NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14987, 6 June 1914, Page 9

NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

MISS MARY HALL ON HER TRAVELS.

Miss Mary Hall, whose-visit to Mew Zealand will bo remembered with pleasure, has now given an account of her latest travels in an illustrated volume eptitled "A Woman in the Antipodes," She is certainly an enterprising as woll as a most observant traveller. When she was iv New Zealand, it will be remembered, sho gave some most interesting lectures on her "trek" from the Capo to Cairo. In the present volume she gives a very comprehensive, appreciative, and, on tho whole, accurate account of tho principal places of interest in Now Zealand which she traversed from the Bay of ?&lands xo Stewart Island. Then she takes us through Australia from Western Australia to Queensland. The great strike was in progress when Miss Hall was in Brisbane, and her account of what took placo is very . interesting. Next we go with her to New Guinea, Paotia. administered by Australia, and Cook Islands by New Zealand are appropiately doserilwd by Mi>s Hall as "grandchildren" of the Mother Country, in rapua she was struck by the manner in which young Australian officials ignored tho heat •and recklessly defied the sun. apparently without suffering any ill-effects. The most crying need of i'ort Moresby, she says, is "an efficient water supply. Rumours were current that -he Government was about to grant a large sum of money for the purpose of establishing a Marconi station. Her impression was that it- would be much wiser had they put the sanitary and domestic conditions of the port on a netter footing first. Returning to Australia, — iss Hall pursued her. journey to Manila, Hong-Hong, Peking. Mukden. Seoul (Korea), Dalny. and Port Arthur, and so .across the Siberian railway to M. Petersburg and Home. There,is an amusing account of a battle royal between tho indomitablo traveller and a Russian lady for the possession of a coune on the Siberian train, in wHtrh British determination ultimately got the bast of it. Altogether this is a ] most entertaining book of travel, con- I

taming not a little in formation of an instructive character. (London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., los net.)

RECENT NOVELS

Lord Northcliffo. the "Napoleon of the Halfpenny Pre*,s.'' has figured in a m.rye or less disguised fashion in many recent works of fiction. "Lord London: A Romance of To-day,'' by Mr Keble Howard, is. frankly a character study of the great man. with, of course, some romantic touches thrown in. It is doubtful, however, if any romance could really bo much more interesting than the unadorned story of tho way in which Lord Northcliffo rose to his present unique position of Health and influence. Mr Keble Howard, in an

"Author's Note," calls ht'tn "one of "the most- famous, most powerful and most misrepresented men of our time."' 'Hie sketch here given shows him very human in many respects. Incidentally the book gives an interesting insight into modern journalism and the interview between "Sir Hannibal Quain" and "Mr. Bothwell." which resulted in tho former becoming "Lord London," is certainly very daring. Si non c vero. c bon trovato. Wo should like to hear what Mr. Balfour thinks about it. (London: G. Bell and Sons. Ltd. Christchureh: Whitcombe and Tombs; 2s. Gd.)

In "Tho Fortunate Youth." Mr W. J. Locke bus given us a most improbable story, but it is so delightfully told that the reader is bound to enjoy it, and it never enters his head to stop and consider whether it is probable or otherwise. We are introduced to tho hero, little Paul Kegworthy, as a child living in a slum in a Lancashire manufacturing town ,with his mother, Mrs Button, his stepfather.Mr Button, and 6ix littlo Buttons, his half-brothers and sisters. "Mr. Button, who was Lancashire bred and born, divided the yearnings of his spirit between strong drink and dogfights. Mrs Button, a viperous Londoner, yearned for noise. When Mr Button came home drunk he punched his wife about the 'head, and kicked her about the body, while they both exhausted the vocabulary of vituperation of North and South, to tho horror and edification of the neighbourhood. When Mr. Button was sober Mrs Button chastised little Paul. She would have done so when Mr Button was drunk but she had not the time." From this unpromising beginning little Paul rose to be tho darling of political society in England, a successful candidate for Parliament and the husband of a princess—■ a Balkan princess, but a very charming and aristocratic personage notwithstanding. Not the least ot- his endowments was the fact that even as a child in the slums ho had "wavy black hair, of raven black, a dark olive complexion, flushed with "the warm blood of health and the exquisite delicate features of a young ftaxtilean god." (London: John Lane, The Bodley Head. Christchurch: George Robertson Propty., Ltd., 3s. 6d.)

Lovers of sensationalism and mystery should find their yearning fully gratified by the "Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu," by Sax Rohmer. The diabolical creature whose uamo is given in the title moves about London in secret, removing by means of his subtle poisons those who are supposed to stand in tho way of the advancement of China. After a long chase, full of many excitiug episodes, he is afc last brought to book by a determined and sturdy Englishman, aided by a beautiful slave long in the power of the monster. (London: Methuen and Co. Christchureh: Whitcombo and Tombs, Ltd., 3s 6d.)

As a change from the last one we may recommend one of Katherine Tynan's pleasant domestio stories. "Midsummer Rose." A young Englishman, Ralph Bretherton, educated to an idle life in the belief that he was to be the heir of a well-off cousin, is brought up with a shock when the latter marries and subsequently dies, leaving his widow the family house and a large income for life. The widow, although a daughter of the people, is made of fine stuff, and is anxious to do the right thing by Ralph. There are many interesting complications before the threads are finally straightened out. (London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd. Christchureh: Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd., 2s 6d.)

The author of "The Silence of Dean Ma-itland," who writes under the name of Maxwell Gray, has a large circle of admirers in New Zealand, who will welcome another story from her pen. It is entitled "Something Afar," and the story is told in leisurely fashion, in brief, it shows how a union of hearts •frustrated in one generation was rectified in the next by the wedding of tho respective children of the pair who were kept asunder and forced into uncongenial marriages, in what may bo termed the first part of the- drama. A good deal of tbe action takes place around Lake Lugano, and the Italian scenery and people "aro" admirably described. (London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd. Christchureh: Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd., 2s 6d).

"Race of Castlebar," by Emily Lawless, Litt.D., and Shan F. Bnllock, is a stirring story of life in Ireland, in ,1798, at the time of the French invasion. The book was written in collaboration, and there is a pathetic explanation of the fact-. Miss *smily Lawless had made a study of the period, and had commenced the story, when illhealth put-a stop to the work. 11 r Shan F. Bullock then came to the rescue and finished it. Miss Emily lawless, unfortunately, has not lived* to see the success of tbo work, which is worthy of two such brilliant collaborators. It gives a vivid picture of the half-savage character of the Irish of those times, and brings out very clearly how they were imposed upon by the French. fLondon: John Murray. Christchureh: Whitcombe and Tombs. ' Ltd., 3s 6d).