LITERARY.

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 22, 26 January 1924, Page 18

LITERARY.

, i An excellent pocket cloth edition of ! works of Australian authors has been • issued by Messrs. Angus and Robort- : ! son, Sydney. The books already in- , ; eluded in this series comprise "Selected j Poems," by Henry Kendall; "Over the j Sliprails," and '*On the Track," by Henry Lawson; "Castle Vane," by J. H. M. Abbott; and "The Little Green Door," J by Mary E. Stone Bassett. A memoir I of Henry Kendall mentions the inter- ' esting fact that lie was a grandson of Mr. Thomas Kendall, one or the first ■ New Zealand missionaries, who came to ! this country with the Rev. Samuel I Marsden, on the first voyage of the ■ I Active. The Modern English Series, issued by ; Mr. John Murray, consists of popular abridged editions of well-known copy- ; right works, published at half-a-crown. I Each volume includes a suitable introj duction and glossary of unusual words and phrases. Although each volume has been carefully abridged, nothing has been done to disturb the narrative as presented by the author. There has already been included in this series ■ '"Scott's Last Expedition," "The AdI ventures of Sherlock Holmes," and "The j Cruise of the Cachalot." ! "The Westerner," by Luke Allan (Herbert Jenkins) telle what happened to ! Claude iMaughan, an Englishman, who ■ set out to punish Daniel Corfield, a land agent, for swindling his late uncle in Canada. The incidents of the story are laid in North-western Canada and include a prairie fire and experiences I with the North-west Mounted Police. j The "Empire Review," under the cdi- ; torship of Commander Locker Lamp'flon, commands a strong list of contri- ■ butors. Its December issue contains i articles on current topics by the Earl ; of Birkenhead, Duke of Sutherland, Augustine Birrell, J. St. Leo Strachey, i Professor A. J. Thomson, and other J competent writers. I A volume of "Stories About Horses" j has been republished by the Century j Co. from "St. Nicholas." The horse is an animal friend worthy of being the hero I of many a good story, and in this book j are reprinted the best of their kind that I have appeared in "St. Nicholas." It j will delight not only those many readers who are partial to horses but also those many more readers who like good stories well told whatever their subjects. "The Man Who Wasn't," by George Goodchild (Herbert Jenkins) is a story jof the Klondike. Babs, the niece of I l'eter Glade, a lazy backwoodman, was listening to the wild storm raging out- ' side their lonely shack, when suddenly ithe door burst open and through it came the snow-covered form of a man, who proved to be Nealo Kentish, a fugitive, charged with bank robberies, and for whose arrest a reward of a thousand dollars was offered. From that moment begins an exciting story. In "Kareen," by J. Mason Smith (George Allen and Unwin), the author has used the mysterious East with its riot of colour, its barbaric passions, and its fanatical superstitions as a background for a charming love-story, in i which the rivalry of two brothers and i the mystery of the double life of one of I them provide both adventure and emotion. The scene shifts from an English country house to the Nile, the empty infinitude of the desert, and the fear-haunted valleys of the Spirit Wells. "How Shall I be Saved from ConI sumption?" by Henry A. Ellis, 8.A., i MB., Ch.B., (George A'llen and Unwin), is a book, written in simple language, : and intended as a general guide to those threatened or attacked with pulmonary ! tuberculosis. It gives the most up-to-date views on this dread disease. The author's varied experience of all kinds of institutions connected with tubercle makes his opinion most valuable to both the profession and general publicSome of the opinions expressed may give rise to discussion. "The Man from Painted Post," by Joseph B. Ames (Century Co., per Angus and Robertson, Sydney), is a story of the West, somewhere around Idaho or Wyoming, where there are still cattle ranches and much of the flavour of the old cow country. Dirk Drummond is a cowboy with two ambitions—to own a certain piece of land and to marry a certain girl. But there are others who wnnt both the girl and the land, and Dirk must fight and fight and scheme before lie comes anywhere near the fulfillment of his ambitions. "Our Little Girl," by Robert A. Simon (Collins, per Whitcombe and Tombs) is the story of a girl of an American type, but she can be recognised all over the world. The lovely petted daughter, whose too fond mother discovers in her essentially mediocre talent abounding proof of her supreme artistriy. Mr. Sinjon presents with fine satire and rich humour the gallery of real characters, and the description of Dorothy Loarnford's heavily boomed but very transitory fame, and its somewhat ignominious eclipse, makes this a' very interesting book. "The Hnt of Destiny," by Mrs. T. P. O'Connor (Collins), humorously describes a wonderful hat worn by an American lady of fashion, which added such charm to an abundant share of natural prettinciss that the lady became irresistible to the male sew As she happened to be the wife of an eminent New York lawyer, and was not herself averse to flirtation, this crowning fascination was embarrassing. Heroin there is a record of the dire rivalries which this millinery triumph engendered, the domestic tribulations it caused, anil other achievements in the course of its wicked career. "The Sun Field," by Heywood Broun (Putnam), is a novel of modern marriage and fome of its problems. If n great bnseball player should marry a girl on the staff of, say, "The New Republic," what would happen? Mr. Broun's hero is a hypothetical home-run king, and he marries a contributor to "To-morrow,"' a journal of opinion. Their adventures, psychological and otherwise, take them from New York to the spring training camp at Marlin and back again, all sketched agaimt a background of baseball. "Mr. and Mrs. May," by Thomas le Breton (Herbert Jenkins) records the confidences of Mrs. May, the classio cockney "char-lady," regarding her further adventures in the state of matrimony. Mr. May is her "third." With undaunted courage and singleness of purpose she leads him to the altar and then gives us a picture of true domestic bliss, in which her brawny arm and cockney tongue pla-y no insignificant part.. Mrs. May confides her secrets in the art of managing a husband to the sympathetic ears of her friend Em, who is not without her own ideas on the subject, and gives Mrs. May a few useful ttiuts.

"My Odyssey," by Jack McLaren (Jonathan Capes, per Angus and Robertson, Sydney), is an account of life amongst the Papuans, Fijians, and Solomon Islanders. The author's experiences came to him, not because he was deliberately searching for "copy," but through the lure of a life of adventure and the necessity of making a living. He lived and worked among the people about whom he writes, and his narrative gives a realistic picture of the South Sea Islanders and the traders who visit New Guinea and the Solomon islands. The book contains a large number of remarkable illustrations reproduced from photographs taken by the author. The humour, pathos, tragedy, discomforts of the life and the scenic charms of the background combine to give an artistic roundness to the picture. The very general interest in wireless equipments will ensure a popular reception for "Practical Radio," by Henry Smith Williams (Funk and Wagnalls, per Angus and Robertson, Sydney). The book is a practical guide to the making of radio outfits, from the simplest crys-tal-detector apparatus to the most elaborate amplifying and super-regenera-tive equipment. But it is also a guide to the understanding of the principles that underlie radio phenomena. Dr. Williams has long been known for his capacity to interpret even obscure scientific phenomena in terms comprehensible to the average reader. He makes of the story of radio a fascinating, even a romantic narrative. Under his guidance, the radio apparatus becomes in its simpled forms an excellent plaything for boys and girls, and in its more elaborate development a no less fascinating instrument of precision for adults. A REMARKABLE CAREER. FROM APPRENTICE BOY TO CHIEF NAVAL CONSTRUCTOR. It is claimed by the biographer of Sir Hfilliam Henry "White, X.C.8., F.R.S., that he was "p"erhapa the greatest naval architect the world has ever seen." He designed over two lvundrd and fifty warships, at a cost, including armament, of approximately £100,000,000. He also organised the entire dockyard, engineer | and armament resources "of Great Britain. His career was a remarkable one, demonstrating that, under the democratic conditions existing in England, as in the United States, the highest positions in the land are open to members of every class. Mr. White was the son of a journeyman currier, whose restricted means rendered the support of a family of five children no easy matter. Both father j and mother, however, appreciated the value of education, and they struggled Ito keep their children at private I schools. This was before the passing of ! the Elementary Education Act. A j breakdown in the father's health when I Henry was only fourteen years of age I made it necessary to look for employ- ] ment for the boy, and on the nomination of his schoolmasier he obtained admission by examination to the Devonport Dockyard, where he was apprenticed for seven years, commencing with a wage of three shillings a week. It was a fortunate choice, because the boy soon shewed his aptitude for the work, and four years later won a scholarship which gave him admission to a new School of Naval Architecture established 'at the South Kensington Museum, ln the final examination at this institution j White took first place among the naval achitccts in fourteen out of sixteen subjects, which secured his engagement at Chatham Dockyard as a third-class draughtsman. He manifested such ability that Mr. E. J. Reed. Chief Constructor of the Navy, very soon removed him from the ordinary routine and made him his own personal secretary and confidential assistant. Meanwhile, besides the progress made by devoted attention to his profession, Henry White cultivated a natural literary faculty and gift as a speaker by joining a literary society at a London Mechanics' Institute, and both these qualifications were found useful in controversies which arose later in his I career. They were further developed in ' his position as Instructor in Naval Architecture at South Kensington, to which position he was appointed at the age of twenty-five, and were manifested in the clear expositions of his subject which distinguished his "Manual of Naval Architecture," published in 1877, which displaced all previous works on the subject and became the text-book! of the navies of the world. At the age of thirty-seven, White, j holding the position of Chief Construe- I tor at the Admiralty, received a salaj-y of only £600 a year, with £51 a year from the Royal Naval College. This was supplemented by royalties from his "Manual" and other literary earnings, together with payment for designs fur-! nished, with the approval of the Ad- I miralty, for a warship for the Argentine ' Government. Armstrong, Mitchell nnd Co. then offered him £2000 a year, with | a shilling per ton on the gross regis-1 tered tonnage of all vessels built in ! each year by the company at Elswick,' to enter their service. Naturally, he accepted. When Lord George Hamilton ' came to the Admiralty as First Lord, I in 1885, and the fleet was mobilised in ; view of a threatened war with Russia, j he found that the British navy consisted of an astounding conglomeration of I every kind of warship and gun—in num- I bers numerous, but utterly unmanagc-1 able as an effective homegenous force. ! Radical reform was an urgent national need, and after inquiry Lord George Hamilton concluded that White was the man to carry this out. Upon bein. urged to return to the service of the Admiralty, he agreed at considerable personal sacrifice, and commenced the most important part of his life's work by so revolutionising the whole system ! of administration that the Royal dock- ■ yards, which in ISB4 had been reported as only suitable for repairs, become the cheapest and most expeditious building yards in the world. "The Life of Sir William White," by Frederick Manning, published by John Murray, in which these events are recorded, contains much instructive information regarding the development of the British Navy and bygone controversies on the subject. Sir William White's letters and official reports also throw many sidelights on certain phases of London life in the sixties, and upon the personal characteristics of some of the men with whom he came in contact durinsr his arduous service at the Admiralty. An unfortunate and serious mistake made in the design of the Royal yacht in 1900 so shattered nerves already over-strained by excessive work that Sir William White, after submitting proposals for the King Edward Vn., his last design of a battleship, retired, "a broken-hearted, disappointed awl worn-out man." He was subsequently consulted, however, in the design and construction of the Lusitania and Mauretania, and took an active part in the Dreadnought controversy, resulting in a complete reconstruction of the navy. He died suddenly at his office in 1913, at the ago of GB.