Sir,--"The life austere" still too often waits upon the man of letters in Australia. Literature is the least remunerative of the arts, and very few of our authors can make enough by their pens to secure themselves against hard times. It is pleasant to see the well-named "Fellowship of Australian Writers" doing what it can to assist and to enlist help for a brother craftsman. Mr Arthur Bayldon is well known as a conscientious literary artist--a poet, critic, and writer of short stories--and those who know him personally can testify that he is a man of high ideals, fired with an almost defiant spirit of independence. He and his wife, brave comrades, have never asked for the help that they have sorely needed. Long wasting illness has worn the poet down and reduced his earning power. The "Fellowship" is arranging for him a benefit (under the patronage of his Excellency the Governor and Lady Game), and 'Steele Rudd,' with characteristic generosity, has placed at its disposal one of his cheerful comedies, "McClure and the Poor Parson." Laughter is worth more than usual at this season, and it is to be hoped that those who need cheering-up, as well as those who have at heart the interests of Australian literature, will see and seize their opportunity.
I am, etc.,
Basil Garstang
First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 November 1930
Note: Basil Garstang was a pseudonym of John Le Gay Brereton.
[Thanks to the National Library of Australia's newspaper digitisation project for this piece.]
