CURRENT LITERATURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17145, 26 April 1919, Page 3 (Supplement)

CURRENT LITERATURE.

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS, Br CB.ITJO. In the history of rations there has net been so wide and determined a social unrest as there is now. Particularly is it to be noted of the ranks of men and women whom wo are pleased to term "Labour." Partly unintelligent, a mere gicping for something better, there is yet a wholly articulate tM fully intelligent oitoy for the things that matter, more and better, facilities for the ownership of land, wider and more suitable education. And in this latter is the keynote to the whole position. Many tibia thinkers arm at work on thu problem, and their views and their solutions are all worthy of some concentrated interest. AN EDUCATED COMMONWEALTH. "The Twin Ideals"— James W. Barrelit (Lewis, London}—is a lengthy, bat by no means diffuse, study of the grave problem now affecting the Empire, and particularly as applied to the Australian Commonwealth. Mr. Barrett is a surgeon, a soldier, a member, while in Egypt, of the Council of .the British! Rid Cross, and a valued lecturer to the Melbourne University. He lias travelled extensively and observed widely, and his articles are the result of that travel and observation at home and abroad. He covers a variety of subjects, and reaches the conclusion that the whole "British Empire to muddied over with the trail of the amateur, that the Navy is the one great scientific! institution the Empire possesses, its officers and men soaked in efficiency, trained from boyhood for their task and imbued to the finger-tips with the demands and their obligation to the service. . . ." Speaking of his own corner, Victoria, he claims that it is apparent that the business of life in carried on with but little scientific knowledge. Faulty dairies, where the contamination of milk is almost inevitable, engine-drivers wjtb. defective _ vision employed on railways, trucks devised to carry perishable goods constructed so that the hot north wind is allowed to blow through them, no adequate system of experimental work in connection with agriculture or stockbreeding, etc., etc., in "good schools" a vicious system of teaching. Town planning, Bush Nursing, Orchestral Societies, Abolition of Venereal Disease, Agricultural Education, these and other topics mo very thoroughly discussed, and the author makes various nuggestions as to the way in which the improvement of our health and of our education may at once begin. He advocated two-storeyed homes, and the abolitior in bungalows, of verandahs, the former because sleeping we breathe more bacilli on the ground floor, and verandahs are & hindrance to the fresh air and the sunlight which good health demands. His conclusions are the work of a serious thinker and of a most practical educationalist. "Democracy nt the Grossways," by F. J. C. Hearnsha-iv, M.A., L.L.D. (Macmillan, London).— Phis writer assumes that "democracy is the only form of State ultimately tolerable, and in it, pic-perly understood, fully accepted and honestly applied, lies the one hope of the peaceful and prosperous development of tie race. Representative democracy it mast be,, and that is incompatible with such devices as the initiative, the referendum and recall— the rule of the majority, a two-party system, checked and controlled by a strong, enlightened and independent electorate, a diligent education of public opinion, a thorough purifying of the commercial conscience, a vigorous strengthening oil the general will, ministers to have greater courage in telling democracy of its faults, and a more honourable fidelity in safewarding its real interests. A partnership for democratic States is urged. _ His is a book of 1.918, written entirely within January and September of that year—essentially a book which studies mankind as it is now.

"The Blazed Track," by R. M Thornson (Cox, Cliristchurch).—An idealist in that he wishes better things for men. the writer pleads for people who win blaze the track— who, whatever their trade or profession, glory in their work and do things, not just follow others. He upholds the value of initiative, begs for self-encouragement, the cultivation of one's own gifts, shows the necessity for selfcriticism, and 'hence for confidence. "Be naturally optimistic," he cries. His little book is intended to inspire, in every worker, confidence, determination, ana duty, and, post of all, initiative.

i "Ballads of the Track," by E. Hunter (Buelens, Auckland).—A collection of poems, more than democratic in their tendency where they treat of the workers' rights. In his condemnation of the commercial tone of to-day's worlds he is at times too bitter, and his judgments are .too sweeping.. His lyrical love poems show a more gentle side. His work is at loast an endeavour to secure, belter conditions for his fellow-workers, and he is thus a typical writer of the ago. inSOELIANEOTTS WEHIIW'S. 11 The love of .{fa Unknown Soldier**— (Lane, London). A book of the most beau- -■ tual love letters ever written, distinguished by the courage and chivalry of the unknown writer, every word written from the heart of a heave, philosophical, unselfish and heroio isoldier,' One Heads them with a feeling of poignant Badness and regret that war anil its tragedy should have made' the writing of the letters possible. For the man who did these, in the odd moments between action, was one of tiia world's great and rare lovers; and tha light he sheds upon this work at the Front shows him to have been a fine soldier.' His letters, never intended for publicity, give one a more vivid picture of trench life and the attack than almost any war book yob issued. Add to this a pure literary quality and separate, if one can, the feeling of sacrilege in. reading such intimate revelation of manly love for a girl who did not know what she had inspired, and there is a book to treasure. The publisher explains that they were found in an abandoned gaa position, and that the officer who found them realised the impossibility of tracing the writer or woman to whom they were written. -lence tho printing in tho hope that the look may 6tray into the hands of her about whom they wore penned. " The Order of St. John of Jerusalem " by Rose G. Kingsley (Skeffington, London). —A valuable and interesting little work, especially to those working under the order. In small oompass, the author gives a telling description, of the founding of the institution, its sojourn in Cyprus, in Rhodes, in Malta., the dissolution and the later re'vival by Queen Mary, of the Order, passing to the work of to-day, a comprehensive I and instructive survey of an association] . recognised tho world over for its prompt help and steady _ increasing generosity in peace as well as in war. "Harold Tennyson, 8.N."--(Macmillan, London).-This is such a pleasant biography of a young naval officer, grandson of the Poet Laureate, and eon of that Lord tan who was first Govemor-Gcneral of the Australian Commonwtalth. Incidentally it is an admirable portrait of ha mother, who shines from is pages as one of he ideal parents. Their fife in South Australia anl later in Sydney is vmdy and so appreciatively described in his tetter* to his mother, Is seen from a surely "family" point of new. Every Australian should experience great pleasure in the reading of Lady Tennyson » letters-just the letters written from » 1 daughter to a mother, touching naturally on the vice-regal aspect of bungs, but lovine her boys and delighting in their chilihood That she found Australians very kind and friendly and likeable is w$ evident. The story passes on to Harold a work as a midshipman, serving on the West Indian station, until transferred, to Europe. Then the war, and his appointment to H.M.S. Queen Mary, and tnen to the Viking which struck a mine on the , 4th February, 1916. Another brave lnd added to the great company of those who have made the war's toll. The testimony of various writers show him to have been an exceptionally intelligent and gifted l?d, .... * and his friend, has made of toe-.simple. ! story,' a very beautiful epitaph, complete I and one which stirs every sympathy, • -%& kf ;■': ;/) . •,;■..i-C; ■ '■'■■■■■■■*■" ' ; - ; >;^i^i