IN GREAT DEMAND

Evening Star, Issue 22327, 1 May 1936, Page 3

IN GREAT DEMAND

NEW ZEALAND AUTHORS' WORKS UNQUALIFIED SUCCESS OF EFFORT With New Zealand Authors’ Week now drawing to a. close, a, casual survey shows that the effort has boon an unqualified success, and the beneficial reactions wifi be felt for long to come. The committee which bad charge of the arrangements for the celebrations in Dunedin has spared no pains to ensure that the displays have boon as complete as possible, and the publicity that has been given the Yvorks of many New Zealand writers lias drawn the attention of the public to the wealth of good New Zealand literature in a manner that is without precedent. This has been the general experience at the Public Library, where there has been a most marked increase in the demand for Non' Zealand books. Not only have many inquiries liccn received concerning New Zealand writers, but Authors’ Week has also stimulated interest in the isolated poems of some New Zealanders whose verse has been littleknown. The displays arc still attracting much attention, and this morning, for instance, no fewer than 90 secondary school pupils visited the reference room of the Public Library for inspection of the exhibition. Yesterday the number of school children attending was more than 100. New Zealand Authors’ Week will conclude to-morrow night with a public display of New Zealand literature in the University Library. It will be opened at 8.15 with an address on ‘ New Zealand Literature ’ by Mr R. G. C. M‘Nab, head master of John M'Glashan College. The display will include not only books and pamphlets, but special exhibits illustrating the development of printing in Now Zealand, periodical literature, and student literature in the universities. SPECIAL DISPLAY OF EDITH HOWES’S WORKS. “ The production of Miss Edith Howes’s play. ‘ Rose Lane,’ lias produced especial interest in the Public Library iu special display which is being made of Miss Howes’s works in the New Zealand Authors’ Week Exhibition. There is also consistent demand for the text of the play, which is unfortunately not yet publicly available. Miss Howes was born in England, and an outline of her career ns an author lias been given by Mr C. R. Allen, the following resume of which has been taken from the ‘ Star ’: — “ She retains memories of a childhood spent in Surrey. She came to New Zealand as a little girl. . . . Always a keen observer of flora and fauna, she ivas at her best when teaching the rudiments of botany and biology to the young idea. She had her own method, which had its adumbration in the ‘ Water Babies ’ of Charles Kingsley. “ ‘ The Sun’s Babies ’ was inspired by the coastal and inland waters of Ncyv Zealand and its flats and bills. . . . ‘ The Sun’s Babies ’ brought Miss Howes recognition. It is no exaggeration to say that her reputation is today international. In America her books have commanded a wide sale, though she may not be the subject of a personal legend in that country, as is Miss Katherine Mansfield. Miss Howes now has a baker’s dozen of books to her credit Of these perhaps ‘ The Cradle Ship ’ is the most discussed. At the time of its appearance it was . considered by the more timorous in the i matter of the facts of life to be some-] what ‘ultra.’ ‘Fairy Rings’ stands more directly in succession to ‘ The j Sim’s Babies ’ than any of Miss Howes’s other works. In ‘ Sandals of Pearls ’ the biology is more generously leavened with "a human story than is the case with the earlier books. _ ‘ The Golden Forest ’ sets out almost in the manner of Mr Edgar Jopson's story. ‘ The Admirable Tinker.’ We have a small, neglected boy in London who finds himself- befriendsd by a benevolent gentleman. In the latter instance, however, Providence personified is not the boy’s father, but a devoted naturalist. As soon as we learn this we are prepared for the usual formula, and a very agreeable one it is, seven-eighths of science to onc-eightb of fiction. The kind gentleman takes the boy out to! Ncyv Zealand, Yvhcro the young neophyte is initiated into the mysteries of a botanical and biological laboratory. ‘The Great Experiment’ is an essay at setting the facts of adult life before the young potential man and ;vifc in the form of a story.”