NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18918, 5 February 1927, Page 13

NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

GOOD AND BAD DOCTORS. Our Doctor*. By Maurics DnpUy (tnntUted from the French by Joseph CoHtnjl. Harper end Bros. It would be interesting to how many of the doctors now in conference in Duncdin have read this book, and how many will. Dr. Joseph Collins, the translator, giyes it a guarded endorsement on the seioiUili,: side, and it carries its own endorsement as a piece of literature. It is uf course a doubtful proceeding to follow a great surgeon through consulting rooms and operating theatres and c:-|! the result a novel. Although we all like to know in our morbid and inquisitive moments abuut other people's diseases, and most of all about the moral diseases—greed, lust, and criminal ambition—to which the medical profession is especially exposed, gratifying this curiosity is not art, even if it is done with a lofty purpose. In the case before us tho hero ends as the enemy of corruption and almost as the devoted servant of humanity. But this is after selfishness bus crushed him, and after he has practised surgery lor thirty years with no more human interest in his patients, and .sometimes with a good deal less, than he has had in the chimpanzees in his laboratory in which he has artificially induced "cancer. In" other words, the book is a hard, sharp, pitiless picture of u profession in which (in M. Duplay's eyes) the good men are greatly outnumbered by the had, and the had by tho deliberately criminal. No olio supposes that the profession really is .so corrupt .as that, in any country or nnv city, but 31. Duplav atones for his harshness by the reverence with which he paints the portrait of the noble old surgeoii, Claude Manccans, and by his attitude to research. (Through Dyniock's Hook Arcade, Sydney.) A COUNTRY'S INCOME. The N»t|oual pividend. By. Jm, T. SntcUff*. keibonrno University Preso. The latest addition to the valuable series of economic studies issued by the Faculty of Commerce of the Melbourne University is n pamphlet entitled "The National Dividend," by Mr Jns. T. Sutclilfe. Such a lino of •enquiry is particularly valuablo in Australia at present, where tho problem of tho equitable distribution of the products of industry has becprne prominent by recent basic wage pronouncements which liavo given rise to speculation as to what bullion ot wugw ministry is capablo of Hearing, in a critical introduction to the doo{s, .rroiessor Uowley, of the Jjouuou {School ot Jvwnoiuics, says that'the SUM ot tho national uiviucmi or income and its distribution among persona and classes are among tho essential data or all realistic economics, but they aro also among the data wliicli it is impossible to measure accurately." U is this question of accuracy that pussies most laymen, all the more- because, so many economists use rather subtle language in dealing with the poßsiblo margin of error in their results. Mr Sutchtfe estimates the national dividend of Australia first by the "Aggregate Industry" method, nud then by the '•Aggregate Income" method, in the first tho total value of alj the goods produced is added to the total value of all the services rendered; the second method ascertains the incomes of all bread-winners and adds them together. Over fivo years tlie difference in the results arrived at by these ivothods is remarkably low—less than two per cent. Although wisely not attempting to deal directly with the basic wage problem, Mr Sutcljffe has made every effort to give practical application' to his conclusions, and the passages in which he deals with tho distribution of wealth and the national ex? pendituro aro unusually valuable. It 18 interesting to note that; according to his investigations, the effective pro-, ductivity per bread-winner over the fourteen years, 1910-98, shows a decline of about 4 per cent. Mr Sutcliffe's final conclusion is couched m very general terms, but it is a striking one: "'For a very large proportion of the people the income received is barely sufficient to provide for maintenance on a moderate standard of life. If it were pqssiblc to further analyse, the tables nnd give married and single separately, it would probably show t)m from a large number of married men with families the income received is inadequate to provide the moderate standard of life,upon which tho computations have boon made." THE} PACIFIC A History of the Paeiflc, By »• B- Cos*. Now Zealand Book Depot. Text-books in history have in the past r aid Httlo attention to events l|appening outsido Europe, hut with the shifting of the world's political centre of gravity to the Pacific the fiejd has been greatly widened. Miss N.. E. Coad's ''History of the Pacific" would therefore have been welcome to teachers even if it had not been a y e ry good book, but in point of fact it is a test-book of unusual excellence. Within a limited space Miss Coad has managed to cover a wide field without reducing the narrative-to bare bones. Further, Miss Coad feels so much of the romance and glamour of her story that even the restrictions of an Judication Department syllabus have failed to make her matter-of-fact. It u proper to point out ;:lso that the section dealing with China is worth the attention ot readers whose school-days are long since past, because it gives a clear and dispassionate account of the development of that wonderful country. LIKE A CRAZY-WORK QUIUT. Wfittc* to S.r.d.' BjHSw V. S.vUU. » John tons. If Miss Helen N. Savilte had learned that tho fundamental art of fiction lies in telling a story concisely and well, "Written in Sand" wanld # be a much letter book. To teain with, it ii split up into one hundred and fourteen diopters for its three hundred odd pages, and in its lack r.l plan '»"• logical sequence if-Ciub'.e- t v tra*> quilt There ace far too many characters crowded in, who have no bearing on the main subject, arid --nice the plot is an old one the conventional ending should have folloued Mill, ihero are nrobablv inauv who v ill enjoy reading of an exotic love even if tbe lovers do not live together happily ever after. A DISAPPOINTING AUSTRALIAN•he Whilt P«ril. By awven WoiUtw. HoddK and Stongbton. In his last novel Steven Westlaw, an Australian, showed promise of developing into a writer of original mystory »tories. Unfortunately "Tho White Peril" does not fulfil that promise or merit any praise. Indeed >lr Westlaw has developed an artificiality of style and expression which is to be deplored, and has become stupidly sensational Tho idea of an American gang trying to introduce cocaine into Australia is ouite a good-one for a mystery, but the murder was unnecessary and the preparation for it is quit* inadequate. /

(JOQP BUT NOT GREAT. Second eight, Jfr ?aul9 f#|P- **nl*ni, The publishers clajm th&t Temyl? i*uo. author of "Second Sight," and three earlier novels, »b taking ner piaco WMR th» novelist* who «ront.. JW the women who oouno in tho history of the modern novel have allat wmetfrne done brilliant work, wh.lo 'J**** Sight" is. merely a well-written, restrained novel &WW » *W obwvp tion of human nature and cm ™W* J?' completely lacks that subtle touch which transforms the writing of ft great artist. Thw may como with further e*> perionoo, but the chances are that t% will not. It teems far wore likely frqm what she has done already that Temple Lane will go on writing readably wel|-ba|ano*J hooks which just miss "couptnitt." W this one, part of the scene is laid m the Swiss Alps which, with other influences, help in the spiritual re«encration of a worldly man who finds his material ambitions realised, at the expense of neglect of the other B|dO| of life. The writer is to he congratu-, latcd on her ending, which was the only possible one in the circumstances, tliouoh she must have l*cp tempted to kill off the unlovable, snobbish wife, and pander to convention. OLD FRIENDS. The »«r 80 m» 4«»ln, W Pl»r«n«« 8Mnltord. Itodder end Stoogbtoa. Thoso who follow cowboy literature will find all t|icir old friends in "The Har 20 Hides Again,' 5 by Clarence E. Mulford. Hopalong Cassidy* Johnny Nelson, and all the old crowd are here again,'as quick with their nuns, anU as vigorously sentimental 8» ever. ill* writer has given himself free ficopo lor virile action in the ready response of tho Bar 20 men to an 6.0.8. call from an old comrade who is suffering from tho cattle depredations of an outlaw. The scheme by which they win out is ingenious, and in the telling makes what most men will call a good yarn. A SENTIMENTAL TRIFLE. The Demtatinf M»n. Br Arthur Applia. John U>ng. Arthur Applin eoems able to throw off sentimental little trifles like "The Pcvastating Man" with such ease that it is a pity he,d<ws not settle to some? thing more terious. His book* art pretty and readable and spf**! to ft vast "feminine public, hut you always begin by expecting something hatter frqm him and end in disappointment, Certamly jt is a variation op an ancient theme to cast a a desert island with two women, bat even tela opportunity is handled with lajy »adl* ocrity.