HEDGED WITH DIVINITIES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXIX, Issue 190, 13 August 1895, Page 2

HEDGED WITH DIVINITIES.

" Hedged with Divinities " is the title of a book written by Mr Edward Tregear, and published by Mr It. Coupland Harding, of Wellington The object is to show how exceedingly badly tho world would get on without men, ami in this respect Mr Tregear follows in well-known lines. In tho " Princess ' and other stories of the kind in prose and verse, when women try to do for themselves, the attempt is made by voluntary association and withdrawal from the society of men. Mr Tregear, in his story, the scene of which is laid in Auokland, kills oft' all the male buman raoo except one specimen, who is kopt in a tranctj long enough for the womankind to find out how extremely badly they get on without husbands and brothers, and even men outside tbeir own families The h°ro after his sleep arrives in Auckland, where he is received with exoeeding joy that one man remains in tho world, and he is at once elected King. He sots himself to reorganise society, and to teach hia female subjects to do the work which used to bo done by men. Unfortunately he is not contented to i-main absolute monarch, but insists on tha formation of a representative legislature. His Majesty has loved a maid, but he is tin polled to give her up because his Parliament insists tbat he shall, for purposes of State, take to himself twenty wives. Ho yields, and after lapse ot time sons bo^in to be born into tho world, eaoh birth being announced by hoisting a red Hag. Tho birth of a daughter is signalled by hoisting a blue one. At last a deputation of Maori women arrives iu Auckland with tho proposal that the Native race should ba represented in the royal household by several young ladios of high rank. This is too much for the Kim;, and his situation is made more embarrassing by other events. Owing to the existence of female telegraphic operators somo communication has beon kept up with foreign countries, and tho news is scut all over the world that there is still a man left in it Proposals ot marriage come pouring in, and at lust tho King determines to run away with the girl to whom ho was originally engaged. This he dons in a steamer, to work which he has instructed a band of capable women who are laithful to him. His destination is an uninhabited South Sea Island where there are plenty of cocoanuts. As sbo leaves Auckland a gun is fired from tho shore, and a red Hag announces the birth of another son Tho little story is decidedly quajnt and lively, and shows that Mr Tregear bas decided power as a. narrator.