BOOK NOTICE.

Evening Star, Issue 7420, 16 January 1888, Page 3

BOOK NOTICE.

Htom'H Otago and Southland Dimtwy, 1838. Stone, Son, and Co,, 70 Princes street, publishers, The rsvpid increase of business consequent upon the spread of settlement, tho growth of townships, and the consequent develop* ment of means of inter-communioation in the provincial district, render a business directory a necessity. Each succeeding year it becomes needful to add to the class of information in its predecessor, and thus the 4 Directory' of to-day, to be useful as a work of reference, presents many features which were absent in earlier publications. Messrs Stone and Son, fully aware of the requirements of the times, have spared no pains, expense, nor labor to render the issue of this year's ' Directory' as perfect as possible, and have succeeded in producing a work that will prove a boon, not only to those engaged in mercantile pursuits, but to persons in every class of society. It would be easy to give an extended list of improvements that have been made in the f>reaent volume; but doing so, to be ineligible, would necessitate descriptioni of the past, and seekers for information are not interested in knowing what past issues did not contain. What they want to know is i whether the present issue is what a diroctory should be—a hand-book for handy reference, where the information they are likely to need can be obtained. The publishers, therefore, very judiciously in a short preface explain the leading features of and the contents of the ' Directory,' how tho subjects arc classified, and where each is to be found. From it we gather that experience has led to the adoption of many new arrangements tending to simplify the 'Directory' as a work of reference ; while statistical information, not only colonial and local, but of general interest concerning the British Empire, is provided. By a very simple plan, the senior and junior members of the same household are distinguished in the street Directory, and the names of the occupiers are given as " nearly as is practicable in tho order in which the houses are situated in the streets.'' The classification includes directories of streets and country towns, alphabetical lists of names and residences, trades, pastoral runs, municipal, country, official, and judicial; commercial lists, chambers and charges, educational and ecclesiastical, societies, railway, coaches and steamships, post and telegraphs ; and to these is added ' The New Zealand Annual,' which is, in itself, a compendium of useful information, being an almanac and register of statistics already alluded to. Necessarily, a work of this description would be imperfect without maps. These, therefore, are furnished of Dunedin and other townships ; and for the politician and general reader is added a very useful map of New Zealand, showing its division into counties. Necessarily in this brief notice the mention of much that the directory contains, such as the Tariff, and various Acts of Parliament affecting more or less everyday life are omitted ; neither have we alluded to the volume of advertisements which, we are glad to say, advantageously both for advertisers and the publishers, arc dispersed through ita pages. It is a handsome volume, well printed on good paper and ornamentally bound—one of those works which every man seeking correct information should have beside him in his office or private library.