sent the message ahead that I would fit in with any arrangements which
they might make, be it by day or night, but that the ship would only be
in port for a few hours. As matters turned out the _Naldera_ arrived in
the early morning and was announced to sail again at 3 p.m., so that the
hours were awkward. They took the great theatre, however, for 1 p.m.,
which alarmed me as I reflected that my audience must either be starving
or else in a state of repletion. Everything went splendidly, however.
The house was full, and I have never had a more delightfully keen set of
people in front of me. Of all my experiences there was none which was
more entirely and completely satisfactory, and I hope that it brought a
very substantial sum into the local spiritual treasury. There was quite
a scene in the street afterwards, and the motor could not start for the
crowds who surrounded it and stretched their kind hands and eager faces
towards us. It was a wonderful last impression to bear away from
Australia.
It is worth recording that upon a clairvoyante being asked upon this
occasion whether she saw any one beside me on the platform she at once
answered "an elderly man with very tufted eyebrows." This was the marked
characteristic of the face of Russell Wallace. I was told before I left
England that Wallace was my guide. I have already shown that Mrs.
Roberts, of Dunedin, gave me a message direct from him to the same
effect. Mrs. Foster Turner, in Sydney, said she saw him, described him
and gave the name. Three others have described him. Each of these has
been quite independent of the others. I think that the most sceptical
person must admit that the evidence is rather strong. It is naturally
more strong to me since I am personally conscious of his intervention
and assistance.
Apart from my spiritual mission, I was very sorry that I could not
devote some time to exploring West Australia, which is in some ways the
most interesting, as it is the least developed, of the States in the
Federation. One or two points which I gathered about it are worth
recording, especially its relation to the rabbits and to the sparrows,
the only hostile invaders which it has known. Long may they remain so!
The battle between the West Australians and the rabbits was historical
and wonderful. After the creatures had become a perfect pest in the East
it was hoped that the great central desert would prevent them from ever
reaching the West. There was no water for a thousand miles. None the
less, the rabbits got across. It was a notable day when the West
Australian outrider, loping from west to east, met the pioneer rabbit
loping from east to west. Then West Australia made a great effort. She
built a rabbit-proof wire screen from north to south for hundreds of
miles from sea to sea, with such thoroughness that the northern end
projected over a rock which fringed deep water. With such thoroughness,
too, did the rabbits reconnoitre this obstacle that their droppings were
seen upon the far side of that very rock. There came another day of doom
when two rabbits were seen on the wrong side of the wire. Two dragons of
the slime would not have alarmed the farmer more. A second line was
built, but this also was, as I understand, carried by the attack, which
is now consolidating, upon the ground it has won. However, the whole
situation has been changed by the discovery elsewhere that the rabbit
can be made a paying proposition, so all may end well in this curious
story.
A similar fight, with more success, has been made by West Australia
against the sparrow, which has proved an unmitigated nuisance
elsewhere. The birds are slowly advancing down the line of the
Continental Railway and their forward scouts are continually cut off.
Captain White, the distinguished ornithologist, has the matter in hand,
and received, as I am told, a wire a few weeks ago, he being in
Melbourne, to the effect that two sparrows had been observed a thousand
miles west of where they had any rights. He set off, or sent off,
instantly to this way-side desert station in the hope of destroying
them, with what luck I know not. I should be inclined to back the
sparrows.
This Captain White is a man of energy and brains, whose name comes up
always when one enquires into any question of bird or beast. He has made
a remarkable expedition lately to those lonely Everard Ranges, which lie
some distance to the north of the desolate Nularbor Plain, through which
the Continental Railway passes. It must form one of the most dreadful
wastes in the world, for there are a thousand miles of coast line,
without one single stream emerging. Afforestation may alter all that. In
the Everard Ranges Captain White found untouched savages of the stone
age, who had never seen a white man before, and who treated him with
absolute courtesy and hospitality. They were a fine race physically,
though they lived under such conditions that there was little solid food
save slugs, lizards and the like. One can but pray that the Australian
Government will take steps to save these poor people from the sad fate
which usually follows the contact between the higher and the lower.
From what I heard, West Australian immigrants are better looked after
than in the other States. I was told in Perth that nine hundred
ex-service men with their families had arrived, and that all had been
fitted into places, permanent or temporary, within a fortnight. This is
not due to Government, but to the exertions of a peculiar local Society,
with the strange title of "The Ugly Men." "Handsome is as handsome
does," and they seem to be great citizens. West Australia calls itself
the Cinderella State, for, although it covers a third of the Continent,
it is isolated from the great centres of population. It has a very
individual life of its own, however, with its gold fields, its shark
fisheries, its pearlers, and the great stock-raising plain in the north.
Among other remarkable achievements is its great water pipe, which
extends for four hundred miles across the desert, and supplies the
pressure for the electric machinery at Kalgurli.
By a coincidence, the _Narkunda_, which is the sister ship of the
_Naldera_, lay alongside the same quay at Fremantle, and it was an
impressive sight to see these two great shuttles of Empire lying for a
few hours at rest. In their vastness and majesty they made me think of a
daring saying of my mother's, when she exclaimed that if some works of
man, such as an ocean-going steamer, were compared with some works of
God, such as a hill, man could sustain the comparison. It is the divine
spark within us which gives us the creative power, and what may we not
be when that is fully developed!
The children were fishing for sharks, with a line warranted to hold
eighteen pounds, with the result that Malcolm's bait, lead, and
everything else was carried away. But they were amply repaid by actually
seeing the shark, which played about for some time in the turbid water,
a brown, ugly, varminty creature, with fine lines of speed in its
tapering body. "It was in Adelaide, daddy, not Fremantle," they protest
in chorus, and no doubt they are right.