CURRENT LITERATURE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16823, 13 April 1918, Page 3 (Supplement)

CURRENT LITERATURE

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS.

by. cnrnc. Even though the storm for and against tho principle of compulsory service may bo said to have disappeared, there yet remain some so-called " conscientious objectors to the design of sending every fit and propel man to defend his country. It is eminently right that those who can clearly see both sides should present their views, that the) general public should be educated in theis nation's history, and that the self-styled "conscientious" ones may, if they will, also read concerning the instability of their opinions. Even great men have asserted that Britain had not yet been anything but voluntary in her military systems— an assertion wholly misleading and wofully inaccurate. Old England was as purely a conscripting country a3 is any of the confessed ones of to-day. Therefore, a book under notice is a welcome study cf the position.

" The Case for Compulsory Service," by G. G. Coulton (Macmiilan, London).— the preface of his excellently-reasoned and carefully-accurate work, Mr. Coulton remarks that "this volume may claim, perhaps, to be the first attempt at a discussion of this great national question on tha firm ground of historical and political facts. The most extraordinary errors have been made by the most distinguished men. Lord Salisbury imagined our bowmen of Crecy and the modern Swiss riflemen to be volun« teers, while Lord Haldane supposed that England was under a voluntary system in the days of the Spanish Armada." Mr. Coulton is no new writer in the his. torical field. His work was known in England many years before war was thought of, and those who knew it, recognised anything from his pen as being tho result of careful research, and as being as accurate as a life-long study of history could make it. He 13 to be accepted, therefore, as correct, and his present volume is ono of the most apt discussions of the problem, stirring bo many British minds. He follows closely the line of history of "incontrovertible fact. Conscription in the Roman Republic, with its decline into par. tieJ voluntarism and subsequent is studied —immediate relief from military burdens having worked towards national decay." " In the city-republics of mediaeval Italy," he writes, " there was a law of universal service in the citizen-militia- It was these levies who won liberty for the Lombard communes at Gegnand in 1175. . , , Here, as in ancient Athens, every ablebodied man was called out at once at the time of national crisis. In 1284 the Pisans ordained that none betwixt the ages of 20 and 60 years should stay at home, and the Genoese that none of their citizens should stay at home betwixt the ages of 18 and 70, but that all must go to, fight. Under the first three Edwards cf England ouu militia reached its highest organisation, as compared with other countries. In the islands and along tho coasts it was ordained that soldiers and armed men should teach and accustom their children to handle arms." And of Germany, the chapters on conscription are enlightening. From observations made by Dr. Moore in 1779, the brutality practised upon conscripts was shocking, The information given by the author concerning other European States which have always found a system of national preparedness advisable, i 3 quite conclusive against any voluntary arming; and his book is to be warmly commended for disposing of any imaginary historical reasons against compulsory military service-.

GENERAL FICTION. "On Etna," by Norma Loryne'r (Stanley Paul, London). — Lorimer's knowledge of Sicily to always admirably worked into her novels. Of none is this more true than in her latest book. "On Etna" is full of typical descriptions of scenery and. Sicilians, written with sure touch and sympathy. One cannot feel quite so sure about her plot. The incients are dramatic, but the story is drawn out; and one is not fully in sympathy with her brigand, handsome though he be, when it becomes a question of an English girl falling in love with him. Her tale runs thus: Ceres is the daughter of a Britisher, who, having inherited pro, perty in Sicily, is determined to make the Best use of it in spite of priests, peasants, and brigands. But a prince sues fog Ceres, and, failing to win her, abducts her by the aid of the Mafia. Learning that there is no dowry, the prince is soon oui of love; but the Amici demand ransom. The prince leaves the country with the money, taking the Mafia's share as well as his own. Ceres is still imprisoned by the head brigand. Finally, Mark Sande* mann, her father's agent, being largely responsible, the brigand is caught, and Ceres returns to civilisation, her heart torn with longing for the Capo-bdgante.' "The Night Club," by Herbert Jenkins (Herbert Jenkins, London).—Thepopular ' Bindle," a humorous Cockney, is of course the centre round whom the Night Club revolves. Its numbers are limited only one woman is admitted, as exception to the first rule prohibiting any of her sex. Each of the members tells a story, and Bindle and others remark thereon. Bindle's inclusion among the more educated men is provocative of much mirthful writing. "The Long Trick"—by Bartimeus (Cassell, London)—is another collection of short anecdotal stories, with men of the naval service as the leading characters. All the tales are good, with much of the material of real battleship life interspersed among the lighter ' matter. Naturally there are hints of sorrow, the sadness of those women who have lost their men, but a cheerful note of optimism pervades the book.

" Wynlngford"—by Dr. Moran de Groob (Stanley Paul, London). One 13 tempted to ask where Dr. de Groot lives and what is his nationality, for he has such curious conceptions of English men and women. If they were as he writes them! —but they are not. One of his heroines once floated asleep down an African tropical river, and had indescribable adventures in which a negro prominently figured. The present novel deals with, society people, some of them decidedly unpleasant. PEPYS AND HIS DIARY. From Angus Robertson, Sydney (Whitcombe and Tombs, Auckland) comes "The Second Diary oi the Great War," by Samuel Pepys, Junior. In this the same travesty is continued, the events of this present war and a most pungent satire concerning the personal attitude towards it being given day by day. His extravagances and parsimonies, his wife's war work and her new spring clothes, his comments on public men and' incidentally on the war, are written in sarcasm of the. most mordant kind. He is garrulous, foppish, selfish, worldly to the utmost, exaggerated if you like. But ho is diverting to a degree, and John KettJewell's illustrations, in delicate line, are quaint mi artistic, and add very greatly to the ha* mour of this " telling" pseudo-diary. VERSE. " Roads and Fairies"—by Boyce Bowden (Wnitcorabe and Tombs, Wellington). —These reprints from the Sydney Bulletin consist of graceful poems, evidencing much love of natural beauty and outdoor things, and, with a pleasing metrical quality that will be found very attractive.