The Bookshelf

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 21, 25 January 1936, Page 2 (Supplement)

The Bookshelf

■*— ' "LABOUR SHOWS THE WAY.' i, BRITISH PARTY'S POLICY. INDUSTRY AND AGRICULTURE. The new "Labour Shows the Way" series, published at 2/6 by Methuen , under the general editorship of Major C. 11. -Mlee, leader of the British Parliamentary Labour Party, will eomniend itself to all students of contemporary politics. It is a straightforward attempt to set , out what the British Labour party will I do if and when returned to oflice, and the different books in the series are written by well-known Labour members t of the House of Commons, each writing , on a topic on which lie is regarded by the party as an expert. "Labour's Way to Peace,"' by the late Arthur Henderson, and "The Will and the Way to Socialism," by Mr. Attlee himself, are typical numbers. In "Labour's Way to Plan Pros- . perity," Mr. David R. Grenfell, M.l\, . sets out Labour's ideals and intcr.tions in socialising the grea't key imLiitnes of Britain. He singles out for State control tlie coal, transport, iron and steel i and electrical industries. Each is to by ' taken over by a board responsible 10 Parliament, and over all is a National Planning Council, presided over by a ; Cabinet Minister. The book goes on to ; examine in some detail how these boards would operate and what changes they would be likely to introduce. There is ; I 110 suggestion that the. industries would be confiscated by the State without payment, but the present owners would receive State bonds in payment for their shares, and would have to be content with only a limited voice in the control , of the industry. 1 Mr. Grcnfcll's book is a most interesting statement of Labour's intention*, but two criticisms of it may fairly be made. First, his argument lacks something in logical coherence, and he fails to leave the impression of a simple argument, logically worked out, which is the test of successful writing in a book such as this. Secondly, it may be doubted whether his economic arguments arc sound in principle. There is 110 space here to criticise more than one of his proposals in any detail, but it is perhaps worth instancing Mr. Grenfell's proposal to take over all electrical undertakings, private or municipal, so as to make electricity available at a flat rate to towii and country consumers, private persons and manufacturers alike. It does not seem to occur to him that many of the prudent municipalities whose foresight (not to speak of adequate rates and sinking funds) have enabled them to build up cheap electrical -supplies for their ratepayers, will object most strongly to lieinpr thrown into hotch-potch with all the others; or that industry may be greatly handicapped by the application of a flat rafc as between manufacturer and private consumer. Labour and the Land. In "Labour's Way to Use the Land," Mr. Tom Williams, who has been Labour M.P. for Don Valley (Yorkshire) since 1922, sets out Labour's agricultural policy. This is a more logical book than" Mr. Grenfell's. After two intioduetory chapters 011 "llie Decline of Agriculture" and "The Need for a Policy," the author examines the remedies "that have been tried and sets, out "Labour's plan," the essence of which is the nationalisation of the bind ami the control by the State, as landlord, of farming operations. This, lie says, will ensure the full development of the land and the best use of it. Compensation is to be paid to landowners. A National Agricultural Commission will be establislied to supervise the national farmin" operations, while marketing prob- ' lerns will be attended to by a National Marketing Commission, which, in conI junction with an Import Board, will control marketing and distribution and fix prices. ilany good points are made by .Mr. Williams in suoport of his scheme. His criticisms of the present system are trenchant, and his attack on the subsidies given in the past to the growers of beet sugar and wheat is probably fully justified. (This subject, by the wav, is not without its interest to New Zealand readers.) His observations on the wages given to agricultural helpers would be worth quoting fully if spac* permitted. Labour's plan, says Mr. Williams, will provide opportunities for promotion, whereby the best farm hands will be persuaded to remain on tho land, because opportunities will be given to them of becoming managers or smallholders. Agricultural research, too, will be encouraged. Who is to Pay? But who is to pay for all this V Mr. Williams does not make this very clear. If Britain is to turn her attention to agriculture, what is to become of the Dominion producers, particularly those in this country? How are the Dominions to sell their produce, and, if they cannot do so how are they to pay tlieir annual interest bills let » lo ' le tb °* r principal? It would seem that the reestablislnnent of British agriculture, on the lines advocated by Mr. Williams, will leave a large bill for someone to pay and among those hardest hit will be the holders of Dominion loans. dr. barnardo. HIS FASCINATING HISTORY. A book of exceptional interest to those who are interested in child welfare is Dr. J. Wesley Breadv's "Doctor Barnardo" (Allen and Unwin). A fourth impression of the cheap edition has now been published, and oiie is not surprised. Dr. Bready has, without doubt, written the best biography published of the remarkable man who founded the famous homes that bear his name and gave his life to the. service of destitute children. No more vivid, dramatic or fascinating story has been told ill recent times. It is not only a singularly informing book, and an important contribution to our social problems; it is so so thrilling that ono can hardly lay it down without reading it through. Dr. Bready begins with a sketch of the movements that formed the background leading to the conversion and inspiration of Barnardo and then traces liis career as a philanthropist and the growing immensity of his life-work. It all reads like a romance, and the criticism, opposition and hatred he met with, and gradually overcame, intensify the interest of the book. Dr. Bready makes but scant reference to the work of other similar philanthropists, but he certainly does full justice to that of Barnardo. There are a portrait of tlie doctor, a number of illustrations and an index, as well as a condensed 1 i?-1 of the homes, hospitals, etc. (there are really almost two hundred in all, in which the work is being carried on.

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" WORLDS WITHOUT END.' ASTRONOMER ROYAL'S BOOK People interested in a general way ii astronomy are more numerous than i commonly supposed, iind the books o Sir Arthur EdJington and Sir Jame •leans have a surprisingly wide eircula tion. The Astronomer Royal, Dr. II Spencer .Tones, in '"Worlds Withou Knd" (Knglish Universities Press, Lon don) has written for the general publi a straightforward account of the i;ni verse and of the place that the eartl occupies in it, as revealed by astrono mical observation. It is intended for tin general reader, who will be grateful o Dr. Spencer Jones' lucid explanatory style, and also because in the first elevei chapters he confines himself to tiiosi results of observation which can !>i regarded as reasonably well established In two filial chapters he ventures int< speculation, first making it clear tha the conclusions readied are "neither i'uia nor necessarily correct." In thf speculative chapters the autlio first looks backward in time, and con eludes that '"whereas the earth was onci believed to be the centre of the Uni verse, we are now apt to regard wit! suspicion any theory which makes i appear as something exceptional or a occupying some privileged position ii the universe. But we are forced t< admit that no more plausible theory ha. been suggested, and improbability i: not by itself a sufficient ground for re jecting it." The question, "Was a defi ii ito act of creation involved?" and kindred questions, he prefers to leavi unanswered, but he remarks that the picture suggested by Sir James Jean: "of the finger of God agitating th< ether" is merely a confession oi ignorance. As to the future, "in the present con dition of knowledge, wc> are free to con sider it equally possible either that tin Universe is slowly but inexorably pur suing its course towards old age anc inevitable death, or that it is destincc to undergo periodic rejuvenation and t< live its life over and over again." GLASGOW SLUMS. EVILS OF UNEMPLOYMENT. "Xo Mean City" (Longmans) is a story of the Glasgow slums. It is the work, in collaboration with H. Kingsley I-ong, a London journalist, of Alexamlsi McArthur, an unemployed baker on tii dole, who was born and bred in the area where the scene is laid. s Intended as a revelation, not of the standard of slum life in Glasgow in general, but of the standard of life in the poorest section [of the Gorbals (the accent i a put on the first syllable)—a congested a-ea on the south side of the Clyde, swarming with child and adolescent life housed in over-crowded tenements — it is an enthralling, yet horrible and unpleasant story. We are given pictures of various types of both sexes, mostly young, living in this area, and of the ill-hous-ing, unemployment and misery, and the drinking, vice and brutality characteristic of the area. The chief figure is a youth called Johnnie Stark. The son of a drunken, unfeeling father on the dole, and a faded, silent mother, he thinks it would be grand to be a ga.ngster. He frequents dance "halls and public houses, outvies his father in drinking and brutality, and develops into the leader of a pang of roughs, among whom he is known as the "razor king," on account of his dexterity as a razor-slasher. It is around this youth that the story centres. The authors maintain that, though all the characters are imaginary they have not drawn an exaggerated picture of the vice and misery and hooliganism and fighting that led to the initial writing of the story by Air. McArthur, and in an appendix they give extracts, from newspapers published in Glasgow and elsewhere, in support of their contention. And there is a sincere ring about the book. It is well and skilfully written, though some readers might wish its stark realism had been relieved by touches of humour. There is 110 question of the demoralioi tion that was brought about in the district by unemployment and of the misery it carried in its traii\ (Glasgow had, as the authors tell us, as heavy a burden of workless men and women as London). There are those who know the district and work in it—city missionaries, for example — who have asserted that the story is loaded with exaggeration. Whether that is true or not, its publication has done good. It has drawn attention to the evils of unemployment and to the temptations in the slum areas of great cities to excessive indulgence in strong drink, as well as to the clamant need for improvement in the class of slum dwellings described, and the prevention of overcrowding. It is satisfactory to remember that the gang menace and razorslashing that went on in more slums in Glasgow than this one were stopped by the police before the book was published IN WALES. No lietter handbook for those who contemplate visiting Wales and exploring its glamour, or for those who wish to know about the Principality, its geography and history and its people and their characteristics, customs and language (and they are for the most part bi-lingual)—llo better handbook has been written than that just published by Messrs. Dent under the title, "The World of Wales." Admirable in its format and type, it is the work of. Edmund Vale, •who lias made a name for himself as a writer of books for sightseers. It is packed full of information given in a racy conversational style, interspersed with anecdotes and stories, and is pleasant to read. It will come as news to many that "the Welshman does not really like the sea. It makes him melancholy to look at it; it makes him feel unhappy to go to it; and he is not a fish eater." There are a map, an index and several illustrations. FROM THE PUBLISHERS. Agricultural Organisation in Mew Zealand, a Survey of Land Utilisation, Farm Organisation, Finance and Marketing, by 11. Belshaw, D. O. Williams, F. B. Stephens, E. J. Fawcett and H. R. Rodwell, published for the New Zealand Institute or Pacific Relations by tiie Melbourne University Press in association with the Oxford University Press. Vulcan Lane and Other Verses, by Warwick Lawrence (Unicorn Press, Auckland) . A Pot-Pourri of Eastern Asia, by Florence M. Taylor (Building Publishing- Co., Sydney). Education of To-day, edited by E. D. Laborde (Cambridge University Press). Selina is Older, by Sheila Kaye-Smith (Cassell >. > South and East African Year Book and Guide for 1936, edited by A. Samler Brows and G. Gordon Brown (Sampson Lovv Marstoiv London),