LITERARY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 95, 21 April 1906, Page 10

LITERARY.

The working man who begins" life as Att aident .champion, oi his class, and w-hoj-having-feught Mis -way i*> -wealth ana "power, succumbs to/ the blandishments .of wealth, .and. society,, is the ■theme of - Margaret Baillie-Saunders , novel, "Saints in Society," which secured Mr T. Fisher Unwind prize of £100. Mark Hading, the hero of this forceful novel, is a printer by trade, Who is endowed with enormous great foxce of character, and natural. eloquence. He is sincere enough at the outset in his desire to ameliorate the condition of the industrial masses, and his efforts in this direction attract the attention of a philanthropic member of the aristocracy, who furnishes the funds to secure the election of Hading as a Labour member of Parliament, and afterwards places under his control a London daily paper. Hading now begins to feel his own feet, and lie employs his faculty for organisation in obtaining possession of various London and provincial papers, and thereby amasses an enormous fortune. But he now exhibits a 'disposition to kick away the ladder that has raised him, and while maintaining; a pretence of philanthropy, has really lost all vital sympathy with the struggling poor. His wife, on the other hand, beginning with all the imperfections of a, vulgar little Cockney, makes steady progress in intellectual and moral self-improve-ment, while at the same time she retains her warm sympathies for the class to which she belonged. While her husband propounds brilliant schemes that result in nothing, she organises practical charities. Proceeding on divergent lines socially, they grow wider and wider apart in their marital relationship, until they live absolutely separate lives. Hading's feverish, career ends tragically, leaving his wife to carry on the work which he set out to accomplish, with the companionship of a kindred soul. The stoTy is ably handled, and the characters well di - awn and consistent. Tt is published in Unwin's Colonial Library.

"The Smiths of Surbiton," by liable Howard (Umvin's Colonial Library) deals humorously with the joys and sorrows of middle-class life. The Smiths occupy a typical suburban villa. They have the usual domestic difficulties with refractory cooks, an average share of family bickerings, and the social experiences of a suburban society. The trivialities that play so large a part in the feminine gossip at afternoon teas are not very promising materials for a novel, and it must be confessed that some of the incidents which interested the Smiths were not worth the trouble of recording. On the whole, however, the story of their humdrum but eminently respectable existence is not quite so dull as it might be, a fact that is due rather to the author's faculty for dealing pleasantly with commonplace things than to anything connected with the Smiths and their affairs that deserveß to be recorded biographically.

One of the moat interesting articles in "Thp Review" for March is that by Professor \V. J. Ashley on "'Trade Unions and the Law." The writer traverses the main decisions in the English courts that have struck such a severe blow at trades unionism as at present constituted. Professor Ashiey finds that ''the tendency to-day is towards what may-be called 'corporative' organisation, both of capital and labour, over the whole industrial field," and considers that in framing legislation it will be impossible to either wholly accept or wholly condemn recent decisions. That legislation is necessary, he admits. There is an interesting article on the navy by Arnold White in this number. The proposed commission of inquiry, he considers, will effect nothing, and the only two courses open arc to reduce the na-vy to the position of the army in the matter of its control, or to rest implicit confidence in tho First Sea Lord (Sir John Fisher), thr man who has accomplished so much already to promote the efficiency of our spa fighting force. In the "Awakening- of China." "Shanghai" deals interestingly with the problem that developments of recent years in the Far East have brought within measurable distance of requiring a solution by Western nations. Other attractive contributions to "The National Review" are "Some Legal Scandals,"' by "Practising Barrister"; "Our Position in Foreign Markets." by <T. Holt Schooling; "The Johannesburg Voter," by Lady Edward Cecil: and A. Maurice Low's views on current American affairs.

The "Tall Mall Magazine ,, for April is more than usually full of good things. Pride of position is given to photographs of familiar London scenes by a young , American. They are excellent examples ,of the modern photographic craze for the impressionist school. The effects are obtained largely by placing tl\e object I Hlitfhtly out of focus, and to many it will appears that the only recomendation of such photography is to render indistinct subjects which,if presented sharply, would be hopeless as artistic studies. Lawrence Mott has another of his realistic Canadian sketches in "A Day's Work ,in the Mounted Police." An article on somewhat similar lines, but widely divergent in that it deals with Australia instead of Canada, is Alexander Macdonald's "The Trail of the Pioneer." Reproductions of some of the more famous pictures of musical subjects are entertainingly introduced by C. Lewis Hind. There is a good selection of short fictionby G. S. Street, Clifford Mills, Cutcliffe |llyne, G. F. Bradby, and others, and verse is represented by Eden Philpotta, Rosamund Marriott Watson, Barry Pain, and John Davidson.

There is a well illustrated article in the March "Windsor" by Enoch Scribe on the "Art of Mr Herbert Dicksee." There are some amusing caricatures in colour of prominent politicians of the present and an., earlier decado in the fourth instalment of "Chronicles and Cartoons. ,5 The Victoria Falls, illustrated from the admirable series of paintings by E. H. Holder, provides the subject matter for. an article by S. 8.. Lewison on. the economic side, more especially in connection with the construction of the great Zambesi bridge, and by Austin Chester on the artistic side. The fiction in the. "Windsor" is unusually good in this number. Besides the continuation of Anthony Hope's "Sophy of Kravbnia," and Jules Miles Potman's, series of connected short stories,-entitled "Ulysses McLeod," a series of "Prehistoric Tales" by Charles Gleig is commenced that promises well. Short etories appear from the pens of E. NeeWfc, Geo. Graves, Percy. G. Mandley, and Francis ■Rivers. > . »