BOOK NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 233, 30 August 1935, Page 7

BOOK NOTES

“The Maori Situation” (by Dr I. H. G. Sutherland). —This is a frank booklet urging understanding and encour-! ngement for what is claimed as at present a Maori renaissance, and a constant search by New Zealand’s native race for adequate means of self-ex-pression for their culture ' and intelli- ' gence, in complete rebuttal of the tendency to expect them to provide the picturesque and romantic elements of life in New Zealand, and to make of them a show for tourists. Dr Sutherland (of Victoria College) states that if what is on record of Maori life were more fully known to the white popu- 1 lation of New Zealand, their present! situation would be better understood, j During the past year the Maori people j and their affairs have been much more ■ prominent, and it has drawn belated attention to some important issues which have steadily been finding their way to the surface after submergence in the first rush of European administration. These facts arise out of the increase in Maori population, a mosthopeful change in their outlook, and a marked renewal of life, calling for greater understanding and goodwill on the part of the pakeha, in order to make the pressing needs of the native race, in their adaptation to civilisation, more articulate. This very logical and analytical booklet traces the different phases of the situation, from its beginnings to present day events, and calls for greater recognition of the latter. Our eopv is from Messrs H. H. Tombs, Ltd. (Wellington). “FOUR WINDS.” An old bouse, gaunt and lonely, and a family in whose blood flows a strain of something sinister and ruthless—a good basis, these, on which to buikl a romance, and one of which Mr Roland Rertwce has made excellent use in his latest novel. "Four Winds.” The scene is laid in the Devon country, and the wind of the moors blows freely through one vivid description after another of fishing or stag-hunting as the moorland mists seem to cling eerily round the three-hundred-year old walls of Four Winds itself. Mr Rertwee, however, knows how to blend horror and humour into a fascinating mixture. His narrative goes with a swing that accelerates to a climax of breath-catching excitement, while the character of Miss Beth, the pivotal figure of the story, is one which, at once repulsive and pitiful, extorts none the less a reluctant measure of admiration. GILBERT AND SULLIVAN. Mr Hesketh Rearson, in his “Gilbert and Sullivan,” gives us a double biography which is as entertaining as it is illuminating. Already he has won his biographical spurs with his accounts of Sydney Smith and Ha ■/.- litt. Now he makes librettist and composer come remarkably alive, and his character-drawing and story is almost as spirited as one of the operas. The main body of his work is, of course, the history of the partnership, but prologue and epilogue are supplied bv the stories of Gilbert and Sullivan in their pre-Savoy and postSavov. days. Mr l’earson is neither an idolator nor an iconoclast; nevertheless, lie rarely forgets that Gilbert and Sullivan were Victorians, and lend themselves to a little modern irony. The Achilles heel of Gilbert was his serious drama, sentimental plays with names like “Broken Hearts,” whilst Sullivan had solemn aspirations in the realm of oratorio and grand opera. As for Gilbert in the role of actor, “it is probable that John Hollingshead got near the mark Avhen he said that Gilbert as Harlequin gave a very good idea of what Oliver Cromwell would have made of the character.” H. G. WELLS ON AMERICA. "When Mr Wells visited America early in 1934 he was impressed my the President, the “Brain Trust,” and the New Deul; there seemed to him “to be the clear promise of an unprecedented creative effort in American affairs.” But after his visit to Washington this year lie tells a different tale in “The New America: The New World.” The land of the New Deal, like Soviet Russia, has proved a disappointment to the Utopian ra- 1 tionalist, with bis hopes of the new j world of the future—a future that | keeps receding. There is little chance, of progress in Europe, he considers. In Italy, Russia, and Germany the systems have all “passed _ through strictly analogous phases, a violent assumption of a new system after a phase of distress and disintegration, and a real hysterical rigour after that first revolutionary convulsion.” France sits still, doiirn nothing—except imitate the ostrich. Spain is mentally fragmentary. The hope of change lies in the two great English-speaking peoples. “Modernity speaks English or Russian—and it still speaks English best.” The only alternative to constructive plans is world decadence, and, says Mr Cassandra Wells grimly, “I am not writing of Utopias; I am writing of imperatives.” But in Americ<- Mr Wells found only a general bewilderment, contradictions, lack of any general synthesis.

“AVIATION MEMOIRS.” In the , “Aviation Memoirs” of Flight-Lieutenant Cathcart-Jones, the account of his participation with Mr Ken Waller in the Melbourne Centenary air race is one of the most interesting sections in a book crowded with happenings and varied feats of airmanship. The excitement of preparation is well conveyed, and all the difficulties, the dangers of the journey graphically described. Flying blind in a storm over the Taurus Mountains, overshooting Baghdad, springing an oil leak over the Timor Sea, making forced landings in all sorts of unpromising places, are only a few of the mishaps experienced, and it is really a wonder the aviators reached Melbourne when thev did, and secured third place. This success they attribute largely to the character of their machine, a de Havilland Comet. More space could have been devoted to this exciting flight but the writer has so many other things to narrate that it forms but part of the picture, though the climax to a great career. Flight-Lieutenant Cathcart-Jones was one of those naval officers who, when an air arm for the Navy was formed, transferred to it. and served subsequently in the Mediterranean, China and Palestine. The thrills of this service included forced landings in the sea, operations against Chinese pirates and engagement in quelling civil disturbance during the Palestine troubles of 1929. Many good photographs illustrate every aspect of this fife, and of seaplane management. Leaving the services, the author had many experiences as a flight instructor/ and freelance of the air. film pilot, and trusted conveyer of celebrities from place to place. He was closely associated with the late Lieu-tenant-Commander Glen Kidston. and flew with him from London to Paris in 1931 i» 72 minutes —a record which he still holds.