‘Australian writer who
was ahead of his time

THERE are many sympathet-
~ ic and even heroic figures
In the story of Australian writ-
Ing; but for sheer inspiration-
al quality, that rare refine-
Ment of the spirit that, in life
and after death inspires to
€reat deeds and deathless
Song many other and perhaps
lesser mortals, Francis Adams
Is unique.

. True he oniy spent six
years (1884-1890) in Austral-
la. But stricken with tuber-
Culosis (which brought him
to Australia in the first place)
he died at the age of 30 years,
and the years he spent in Aus-
tralia, coming into the closest
touch with the radical move-
Ment of the day, were the
Most formative and important
In his life.

sos og og

In 1882 Adams visited Egypt
®n what he called “the ever-
elusive search for lost health”.

€ returned imbued with the
Same indignation he had felt
after visiting India and the

ar Kast. He felt, he said, “the

Strongest and deepest feeling
of sympathy for the country
@d the people of Egypt.”

He was not content with his
Wn feeling of wrong being
done. Others had to feel, too,,
So that wrong could be right-
€d. Out of the depth of his
feeling came his greatest poem
ngland in Egypt and his last
book The New Egypt.

_ Although much of this book
S concerned with fairly inti-
Mate details of British policy
in Egypt at the time, never-
theless, through it does shine
& trenchant feeling of indigna-
10n at the humiliation of the
Syptians at the hands of the
‘Mperialist powers, coupled
1th an indignation at the du-
Plicity and humbug by which

OSe powers had ensured the
beicction of that unhappy

Bute British purchase of Is-
ail’s shares in the Suez Can-
Company “began the un-

lovely record” Francis Adams

: rites, “We purchased from

Rice his canal shares for £4
lion sterling.

“Ismail had, characteristi-
cally enough, anticipated the
interest in these sharessfor the
next nineteen years to come
and, as this did not in the least
suit our practical or business-
like tastes, we insisted on the
payment to us of five percent
interest on the purchase
money. Who was to pay it?
Why, manifestly Egypt and
Egypt has paid it up to today
and is still paying it.

“At “the present moment
those shares are worth some-
thing close on five times their
former value — say, £20 mil-
lion — and yet Egypt’s sole
national concern in the na-
tional Egyptian Canal lies in
the relief she will presently
enjoy of paying the interest
on the British shares.

“In small things or in great,
the story has always been the
same.

“An English army occupies
Egypt. Who is to pay for it?
Why, manifestly, Egypt and
Egypt pays for it to the last
possible penny.

“There was a nice little burial
bill for the threescore or so
Englishmen who fell at Tel-
el-Kebir. Who was to pay
for it? Why, manifestly, Egypt
and Egypt paid for it.

“A band of English soldiers
broke into an hotel on the
victorious road to Cairo and
had such a glorious time that,
it is recorded, not a single
bottle was left unbroken on
the premises.

“Who was to pay for those
bottles? Why, manifestly,
Egypt; And Egypt paid for
them. And so on, and so on,
and so on.”

xt xt xt

It is small wonder that Ad-
ams, a generation ahead of his
time in understanding the es-
sential role of imperialism,
became conscious of “the
vague hatred and resentment
of endless suffering that seeth-
ed in the (Egyptian) race, and
the féllah trickled in to fill
up the ranks of the army that
was to shed its sWeat and blood
to give Egypt to the Egyp-
tians.”

“... The vague hatred and resentment of endless suffering that seethed in the Egyptian people.”

SUCCESSOR TO NEWS-FACTS
Dyson Carter edits
Northern Neighbors

At the time Adams observed
and wrote, world imperialism
was approaching its triumph-
ant heyday and its cohorts in-
cluded among the camp-fol-
lowers numerous men of cul-
ture, ready to hymn the in-
vincible advance of progress,
civilization, charity and trade.
Alone against them Adams
took a stand, exemplified at
its finest and most far-seeing
in the poem England in Egypt.

On his return to England
from Egypt, Adams was al-
ready a dying man. But he
had a job to do.

“For the last three months
of his life he thought of noth-
ing, cared for nothing, but
the writing of his book,” we
are told.

“That once done, he was
ready for death, and there is
no doubt that it was this
strong desire to help the na-
tionalist movement in Egypt
which enabled him to battle
for so long against disease.

“Every page was written
with effort, in constant
struggle with growing weak-
ness, but on every page he felt
he was writing the truth as
only a dying man could.”

S. MURRAY-SMITH

But O’ I knew that hour,
Standing sick and dying there,
As I heard the fifes and drums,
The fifes and drums of England
Thrilling all the alien air.

England in Egypt

No, I shall never see it with these wen oe eyes,
retribution, the hour of fate’s desire, :

“ost eta the outraged millions, as at last — at last Shey. rise,

The rogues and theives of England are as stubble to the fire a

When the gentlemen of England, eaten out with lust and sin,

When the shopkeepers of England, sick with godly greed as well,

Face the red coats and the red shirts, as the steel ring closes in

And hurls them, howling madly, down the precipice of hell!

And “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy,”
I heard the wild fife’s cry,

“Jt is time to cease your fooling,
It is time to do or die;”

And “Johnnie, Johnnie, Johnnie,”
I heard the fierce drums roar,

“It is time to break your fetters
And be free for evermore.”

FRANCIS ADAMS

ff THE new 24-page maga-

zine Northern Neighbors can
maintain the high standard of
its initial December 1956 edi-
tion, it can soon become one
of the most popular monthly
pictorial and news journals in
this country.

Northern Neighbors is being
published by the Northern
Neighbors Publishing Asso-
ciation at 1334 Bloor Street
West, Toronto, Ont,, and is
edited by one of the country’s
most popular writers, Dyson
Carter.

The new magazine is the
successor to the monthly News-
Facts news letter, in which for
a number of years Carter has
kept Canadians informed on
a wide range of Soviet affairs
and developments, especially
in the fields of medical science,
education, culture and other
social advancement.

Northern Neighbors, as can
be seen from its first edition,
will greatly extend this impor-
tant service, that of promoting
a fuller knowledge and better
understanding between the
peoples of Canada and the
USSR. Perhaps it can be said
that no better effort could be
launched at this Christmas
season than the promotion of

a medium through which peo-
ples of different nations and
social systems can be brought
closer together in friendship
and mutual understanding.

Aside from the volume of in-
formation on current events in
the USSR which used to fill
the scanty pages of News-
Facts the story of “My Early
Years” by Galina Ulanova,
one of the Soviet Union’s, and
indeed of the world’s greatest
ballet artists, makes Northern
Neighbors a valuable addition
to Canadian reading.

The photo-show section of
Northern Neighbors is also of
wide interest to readers, be-
cause it shows many foreign
delegations in the USSR, in-
cluding the Alberta CCF dele-
gation and the Canadian lum-
bermen’s delegation.

Sports fans will also find a
couple of pages of exciting
events and people in the world
of sports.

Write direct to the above ad-
dress given for your copy of
the December edition of Nor-
thern Neighbor, or to the
People’s Co-op Bookstore, 337
West Pender Street, Vancou-
ver. Single copies are 15 cents
and the annual subscription
rate is $1 for 10 issues.

STORE

PEOPLE'S CO-OP BOOKSTORE

337 WEST PENDER STREET

Friday — Open to 9 p.m.
Other Weekdays — 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Store Will Be Open Wednesdays

HOURS

DECEMBER 14, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 13