Nelson Evening Mail Saturday, November 30 1940 HISTORY THROUGH BIOGRAPHY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 30 November 1940, Page 6

Nelson Evening Mail Saturday, November 30 1940 HISTORY THROUGH BIOGRAPHY

ONE of the pleasantest ways of studying history is to read the life stories of the men and women mainly responsible for making it. The subject then ceases to be a dry recital of lists of reigning sovereigns, dates of battles and summaries of constitutional and social reforms. It moves into the field of human endeavour where the student can glimpse the motives of men and the mainsprings of human action which, in the aggregate, decide the destinies of nations. Sometimes the actions of human beings mould events; sometimes human beings are moulded by events, but, moving through the pages of biography, we see the lives of men round whom centres the story of their times. If this is true of nations whose history stretches back far into the past, it is also true of young coun-

tries, of our own country, New Zealand. In our Centennial year we are able to browse through the life stories of many bygone makers of New land, for they have all been collected into two volumes totalling a thou- | sand and eighty three pages which have been issued as Centennial publications. We have received copied of these two fine volumes from the Department of Internal Affairs. Be- ' sides being worthy examples of the art of printing and publishing they will become standard reference works • not only for those working in the • field of New Zealand history but for those who occasionally find pleasure in dipping into the lives of New Zealanders of the past. Dr G. H. Scholefield, Parliamentary Librarian, is the editor. By far the greater part of the work is his own, but memoirs have been contributed by ten other writers, over their initials. In the historical field these two volumes may be rated the most monumental of all the Centennial publications. The work entailed in preparing and writing them has been immense. A mere recital of the sources consulted will prove that. “A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography” is the title given. The model on which it is planned is the English “Dictionary of National Biography,” which has become the standard reference book of English collective biographies all over the Eng-lish-speaking world. What that work has done for English biography and a similar work for American biography Dr. Scholefield’s work does for New Zealand. In an elaborate preface to the Dictionary Dr. Scholefield tells how the idea was entertained by him as far back as 1907, when he started on research in this field, the first fruits being published in newspaper articles. But he soon found that available literature on this aspect of our history was limited in extent and indifferent in quality. From this time on, mid changing circumstances, even during a prolonged absence abroad, the idea simmered in Dr. Scholefield’s mind. Now the finished work has been made available to the public. For most of this time he was engaged, with the help of others, whose assistance he freely acknowledges, in gathering material. All through he realised he was concerned with facts and his watchword was ever accuracy. Referring to this in his I introduction, he says, In the desire ! for accuracy I have treated every j source as suspect, adopting no infor- | mation at all, no matter how enlightened the origin, without checking it I by other standards.”

In a broad definition, of his aim the I author says he has made a genuine effort to rescue from oblivion figures which “strutted their hour upon the stage” and then disappeared from public view. As is always the case with such works, he had to decide what personalities to put in and what to leave out. Readers who consult his dictionary will probably come to the conclusion that he has been generous; indeed it is easy to find in the pages of his book the biographies of people whose part in our country’s development was very circumscribed; some will be unknown by name to many. But this is one of its good points as a reference work because it gathers together the lesser men and women whose biographies are often difficult to find. In the selection the author let himself be guided by these principles: “Neither birth nor wealth is a valid qualification (for inclusion). Significance in our national history, from whatever standpoint, is the sole consideration.” He has included men like Samuel Marsden, who did not live in New Zealand, and men like Darwin, who merely visited our shores, because, as he says, “they all impinged upon our history in such a manner as to justify i at least mention in this gallery.” The reader will not expect to find in this dictionary full-length portraits of any of the makers of New Zealand in its first century. The most notable of them already have their own biographers, though there is still adequate room for research in this field. There appears, however, to have been some attempt made to estimate the importance of their work by the amount of space devoted to them. The longest memoirs in the two volumes are those relating to Sir George Grey, Seddon, Vogel, Read, E. G. Wakefield, Te Waharoa, Ballance, Fox, Sir F. D. Bell, W. F. Massey, Sir J. G. Ward, Marsden, Sir E. Stafford, Te Kooti, Bracken and Te Wherowhero. Dr. Scholefield explains that, in the British Dictionary, most space is given to Shakespeare, the Duke of Wellington, Francis Bacon, Oliver Cromwell and Queen Elizabeth, in that order. It is evident, too, that biographical pic- , turesqueness is responsible for some ■ of the names in the New Zealand listIt is this quality which merits the inclusion of James Mackenzie, our most accomplished sheep-stealer, just as the British work includes Dick Turpin, Titus Oates, Wat Tyler, and other celebrated characters. Indeed, the author of the English work admits frankly that “malefactors whose crimes excite a permanent interest k have received hardly less attention %

nan benefactors,” and this Dr Scholefield seems to have accepted as sound. The Maori has been given treatment as generous, by comparison, as the Pakeha. Naturally no person living has been included. The last biography in Volume 2 is that of M. J. Savage. There mention is made, incidentally, of present-day Cabinet Ministers.

“When I entered seriously upon this compilation,” says the author, in his introduction, “I envisaged a biographical reference book to which the ordinary reader and student alike would be able to turn for information about any person who had significence in the history of the Dominion.” Now that he has completed that task Dr. Scholefield can reap satisfaction from knowing that he has succeeded admirably. Moreover, it is not decrying our talent in historical research to say that there are few historians in the Dominion to- ! day who could have done as well

in this particular field. The Dictionary, or others based upon it, is likely to be still a standard work of reference when New Zealand cele"keates its bi-centenary.