LITERARY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 250, 19 October 1907, Page 10

LITERARY.

In the "Cornhill Magazine" for September the-two serial stories, "The Broken Road," by Mr. A. E. W.Mason, M.P., and "Wroth," by Mr. and Mrs. Egerton Castle, are continued. Mr. Arthur Benson contributes another instalment of his musings "At Large," "Friendship" being this time the theme. Sir E. Maunde Thompson, X.C.8., tells the story of "The British Museum Reading Room," and Mr. Horace G. Hutchinson writes an appreciation of his friend the late Sir Spencer Walpole. Mr. J. H. . Yoxajl, M.P., discourses on "Certain Bygones in France," and another "travel article" is supplied by Mr. W. P. James under the title "Changing Skies and the Delectable Mountains." Dr. W. H. Fitchett concludes his papers, "Amongst the Mutiny Cities of India," with "Lucknow." "A Fortnight of Failure," by a writer with the norn de plume of "Cygnus," describes a first experience on a Highland deer forest.

To the issuing of cheap editions of the modern classics there is no end. Probably the latest competitors in the field in this particular contest of publishing are Messrs. Cassell and Co. Their series has been named "The People's Library," and in excellence of printing, and general ntiUty and appearance, will compare Very favourably indeed with similar issues. We are given, for instance, some 600 pages of Tennyson's poems, which include his earlier work and up to 1865. The other nine of the first issue of ten volumes are George Eliot's "Adame Bede," R. L. Stevenson's "Treasure Island," Mrs. Henry Woods' "East Lynne," John Ruskin's "Sesame and Lilies," Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Citie3," Sir Walter Scott's "Ivanhoe," Charles Lamb's "The Essays of Elia," Charles Kingsley's "Westward Ho," and Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Latter." It should not be necessary for us to dilate on such a list, containing, as it does, a number of the literary gems of the Victorian era. To be able to buy such books in a convenient sized and well-bound edition for 1/ is a remarkable tribute to the advance made in recent years in publishing. Our copies reach us through the Sunday School Union.

Under title "Colonial Laws and Courts," Messrs. A. W. Benton and G. G. Phillimore, 8.C.L., have produced, through the publisning house of Sweet and Maxwell, a learned and encyclopaedic work of much interest to everyone desiring to acquire knowledge of the Empire's laws, and of great value to legal and historical students. It contains an account of all the various systems of law governing British possessions, colonies, and dependencies, which include the Roman-Dutch law, the ancient and modern French law, the Spanish law, Hindu and Mohammedan law, and the law of the Ottoman Empire. It .also contains a very luci"?. history vS. the growth of these legal systems, and it is noteworthy how the use of codes more and more prevails. Automatically there is everywhere a continual process of assimilation to English law, but. the most wonderful; feature of the Imperial jurisdiction is the unity of principle observed in ad- \ ministering so . many different systems. It is, however, lamentable that we have so. far declined any ■ active partit'ipation in the attempts made since 1893 by otricr c European States to simplify by convention many urgent problems in private international law. Apart, however ;■■ from falling into line with modern European civilisation, it ought not to be impossible to unify Imperial legislation un such important points as naturalisation and domicile, and it cannot be denied that it would be also desirable to unify the law of marriage arti*. divorce among British colonies and possessions; if not dependencies. That that law should' be. essentially different -in Scotland, Ireland, Malta, Mauritius, the Channel Islands, Cyprus, India, and nearly all the colonies is. surely a matter of, to say the least, great inconvenience, and, considering that it is residence, not domicile, that subjects English people to the Indian divorce jurisdiction, it is quite possible for two domiciled English spouses, divorcejl in India, to find themselves married on their return, to England. This is only one example of many defects in the present system, and, as the "Morning Post" suggests in reviewing the work, the editors of this volume might achieve a lasting service to the cause of Imperial unity by tabulating in detail the nrincipal points on which glaring differences of law exist throughout the Empire.

In another column last week the article in the "Empire Review" for September by J. S. Dunnet, on the passing of the Australian black fellow and indigenous fauna and vegetation was mentioned. Another contribution of especial Australasian interest in this number is that by Mrs E. S. Grossmann, on-the Women of New Zealand. New Zealand is slowly developing a general type of womanhood, says the author of the article; "The- Maorilander is far closer to nature than her English sister is. Much of her life is spent in the open air. Quite unconsciously she leads the really simple life, and her own mind becomes more simple and primitive. Her impulses and emotions are as spontaneous and unpremeditated as winds and waves. .... Wordsworth would have sung her praises." The difference between the New Zealander and the Englishwoman is described by Mrs Grossmann as the difference between ~ a luxuriant forest and a well kept garden. It is interesting to learn that the New Zealand girl "does not care "about the most innocent flirtations." She enjoys the society of men, but "without any nonsense." It is only by a singular accident, says Mrs Grossmann, that anyone remains unmarried. The. unnatural and dreary isolation of thousands of London women in clubs, working ladies' homes, and similar places has no counterpart in the colony. New Zealapd wonr.en have healthy instincts and high purposes. They pride themselves on never being unequal to circumstances. A -more general article on the subject of women is a critical and unfavourable examination by Edith Calkin of the arguments in favour of granting them national franchise. Baron Wurtzburg expatiates on the wholly peaceful intent of Germany: "She will only draw her weapon for the bloody fray when war is forced upon her, and in defence of all she holds most dear." A Civil servant, under the title "The Hindu Theory of Government," writes of the difficulty of arriving, at a knowledge of the Indian ideal, even when friendly with the Oriental and conversant with his ways. Edward Dicey, commenting on. the foreign affairs, has another dig, at the Peace Conference, refers to the growing importance of the European monarchs as diplomats,, and touches on the Moroccan disturbance.