NEW PUBLICATIONS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 29, 3 February 1912, Page 13

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

— THE GREAT DOMINION. "Canada : To-day and To-morrow." By Arthur E. Copping. With sh full-page colour plates by Harold Copping, and thirty-four illustrations in black and white. London : Cassell and Company, Limited. (Whitcombe and Tombs.) Probably every one who has any real knowledge of Canada 'as it is-^-v/hich necessarily »involvea some acquaintance with its history — has large ideas as to its future. But it seems quite needless to follov Mr. Copping into his specula- ' tions regarding days to come. In the historic section with which the book opens, tho writer shows considerable literary power in hia vivid picture of the long and sanguinary feud by sea and land between the Hudson Bay Company and tne French Government to secure monopoly of the profitable fur trade. "The spectacle," he observes, "of those two companies feeling cramped by .each other's presence in & roomy place like Canada, and using pistols and daggers to lessen the pressure of commercial competition, is exceedingly droll, if grim. He touches, also, on one of the problems which the Colonial Government had to face at the outset— the status of- the roving bands of Indians. Tho State dealt with tho matter more wisely, as well as in milder fashion, than their neighbours of the United States, prohibiting the traffic in "firewater," and sweeping it from the country by the aid of the NorthWest Mounted Police, entering into treaties with the tribes, securing them Hot only ample reserves, but free rations and annual money payments, until such time as they might be self-supporting, which object was advanced by the establishment of schools, general and agricultural, besides the distribution of cattle, seed, and farming implements. The warlike Blackfeet were the la6t to be won from & footing of irresponsible independence, and in a. later section of the Dook the author gives an account, from particulars supplied by the Rev. Canon H. W. C. Stocken, C.M.S., Alberta, of the Christian mission to these people — a narrative full of interest both to historian and psychologist. After some thirteen years of apparently barren instruction, the missionaries, in. the early spring of 1898, were amazed by the sudden "birth of the Spirit." The movement began with three young people, one of whom reported a strange vision of a visit to a wonderful world, "far above the «arth," where he had seen wonderful things and received instruction which left him in a strange state of exaltation; and like experiences occurred to others, so that for some time the missionary "lived amid marvels and mysteries, not knowing what new wonder the hour would bring forth." Human nature being much the same in all lands, it is interesting to note how its development varies according to its scope for expansion, and the photograph entitJud "Typical FrenchCanadian Family: Sixteen Children" makes an impression. The' "group" ie drawn up in line along the side of the homestead — lather, mother (with-three-months baby m arms), and th& rest, mostly boya, in order of age, from lad of eighteen to toddler less than two — all healthy and sturdy-looking. French Canada honours and gives bonuses to the parents of twolve or more children "In fourteen years 3396 heads of families were registered as qualified to receive the free grant of 100 acres (or in the alternative 50 dollars). Those 3395 names had been printed in vol. I. \pl a State paper]; and the significant, fact has to be added that in' the' comparatively short period of fifteen mortth* as many as 2018 heads of families were added to tho roll of honour." The return, which gives details in each case, shows that not only is the number 12 constantly interrupted by thirteen, but less frequently by 14, and by each successive number up to 19, tho "top score.'" If the French Canadians have ,& paternal Government, the Canadian Pacifio Railway Company has proved itself a boon incalculable to the whole Dominion. The great undertaking of a transcontinental line wa-s? one of the firsb tasks undertaken when political union was accomplished, for physical union of Canada and British Columbia was its necessary corollary. But the scheme proved impracticable in the hands of a National Executive subject to party changes, and only 700 miles of line was laid by the State after years of work, and the Government was vastly relieved when eight bold capitalists formed a syndicate and took tne work over. And " Modern Canada " was created by a railway!" Of course, the writer has something to say of Niagara as a source of power, and the revolution the "white coal" has already wrought. The cleanliness and brightness of Hamilton (the "new Birmingham" of Canada} .fascinated him.

In the Niagara power-houees "I went behind the scenes, so to epeak, and saw everything. Also I saw nothing — energy being invisible, A power-house is a shining palace of repose and polished ' machinery. Each gallery of dynamos ie c a cloister of peace, where a poet might I compose verses to |jis lady'B eyes. Huge • turbines hum softly in the • trim wheels pit — so deep, so quiet. The giant gener- ■ ator slumbers in a deathlike stillness only to be attained by machinery revolvi ing at the pace of 26 miles a second. At Niagara- one stands in the clean pre1 sence of a volume of power measurable > by the united strength of a million men. > White coal gives forth no smoke, dirt, or , smell." He tells of the "Lumber King," who disposing at eighty years of age of 400 miles of railway, felt "rather lost," so went into the industry of converting l pine-trees into pulp-board and paper, , with between 40,000 and 60,000 workmen in hie service. When he turned out ' 100 tons of paper and 40 tons of card 1 daily, "the exciting part had worn off," . and he was meditating- new enterprisee. The assimilating power of the Britißhepeaking folk, who turn people oi almost every imaginable race into Canadians of [ a standard type, forcibly strikes the writer, who, however, specially excepta ' the queer sect from Russia, known a» Doukhobors. They are simple, intensely ignorant and superstitious, and with few exceptions object to education, and are quite unconformable Strict vegetarians, | and respecting animal life with Brahmanic rigidity, they cultivate great fields of sunflowers and chew the seeds for sustenance. The author has much to say ; of the unexploited natural resources of the vast Dominion, and gives a chart supplied by the director of the Geological Survey showing the zones of mineral wealth, and he tells us that already preparations are being made ■ for Canada's International Exposition and Selkirk Centennial to be held in 1914, and to cost a million sterling. In his concluding summary of impressions, Mr. Copping says : "I think Canada's chief charm is her people, with their delightful freedom from snobbishness and their sense of the dignity of labour." The book is well illustrated, and is furnished with an excellent map and index. "The Adventures of Kimble Bent: A Story of Wild Life in the New Zealand Bush/ by James Cowan. Wellington: Whitcombe and Tombs. It is difficult to realise, after a perusal of Mr. Cowan's book, that some of the participants in the lights he depicted are still amonget us; the cannibalistic and othqr orgies seem so far distant. Those who were on the We&t Coast of the North Ljland in the sixties, seventies, and early eighties can easily understand the power of tohunga — chieftains like Titokowaru on the West, Te Kooti on the East Coast, and later on of Te Whiti and Tohu, the dual governors of the Parihaka centre of Maori hopes, aspirations, and disaffection to their white rulers; but to the younger generation of colonists the scenes so graphically depicted by Mr. Cowan must seem far distant, and more in keeping with Fenimore Cooper's Red Man. Those who want to know something of theiT country and of the Maori of the olden time will find the book a very interesting one. The fight at Te Ngutu-o-te-Manu, in which the prestige of the white man .went down so badly, and where poorYon Tempsky's life was almost needlessly sacrificed, would bear elaboration, 'for there are still, fortunately, men amongst us like Colonel Roberts and Captain Livingston, who fought a brilliant rearguard action on that occasion, to tell the tale. Many people blamed Colonel M'Donnell for that disastrous episode, and some accused him of showing the white feather, but M'Donnell's bravery was too well' attested, both before and after that disastrous fight with the Maoris, for any credence to be attached to the rumours that were for some years current. No doubt, he erred ' in thinking that the Maoris were far more numerous than they were at Te Ngutu-o-te-Manu : that was a mere error of judgment. v The result of that disastrous fight was that Titokowaru' s mana received such an im petus'that he advanced nearly as far as Kai lwi, and expressed His determination to dislodge the pakeha from Wanganni. Events had so far quieted down on the East Coast that Colonel (afterwards Sir George) Whitraore was able to concentrate his forces on the West Coaist, and he had the able assistance of Major Kemp and his friendly Maoris from the Wanganui River, as well as a detachment of the East Coast Natives under Captain (now Colonel) Porter,, with the result that Titokowaru was soon the pursued instead of the pursuer. He afterwards settled down some miles at the back of where the Manaia township stands, and was, so long as the sleeping lion was not aroused, as quiet and unassuming as any member of his tribe. "The way of the transgressor is hard," and Kimble Bent, in deserting from the "Die Hards" (57th Regiitfent), found it a case of jumping from the frying pan into the fire. He was held practically as a slave and treat* ed as a slave. Mr. Cowan establishes the fact, and we think quite correctly, that Bent never actively fought against the white Boldiers, whether English or

colonial, but all the same he proved a valuable ally to the Maoris, for he made up their powder, and when lead was not to be had for bullets he, with the dexterity of an American' — for he was born on the banka of the St. Croix River, in the State of Maine, his mother being a halfcaste Red Indian — 'fashioned bullota out of plugs of wood. According to his own narrative, Bent had many escapes from the blood-lust of the Maoris with whom he had cast in his lot, and he owed his life on several occasions to the protecting arm of Titokowaru ajad other chiefs who laid claim to him as "my pakeha." The book, which is well illustrated, should find a ready sale in New Zealand, and no doubt will bo found in the book shelves of youths in the Old Country who have a craving for adventure and "the simple life."