LITERARY COLUMN.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 18, 20 July 1907, Page 13

LITERARY COLUMN.

NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. THE SCANDINAVIANS IN, AUSTRALASIA. "Tho Scandinavians in Australasia." By Jens Lyng. Together with "A Review of Scandinavian History." By 0. N. Nelson. Melbourne : Robertson and Co. Lieut. Lyng (of tho Danish Army), , late editor of the Australian-Scandina-vian, journal Norden, has had exceptional opportunities for the work ho has taken in hand, and has made good uso of them. Tho main reason why so much valuable history remains unwritten is, that it is difficult to find a qualified person to tako the initiative. The better fitted he is, the moro he realises the inadequacy of his material and tho unavoidable imperfection of his work. A witty French lady when told that St. Denis, after his decollation, ,walked away with his head in his hands — actually walked two miles ! — she replied that the distance did not impress her at all : it was the first paces that constituted the marvel. So with all historic records. It is in the first few paces — so insignificant apparently — that all real significance lies ; the miles will follow. To change' the figure, Lieut. Ly2» has supplied a definite nucleus, and whatever its deficiencies may be, there is always the possibility that they may be supplemented. There may bo in time works on tho subject more comprehensive and complete ; but here we havo at least tho living germ. Necessarily, the history of Scandinavian immigration to New Zealand occupies only a minor place in this . book ; but it is x one of the most ' interesting chapters in the annuals of the colony — a chapter that only a patriotic Northman could write, and that wo hope will jet be . written before tho memories have faded away. One difficulty in the way will • be the extraordinary facility with which great numbers of the immigrants blended with the general population. Losing touch with friends and kindred in tho old land, in a few years they often forget their mother tongue — a phenomenon almost incrcdiblo to the average Englishman, they lost their potronymics, accepting with equanimity any corrupted form devised by their British neighbours, or deliberately anglicising their names, as for example, changing Olsen to Wilson. It is no wonder, therefore, that in Scandinavia immigration was opposed by the clergy, the schools, and the press as unpatriotic. Our author quotes tho Norwegian poet Wergeland, as denouncing thoso "som har forglemt, i trolcst sind, sit Foedreland for andre," and the reproach seems to have had a certain basis of truth. Thai protest is still made, but in vain. TheTo is a growing tendency on the part of the younger population to seek their fortunes in sunnier lands. Over a hundred thousand per annum leave the Scandinavian shores each year, and few leturn. This seems the moro remaikablb when it is rememb-ered that 110 land, not even Scotland, is so Tich in folk-song expressing love of country. These passionate lyrics, wedded to tho loveliest melodies, aro taught and sung in all the schools, and linger in the memory when the language itself is lost from disuse. England has no such heritage of patriotic song, yet no normal Englishman, however loyal to the country of his adoption, ever loses his affection for the old land or his prido of its glorious past. In 1871 tho Scandinavians in Australasia numbered about 5000. In 1901 that number had multiplied b"y five, and our author estimates that counting thoso born in the land, both parents Scandinavian, the total would not fall iar short of fifty thousand. It is almost unnecessary to add that they have turned out on the whole to be sturdy, upright, hardworking settlers, preferring as a rule country life and work to the commercial life of the towns, and many of them havo prospered exceedingly. Between Swedes, Danes, and Norsemen'there has been somo little jealousy at times, but between them and the British population national prejudice has been practically non-existent, and intermarriage has been common from the first, increasing in proportion as the younger people are educated side by sido in the public schools. Lieut. Lyng gives on the whole an excellent outline* of tho history of Scandinavian settlement in New Zealand. The story of the conquest of the Seventy-mile Bush, however — the foundation of Norsewood, Dannevirke, and other distinctively Scandinavian centres — remains yet to be written, and pioperly dealt with would form one of the most interesting chapters in the story of colonisation. An interesting account is given of the AustralasianScandinavian press. "Brevduen," a little religious monthly, published in Napier during 1875, is noted, but its editor is not named, and Mr. Graff's short-lived "Skandia," a secular paper published' " at Palmerslon North in 1876, is not forgotten. The Rev. Mr. Sass's little periodical (Napier), with a long and cumbrous title, of which only two monthly numbers saw the light, is not noted. "Nordsn," wo are" told, is still published in Melbourne, edited by a Danish lady, Miss Olga Clausen. It is carried on at a loss, partly owing 'to the '"denationalisation" of those for whom it was designed, and partly to "religious bigotry"— a cause, it may bo added ; wliich has also militated from the first in New Zealand against the brotherhood which might be looked for among fellow-countrymen, "strangers in a strango land." Under this head' we cannot but note a singular omission in tho account of religious work in New Zealand. Next to the celebrated Bishop Monrad, no name stands higher than that of the devoted missionary Edward Nielsen, a Norwegian, who camo out with his family in 1874, with a sole desire- to preach the gospel to his countrymen — tho first of any Church to follow the tide of immigration that had set in. He bore excellent credentials from tho Methodist ChuTch, and was not long in the colony Jefore ho was regularly ordained ; but c came out in simple faith, "without purse or scrip," and in Auckland, Napier, the Seventy-mile Bush, the Wairarapa, and the Manawatu, as well as in Canterbury, no man was "in labours more abundant." He "spent and was spcnL" in tho and carried his message everywhere to his people in their own tongue. By means of "lkovdtien," he reached his scattered flock every month for a year. Sincere and simple-minded, his theology was of a long-past period, and the same may be said of his theological opponents, who arrived later, when both parties wasted much energy in unprofitable' polemics. As long as he lived, this worthy man published occasional sermons and tracts. He died a, fow years ago at Palmerston North. Tho necessity for services in Danish has long ceased, and the Scandinavian Methodists have long been gathered into the English congregations. There being, howevor, no English Lutheran Church in the colony, thero are some half-dozen separata Scandinavian congregations of that denomination. As against the omission of any referenco to tho Rev. E. Neilsen's life and work, it is pleasant to record thnt the labours of tho Rev. H. M. Rcis, who 15 ' happily still actively and usefully engaged, receive. <'■"- served appreciation-.

"Maori and Polynesian : their Origin, History, and Culture." By J. Macmillan Brown. London : Hutchuison and Co. (WhitcouuV and Tombs.) Professor Brown's book, in its endeavour to solve the ethnical problems of Western Polynesia, traverses the whole field of ethniology from the beginning. Portions of theso essays, or substantially the same, the author has already published, so that his general conclusions are known to those who have studied the subject. The book is essentially one for the student; we fear that it will not appeal greatly to the general reader, .who is more likely to be bewildered than edified. The Maori race is s,o 'manifestly mixed that the basic ethnic problem is to trace as far as possible what the nature of that niixtuio^is; and the problem is probably insoluble. In common with mest modern investigators, Professor Brown wholly rejects the Malayo-Polynesian" theory; ho also utterly disbelieves in any affinity with Semitic peoples. In this he is probably correct, though in custom and tradition there are many suggestive parallels; so much &o that the Maori, when tho Hebrew Scriptures were first translated, understood many of their .illusions better than the missionaries thernsolves, found equivalents for terms in the long-dead language which no European 1 tongue could sujrply, and have persistently identified themselves in irna. 1 gination with the tribes in whose record' they took so keen an interest. The professor, agrees, too, with Haast, Colenso, and other high authorities in the high antiquity to be assigned to the Maori— wo can find np better term — or aboriginal race ; for it is, as Colenso conclusively showed, an antiquity which involves continuity in tradition, arts, and habit of' life. So far we are on fairly solid ground; but however interestong the author's detailed deductions may be — however "scientific" the methods, by which he has arrived at them, they stand on no very firm foundation. The professor himself freely admits that they are opeD to an indefinite amount of revision. Nowhere is this more conspiciously evident than in the two long, elaborate, and,' we may add, unsatisfactory chapters on religion and mythology. Our familiar old friend, tho "solar myth," figures orice again; and we have postulate piled on postulato as the base of the theory. All these arc still in dispute in the scientific world, and if any give way, little is left of the superstructure. The author, we think, attached too much weight to negatives. It h unsafe, for example, to assume from the absence of. script among tho Polynesians that their ancestors always laboured under the like deficiency. Much can be said in favour of Tregear's suggestion, that in the process of ocean migration, writing and other arts were lost. Take the case of an ordinary emigrant ship Ironi any European country, cast away in v remote legion already populated by an uncivilised race. Cut them off from civilisation even for a thousand years, and what would be their condition? Writing, mot al- working, mechanics, might all be lost; simple arts like baskfctmaking, and a few patterns might survive, as well as a. few words related to them; and if dim traditions of railways, telegraphs, electric lighting, or electro-dynamics survived, it would probably be as mytha of the miraculous doings of half-dcined ancestors. Especially would this be the case with/<a people in which the arts Weie specialised and confined each' to its own caste. With the disappearance of any given caste by accident or epidemic the art would vanish also. Scientific methods of our day are supposed to be inductive; but induction without hypothesis is dead, and hypothesis nray be conect — or otherwise. Pro. f.-egsor,, 9rfl\vn's work bears traces of great research and much thought and etudy ; and it will bo interesting lo note how it will ba received by oxperts in his- own branch of science.

"Short Cruises."- By W. W. Jacobs. 'With 38 Illustrations by Will Owen. London : George Bell and Sons. (Whitcombe and Tombs). Mr. Jacobs needs no introduction. Ho is one of tho most popular contemporary writers of short stories, and he has two types — the irresistibly comic and tho blood-curdling gruesome. Fortunately he does not often work the lattor vein, and it is not represented in the dozen in tho present collection, which havo mostly if not all appeared in popular serials already, and arc of the familiar stamp. . Usually, to escape temporary difficulty or to gain a point, somebody enters in a course of elaborate; deception, leading to most unlooked-for and farcical situations. Sometimes the deceiver succeeds ; usually ho is bowled out in the end — in other cases he loses the gamo but wins a matrimonial prize. A schem ing rogue, Bob Pretty, who figures as a successful rascal in some of the earlier books, reappears here, and by working in the cupidity of a neighbour, carries out a most audacious swindle. "The Changeling," "His Lordship," and "Disturbed Relations," may all be noted as good examples of Mr. Jacobs's characteristic humour.

The journal of the Polynesian Society for June contains the usual budget of interesting articles, among which we specially note one by Mr. Elsdon Best on the vigesimal element in the old Maori numeration, and "Tahitian Astronomy," a communication from Miss Teuira Henry, the story of the birth of the heavly bodies, as "recited in 1818 at Porapora, by Ruanui, a clever old woman, then bent with age, and eyes dim." Such records, committed to writing while possessors of the old lore still survived, aro now of nniquo value to students of- mythology, and the Polynesian Society does a public service ip preserving them.

The School Journal has reached its third monthly issue. It is an interesting experiment to see how far twentieth-century juveniles in New Zealand can be interested in Ann and Jane Taylor.. The "Hymns for Infant Minds," and the little secular poems by the gifted sisters fascinated our grandparents in their childish days ; but so did Watts's "Divine Songs." Yet the latter 'are all unknown now-a-days, oven to a fairly representative group of clergymen, and experiments have shown that it is impossible to get young folk of to-day to take the slightest interest in t them. We do not think much of the series of "Maori Fairy Tales" provided for standards 111. and IV. Mr. Trogear'a little book had tho merit of faithfulness to the original — these aro hybrid productions that will have' to unlearned by any who should afterwards interest themselves in the subject. In the V-VI section there is some valuable matter. Mr. Reeves's fino poem, "The Passing of the Forest" is appropriately followed by an article (presumably original) on "Forests and Fertility." A correction of last month's anachronistic note on Kipling's "Recessional" is inserted. Among the other articles is one " on "The Physical Effects of Alcohol," by Sir Frederick Treves.

From Yerox, Barker, and Co. wo have received the current issuo of System, the Magazine of Business (Chicago^, in which systematisation and standardisation aro carried into the minutest details of business. It gives a remarkable insight into tho methods of successful businefg toncans in the United SteteA