BOOK NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 233, 31 August 1929, Page 6

BOOK NOTES

THE BRITISH ARMY. ITS WORK. In his latest hook “The Empire and the Army,” the Hon. Sir John Fortescue has condensed his “History of the British Army’’ into minute compass, and, while"completing the narrative down to the present day, has amalgamated it with the gist of the story recounted hv Seeley in his “Expansion of England.” The result has been happy in that we are presented with .a convenient little volume which shows the interdependence of overseas military operations and of colonising activities. Clearly it is designed to be rather a book of reference, also suitable for- examination purposes, rather than a serious historical study; so it fills A distinct want. Juagea from this strictly utilitarian point- of view, it would be difficult to find fault with tire work. ~ „ _ .. , • After tracing the growth of English military forces down to the Civil War, our author sets to work in detail with the Cromwellian period, and shows how our Army was gradually created in order to meet imperial needs. It really seems as though, up to the time of the South African War, at any rate, trade did reallv follow the nag. There is a good chapter on Marl-

borough’s campaigns in Europe, which, however, seems to have less direct bearing on the growth of Empire than seme of the “side-shows” about which less is said. The French Revolutionary Wars are neatly ' summarised; while the various Indian campaigns may be regarded as some of the best things in the book. The entire narrative makes a fine record of achievement. More and more while reading it the temptation arises to wonder wlrether some of these exploits of a century ago were not rendered possible by the fact that the general officer of the period, once had had initiated a campaign, was so largely free from interference from home. How far, in short, may modern political and economic conditions, combined with electric communications, not be paralysing military genius? Marlborough, as our author snows, was hampered by Dutch obstruction; still, the latter proved only a stimulus for him to circumvent such obstacles. Wellington, in spite of all limitations imposed upon him, enjoyed remarkable liberty of action. Do we see Sir John I French or Sir Douglas Haig left free agents in the Great War to the same extent? Hardly. On concluding the book the question presents itself as to how far this great period of empire building by the soldier lias not really terminated. Probably tins is so in more senses than one. Yet one is prone to forget that the British Army has always done as much —per-

haps far more —in time of peace as in time of war towards consolidating British rule in distant lands. , Sir John Fortescue does well to stress that fact in his closing pages, for the future will probably see very much more of this type of military drudgery than of the picturesque “small wars” of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. LIFE AMONG THE DWARFS. “Among the Forest Dwarfs of Malaya” is an admirable account of the curious dwarf people among whom the author, Mr Paul Schebesta, spent some profitable months. Theso people, the Semang, number in all about two thousand men and women, the average height of the former being 150 centimetres and of the latter 140. In appearance they are clumsy and ill-pro-portioned; in character timid and unaggressivo; they are practically vegetarian, living on the plants which they find in their wanderings through the forest. As the forest cannot feed large congregations, they dwell in family groups. They believe in a Supreme Being, the thunder god, have enlightened views on marriage and attach great virtue to cleanliness. These attractive dwarfs are among the most interesting of the various dwarf peoples that still survive, relics of bygone ages, in many parts of the world. This book is of considerable importance and value, and at the same time decidedly

readable. The translation by Mr Arthur Chambers is excellent. IN THE SECRET SERVICE. Remarkable disclosures with regard to the Secret Services of the Great Powers are made in “Behind the Scenes of Espionage,” a Book published by G. G. Harrap and Company, Limited, of London, and written by a_ German, Winfried Ludecke. The public ai’e today so accustomed to associate the name of Lieut-General Sir Robert Baden Powell with the Boy Scout movement that they have forgotten his great services as a secret agent to his country. Not so Mr Ludecke. This is a tribute he pays to him:—“He is beyond question one of the most gifted secret service agents that ever lived. Like the real Englishman he is, although he practised espionage as an officer on professional duty, he took it at the same time as an interesting sport that stimulates the nerves and makes demands on all a man’s powers. Once he was ordered to obtain exact information as to the position and power of the ordnance mounted in the fortress of Cattaro in Dalmatia, a point that was, as everybody knows, bombarded more than once in the World War. He carried out this mission in the innocent guise of an entomologist. His whole equipment consisted of a sketch book that contained quite a number of finished or only half-finished drawings of

butterflies, in addition to a paint box and a butterfly net. Catching butterflies as he went he came close up to the forts built on the lonely mountain slopes, and then with the utmost coolness he sketched into the wings of his butterflies the outlines of the separate forts, the situation and calibre of the guns, in such a vra.y that the uninitiated took the harmless-looking lines and dots for the natural representation of the markings of the insects, and tile artist himself merely for an eccentric Englishman.” Dealing with the war period Mr Ludecke says it is indisputable that the British secret service met with great success: “This is owed in the first place to "the unlimited funds placed at its disposal. . . The Admiralty paid as much as £IOOO for information concerning the naval strength of the enemy. However, in contrast to other powers the British Intelligence Service never paid its agents in advance, which afforded the principal some guarantee against the likelihood of being swindled/’ There is a special section dealing with women secret service agents. Mr Ludecke says: “For the most part they have been adventuresses, dancers, artists from the music-halls and cabarets, and waitresses. But aristocrats, school teachers, sempstresses, and laundry maids also have been engaged. . . While, however, the French, Germans, and have often employed them . . . the British intelligence services

seem less disposed to use them. During the whole course of the late war we knew of no woman spy being directly engaged in the British service. Unsatisfactory previous experience and observation of the failure of women in the service of other statets account no doubt for this attitude, which at first glance is surprising.” AN EMINENT FAMILY. During the last century perhaps no family has produced more eminent figures ini the two learned professions of the Church and the Law than that of Pollock. An excellent short biography —“The Chief Baron Pollock”—by the Master of the Itolls (Lord Hamvorth) provides a succinct and gracefully written account of the career of his grandfather, the founder of the family’s fortunes, Frederick Pollock, son of George IV’s saddler, who, after being senior wrangler at Cambridge, crowned a distinguished career at the Bar by presiding for 22 years over the old Court of Exchequer. A DESERT STORY. In “The Heart of Libya” Mr G. E. Simpson describes the Siwa oasis in the Libyan desert, -f.diere the traveller has the two-fold lure of modern hotel comforts and the little-observed customs of primitive tribes. This book contains a good deal of information, pleasantly conveyed,