THE BOOKSHELF.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 229, 27 September 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE BOOKSHELF.

NEWS AND REVIEWS. GREAT AUSTRALIAN ARTIST. AN ENGLISHMAN'S MEMOIRS. Mr. H. G. Wells' new novel is the subject of a special article on page eleven. We published last week a defence of the "penny dreadful." We may add to this "Punch's" comment: —"Now that a good word has been spoken for the 'penny dreadful' we too feel impelled to say that our chief objection to it is that it usually costs seven-ancl-six." Mr. J. S. Fletcher has written over a score of stories, and is deserving of the title MM. —Master of Mysteries. "The House in Tuesday Market," issued by Herbert Jenkins, is quite fascinating, for it is a sort of paper chase, and concerns a murder already ten years old. In an old murder the horror is forgotten and curiosity remains. The coloured wrapper suggests horror. There is none; the story is clever, gripping, yet almost on the light side. We are all familiar with American "gunmen," having been made so by the newspaper cables from Chicago. Ihe street shootings, motor robberies, and rifle and machine guns used murderously iu the public streets now seem to us to be an ordinary state of . affairs—in Chicago. Mr. John Hunter has imagined half a hundred of America's worst bandits operating in law-abiding England. In "When the Gunmen Came" (Cassell), he has written a more than usually clover piece of fiction which almost forces the reader to finish the book at a sitting. His chief robber controls his gang by libreal rewards and terror of death, which is dealt out as freely to his friends as to his enemies. Reckless daring, combined with masterly planning, defeat the London police again and again, but in the end they prevail, and chiefly because, as the American supercriminal says himself, they are incorruptible.

GOOD COMPANY

A VEGETARIAN'S RECOLLECTIONS

lii his ''Napoleon of Notting Hill" Air. Chesterton imagines vegetarians going to the extreme of refusing to shed '"the green Wood" of plants, and deciding to live only on minerals. Then a more advanced prophet arises and asks "Why should Salt suffer?" Mr. Henry S. Salt, the author of "Company I Have Kept" (Allen and Umvin), takes it that in this question Air. Chesterton intended a personal reference. This may well be, for Mr. Salt has long been a leader among militant vegetarians. He became one when he was a master at Eton fifty years ago (he had been an Eton boy and went 011 to Cambridge), and it may be imagined that this, plus his Socialistic views, caused a stir. "I'll give you two years," said his doctor, but alas for the cocksureness of medicine, Mr. Salt is still hale and hearty, and Eton has had a vegetarian headmaster. Finding the atmosphere uncongenial, and believing that the education was largely waste of time, Mr. Salt left Eton, and since then has led a pleasant life devoted to literature and humanitarianism. The company he has kept has been very interesting. George Bernard Shaw, George Meredith, W. H. Hudson, Edward Carpenter. H. M. Hyndman, Prince Kropotkin, H. W. Nevinson, and other distinguished figures cross this stage. For much of his time the reader is in the company of persons whom he will probably consider cranks, and Mr. Salt docs not deny that among his humanitarian friends cranks exist. "I have seen and enjoyed too many of them to make any such vain and ungrateful denial." Mr. Salt, however, expresses his views 011 such tilings as flesh-eating and animal hunting with a forcc that may make some people wince. Clearly lie is a formidable antagonist. The literary interest of this book is considerable. Mr. Salt sticks to his heretical opinion that Virgil is a greater poet than Homer, recalls with pride that lie criticised Tennyson as a. thinker at a time when this also was considered heresy, and has a good deal to say about Hudson, whom he knew well. And he was present at a reading of the then imprinted and unnamed "Arms and the Man," by G. B. Shaw. The author invited suggestions for title, and Mr. Salt gave "Battlefields and Boudoirs," but G. 8.5., he remarks, "did better by robbing Virgil's hen-roost."

« ART IN AUSTRALIA"

LAMBERT MEMORIAL NUMBER,

The death of George W. Lambert, A.R.A., came as a great shock and a great loss to the artist community of the Commonwealth, and with them New Zealand also mourns, for he was of the great in technical ability. To commemorate his work "Art in Australia" lias published the August-September number as a memorial number. It is a beautiful production, and shows Lambert's work in all its wide attainment. He was a man of quite extraordinary gifts, and his power over his material was amazing. He lived a life that was full and very vivid, and it seems fitting that his last and splendid work should have been a new departure for him, the recumbent figure of a sleeping soldier, which will lie for all time within the austere and beautiful Catholic Church of St. Mary, right in the beart of Sydney, as a tribute to the dead. It was vei-y fitting that the man who rode with the A .I.E. in Palestine should give the last of his days to leaving such a fine memory, both of the dead crusaders of the Great War, and also of himself, horseman and lover of Australia. It is little wonder that Lambert was loved in Sydney as no other painter is, or ever will be, for in many things he was typical of the gay and outwardly irresponsible "Aussie," who hides his power to conquer difficulties under such a smiling face. Lambert's great charm an artist was his draughtsmanship, and in this memorial number a large number of bis pencil studies are included. They should be secured by every student who wishes to consult the finest in this difficult medium. These drawings are held by a large number of art lovers in New South Wales, and as time passes will be of great financial value, as they are now of artistic importance. One of the last canvases which Lambert painted was a portrait of Dr. Hamilton Russell, which was recently on loan in the Melbourne gallery, where are hung portraits by such masters of tho past as Raeburn, Goya, Vandyke and GainsI borough. Lambert is worthy of this I company.

TREES AND TIMBER.

NEW 7 BOOK ON AFFORESTATION. "Afforestation in Southern Lands," by E. Maxwell (Wliitcombe and Tombs) is an interesting contribution to the literature of forestry iij this part of the world. Mr. Maxwell, who is one of our most experienced planters and sylviculturists, confines himself chiefly to the conditions of forest growth and the qualities of the timber produced in New Zealand: but within these limits he has written a hand-book of quite exceptional interest and value. As Mr. G. M. Thomson, himself a distinguished authority, points out in the preface, Mr. Maxwell holds strong views about most of the questions that he raises, and he has criticised with due severity certain mistakes made by our State Forestry Department in the past and the waste of public money involved. But the controversial side of the book is confined almost entirely to technical problems. Mr. Maxwell admits that the world's supply of timber is being rapidly exhausted and he urges afforestation on a large scale as a remedy. One important section of the book is devoted to the consideration of rules or directions that must be followed if high-class timber is to be produced. Mr. Maxwell lays great stress upon two important considerations —the necessity for close or dense planting, followed by thinning, if the timber is to be really valuable, and the need for "mixed" rather than "pure" planting if pests and diseases are to be avoided. On these two points there is a wealth of instructive and valuable advice to be found in the book. On the practical side Mr. Maxwell deals- not only with the situation and location of plantations but with such, matters as planting, thinning, pruning, seed collection and timber measurement. Prevention of loss fry fire and the difficult problem of rotation—that is, the age at which the timber matures and should be cut —also receive due attention. The author then discusscs in detail all the principal species of pine and eucalypt— typical softwoods and hardwoods —that have been planted to any extent in tho Dominion, and in each case he supplies a large stock of information that should prove of great value to the settler, the farmer and tho forester. The acacias receive separate treatment, and there is a short but useful note on the possibility of producing pulpwood for paper in New Zealand. Altogether this is a very successful attempt to handle a difficult subject, and the book should be speedily secured, not only by individuals interested in forestry but by every public institution in the country.

A MILITARY DISASTER,

"Towards Disaster," by Prince Andrew of Greece (John Murray), is the story of the ill-advised attempt of Greece to conquer Asia Minor, and the advance into the heart of the Turkish territory. The author, tho son of King George of Greece, and nephew of Queen Alexandra, after the return of King Constantino in December, 1920. asked for and obtained a command in the Greek army. His position was a difficult one, for, since he belonged to tho Royal family, those opposed to Constantino —many of whom had been appointed to high rank by Venizelos —regarded him with hatred and suspicion. He went through the successful advance in June, July and August, 1021, and the defeat which was inflicted on the invaders in September, and being accused of want of courage and capacity, asked permission to be relieved of his command, and was appointed to another command in Greece. Ife did his duty to the best of his ability, and was undoubtedly a better general than many of his superiors. He saw from the beginning that the expedition must end in disaster and though the final debacle did not take place for a year after he had left Asia Minor, all the elements of trouble were present when he was there. He draws an unpleasant picture of the intrigues, incapacity and unfitness for high command of the commander-in-chief and his staff. Afterwards he was charged with being one of the causes of the defeat, though quite unjustly, and was only saved from death by the intervention of King George V. The book is interesting, but at times not easy to follow. Ono requires some knowledge of previous events rightly to understand all it contains.

THE PRICE OF BOOKS

t The booksellers of Franco arc holding tlieir ai,;iual conference this week, and will discuss at it, amongst other tilings, the question of the price of books (said the "Manchester Guardian" on July 28). French books are, as everyone knows, much cheaper than English books, and no doubt the English publishers have good economic reasons to justify their charges. It is like restoring the gold standard. But the fact remains that from the point of view of the ordinary person buying a book it is more agreeable to pay two shillings in France than seven-and-sixpence in England. Moreover, the two-shilling French books is an adequate enough production: decently printed, with a paper cover certainly, but not necessarily tho worse for that. The result of tho cheapness of books in France is that a good many more of them are sold there than in England, and a good many fewer borrowed from libraries. You go to a bookstall at even quite a small station, and you can buy at magazine rates good reading matter for your journey—not just something to read and then throw away (though its cheapness makes you not mind much cither way) but possibly a first rate book. Now to the layman it looks as though this is a much better way of organising the book trade than the English, way. Cloth boards or even limp leather are all very well, but not worth five shillings. The great thing would seem to be that a lot of people should have a lot of books, and, what is more, not feel that they must be very sure about a book before they venture upon buying it. For that makes the reviewers virtual dictators, or, if not the reviewers, the young ladies in the circulating libraries, which is perhaps worse. An American publishing house has announced its intention of bringing out dollar books. Jt is to be hoped that one day something of this kind may be done in England.

BOOKS RECEIVED,

The Apostolic ministry, by The Veil. J. Best- Far North memories, by J. S. Lltc'lifleKl (Angus, Robertson). A Year's Reading, by A. C. Frascr (Welrord, .Ltd., Melbourne). The Economic Record —the Economics of Australian Transport, edited by I). B. Copland: Credit and Currency Control, h/D, B. Copland (Melbourne University Press, in association with Macmillan and Co.).' The Beloved Adventuress, by Ij. B. D'Auverjrne (flash and Grcyson Dymock's Book Arcade, Sydney). Auction and Contract Bridge, by A. C. Kelley (Georgre Allen and Unwln). Australian Heather, by J. D. Robertson (William Homer, Sydney).