A NEW GEOGRAPHY

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 34, 8 August 1925, Page 17

A NEW GEOGRAPHY

"Australasia and New> Zealand." By B. G. Wallis. London : Macmillan and Co.

An addition to MacMillan'.s Practical Modern Geographies series is entitled "Australasia and New Zealand." Obviously, it is for the use of students in Great Britain, and the author, Mr. B. G. Wallis, B.Sc, F.R.G.S., has gathered together a vast amount of accurate information and tabulated it in an attractive form. The London correspondent of '-'The Post" states there are certain advantages in studying the countries of the South Pacific as a group, but it is doubtful whether the methods employed by the writer of this textbook will be acceptable to New Zealanders. In the last few years there has been a distinct tendency for people in this country to differentiate between Australia and New Zealand. No prominent newspapers use the unfortunate term "Australasia," and now that a' writer of some standing lumps Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and Fiji under single chapter headings for the instruction of students of Great Britain, it looks as if a retrogressive step is being taken. The first paragraph in the preface plainly showß how greatly out of touch with the sentiment of the people the author is. "The title of this book," he' writes, "might well have been simply ■ Australasia, as this term is conveniently brief. Owing to the fact that the single word Australasia does not give sufficient emphasis to New Zealand the two names have been used in conjunction; in the text, however, Australasia is used to include •New Zealand. Apart from this defect, the textbook is one of the best and most up to date. It contains more than a hundred ■ admirable maps, and above one hundred and fifty well-selected illustrations.