NEW BOOKS

Evening Star, Issue 22026, 11 May 1935, Page 6

NEW BOOKS

CANON STACK’S STORY The manuscripts, recently brought together, of the late Canon .lames West Stack, missionary to the South Island Maoris, and Mrs Stack,-promise lo be a treasure trove indeed. Canon Stack, son of a Church Missionary Society evangelist at Mangapouri, in the Thames Valley, was born near that place five years before the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and, as a child, received the blessing of Samuel MarsdCn. The Natives were too violent for tin's station to he continued, and, .after brief sojourns at the Bay of Islands and at Manukau, the Stacks in 1839 moved on to Taurauga, which was not very much of an improvement. Poverty Ray was a later station, till in 1848 the elder Stack returned to England with his family. In 1850 his son returned to New Zealand with Archdeacon 'William Williams and Tamihana To Bauparaha, who hajl been paying a visit to London, and, alter some years, first of training, then of missionary work in the north, he was appointed by Bishop Harper in 1.857 lo undertake the pastoral care of ihe Canterbury Maoris. His headquarters were at Tuahiwi, near Kaiapoi, but he paid many visits to the pas of Batiks Peninsula, and accompanied the bishop on the overland journey, which he made in 185960 to Dunedin and Invercargill, which he has described in a special pamphlet.

In 1861. he was married, and his wife Look a large puffin his work, though, after some first' experiences of Maori hospitality, hearty, but having its own ways, site found it too much of a trial to accompany him on his visitations to outlying parts of his domain, For some forty years Slack continued to minister first to Maoris alone, and then fo Maoris and pakehas in Canterbury, after which he lived for two decades in retirement in Italy and England, dying, within a few weeks of his wife, in 19.1.9, His memory is still revered by those of both rates who knew 'Jiiin.

The .-manuscript recollections that are now being given to the world were written in'' his later years hy Stack primarily for his own grandchildren, without any thought of publication. They extend only to the early years of his residence at Tnahiwi, probably about the mid-’sisties, when he would he about thirty years of age. A first instalment of them. ' Marly Maoriland Adventures of W. Stuck,’ edited by AI t A". Hi. Meed, has now been published by Messrs A. H. and A. W. Reed, of Dunedin, reaching only to the time when the future missionary became a student at St. .John’s Colleger Auckland, the “ first public school in New Zealand.” These early recollections are deeply interesting, however, for the descriptions which they give of life in early North Island missionary stations,, where Slack senior and his wife—she was only twenty when lie married her and brought her from J'ingland—lived often in daily terror of what might happen to themselves and family at (he hands of murderous and rapacious savages who were also cannibals. To give wider interest to the recollections, ending here at such an early period, they are preceded by a memoir covering the whole term of Canon Slack’s life, which Jias been compiled with the aid of letters and othe* documents, and illustrates the wide , ariety of his activities. The memoir, which has been most -arefully prepared, (ills one-third of the hook. It recounts Stack’s observations, performed for Danvi t n, on the subject of .Maori ethnology, and his discussions with Sir Julius Von Haast on similar

I matters. Stack was the historian of the South Island Maoris, and Mr H. D. Skinner bears trjbute to the " extraordinary soundness of his judgment" on more than one point, such as the probable date of the extinction of the moa, and the existence of an earlier race, on which he touched. Both, the "memoir and the recollections proper are extremely well annotated, and the illustrations are both excellent and pro- ; fuse. Tivo further volumes, which will include Stack's reminiscences of his work among the South Island Maoris, together with journals by his wife, should "have as much interest when they are published. " Speaking generally," the editor says truly, " the value of unostentatious men such as Stack is not recognised during their life time, hence much important information, such as letters and other manuscript, material. is not preserved." It is fortunate that so much of Stack's recordings has come to light to recall his memory and activities in this lite centenary year of his birth. WELL-WRITTEN NOVEL 'Who Wins?' the latest .novel of Mr J. P. Russell, whose books have of late been prominent on the bookseller's shelf, lacks originality of theme; the author makes no pretence of hiding that deficiency. But the latest creation of his pen must not be condemned on that score, for Mr Russell has treated the blunt points of ,the " eternal triangle " problem with such subtlety and sincerity that they assume a bright sharpness that cannot but jab the reader's sense of satisfaction. The book is beautifully written, and apart from the story that courses with so many twists from the opening to the concluding chapter, delightful pen pictures of London and its West End social strata are drawn with an original freshness. Three central characters—the rich man. his disinterested wile, and her youthful parantour—are the pivot of the tale. The marital difficulties of the first two' are solved when they realise that their lives do not run on the same parallel; he disdain's the existence of wine and song; but to her tlley are the ingredients of happiness. They separate, he to find the one whose outlook is the same as his, she to encounter the storms of life before finally marrying her lover, a person fond of sport and other pleasures. The last chapter and a sensational smash .while he is competing at Brooklands in a motor car race bring the two together. Our copy is from the publishers (Messrs Herbert .IflaSkihs Ltd.). MABEL TYRRELL Mabel Tyrrell made a hit with ' The Mushroom Field.' It became a best seller. Her latest book is ' Monkey's Money.' This novel.is better than the other. More mature, it reaches deeply into fundamental things. The chief character is Robert-Marie Darby, the son of an indolent English father of aristocratic family and a French mother who has sprung from peasant stock and is characteristically hard, grasping, and material. Their home is in France, and madame clings to the acres which she has inherited'with a fanatical love. The hook is a revelation of family difficulties when temperaments clash and the members have little community of interest. Tlobcrb is an arresting person, in which his French instincts war against his English prejudices. He is, notwithstanding his'many limitations, a gallant figure, and up to the age of 45. when the book ends, always at war with fate and a. victim to his own impetuous nature. This is a clever psychological study, and its literary merit is unquestionable. Bictures of Baris and London in war time, when life was unreal and abnormal are presented with convincing reality, and the characters in the book, men and women, the motives and impulses behind their actions, are vividly described. TJie publishers of ' Monkey's Money ' are Hodder and Stoughton. WESTERN STORY Stories. of the wild west have a wide appeal, and ' Stirrup Brother,' 'by Cherry Wilson, is an excellent example.' of this class of novel. It is a story of the mutual hatred of cattle ranchers and sheep men, and what happened when tiie well-watered lands of Eagle, the blind and dying cattle king, were invaded by sheep and rival herds during a great drought. The stampeding of the maddened animals is *a splendid piece of descriptive writing. There ie plenty of movement and excitement' in the story, which also covers a charming, romance. Our copy i« from th*v publishers, Messrs Ward, Lock, *nd Co. (London).