NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17313, 26 November 1921, Page 7

NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

A HISTORY OP NEW ZEALAND. We arc not sure thnt "Maori and Pakelia" is a good main title for the new history of New Zealand written by Messrs A. W. Shrimpton and Alan) Mulgan. Until the sixties the history of the Dominion was indeed the history of tho Pakida's entrance into the Maori's domain, and the Maori question was the main question; but to-day the native problem is no longer of any importance, nnd tho affairs of the Dominion ore the affairs of a white member of the League of Nations. lhe authors explain that t'he book was plan•ned to supply the demand for a short, popular, and reasonably up-to-date history of New Zealand. TJiis is a real . want, and the book meets it very well. The first eighty pages cover the period of "Oid New Zealand" (1615-1810), and an equal amount of space is given to the "Crown Colony period" (LS4O-1553). Tho "Provincial Government period" (1863-187o) occupies 130 pa<rcs, and t)he final section of the book, "Tho period of General Government" (up to 1312;, is covered in a hundred pages more. We mention there figures as an indication that the authors have produced a wellbalanced volume. They have made excellent use of the vast amount of material available —which is listed in. a bibliography at tho end of their work—and have indeed produced as good a piece of documented narrative as could be desired. They are never d-ill, and they have kept to the main road of events, thus enabling the reader to obtain a clear understanding of the development of the dominion. The hardest •task fell upon Mr Mulgan, who deals with tho last years of the period surveyed, years full of political issues which are still blazing high or smouldering rediy. If ho has at times allowed his story to become ever so faintly tinged by affection for tho Liberal Party, lhe has nevertheless achieved a notable degree of impartiality as a recorder. There is a useful bibliography and a fairly good index, and a number of interesting photographs. (Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd.) SHELLEY AND PEACOCK J A charming series of reprints, called tho Percy Reprints, is being produced by Blackwell, the Oxford publisher. The third of the series, just out, is, a most enticing volume, and it has a special timeliness just now when theories of poetry are so much in the air. li contains Peacock's "Four Ages of Poetry," Shelley's immortal "T>e-~ fence," and Browning's "Essay ' on Shelley." Of those who know the "Defence, many do not know that it was written as an answer to the brilliant little essay by Peacock, which appeared in 1620, and, of those who do know the origin of the "Defence," very few indeed can have read the "Four Ages." If is not very long, but it is in Peacock's best vein of wit and eloquence—a worthy spur_ to the passionate rhetorio of his friend, and composed indeedj there is groundf or suspecting, with the purpose of setting him in motion. The. editor. Mr Brett-Smith, mentions that ho English student of Shelley has over before brought Peacock's attack and Shelley's defence within the covers of one volume, natural and necessary as such an enterprise must be considered. . Hpwever, lovers of the caustic and' scholarly Peacock and of the "Sun-treader" have the two essays together now, and, in addition, a thorough critical and bibliographical introduction. The Browning essay adds additional value to this delightful little "Volume^ because Browning wrote little /prose, and this is hL> best piece". It •;j3 l worth noting that future numbers £bj this refreshing series include Bishop. Poems, Beckford on Hunting,; ■fattd Sir George Etberege's plays. (Ox-i I'Jord: Basil Blackwell.) •:" ': . A GARDENING BOOK j -j ; .No long time passes nowadays without the issue of some new gardening but it is not likely that' as * 'general manual Mr David Tanhock's 'book will be soon superseded. This large; /and handsome volume oovers the whole f ground, flowers, vegetables, native ; plants, trees, and shrubs, fruit, and the greenhouse—and it is very nnd •practical. Mr Tannook's qualifications Ware, of course, very widely known far ;ibeyond Dunedin, where he is superintendent, of gardens and reserves, and -■/his work is supplemented by contributions from a well-known Dunedin who exhibits roses, from ?Mr A. E. Lowe, who has made the '■Otahuna narfiissi famous, and from Mr ..£.#; T. Sinclair, the gardener at Te '. Koraha, whose weekly contributions 10 . 6'The Press" have for years been a [.■ source of pleasure and. profit to our ['gardeners, this excellent manual, writ- „ i£ten by experts, is certain to be warmly ~ appreciated. : (Messrs Whitcombe and |;Tpmbs, Lt*) i §A NEW; "ELIZABETH" NOVEL, s£■ Only woman's inhumanity to woman [ i|jcpuld "creato tfho perfectly charming ■fheroine of "Vera," in order to hand j .-Jfer over to that most unpleasant of Mr Everard Wemyss. Of vS-cfturse, in a book by the author of f'•Elizabeth and Her German. Garden," fare may expect a disagreeable husband. Pastor's Wife" made an unlucky ■A venture; and a mildly harmless lady in ; Caravaners" ihad to endure much her German. Baron. But even Ger?cman Barons and agricultural pastors J less unkindly made than this> last who is but a London stockbroker. '<£;-J: He enters the story as a tragio for the wife who, after fifteen 1^ years of married life, came to a sudil'aea end by falling from her high sitwindow. He meets Lucy equally dazed by her loved '■pfather's sudden death. Skilful writing [feinakes it quite conceivable that the two |-should become engaged within a week "3? of Lucy's loss, and less than <t fort.Kijight from the tragedy of Vera. The, (.i-'art with whidh the story develops, the '£; blend of humour and insight and sarin the manner of telling, are im*3 jnensely characteristic of the writer i* whose work we "receive with admiring ?ii gratitude. Who but she would have '& constructed t/apse chapters which show i* tho appealing charm of in love. ; the attitude of her really delightful :'little aunt, and the trampling, triumV phant egoism of that middle-sized boyJ : creature. Everard, grown cheerfully > himself again? And m the background - - ; lies always the question, did Vera's fall •\ mean (her final protest against continu- * mg married life; and will dear little :'■■ t" uc y> w 'th her bobbed hair, her rather i \ big, kind mouth that so easily smiled, ' and her sweet eyes tho colour of Love-m-a-Mist—"only twenty-two, anyhow, :■ and looking like twelve"—have a chanca of (happiness when installed in the same house, sleeping the same bedroom, and ■ looking out over the paved terrace! • where tho same husband lifted up Vera's j ; broken form? > v So Vera pervades the book, though j : she has departed before it begins; and v the whole story is a problem never re;L*£ ;v ed, unless m a grim hint given by y; the aunt to Everard, when he turns %. ™* out of his newly-married home, £ -that unless he takes care "it won't be ». Mything like fifteen years this time." §• -Still wo leave Lucy, to all appearance,, % *J 0T - P e tt«l wife though already anxious signs of a,lack ■ .* OT.-stayitg; powor. As for the husband, I ; he is a curious example that without a ] single criminal tendency, a man may ,■■.•- fte a burdAn to th* world. In spite of I

much lively writirg, and such by-the-way gems as the funeral dinner served by a too imaginative cook, "Vera" is a tragi-comedy at the best. But the realistic cleverness of it all is as striking in this book as in the earliest and most serene of the "Elizabeth" volumes. (London: Macmillan and Co.). OTHER NOVELS. l'aper Wcddir.g," by Charles AlcEvoy, has a quite interesting quality. It begins in Cloth Fair, where George Herrick, a fairly successful writer of short stories, has taken a room for sheer love of "the oldest house in bondon, a perfect Tudor building." It is not a slum, but almost one: a refuge ror drab, rather than squalid peoplo. \y° u ?e Sir! is left suddenlv destitute by the death of her o"ly guar--9} an >. f mysterious Jane Smith; and iiernek at once resolves to piovide for the forlorn Avis by marrying her, before other arrangements can bo niada by the. inspector of a girl's home, a lady missionary, and some one from the workhouse. The difficulties caused oy these good frionds are OBorcom-? by a runaway marriage at the Registrar's; but Avis has unknown enemies on her track. The young couple are parted on tiioir way back from the Registrar's office and mar.y adventures follow before the two principals in this "paper wedding are allowed to meet again, rnero is something individual about 6ven the minor characters in this book; and after OU r gruesome glimpso into tin working of a penitentiary, from which Avis makes her escape, wo are aggrieved to hoar nothing more about the freckled girl." (London: Methuan and Co., Ltd.). The Divine Event" is the last novel well-known Ahierican writer \> ill . Harben, In it he challenges attention by an odd mixture of adventil!*© and 'Spiritualism. Hero and heroine are shadowed durifig mortal life by interested observers {from the spirit world, ivho are kind exTough to direct proceedings through the lips of a most unattractive medium in a New York labouring quarter. They are also shadowed by a living enemy, who is declared to "hold in his cramped frame all the evil of the universe.'' The story is highly American, highly improbable, and slightly vulrar, and 110 doubt will satisfy all the demands of many readers in the States, (New York and London : Harpers.) "The Willing Horse," by lan Hay, frankly admits, in its preface "To the Reader," that there has been a war; and that the tale is based upon "a humble belief that the people* chiefly worth writing about in these days are those who gave body, soul—everything —to win that war." The people gathered together in this story are not only people, worth writing about, but singularly pleasant to read about. It is a story of transformations, from the ordinary outlook of the young, to the intense reply to a national need—from the. life of the careless who sit at ease, to the eager working that grudged the ending of each hard day. Marjorie, the young heroine, has to leave an unsympatlietio home for her war-work in London ; and Roy, the equally young hero, goes to the front at first against his lather's wish. Both of these willing horses fall into rank with others, as admirably willing—though Marjories chief chum, a little actress, does her war work chiefly by cheering up tho nice lad on leave she happens to be engaged to. When Bsked his name, Miss Lyle replied with characteristic candour "I am not quite sure of his name, 'but I think he's in .tho Yeomanry. His Christian name's Leonard. I met him with two other fellows at a party, and I got their surnames mixed up—l always do—and I never .can remember which of tho threoishis. But I could &ee the lad wanted to be en-gaged—-after all, poor things, they can't afford to wait, these days—so I let him.. I shall miss him awfully whon he goes." There is a cheerful note about the story, and it is a book to read, then keep to read again. (London: Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd. Christchurch: L. M. Isitt, Ltd.) "Killigrew," the valet-hero of Alan Dare's novel, must acknowledge a very striking: resemblance to the ;'Admirable Oichton" of Fame's play! He is supremely efficient, self-possessed, a dignified contrast to an unbalanced, illtempered master. This employer Having been ordered sea-air, a yacht fa chartered for a long sea-voyage, and the family embarks, taking also the indispensable Killigrew, and an equally indispensable French maid. Here we • find introduced a new element, in a crew of wastrels; who mutiny, and make away with captain and mate. Finally both passengers and crew are wrecked on a desert island; and now .the accomplished valet takes command, and the Admirable Crichton atmosphere alternates with scenes that more sugfsst the crudely sensational. Why illigrew, who ■ had no com'punction about shooting down brown savages, did not begin by despatching the two worst villains of his ship's company, is hard to say. Their presence accounts for incidents which are quite unnecessarily unpleasant. For the rest is a lively idyll in romantic circumstances — love-making and adventure overcoming all distinctions of class. (London: Herbert Jenkins, Limited.) The story of "The Glorious Hope," by Jane Burr, has a good beginning. It ia said that for every five minutes of" the day and night, one girl'comes to" New York to "make her life." Here we have an example—Eivelyn Kerwin. young, free, rich in the possession, of a thousand dollar, travelling from a faraway village towards "the dream that slumbers in the brain of every imagmr ative youth in America," the top of the world, which is New York. There are 6hort stories in her suitcase with which to conquer fame; and in her head rufis triumphantly something dimly remembered about ' The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold." After this attractive opening, the story resolves itself into a mere hotch-potch of silly, wild incidents concerning a New York Bohemia —a Bohemia, without charm or poetry or wit, where persons and morals are abnormal, yet lack the grace of leing interesting. chapter on Eve's visits to editors, and her discovery of the reason why the suitcase stories are unsaleable, has somethin? of the original tone; but, on the whole, the hook only suggests that Jane Burr should have treated things and people more worth attention. (London: Duckworth and Co.) "Pictures in a New Zealand Garden," by Barbara Douglas, is a handsome and rather expensive quarto, upon which printer and publisher have expended much. care. It consists of a series of photographs and colour-plates of scenes in a garden m Oamaru, interspersed with little bits of description or rqflection by the authoress. The photographs are very good,/and are much more effective than the not very good colour plates (from sketches by' Mabel Hill) m conveying the charm of the delightful garden which the authoress is fortufiate enough to own. (Viotoria: Alexander MoCuobin.).